kept a running tally of gunfight reports from around the country and the world, and attempted to assess how well different calibers and loads worked in actual shootouts. His work has been controversial, but based on all my input, his conclusions about the relative stopping power of 9mm and larger caliber hollow-points are pretty much on the mark. He has no problem at all carrying a 9mm so long as it is loaded with an efficiently opening bullet in the 115- to 127-grain weight range at +P or +P+ velocity. And I’ve often seen him carrying a 9mm SIG P226 as his primary weapon.
The P226 Rail’s trademark is this extended dust cover portion of the frame.
The late Robert Shimek was famous as an authority on classic handguns. What few of his readers knew was that he was also a career law enforcement officer. The gun that he carried on duty, right up through his retirement shortly before his untimely death, was a SIG-Sauer P226 9mm.
In police departments where there is a broad choice of options as to what gun to carry, it’s always wise to look to see what the instructors are carrying. They see all the guns in action, and they know what works.
Consider NYPD. Requiring double-action-only 9mm pistols, the nation’s largest police department (some 40,000 sworn officers) authorizes three specific make/models, one of which is the SIG P226 DAO. The SIG has become the “prestige gun” on that department. Its reliability is unbeaten, and it is more accurate than either of the other two approved pistols.
Good sights are a feature on all the SIG-Sauer duty guns. This P226 benefits from night sights. Note proper grasp: web of hand high into the grip tang, and barrel in line with the long bones of the forearm.
“Stippled” front strap and back strap aid in secure grasp under the most adverse conditions of climate, circumstances, and stress.
Chicago PD is our next largest police department, some 13,000 strong. There, too, double-action-only is a requirement for any autoloader carried to work. Approved calibers are .45 ACP and 9mm Parabellum; approved DAO pistol brands are Beretta, Ruger, SIG, and Smith & Wesson. A majority of the Chicago PD firearms instructors I’ve run across carry the SIG.
The Sacramento County, California Sheriff’s Department boasts some of the finest firearms training in the country. As proof, their individual officers and teams have brought back national champion titles in police combat shooting. The issue pistol is the SIG P229 in .40, but the deputies are authorized to carry any SIG from 9mm to .45 caliber. A disproportionate number of the firearms instructors – most of whom I’ve worked with as a guest trainer, and can attest that they’re among the best in the country – choose the 9mm P226 as their uniform duty pistol. They appreciate its top-level accuracy combined with uncompromising reliability. Convinced by investigation of their department’s many shootings that shot placement means more than caliber in ending a gunfight quickly, they’ve found the P226, with its light recoil and great ergonomics, allows them to put more bullets in the center, faster, than anything else.
Inserting the index finger to the first joint will give maximum leverage on the trigger for double-action shots, and does not deleteriously effect control of subsequent shots in single-action mode. Pistol is aP226 Rail.
P226 Choices
Since the mid-1990s, the P226 has been available chambered for the .357 SIG and the .40 S&W. Each will hold two fewer of the large-diameter cartridges than the predecessor gun. Going from 16 of the 9mm rounds to 14 of the .40s or .357s is an upgrade as far as most people are concerned.
The .40 S&W cartridge in general is simply not the most accurate semiautomatic round available. That’s as true in the SIG as anything else. I’ve found that it will certainly be accurate enough for police work or IDPA competition, but it does not deliver the same high order of accuracy in the P226 as does the 9mm Parabellum round.
The .357 SIG cartridge is something else, though. With its high energy and high terminal striking power comes also a high order of accuracy. Simply put, the .357 SIG is an inherently accurate cartridge.
At this writing, the current president of SIGARMS is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. A big man, he carries a P226 in .357 SIG. He has no problem concealing it. And he uses the same gun to hunt deer!
George Harris, Bank Miller’s right hand man at the SIGARMS Academy, brings a lot of real-world experience to the ranges and classrooms where he teaches. The .357 SIG is his hands-down choice of cartridge, not only for carry but for hunting. While he normally carries the compact P239 in that caliber, he also likes the P226 in .357, and last year, killed his annual buck with a single shot; quick and clean.
A few years ago, the Texas Department of Public Safety, which encompasses the state highway patrol, swapped the trusty P220 .45s they had carried for many years for P226 pistols chambered for .357 SIG. They have been delighted with the stopping power it has afforded their personnel in several gunfights since. Anecdotal reports indicate that the bad guys go down a little faster to the .357 SIG than to even a .45 auto.
As with other SIGs in these calibers, the same magazine is interchangeable between .357 SIG and .40 S&W P226s. In fact, all that needs to be swapped to change caliber is the barrel.
In one famous shooting, during the transition period between guns, two Texas highway patrolmen shot it out with a gunman ensconced in the cab of an 18-wheeler. The senior officer’s P220 shot where he aimed it, but the wide, slow .45 slugs did not punch through the massive bodywork of the giant truck with enough authority to stop the offender. His rookie partner, however, was fresh from the academy with a newly issued P226 in .357 SIG. His 125-grain CCI Gold Dot bullets at 1350 feet per second drilled through the heavy cab and punched through their would-be killer’s brain, ending the deadly battle instantly.
Steel-framed P226s are now available. I haven’t really worked with them, except for the target model, which is just deliciously accurate and sweet to shoot.
The P226 is an eminently “shootable” pistol when the pressure is on. Firing in front of a large class of students to “set the pace,” author shot this perfect 300 out of 300 score with sixty rounds of 9mm on the combat course. Thanks to the P226’s consistency of performance, such a target is pretty much replicable on demand.
Personal Perspective
If I sound high on the P226, it’s not because it’s one of my favorite guns and my second favorite SIG. Rather, those things are true because the gun has proven itself in the manner described above. I use the P226 in its original caliber, 9mm, for several reasons that may or may not be relevant to your own needs.
First, I’m on the road a lot teaching, and usually flying. The airlines at this writing limit you to 11 pounds of ammunition in checked baggage. Eleven pounds of ammo means a lot more 9mm rounds than .40 or .45
