I have a P226 that shoots about 2" low at 25 yards. It has 8/8 contrast (white dot) sights from the factory. I'm looking to change the rear sight to a #9 contrast to get my POI back on target, but I have been unable to find one anywhere. Any suggestions where I can find a #9 contrast rear sight, new or used?

You may want to try the Classifieds section. Some members here might have it.

Thanks for the tip.

If these OEM contrast sights are as rare as unicorns, can anyone offer an aftermarket suggestion that is similar?

Numrich is always a good place to start for odd parts like that.
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/

CDNN also sometimes has odd SIG parts.
https://www.cdnnsports.com/

In either case you’d probably have to keep monitoring their sites to see what turns up there.

That said, although the original SIG armorer manuals I have do reference a number 9 sight, I have never seen one or even seen anyone mention having one. It can’t hurt to advertise or check around, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. And if you can see a 2 inch POI discrepancy at 25 yards, that’s some good shooting. I imagine that SIG stopped worrying about correcting that finely because very few people would be able to detect the difference, or worry about it if they could.

I'm assuming a #9 sight is taller to make you hold up the front sight to keep your sights aligned, raising your point of impact. Would trying a #6 front sight accomplish something similar? Those are actually in stock at Sig's website.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
I'm assuming a #9 sight is taller to make you hold up the front sight to keep your sights aligned, raising your point of impact. Would trying a #6 front sight accomplish something similar? Those are actually in stock at Sig's website.

The #6 front would lower poi another two inches. Numbers up, impact up and vice versa. Front sights change poi one inch per number, rears two inches. I agree with sigfreund, if you can discern two inches at 25 yards you’re damn good!

I've been shooting off sandbags to determine which ammo the pistol likes best. Range was 7yds and easy to see group is .7" low at that range. Translates to about 2" low at 25yds. I mentioned that range only because that is the range used by Sig in specifying the sight adjustment steps, 1" per number step on front sight, 2" per number step on rear sight, both at 25 yards. And yep, raising number of either raises POI.

Interesting that #9 rear sight might be rare or even non-existent, Sig advertised both a #9 and #10 rear at some point in the past. I was able to find a #9 front sight but that only gives 1" change, and I don't believe Sig made a #10 front sight.

Thx for all the help!

quote:

Originally posted by teg333:
I've been shooting off sandbags to determine which ammo the pistol likes best. Range was 7yds and easy to see group is .7" low at that range. Translates to about 2" low at 25yds. I mentioned that range only because that is the range used by Sig in specifying the sight adjustment steps, 1" per number step on front sight, 2" per number step on rear sight, both at 25 yards. And yep, raising number of either raises POI.

Interesting that #9 rear sight might be rare or even non-existent, Sig advertised both a #9 and #10 rear at some point in the past. I was able to find a #9 front sight but that only gives 1" change, and I don't believe Sig made a #10 front sight.

Thx for all the help!

Wait...you're shooting at 7 yards, and because it's roughly .7 low there, how are you determining that's 2 in low at 25? The bullet is still traveling upwards at 7.

I'm thinking you need to shoot at 25 to really figure out if you need to mess with sight height. Between you, presumably factory ammo, iron sights, and a presumably stock Sig P226, you may find that your sight height concerns are washed out in practice.

My goal was to have it zeroed at closer range, I simply translated to 25yd so I could reference the Sig adjustment data and see what sight changes were needed

BTW, I was shooting side by side with my P365X with factory sights and it was dead on at 7yds! That range seems much more realistic to me for a defense scenario.

But you bring up a good point, I should probably pattern it out to 25yd and beyond to fully document the performance, then make a decision.

Thx

I am curious as to how you translated POI at 7 to what it would be at 25. I'm poking at this because I am inclined to believe, based on your statements, that your concept of POI at various ranges vs bullet trajectory is not correct.

I would expect your P226, properly zeroed for 25, to be a little low at 7 because of the bullets trajectory. This is why I suggested shooting at 25 - I'm thinking you don't actually have a problem.

I don't think you want to be zeroed at 7. The resultant trajectory for that would make POI unacceptably high at 25. Unacceptably in this context I would define as most likely off the cheap Wal-Mart 6in paper plates I use as targets. One of the helpful guys with a ballistic program will probably plot that up to show if my gut is right or not.

The fact you are hitting dead on at 7 with your 365 could be driven by a lot of things - sight picture, how you hold, etc. I would be very surprised if the zero is really for 7 because of what I think it does to POI at longer ranges. A 25 yard zero will let you hit there, and for everything inside 25, at most only be low by the distance between your bore axis and whatever point you hold your sight on target, which for Sigs, should be the center of the front sight dot...ie small enough to not make any practical difference.

Not really interested in debating the proper range for zeroing a self defense handgun?

Still looking for possible sources for a #9 rear sight??

There are a couple of #9 options here:

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/g...-pistols-sig/228-sig

(228 uses the same sights as the 226)

Thank you for that reference. sigfreund mentioned gunpartscorp as well and I see they have a blank #9 sight. I'm wondering if I could find an insert that replicates the contrast sight, I just like having the 2 big white dots in the rear?

quote:

Not really interested in debating the proper range for zeroing a self defense handgun?

OK but the whole conceptual model you are using is just silly. A less than one inch deviation in a self defense handgun at 7 yards is irrelevant. Simply irrelevant. Debate or not the proper range. At the range you are discussing testing to base your changes trajectory has more to do with measurements than any sight issues. A perfectly zero'd factory 226 with most ammo would be -.3" low just on trajectory. And I doubt you can measure .7" very accurately on a.355 dia projectile at least shot in most mediums with respect to group size. At least that would be my experience across a vast number of 226's which all group a bit due to mechanical issues at any range.
In any case good luck and welcome.

quote:

Originally posted by teg333:
Thank you for that reference. sigfreund mentioned gunpartscorp as well and I see they have a blank #9 sight. I'm wondering if I could find an insert that replicates the contrast sight, I just like having the 2 big white dots in the rear?

You could epoxy the holes, leaving a dimple to paint.