There are designs that transcend time. Like the 1911 handgun. Or the early Ford F-100. Or the P-51 Mustang. They’re designs that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional at the same time, which is why they tend to stick around. One such design is SIG SAUER’s P226, which has been a favorite of law enforcement, military and civilian shooters since 1984. SIG recently released the version used by the Navy SEALs for civilian sale, and one email later I had a box with my name on it on the way to my FFL . . .
The standard P226 is an over-engineered marvel of gunsmithing. Whether it’s the polished finish on the frame or the butter-smooth feel of the slide slipping back and forth on the rails, there’s just something about the design that shooters love.
The fact that the things last forever doesn’t hurt either. My first P226 was a police trade-in I bought for $300 and despite YEARS of heavy wear, the thing never had a single malfunction and shot as straight as an arrow. Even my latest P226, a West German 1987 manufacture, has been running like a Swiss clock despite being older than I am (yep, you read that right).
But as with any gun, there were some things that could be improved upon from the original design. From the looks of things, SIG SAUER made a list of all those improvements, funneled them into a single design and then christened it the MK25.
When I showed the MK25 to Chris and Joe in Portland, they didn’t see much improvement over the standard design. “The only difference is the anchor! And for that price, it better be painted with ground-up unicorn horn.” And to the untrained eye there isn’t much new and different. But the reality is that while the changes are relatively minor, they come together to make something much better than a stock P226.
The first thing you notice (besides the gold pressed latinum anchor) is the rail on the front of the gun. While a rail might not be something that everyone thinks they need, take it from someone who just competed in a midnight 3-gun: you need ALL the light you can get when you’re shooting at night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCVL1AkFOkY
For that competition I didn’t have a light on my handgun and I really suffered for it. I could barely see the targets in the gloaming and a handgun light would have made everything much better. Like this TLR-1 that I have lying around.
Even if you’re never going to be running a midnight 3-gun or chasing bad guys in the dark of night, a light on a handgun is still something that is EXTREMELY desirable especially if you plan on using your pistol as a night table gun for home defense. Being able to ID your target before you pull the trigger is essential to keeping you and your family safe and felony free.
The only issue is that the very same rail makes it damn near impossible to find a holster to fit it. Since the shape of the holster is determined by what gadgets you throw on the rail, you’ll need to pick an illumination option and stick with it to use that holster (and if you take it off, the holster won’t quite work anymore). It makes holster selection annoying, but not impossible. Blade Tech and Safariland both have an assortment of holsters for various attachments available for purchase.
There are a couple other improvements over the original model that make this a superior handgun. First and foremost is the chunky external extractor on the slide, which is less prone to breaking than the original skinny extractor. It’s also much easier to replace.
Hand in hand with that change is the movement away from a removable bolt to one that’s integrated into the slide itself. That removes the need to replace the pins holding the bolt together every couple hundred thousand rounds. There has also been some lightening of the slide and refinement of its design that goes with the integration of the bolt.
There are some other nice upgrades as well like a chrome lined barrel, tritium night sights, and a 3-D barcode that makes inventory much easier in military armories (which actually isn’t a bad idea for my gun safe). But with all the improvements, the “feel” of the gun hasn’t changed. She’s the same old workhorse that I fell in love with oh those many years ago.
Its a functional gun that shoots well and is amazingly reliable — except when you use the crappy jam-tastic ProMag 30 round magazines.
Which isn’t to say I don’t have have some minor gripes with the gun.
When they upgraded everything else, they apparently forgot the trigger. The MK25 comes with the EXACT SAME trigger mechanism that I have on my 1987 P226. That means the first double action pull takes MILES and then the reset for each single action round after that is still quite long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDSHtAW4avI
SIG has a trigger kit for the P226 called the SRT or Short Reset Trigger which would have made the trigger far superior to the existing P226, but they decided to leave it alone. The SRT will only set you back $50 and the consensus is that its easy to do by yourself, but it really should have been included. Then again, it wouldn’t have been EXACTLY IDENTICAL to the Navy SEALs MK25, so I guess that would have (a) added to the cost and (b) removed some of the cool factor of owning a Navy-issue MK25.
The other gripe I have also has to do with the trigger, but this one’s about the design of the blade itself. On my old SIG, the trigger blade is one solid piece of metal. On the MK25, though, there are some cutouts in the back of the trigger. I suppose it could be a weight saving measure to make the trigger lighter and faster, but I would have preferred my old solid design.
