New Sig p220 Sao Carry is here!

[Fremmer]

Finally got it paid off and delivered! It is a beautiful pistol, haven't had much time to really play with it yet (just got home with it). The anti snag treatment is really cool, and the Sao trigger breaks nice and clean. The ambi safety is stiff but it is manageable.

I'll post more pics after I get her cleaned up and oiled. Excited!!!

 

[pacerdude]

That's a great looking pistol!

 

[Bovice]

Make sure you lube it with a continuous bead of grease in each frame rail. Oil will not do the job. I recommend shooter's choice.

 

[Fremmer]

You guys would laugh if you could see me now...

I'm struggling with the tape and wrapper around the grip!

 

[wally]

I'd call the SIG P220 SAO the perfect .45ACP except the magazines eliminate the use of some factory loads because the mags are a bit shorter in length than all other .45ACP mags

Don't buy large quantities of ammo for it without verifying you can fully stuff the mags.

 

[Fremmer]

Ok, I got her cleaned up and put together again, which is pleasantly simple and quick. Initial impressions:

The gun is very well made, inside and out. The are no machine marks or metal shavings or rough parts; the inside of the frame and slide appear very well crafted.

The gun fits together nice and tight. The sights glow pretty well. I like the grips, they are a nice full size, although I wish the back part of the grips were checkered. The trigger is really nice, it has a little bit of take up but then breaks really clean, I'll guess at around 5 pounds or so of pull. The safety and slide release are small and quite stiff.

The pistol is very aesthetically pleasing, with a nice dark finish, no rail, a 3.9" barrel, and nice rosewood grips. I'm quite pleased so far!

 

[grainfed]

Fremmer....
Good choice. I've had mine for several years and finally had my SIG armorer polish all internals, fit the Bar-Sto, and set the trigger pull at a perfectly smooth 4 lb pull. It has been 100% since day one and I would concur that you need to grease the rails, especially in the back of the frame. I occasionally put my longer 220 Elite slide on the SAO frame and enjoy having that option. All the Elite needs is a Bar-Sto in the longer length. Here's mine...........

 

[Rubber_Duck]

I fondled one of these at a gun show. I was struck by how great it felt in the hand yet it was unfamiliar, it was a pistol I didn't know Sig made. And the timing was way off. I didn't have enough to spend at that particular show but they were asking $750 and it came with 7 factory magazines and it made it seem like a great deal. If only I'd had the money. At the same show, I found an HK USP Compact in .357 Sig, priced at $500 because it was left-handed...I only brought $400 with me and I left empty-handed.

I have begun to look at getting a .45-caliber Sig and although the P220 is a great gun, I want something a different size than my P226, because when the P227 becomes available I just may get it. So a short-barrel, single-stack P220 seems like a great carry gun and I'm drawn to it for it's feel. Make it a SAO and I have a viable 1911 alternative that is less maintenance intensive.

 

[Bovice]

P220s are great .45s, I have two.

 

[Fremmer]

I let the wife hold it, and asked her what she thought. Her only comment was "it's heavy".

 

[Bovice]

Careful, she'll end up taking it or wanting one!

 

[Fremmer]

She's just a little thing, and it was huge in her hand. It fits me perfect, I have big hands. It's a pretty thick beefy gun, but the anti snag on the slide and frame looks really sharp. It has no mag disconnect.

Interesting that they made it with an ambi safety, but not with ambi mag release buttons.
I like the mag release button, though.

The very stiff safety, combined with a high rosewood grip right underneath the safety, make moving the safety up with the thumb very difficult. I'll have to play with that more tonight.

 

[Shuler13]

That looks familiar...



Saw it on Buds and had to have it. It was the first pistol I ever put on layaway. Two months later I had it.
I took mine apart, cleaned it, and ran a bead of shooters choice grease down the rails and went straight to the range. This was as close to a 1911 shooter as I have ever shot and it was more comfortable in the hands. This one is a keeper for sure.

 

[Fremmer]

Yup, same deal here.

I'll take her to the range tomorrow and follow up with a range report.

 

[grainfed]

Fremmer......
The one above is my 3rd SAO. The first two had terrible thumb safeties and I sold them with the caveat each time that the safeties were VERY difficult to push up and down, especially the ambi safety on the right side of both. My SIG armorer even recommended getting rid of them after he examined both and nixed the idea of sending them back to SIG for repair. The 3rd one pictured above finally came in with the perfect feeling safety, very similar to my Baers. Difficult to put the safety on is a pain, but almost impossible to take off can be deadly. Good luck and enjoy your SAO and keep those rails in the back good and greased.

tw

 

[bannockburn]

Fremmer

Nice looking SIG P-220, especially with those rosewood grips. I had a very early SIG P-220 (a.k.a. Browning BDA in .45), that had a super nice SA trigger on it and even with fixed sights, it had no trouble at all accuracy wise keeping up with a Colt Gold Cup.

