I got to wondering reading the Proto thread and it’s crossed my mind before. Why is the P228 seemingly your “drug/collectible” of choice if you will? It’s a fairly pedestrian firearm all things considered.

I only ask out of curiosity and I always love hearing about people’s passions and the why’s and what’s that drive their passions if you will. I just really enjoy hearing about and seeing a knowledgeable person expound on what they love.

So why the P228 in a sea of wonderful firearms, not that the P228 isn’t a wonderful firearm in and of itself.

Chris.

The P228 has characteristics that many other pistols also have, like reliability, accuracy, durability, capacity, compactness, balance, and relatively lightweight. So why is it The One?

The classic SIG Sauer folded slide is a thing of beauty. The profile, the lines, corners and angles all came together to make it look just about perfect. The P220 is too big for the capacity. The P226, for its high capacity, is still large. The P225, beautiful, compact and well balanced, is a little low on capacity. The P228, same compactness as the P225, has almost the same capacity of the P226. So, the P228 is it, to me. Now, if they had made PROTO-1 successfully into the commercially available P226C, that would have been even better, as I mentioned in the P228 factoids thread when comparing PROTO-1 to the P228.

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The only Sig have left is my 228.

Perfection is oddly boring.

Sig 228 one of the best all around 9mm ever made. Reliable, accurate and feels good in the hand.

I have plenty of the P series sigs, and Thanks this forum and to Q my grail gun became A Nickel P228. They are beauties. Thanks Q!

I hope to have a P228 someday...

I don't agree with the 228 as perfect but the Sig 220 all stainless is. You know you will eventually need a hammer and the 220 is one.

Appreciate it. I totally get it just peaked my curiosity.

Take care, shoot safe,
Chris

I’ve owned many WG Sigs, including multiple P228’s. The P228 is possibly the best balanced for most people. That being said, I do feel the whole WG Sig line is more legend than substance. It’s an aluminum frame and a folded steel slide. Quality is average at best in my opinion, at least compared to the high end Sigs.

The mystique has worked in my favor though, since I doubled my money selling them.

I completely agree about folded-slide compact sigs. The heft and balance is pretty much perfect. I have a P229 with a milled stainless slide, and it feels a lot more top-heavy than my folded-slide guns.

Sadly, I don't own a P228...I kind of missed the boat on that one. I should have bought one back when they were cheap, but I didn't, and now they're just outrageous. Maybe someday I'll stumble across one in a small LGS somewhere. I do have a P6/P225 and a P245, which are both supurb.

quote:

I have a P229 with a milled stainless slide, and it feels a lot more top-heavy than my folded-slide guns.

I felt the same way with my 229R, missing the perfect balance of my 228. So I had a gunsmith cut lightening ports in the slide, and it feels great now.


P229R Final - 1 by kpkina, on Flickr

Four years ago this month, I won a 228 in one of 12131 great karmas. Since them, I have had a chance to visit with him a time or 2 via email.

It is one of my favorite Sigs.

That's a pretty good question?

I got my first P228 not too long after I moved to VA, (2002ish). I had a brand new CZ-75 Compact that I could not get to cycle. I tried everything, took it to the armorers at the gun store where I bought it and they tried everything.

The store let me switch guns. I think I had to add like $50 to the exchange.

After that I got a couple more, then I started buying P229's.

I've always been curious as to which model P228 Q prefers the most... is it the nickel plated P228 (based on rarity), the Afton Arms stainless steel frame P228 (sure wish Jaymie were still around) or the earliest / latest P228 based on serial number?

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
I completely agree about folded-slide compact sigs. The heft and balance is pretty much perfect. I have a P229 with a milled stainless slide, and it feels a lot more top-heavy than my folded-slide guns.

This is by far the most often cited difference between the P228 & P229, and it is noticeably true when handling an unloaded pistol. That said, I do wonder if the same can be said when both pistols have fully loaded magazines. I've never handled both at the same time (I don't own a P229), but I'm skeptical that weight distribution/balance would be dramatically different once the pistols are loaded. While the P229 weighs 2.8 oz more than the P228, with all of that difference in the Slide, 13+1 rounds of 9mm ammo (124 gr.) weighs ~ 6.4 oz., a difference of ~3.6 oz. Seriously, if you're adding ~ 6 oz of weight in the Pistol Grip w/ a loaded Magazine, it's difficult to imagine a P229 feeling 'top heavy' with 13+1 rounds of 9mm on board...

That said, the P228 is a AWESOME Pistol, and one of the greatest SIG's of all time!

Of all my Sigs that have come and gone over the years, my trusty folded slide P228 has never budged. Something magical about it to me. It's no safe queen, just a reliable shooter that fits me well.

quote:

I completely agree about folded-slide compact sigs. The heft and balance is pretty much perfect. I have a P229 with a milled stainless slide, and it feels a lot more top-heavy than my folded-slide guns.

I only kind of agree. I notice the difference but for me the proof is in the shooting. I shoot my KE P228 and my P229s equally well. I only own one P228 but I have four P229s. As long as it doesn't wear that fugly long extractor of the dash-one era guns, the P229 is more than good enough for me.

I'm not saying that the P229 is in any way a bad gun...it's not. I can shoot it fine, and it's likely a stronger design. I just prefer the feel and balance of the folded slide guns. There's also less reciprocating mass with the lighter folded slide. Its not a significant amount, but it's enough to be noticeable. I was just playing with my P245 alongside a P220 compact last night, and my view on this was re-inforced. We're talking a very small degree of difference here, but the question was why the P228, and for me the weight and balance is enough to give the folded slide guns a slight edge over the milled stainless ones.

For me, the difference was not just handling, but also actual shooting. When I switched to the 229 (my friend has the 228 now), I noticed that although the top-heaviness made the gun slightly less pointable, it also kept the muzzle down on successive shots. So the 228 was better for single shots, the 229 had the advantage for rapid fire.

Determined to have the best of both worlds, I had lightening slots cut into the slide, and a pair of recoil ports drilled into the barrel. Now the 229 has that balanced feel, yet with controlled recoil as well.