The MK25 is a good step forward in the P226 design, but the best part about it is that it is 100% compatible with existing gear for your P226 — except the holster.
Lights, lasers, magazines…everything that fits your old gun will fit your new one. And since this gun has been around for close to three decades there’s tons of stuff out there. I’ve got it set up right now as the perfect night stand home defense gun (just missing the silencer…), but it will work just as well as a 3-gun pistol and give you plenty of options should you ever find yourself needing to shoot at night.
Or you could just do what Joe Grine does and slap a pisol bayonet on it for laughs.
That’s what I like about the gun: it gives you options you didn’t have with the original design. And especially given that it’s only $100 – $200 more than a brand new P226, there really isn’t any reason not to go with a MK25.
SIG SAUER P226 MK25
Specifications:
Caliber: 9mm Parabellum
Barrel: 4.4″
Overall: 7.7″
Weight: 34.0 oz. empty
Capacity: 15 (factory) / 18 (flush aftermarket) / 30 (lolwut)
Price: $1,049.99
Ratings (Out of Five Stars):
All ratings are relative to other similar guns, and the final score IS NOT calculated from the constituent scores.
Accuracy: * * * * *
I regularly get one ragged hole in my target at the range.
Ergonomics (Handling): * * * *
For me, it’s perfect. If you have small hands it may be a little less perfect. The only reason I knocked a star off was the damned slide stop (see my review of the P226 for more on that feature).
Ergonomics (Firing): * * * * *
Besides the trigger issue I mentioned, there’s nothing wrong with this gun. Nothing at all.
Reliability: * * * * *
SIG has a habit of making extremely reliable handguns. My first P226 was made in the 1980s but ran thousands of rounds a year without a single issue.
Customization: * * * *
There are tons of accessories for this gun and especially thanks to the rail in the front, there are nearly unlimited options for how you can doll it up. There’s even a mount you can get that straps to the rail out front and provides a mounting surface for a red dot sight. But that rail also makes it tough to find a good holster, which made me drop a star off the end.
Overall Rating: * * * * 1/2
Give me an SRT trigger and we’ve got a deal, SIG. But for the money ($900-ish at Bud’s Gun Shop) I really can’t complain.
Full Disclosure: This handgun is currently on loan from SIG SAUER for testing, but I am in the process of handing them cash in exchange for not having to ship it back. This will be P226 #3 for me.
The lie continues…It’s not the elected representative but the unelected bureaucrats that crafts their conscience, builds their castles and gathering the peoples coin…only to serve themselves and protect their pensions.
Russian or not, I do feel bad for the guy serving as SVD bi-pod\meat shield.
Gun lights for use as a nightstand gun?
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/01/daniel-zimmerman/surefire-sued-over-dallas-accidental-shooting/
I’m surprised that you wouldn’t mention that there is some controversy in the use of gun mounted lights for home protection. Nothing like lighting up your kid whild in the process of IDing. Seems like a bad idea to me.
Better to light up your kid then shoot ’em in the dark.
The kid will get over it.
…and point sadly missed…
Well, using “lighting up” was also unfortunate, since you were also talking about lights. Missing the point was almost inevitable.
Weapon lights are well worth it. There is a reason that they are used by police and military. They work. Target identification is crucial in home defense, and a weapon light is much easier to handle in a stressful situation than a gun and a flashlight. Try shooting groups with either method either slow fire or rapid fire.
There is plenty of side spill on lights like the Streamlight TL-R pictured where you do not need to point the gun directly at your target to get a good ID.
What is the difference with the sights? I’ve been waiting for a review of this gun.
looks like SigLite sights to me. Which I am quite fond of.
Mr Leghorn seems to be confusing the P226 MK25 with an old-school P226 (of the stamped sheet metal slide variety).
*All* modern P226s have:
– A machined, single piece, stainless steel slide (a much more significant change than the switch from roll pins holding in the breach block to a single solid pin holding the firing pin).
– A rail for a light mount.
– External extractors.
SIG has also had a “Navy” variant of the P226 out for a few years, in one form or another. The original ones were sold with a portion of the proceeds going to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
What makes the Mk25 different from a P226 is a much shorter list (shorter on practical significance that is):
– Chrome lined barrel. Relevant only to the .05% of shooters who would ever put the volume of fire through a P226 to wear out the barrel.
