Fixing up a beater Sig...

[tallpaul]

What did you have to pay for a 226 in that rough of shape? Definately looks a lot better now! I would buy a spray can of oven cure durakote- spray outside. I have used cheap spraypaint in black on old shotguns and it works well enough. If it wears it is easy enough and cheap enough to recoat

 

[lsudave]

What did you have to pay for a 226 in that rough of shape? Definately looks a lot better now! I would buy a spray can of oven cure durakote- spray outside. I have used cheap spraypaint in black on old shotguns and it works well enough. If it wears it is easy enough and cheap enough to recoat

It looks like we might finally be seeing the beginnings of inexpensive Sigs hitting the market. I got mine for a little over $300; $315 + s/h and ffl. Very rough cosmetic condition, but mostly fixable... if I decided to go deep enough to remove "Sig Sauer" from the left side of the slide, I could get the slide completely back to 100% otherwise. The frame- there's a ding on the left trigger guard, otherwise intact, just needs a finish to completely restore. And honestly, very little in the line of scratches on the frame outside of that big ding. For the record, mine is complete, all serial #s match, it's not a mixmaster.

At the time, I did see a P228 on gunbroker, $325, with a sloppy Ceracote job already applied. I considered that, but:

• I prefer the P226 over the P228
• the P228 looked like a mixmaster
• the Cerakote had runs, and seemed like it was sprayed on the sights etc, instead of being disassembled prior to doing it.

So I went with the P226 instead.

Now, last I looked, a popular seller on gunbroker (CDISales) had 2 P228's listed at $300, for buy now. No magazines, original finish, not as much rust/pitting as mine had, but at least one of them did have some electro-pencil writing on the slide. The slide had Made In Germany on them, and from what I could see, didn't have the stamps on the dustcover... but this certainly would be a cheap avenue into Sig ownership. Also FWIW, when I saw the listing of the guns, I went and looked for magazines, and at least one vendor (CDNN) has 13 rd OEM mags for the P228 for $15 apiece.

I strongly considered getting one, and still toy with the idea (the auctions were still listed 2 days ago).

 

[lsudave]

Well, I now know the future plan for this pistol, and likely a couple others I have.

I'm having some work done on a car, the guy did an absolute fantastic job on the paint and bodywork. He commented about my CZ hat I was wearing earlier , and we talked guns a bit.

I mentioned the Sig, and turns out he's gotten into Cerakoting guns as a hobby. He has a special bay set up for the painting and baking, and he says he'll usually do a few ARs and pistols every so often.
Now, this is a bodyshop where if they get a run or the match isn't correct, they stop and redo it instead of pushing it out on the customer. He's a perfectionist when it comes to his work.

He's told me how he strips them down, degreases with acetone, blasts with some type of oxide, and then paints and bakes. Since he's already saved me a good bit with the car, I figure I could justify giving him the difference back to do a few guns.

Kinda thinking I might let him do the P226, Beretta 92FS and CZ 75, all matching, to make a unique set.

to clarify- he has a separate bay just for guns, aside from the auto stuff

 

[JONWILL]

I started Duracoating my beaters. I have enough in an 8oz bottle to do 5-8 guns. Harbor Freight $10 airbrush and a can of compressed air at the hobby shop.

Fun to learn to completely take down a gun. All you need to do it clean it and sand with 220 grit sandpaper. Looks great.

 

[Bobson]

Nice job, OP. Count me inspired. Maybe I'll try something similar someday.