Beginner Gun Review: SIG Sauer P220
I have a list of firearms I refer to as my “Bucket List Guns”. These are guns, gun or bad, that I want to own, or at least shoot at some point in my life. Of course there’s the obligatory Desert Eagle .50 and the 50 BMG and so on. Other ones might puzzle some people. One such gun is the SIG Sauer P220. “That’s a bucket list gun?!” some might say. It’s a fairly common pistol, in the grand scheme of things. While it’s not exactly cheap, it’s not prohibitively expensive either coming in at around $850-$950 depending on your location. It also doesn’t have some super special technology like the Desert Eagle’s piston system either.
So why is this on my list? I’ll be honest, it’s purely for aesthetic reasons. It’s a deeply ingrained part of my personality that fell in love with the looks of this gun. I like mechanical things. I like machines. I like levers and switches and buttons. Look at the side of a P220: three levers and a button. It looks industrial. It’s beautiful.
The gun itself has been around since the 1970s. It was developed by SIG Sauer as a replacement for their P210. While I can’t find confirmation, it seems like there was a great deal of influence from the design of the 1911. I actually held it up to my 1911 and they line up perfectly. In fact, it almost seems like someone said “ok, I have a couple of complaints about how the 1911 does things. Let’s fix them with this gun…”
The P220 itself is a .45 ACP pistol with a DA/SA trigger. The double action trigger has a 10 pound pull but when you’re shooting in single action, you’re looking at a 4.4 pound pull with a very short length. Typically, you load a round then drop the hammer. On a draw, the first shot will be double action and all subsequent shots will be single action. The difference between the two pulls can take some getting used to so extensive range time is necessary.
There’s an old saying: “Never meet your heroes”. In other words, very rarely does the image you have of your hero in your head rarely lives up to them in real life. Is this gun as good as I pictured or does it never shower and spit on its fans? Let’s put it through the tests!
Ease to breakdown
Pull the slide back and lock it open. Toggle the takedown lever and then release the slide forward. Then just pull out the spring and barrel and bam. Quick and easy. No tools necessary. Can’t get much easier than that.
5 out of 5
Maintenance
This is a big gun and there isn’t much in the way of crevices. You can clean this thing with a rag and a couple of cotton swabs if you were so inclined. There is one issue, however. This gun has a metal frame. That means you can’t just rely on the natural lubrication of your Ballistol or Frog Lube. Granted, you should lube every gun but in this case, it’s doubly important. You’re going to want to use a silicon based gun lube and re-apply it on a regular basis. Failure to do so can wear down that frame quick and lead to reliability issues as well as a flat out ruined gun.
4 out of 5
Reliability
A SIG isn’t some delicate race gun. A SIG is a service gun. They’re designed for military/law enforcement use first and the average Joe is, arguably, an after thought. When you’re in the line of duty, the gun has to work flawlessly. Special Forces, SWAT and the like puts their guns through some wicked punishment and they expect their guns to say “Thank you. Can I have some more?” This gun is about as solid as you can get and it eats ammo like a stoner in a Twinkie factory.
5 out of 5
Safety
The hammer on the P220 is interesting. To be honest, when I first tried dry firing it, I thought something was wrong with it. It’s not that “click” that I’ve grown used to. It’s more like a..uhm…”sproing”? What happens is the hammer hits the firing pin, then bounces or springs back a bit and locks in position. It leaves a gap between the hammer and the pin and creates a drop safe gun. There’s a firing pin block that holds the pin in place until you’re ready to shoot. The extractor doubles as a loaded chamber indicator as well. That’s about it. No external safeties, no nothing. Just that long, initial 10 pound double action pull. Remember your safety rules and make sure you have a holster that covers the trigger.
3.5 out of 5
Poor technique
Not much I can say here. I tried hard to get this gun to malfunction. I had light loads and I held it with 2 fingers. I even tried shooting it gangster style! This gun just laughed at me and kept on running. You can’t ask for more than that.
5 out of 5
Starter kit
It’s a little sparse in this area. It comes with a plastic case and two magazines. Considering the price of the gun as well as the competition from cheaper guns, it just feels like there could be more here.
2 out of 5
Accessories/Upgrades
Considering the gun was released in 1975, 3rd party manufacturers have had plenty of time to come up with toys to add to your P220. SIG also makes a pretty hefty amount of addons as well. You can get new grips, sights, springs and barrels. There’s even caliber swap kits in case you wanted to put some of the more expensive .22LR through it instead of the comparatively cheap .45 ACP.
5 out of 5
Final Word
This is an amazing gun. The recoil is lighter than you would expect and it is as accurate as a stock gun could be. I can see why it’s the choice of police forces and militaries all over the world. Even the Swiss Guard in Vatican City use the P220! If it’s good enough to protect the Pope, then it would do just fine protecting my humble home.
The SIG Sauer P220 walks away with a final score of 4 out of 5.
Photos by Fred Stover
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