– Phosphate coated interior components (as specified in the Navy contract).
– Standard size P226 grips (new P226s all come with the slimmer, single piece E2 grips, which fit a lot more people a lot better).
– A mil spec picatinny rail as opposed to the standard SIG contoured rail; this ensuring only 2-3 companies will ever make a Mk25 holster. Also, nicely confusing for folks who buy a P226 holster specified as working with a rail, only to find out that SIG uses 2 *different* rails on their guns.
– The anchor engraving.
The review should be changed to reflect the significant platform similarities between a Mk25 and a bog-standard modern production P226 and the very old school P226 that hasn’t been made in about a decade.
That is all well and good but I only want one because at has that cool anchor on the slide. Though it would be better if it had a trident on the slide and instructions on how to perform the super-secret Navy SEAL poser handshake.
I hear to do the handshake properly involves a monkey.
And clothespins.
And some kind of large blade.
Why don’t you start your own blog instead of shitting on someone else’s.
Larger external extractor
Correction ; has the shorter extractor.
Does it come with a bipod so you can put even more junk on it?
How about a free navy seal?
the way i judge a handgun that i’ve never owned is to go to a rental range and try it. rental guns are horribly abused. the old red headed step child treatment. the 226 i tried was dripping crud and it still worked with the generic range loads that were provided with it. and as a side note; the magazine was easy to load by hand, something that can,t be said about all pistols.
Ditto here. The first pistol I ever hot was 4 years ago at the local range. It was a SIG P226-Navy. I know I put 2,000 rounds through it myself. Just went back to the range a few weeks ago. Same gun was still shooting strong… Right until the slide flew forward. The takedown pin had finally worn away.
First time I’ve heard that reason for using rental guns – excellent idea.
Might the mag being easy to load have something to do with the springs being worn?
The Sig might be a $900 street price (msrp $1000) but then you have to add in the price of a laser light, flashlight, spare batteries, extra mags (you gotta buy those too) etc. Suddenly, the price is much higher.
You have to buy those with every other gun too.
A 3D barcode? That sounds nifty…
Unfortunately after a few cleanings it starts to easily peel off.
I love my P229. I can’t help but wonder about the flaking on the “9mm para” (clearly visible in the third from last photo), though. Mine and every other Sig Sauer I’ve seen has this, even when the pistol is relatively new. In fact, even the photo on the Sig Sauer catalog has it flaking away. It seems very strange to me. I’m tempted just to polish the remaining coating off so it’s at least uniform.
If you get the “Action Enhancement Package” offered by Sig on many of their guns that really does smooth the trigger pull, they will do this for you. All of the guns that I have had “action enhanced” have come back with glistening metal barrels where the old coating used to be. Not sure why Sig still bothers blueing this part.
Thats what i did to my 226 polished the barrel hood and sides for the same reason it looks mint
I saw your comment about polishing the barrel head on your 226 mk25. Mine is looking pretty crappy. After shooting for awhile do you see any wear marks on the polished surface? Any do’s and don’ts? Would you mind send me a picture of your gun. Any and all information is welcome. Thanks.
I polished mine it looks mint
Nick,
If personally buying this gun was a possibility, why not purchase an off-the-shelf model for the purpose of the review? A review of a gun sent to you directly by Sig is about as helpful to the average consumer as a Guns and Ammo cover story.
Also, do people actually shoot SA/DA pistols in 3-gun??
To be honest, the review gun might be a better route to go. This one, for example, has already seen some heavy wear and didn’t even come from SIG cleaned up from the last reviewer to use it. She’s been run hard and put away dirty, which is something that we would need to spend thousands in ammo on before we got it to the same state.
And yes, I shoot DA/SA in 3-gun. There aren’t many of us that do, though.
I have a West German P226 9mm that I purchased on my 21st birthday in 1987. Since then I’ve probably put a least a quarter million rounds through it. I’ve replaced springs, pins and I wore out the original hard plastic grips (replaced with Houge) and even adapted it to shoot 9mm, .40sw & .357 sig. I was told I couldn’t do the conversion by SIG so I set out to do it anyway. It works beautifully in all three calibers. I also figured out how to convert it to .45 gap, but I shelved the idea because the ammo costs and the need to make a custom barrel. But after owning and using this pistol almost daily for half of my life it is just now needing a new barrel. I think the reason my barrel has lasted so long is because I was taught to clean my weapon every time I shoot it. I’ve also added the SRT to it recently and I really like the the way it resets. By far this is the pistol I feel is most like an extension of my own hand. My next favorites being the CZ-75BD & Series 70 1911. By far the 226 is the best browning design ever. (Browning BDA)
M2. Wonderful piece of kit. Those that blow hot air about how powerful the m4/16 and AK’s are have obviously never experienced the m2. But as others have stated, much too expensive to feed.
this from an enthusiast only legal to buy a handgun for 4 years at best?
