January 08, 2020, 10:28 PM
BeancookerMy beginnings at sigforum and the awesome journey to a 228.
So, it all started back in 2010 when I decided to buy a handgun. I had been a rifle shooter all my adult life, but sucked in the handgun department.
Off to the local Cabelas I went. I spent days fondling all the different pistols. I knew I disliked striker fired pistols. Just my personal preference. So looking at all the different hammer fired, and revolvers were out. I kind of liked the Walther, and wasn’t sure about 1911s as the internet reviews of the 9mm 1911 were not great.
Then a guy we will call “Red”, asked me if I had looked at a SIG Sauer. I said no, and he showed me a 225. I fell in love. Double action, light pull in single, heavy pull on double, no safety, but has a decocker. The world was my oyster.
I came home and fingered that pistol like a prom date.
Then I found the Sigforum. Plenty of “nice gun” posts, and more posts of “why not a 229, it’s a double stack and holds more”.
I start to second guess my decision and back to Cabelas I go. Red was cool as ice and said we can just issue a refund in store credit. So I buy a brand new 229. I’m as happy as can be. I get home and post pics here. Everyone is like “nice gun”, but then there are some that say “WTF a 229? You should have bought a 228!”
So out shooting, and this thing starts wearing the frame. A lot. Like a whole lot. SIG says it’s normal. More rounds and photos and SIG said “Houston, we have a problem”. Gun goes back, and later it comes back as “normal wear”. Free short reset trigger, free trigger swap to the thick trigger. Free polishing of the internals.
Frame didn’t look as worn, and slide was the same. Seriously, frame looked different, as in the wear was gone. But the serial didn’t change. I just shrugged and didn’t ask anymore.
So I feel like crap, thinking I’m an idiot because I bought the wrong gun again and something better is out there. So I start looking for a lightly used or CPO 228. No dice. Everything I find is crap. Like worn out wear marks, blown out rifling, crap. The search continues.
Along the way I pick up a Kimber equinox which was a POS and quickly traded for cash to buy a Benelli M4. I picked up a 239 that I liked quite a bit. Red sold that to me for $500 or so from the gun library at Cabelas.
Years have gone by, and weekly I stop at Cabelas and chat with Red and ask if any 228’s have been around. He has a laugh and says if one worth a salt shows up, I’ll call you. I tell you this every week.
Many more months pass with the same routine. Then I get a call. It’s Red. He has a 228. Mint.
I tell my boss that one of the most important things since he has known me has come up and get permission to leave work early. Off to Cabelas I go. Red is standing with a smile. He goes in the back and gets the 228. It’s beautiful. Light holster wear and it’s never really been shot. There aren’t even smileys on the barrel. It’s brand new, just holstered. Triple serial matching. I’m elated, until I see the price.
$750.
So I had just bought a turbo back exhaust, an Accessport and a pro tune for my Subaru. I had a few other aftermarket parts that the wife wasn’t a fan of the expense. There is no way on God’s earth that I can drop $750 on a gun without a divorce at this point. I slide the gun back to Red and say thank you, but I have to pass. I cannot do this now, the wife, you know, right?
Red looks at me and says what about your 239? I reminded him that it was a $500 gun. I’m still in divorce territory. He said I should bring it in for him to appraise. I feel like shit, as I have bought a non threaded barrel and sold the threaded barrel to a Sigforum member, and basically devalued the gun. I also shot the hell out if it. So it has a ring 5k rounds through it from me, a lot of holster wear, and it wasn’t that great if a gun to begin with.
I bring it in, and feel like I’m getting my hopes up for nothing. Red looks at it, Does a few more looks, breaks it down, puts it back, and smiles. He takes off his glasses, puts them in his shirt pocket and says “it’s a shame I forgot my glasses today. As far as I see, this is a 98% gun and I can offer you $700 for it.” I look at him and told him thanks, but this isn’t right. I don’t want trouble for you, or something along those lines. He laughed and said we overpay for guns all the time. This isn’t an issue.
I traded in my 239 and $50 and walked out with an old, brand new 228. It was awesome.
I’m pretty sure I posted about it when I got it. I just may have left out details that would get Red in hot water. Pretty much a bunch of people telling me I finally got the best SIG.
Anyways, that’s my journey of acquiring my 228. A lot if luck, a cool as fuck old dude we’ll call Red, and the stars aligning.
While I don’t carry it because it’s big and heavy, it’s still, and probably will, always be my favorite gun.
I was a pretty avid poster fir a while and I karma’d away a bunch of aff the wall crap. It was pretty fun. Then I got butthurt about something and quit posting for years. Now I have come back for the last year or so, and am stoked to be a part of this amazing community.
Thanks to all of you. You guys have taught me a lot, not just about guns, but life too.
Black, VTail, sigmonkey, rburg (you angry old dude), Q - 12131, flashguy, 220Smudge, (Z712000? Alaska nurse with the daughter that can deflate others soccer balls) Arc, Yooper SIGs, sigmatic, skins(Jesse) Benny, sigfruend, Para, kskelton, henryaz, tatottodd, fearsom dreadnaught, and many others I am forgetting, I owe you a huge thanks. You all are awesome.
Special thanks to Para for keeping this place for us, Arc for your moderation and heavy hand, which is necessary, LDD for your moderation, and the others that I am forgetting.
Long story short, you all cost me a lot of money. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Thank you.
***Edited to add - I still cannot decide if I should go for aluminum grips or rosewood grips. Each are great in a totally different way.
