The readers of the site should have already figured out long ago that the writers here on the site like our guns. I’ll be the first one to tell you I wasn’t in a traditional combat arms job during my nearly 10-year military career. I didn’t have a career of kicking doors and bringing hate and discontent to America’s enemies but that didn’t stop me from trying to shoot as often as I could and try to digest every bit of gun knowledge I could get my hands on. Anyone who has met me in person and talked about firearms with me can pick up on that fact easily.
We often times get asked by people who read the site what types of firearms we own or like to use. Common questions I get asked is why I prefer one pistol or rifle to another, or what pistol I use for daily conceal carry. Since these questions are being asked more often we have decided on the site to pull back the Magic Curtain of Oz and give you some in-depth looks at our personal weapons preferences.
To start off my part of this ongoing segment I decided to show you my personal conceal carry option, the Sig Sauer P225, 9mm. Before we hop down the bunny trail I want to say that this P225 is not the same as the recently rereleased Sig Sauer P225-A1. My pistol is a pre-unification German production and features the “Made in W. Germany” roll mark.
According to Sig Sauer head of pistol development nothing on my P225 is compatible with the current P225A1 including the magazines. When I pressed him for an explanation he refused to comment on it and said it was proprietary information, which to me was a weak response at best especially for the Head of Pistol Development. Anyway let’s get back to this pistol, my choice for conceal carry and why it’s one of my favorite pistols.
I looked for this pistol for a few years and could only find the P6 version of it which was issued to German and Swiss military policemen and border guards primarily. The P6 and the P225 look almost identical except the roll mark and hammer. P6 hammers feature a noticeable loop where as the P225 features a solid hammer. Urban legend is that the P6 has a loop in the hammer so that armorers could tell if the weapon was dropped on its backside. The legend goes on to say that its to ensure proper hammer and sear mating. I have yet to find anyone who could prove that tale, that’s why I refer to it as urban legend.
Why the P225 ?
I get asked that a lot when I tell people what I use for a CCW weapon. To be honest I was a huge fan of Sig Sauer until my dealings with them at SHOT show and have owned more than a dozen different pistols manufactured by them. I also like single stack 9mm pistols, which the P225 is. I previously has used a P239 in .40 S&W until I realized I hated shooting that particular round.
I wanted a pistol that was both thin and compact yet easy to handle during firing drills. I also wanted one slightly bigger than my previous CCW pistol, which seemed to exhibit a little more muzzle rise than I liked. I also wanted something with a proven record and the P225 in my mind fulfilled that requirement with its military service with several countries.
Some people may knock the Sig P225 for only have an 8 round single stack magazine, but that doesn’t bother me. If you look at basic statistics about shootings you will see that the chances of getting into a running gun battle as seen on TV or movies like Heat is pretty slim. In my mind a pistol is used to break contact and extricate yourself from a situation or to be used in close quarters.
Specifications of Sig P225
Length: 7.09″
Height: 6.37″
Weight: 1.81 Lbs Empty
Barrel Length: 3.86″
Width across grips: 1.255 ”
Magazine Capacity: 8 rounds
My shooting experiences with the P225 have been fantastic as a whole. The double action trigger is long around 12 lbs and the single action is 5,25 lbs according to my lyman digital gauge. Longer trigger pulls tend to run a lot of people away from pistols like the P225. I have a slight understanding of the liability concerns that Sig Sauer has to deal with when manufacturing pistols, so long trigger pulls don’t bother me.
In my three years of owning this pistol I can honestly say after several thousand rounds I have yet to experience any sort of failure to fire or failure to extract a spend casing. This pistol has eaten any sort of cheap ammunition I could find as well as premium defensive pistol ammo like the Hornady Critical Defense ® ammo and the Federal Hydra-Shok®.
There are some downsides to the P225 that I briefly touched on. The smaller round capacity and the age of the pistol can create some issues with it comes to magazines. I have yet to find a third party magazine manufacturer like Mec Gar. Although Mec Gar does make magazines for other model of Sig Sauer pistols, just not this one.
The weight of the pistol is another concern for some users, you have to remember this pistol was designed in the old days when most pistols were steel. Gaston Glock’s company was still trying to prove itself when this was designed and polymers had not been fully embraced by the gun industry yet. Personally, I think a polymer P225 would be great.
The Sig P225 isn’t perfect, and it isn’t for everyone’s conceal carry needs. Right now it is the choice I use but if I can’t find a quality kydex holster to replace the aging leather one I have, it might be time to look at other options and relegate this pistol to the gun cabinet. I don’t see myself ever getting rid of the P225, but it will be a range gun just like my Browning Hi Power and my Heckler & Koch P7M8.
Thanks for checking out our new series Days of Guns. My next installment of this series I will show up my favorite submachine gun, will it be the Dakota Tactical D54 or the Polish PPS43? check back to find out