[at time of article posting]
I don’t think so.. lost me completely at:
“She’s the same old workhorse that I fell in love with oh those many years ago.”
skipped the rest..
I was off to Desert Storm when author was an infant [if even born yet] and I don’t even have many guns I can refer to that way.. including the m1911 I qualified with and carried or the many m9’s that followed.
in reply to the comments regarding weapon mounted lights for home defense..
absolutely – rule #4
only redeeming quality of the article is the myriad of informative comments and replies.. most of which seem to be from folks well experienced with the platform – thanks for clearing up the article’s oversights.
Just received MK25, any break in precautions from you shooters, before I fire first rounds….
Sig is NOT a quaility firearm. There customer service is the worst. Paid a 1000 bucks for 1911, never shot it just worked the slide and the frame was cutting into the slide. Sig was worthless, said until I shot it, they would not look at it, after I shot they said I have put 500 rounds, then they wanted me to pay for shipping, then they wanted pictures, then they wanted me send on the slide in since it was scratched, two weeks later they said they needed the frame. Two months later they said they are busy and I will get my gun back after they look at it and decide it is a warranty issue. Later they call and say my warranty is VOID since I polished the feed ramp and any modification to the gun without them doing for 200 bucks, voids the warranty.
They suck on many levels – if you buy one of their Yugo’s you get what you get good luck, if it does not work when you need it, dead men don’t sue, and Sig knows it.
Unethical, unprofessional and frauds…
There should be a tax on stupid.
These people would be too broke to speak and the national debt could be paid off in a year.
I have to admit I have never shot a SIG, I do own an XDM 9mm and I love it. I’m gonna have to rent a SIG next time I go to the range!
That Springfield isn’t cheap and its an awesome firearm, so if you love your XDm don’t do it!! I own a Springfield XDm 9mm too (4.5″). I went to the range with the little mrs. for my birthday, brought my XDm and rented a MK25… We shot them both and I bought a MK25 a few weeks later! I like striker fire guns as much as the next guy and the XDm is a pretty awesome firearm, but that MK25 just shoots like butter and IMHO just a bit more tame than the XDm. Now, I don’t really consider myself a competition marksman anymore, but my grouping with the MK25 is noticeably tighter.
I don’t shoot my XDm much anymore. I am considering selling it.
Just one man’s opinion.
BUY THE ELITE DARK…front serrations, SRT, SIG NITE (my 40 had adjustable and aluminum grips, the 9 did not) and all the GREAT standards on the 226…AND WITH THE JOY OF THE BEAVERTAIL! This should have been the MK 25…and ALL THE GUYS ARE SETTING THEIR SIGHTS ON THIS MODEL OVER THE Mark!
I have a mk25, purchased new in July 2014. Few hundred cheap rounds through her with no problems. I personally like the trigger, I also have a p220 (.45) with the srt and I can’t feel much of a difference at all. I have a few sigs, the only problems I’ve had we’re hollow points not feeding in my p238s, the “rounder/smoother/plastic cap” hollow points work, but more flat/sharp hollow points stop on the ramp. Just a slight push on the back of slide and they’ll feed. To be fair I only have about 100rds through the p238s, but still…. (And yes everything was clean and oiled) Then the other problem was my .45 p220, shooting cheap ammo. It was “Russian tulammo” really hard (almost impossible) loading into my mags and after my last round, the slide wouldn’t catch the lock (once or twice?) But this was the first box of ammo I put through her. Iv used lots of other cheap ammo after that with no other problems.
All in all, I love my sigs, but personally I think I paid to much for all of em. You can get new berettas, glocks and others for almost/ or half the price.
So what this article is saying is that besides the Anchor and Coated barrel there is no difference?
——————-
I wanted the weapon JUST BECAUSE the Seals use it…. be I ‘Googled’ what the actually use and it’s just about everything under the Sun.