 

[Fremmer]

The safety is difficult to engage (push up) with the thumb, but disengaging (pushing down) with the thumb is no problem. There isn't much lever for the thumb to engage on the way up because that grip is right underneath it. I'll keep playing with it.

As a side comment, the safety produces a very audiable "thunk" when it is disengaged. Interesting.

Wasn't able to get to the range last weekend, so I'm still itching to try her out.
Thank you for the comments, feel free to continue with your helpful advice or any general comments!

 

[Fremmer]

I swear the safety has loosened up a bit, it now seems much easier to engage, perhaps just from using it. I do have to use the edge of my thumb (and not the knuckle) to engage, but it sure seems much easier to use now...

 

[grainfed]

Mine makes the same sound and feel as you describe. You might take the SIG, watch a round of golf while just pushing it up and down for a while. I do feel that it should be a little more difficult to disengage than engage for safety issues. My strong side (right handed) safety is just about the same by now after hundreds of on and off cycles. I had some Nill grips on it but found that the trigger reset was sticky compared to the shown SIG aluminum grips. Not sure if the extra thickness of the wood was pressing against the trigger bar on the right side. I would recommend you test the trigger and reset with the grips on, then with them off, especially the right grip, just to make sure there is enough clearance with your rosewoods. Mine was accurate enough with the stock barrel but became quite a tack-driver with the Bar-Sto. All internals were polished where there was any rubbing contact and afterwards my SA pull ended up just under 4 lbs. Mine feeds anything put through it, be it FMJ or JHP......Now hurry up and get to the range and give us a report with some target pics, we can't wait all month :banghead:


tw

 

[Bovice]

Fremmer, while the SIG can't have ambidextrous mag release buttons, the mag release is reversible.

 

[Fremmer]

Interesting. I'd probably never reverse it, though.

Found one box of ammo at dick's today, $26 for 20 rounds of Winchester 230 gr jhp supreme or super dooper or whatever it is. And I bought it. Ug.

 

[Fremmer]

Took her to the range and shot about a 100 rounds. It was fun!

I was looking for gun grease at the range, and the very nice guy there was really trying to steer me to just lubing with clp. I actually bought both and applied the grease before shooting.

I used 3 brands of 230 grain fmj: blazer, winchester and pmc. The 2 mags it came with were very difficult to load with all 8 rounds. It was so difficult to load the last 2 rounds that i was loading 6 rounds per mag. The rounds fit very tightly in the mag, with no room to spare length-wise; the end of the bullets were right up against the inside of the mag wall. The gun functioned perfectly with no failures of any kind. The sights work well. The gun has a bit more felt recoil than a 1911, but not too bad. It has a nice beefy grip to hang onto.

The Sao trigger is nice, and it makes the pistol fun to shoot. It has more take up than a 1911, and you do have to follow through with pulling straight back, but it is a very good stock trigger that breaks clean. I didn't notice the return of the trigger; in fact, it never crossed my mind at all, which I think means it is a non-issue.

The gun shoots accurately and absolutely reliably, and I'm very happy with this pistol!

 

[gscrasher]

My first Sig was the standard DA/SA P220. I eventually decided to move away from that trigger system, so I traded it for a SAO. I found the proximity of the slide lock lever the the thumb safety to be problematic.

So, really, really admiring Sigs overall quality I traded the SAO for a P220 with a DAK trigger. This is the double action Kellerman. For those unfamiliar with this trigger, it's similar to the H&K LEM trigger mechanism. It's a long, smooth, medium pull to the break. This is followed by a reset that's about half way to the starting position. Overall the trigger stroke is heavier than that on the H&K LEM trigger. Another similar trigger is the Kahr trigger, but the Sig is somewhat heavier and has a much shorter reset.

Here's a link to the Sig description:

http://www.sigsauer.com/CatalogProductDetails/p220-two-tone-dak.aspx

Fremmer, you are right about aesthetics, just something about a perfectly fitted metal slide and metal frame! If that SAO works for you, you are not going to regret that purchase. Good luck

Oh, and two good things: no swinging link and no grip safety.

 

[MagnunJoe]

Sweet! I love Sigs. Question, if she's a CCW why does she have a rail...!

 

[Shuler13]

She doesn't.