I am now the proud owner of two Sig P226's.
Can somebody explain why they have two different extractors and what possibly defines the differences:

Original P226 had the folded carbon steel slide, with a pinned breech block, and the long internal extractor.

Later on, the P226's slide was a one piece milled stainless slide with the short external extractor.

Around 2009/2010, SIG changed the slide configuration again and put in the long external extractor. The only current P226 that still has the short external extractor is the Mk25, plus some special models like the LDC, and a couple of X5s from Germany.

Most X5/X6s have the long internal extractor.

I'd like to jump in. I've seen grumblings of one type being better than the other. Any truth to that? I know my Legion has the long external extractor.

quote:

Originally posted by Jus228:
I'd like to jump in. I've seen grumblings of one type being better than the other. Any truth to that? I know my Legion has the long external extractor.

Functionally, they are equally fine.
Cosmetically, I hate the long external extractor on the P226 and the P229.

I see. That may be what I saw. Though I don't care that much, if I had to choose a cosmetic favorite, the internal extractors on my p228 and XD pistols certainly have the cleanest look to them.