Regarding the light………….I use a TLR-4 with a 3 way, easy to use switch. 1. Light only, 2. Laser only, 3. Light and laser together (the laser dot is centered in the beam.)
I’ll add that the TLR-4 lights up not just a big room in the house but will light up the back yard and the laser dot is easily visible to over 50 yards.
My bedside firearms are a Glock 30, a Sig P220 Combat and a P226 Navy all equipped with the TLR-4. Only one light as I rotate which gun sleeps next to me. Like kids or dogs they all want my attention.
I also have a rechargeable Streamlight flashlight with a strobe function. That might be even better when used with the strobe because it pretty much blinds whoever is on the receiving end of the light. You can watch them with no problem while they’re really not able to do much in the way of answering back. Don’t know how many lumens that sucker puts out but it’s brutal. I know because I had my wife test it on me!! It would pretty much incapacitate a BG! It’s like some kind of secret weapon used by the gov’t that you see on the Discovery Channel! So if you go with a hand held light be sure to practice one hand shooting which should be a requisite item for anyone serious about defending hearth and home.
And I’ll add something a firearms trainer told me. Be sure at least once to fire your SD gun at night and without ear protection! Most of us only practice daytime, two handed and with ear protection. Loud and blinding!
I have one of the original P226 Navy models without the rail. It is my end of the world gun. It is outrageously accurate. It is Second Coming reliable and yes it is to hell-and-back awesome!
How is the P226/Mk25 for lefties? Appears all the controls are set up strictly for right hand shooting. I’m a natural lefty, but was raised shooting right handed. Now, due to three right hand wrist surgeries, I’m pretty much now reliant to shooting left handed, which fortunately I can do very good. Real problem is finding the handgun with good ambidextrous controls, not to mention holsters-which already seem to be an issue with this pistol. I love Sig Sauer pistols, have a P938, and love it. Not a wheel gun fan.
I’m left handed also and really want this gun. I have a couple other Sigs and don’t really have much issue with them being made for right hand. You just learn to use your index finger for the slide release and mag release. Some Sigs are made so you can change the mag release to either side. I just bought the P320 Carry, It has a slide release on both sides and the mag release is interchangeable too.
My shoes are older than you are…not necessarily a criticism.
I would NEVER use a light on any of my guns, especially for home defense at night,, EVER !
How hard is it to understand that when you use a light or laser, you make an easier TARGET of yourself ! ?
I am a believer in having a mounted light on a handgun. if you are concerned about giving away your position than don’t activate the light. Light in beneficial in almost every other situation and circumstance. Additionally, how many confrontations, shooting incidents occur when one of the involved people’s whereabouts is unknown. Statistically speaking the vast majority of handgun involved shootings are within close range. I prefer to see what I am shooting at, again in almost every situation. Last thing the light gives you an advantage of vision obstruction with the other individual (partially blinding light). i have a Viridian tac light/laser combo and believe me that laser is awesome, and it is a great motivator/intimidator.
Also, when you say things like “Being able to ID your target before you pull the trigger is essential to keeping you and your family safe and felony free.”,,,
you scream that you live in one of the NA Z1-liberal States… that must not have a basic “Castle Domain/Castle Doctrine” law…
The surefire light did not shoot the poor guy, it was an idiot in uniform with a piece of garbage glock that “accidentally” shot him, if it was indeed an accident and not a extralegal murder/execution.
Police have no business using glock pistols for law enforcement, its this hammer-less single-action pistol with a hair trigger and no safety lock that has shot and killed hundreds of people over the years because the gun “accidentally” was fired. And do not forget the countless citizens whom have “accidentally” shot themselves with this glock piece of garbage.
Poor little policeman is under stress, lets all cry big crocodile tears for him – until you have to bury your friend, neighbor, or relative because of an twitchy trigger-finger and a glock pistol.
Law enforcement should be forced to use a safer double-action only handgun like the SIG 226 or Beretta 92, not a single-action no safety piece of garbage, heavly marketed by post Nazi Austrian industrialists and countless Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.
Larry, or Bob, or whoever you are:
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
Glocks from the factory are far from having “hair triggers”. As far as having no safety, you quickly learn to take a weapon off safe the second you draw from a holster. As we practice with out Beretta 92, which by the way are not, as you claim, double action only. They are DA/SA. Over and out!
Why don’t you all shoot an HK, and forget about everything else?
Just shot my MK25 for first time on the range and man what a pistol. Put over 300 rounds through it and it shot great!!!
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