A few months ago while watching YouTube I ran across some videos of LEO Trade-In Glocks at AIM Surplus. The videos were a few years old, but I think the prices on the video reviews were in the mid $300 range. I thought for that price, maybe I will buy a Glock. AIM didn’t have any police trade-ins available, so I signed up for their email alerts…A bunch of them, SIG, Glocks, S&W…you name it.

When I bought my first SIG, a P239 back in 2006 or so I decided on .40 at that time. .40 has fallen out of favor in the past few years, but that’s fine by me, that means there are more guns on the used market. 4 or 5 years ago or so I picked up a police trade in P226 with a rail in .40 on GB. It came with a SIG blue box and the original 3 mags. I think I paid $335 plus shipping. Having a rail is nice as I have a light mounted to it. But I’ll admit, the rails are ugly.

On Thursday Jan 27th I got an email that the SIG P226 (no rail) police trade-ins were back in stock at AIM. The price was a little higher than I wanted to pay at $450, but everything is getting more expensive. I slept on it and went to AIM on Friday morning to buy 1. When it comes to guns I am kind of the opinion that, “Why buy one when you can have two at twice the price!”. I bought 2 for $450 each, so it came to about $980 with taxes, shipping and the optional insurance.

I picked them up from my FFL today, and I’ll just say I am more than happy with my purchase. AIM has a standard grade and an X grade, which are rougher than the standard grade. They both have German frames and stainless slides. The 2 pistols show very minimal wear on the frames and slides. Based on the wear on the outside of the barrels, they have definitely been fired a bunch. 1 has a mark on the grip from rubbing on a holster. 1 of them had been taken down quite often as the take down lever shows wear on the finish, as well as the slide lock and de-cocker. Nothing major as far as wear goes, but there’s a little wear there.

They both need to be cleaned, and I might get new barrels and springs for them. Not sure yet. I might keep an eye out for some older, 80’s era grips…I just like the looks of those grips. Who knows, maybe a set of rosewoods. Maybe short reset triggers.

After fees I’m into these for about $525 each. If you’re looking for a used SIG in .40, I would say sign up for the AIM notifications. I am still signed up for the G-22 notifications, but I think I’ll pick the SIG for $50 more. They also have 229 trade-ins listed, so I’m signed up for that in-stock notification as well. I’m really happy with my AIM purchase.

sweet. any idea what police department they came from?

Those are really clean for police trade-ins...they're definitely in way better shape than my retired duty gun. While not the processor 3 years ago, $450 is still a great deal for a functional P226.

Just out of curiosity, why would you replace the barrels? Springs I get, but I can't imagine there's anything wrong with the barrels. The wear in the photos just looks like finish wear that's pretty much normal for any p-series that has actually been shot...shouldn't affect function in the least.

Ship them to Sig for the re-hab. They will look over everything and replace all the pins and springs. Install new night sights, too. My guess is the barrels are fine.

No clue what dept they came from.

Thanks for the advice on not replacing the barrels. I'll shoot 'em, and if they shoot fine, I'll just leave them!

Unless they were severely abused, the barrels should be one of the last things that need replacing. The barrel should outlast the frame.

If you want to do a caliber conversion, that's different.

I live within driving distance to them, early last year i stopped in and they had 5 .40 226's, 4 .40 229's, a 4 228's under the glass, couldn't believe they had them during the purge, said that they dont post on their website if they only have a few....one of the 228's walked out with me.

quote:

Originally posted by m.p.driver:
I live within driving distance to them, early last year i stopped in and they had 5 .40 226's, 4 .40 229's, a 4 228's under the glass, couldn't believe they had them during the purge, said that they dont post on their website if they only have a few....one of the 228's walked out with me.

Its probably a good thing I dont live anywhere near them!!!

Sweet looking Sigs.

I'd have a hard time staying out of there if they were close by.

I used to live near them years ago before the actual store front. When you ordered online and picked up your stuff through a 3’x3’ window.
I visited every other Friday. I would grab a case of S&B 9mm for $99.99 and a case of Silver Bear 7.62x39 for $79.99.

I have been meaning to get up there again and see the store front.

Florence, Ky PD is down the road about 40 miles from AIM and they dumped their 226 .40s for 320s so they could have possibly come from there.

Thanks for the tip
Like many I wished I would have bought one years ago when I had a job and money.

I have always wanted one to round out my collection. Instead of buying 228's and 229's and I should have bought a 226.

I have one in 9mm but I am a .40 fanatic.

I need to rent one with a E2 grip to see if it fits my hand better.

Those are nice looking trade ins.

quote:

Originally posted by m.p.driver:
I live within driving distance to them, early last year i stopped in and they had 5 .40 226's, 4 .40 229's, a 4 228's under the glass, couldn't believe they had them during the purge, said that they don't post on their website if they only have a few....one of the 228's walked out with me.

Yeah, it might be good that I don't live closer to them! My next purchase will be a 228 or 229, most likely a police trade in if I can find one. I don't have any safe queens, all shooters.

I have 2 boys, who are 10 & 11 now. I'm trying to squirrel away stuff for when they get older. I know it took me until my mid 30's until I had enough money for guns, and it was still tough financially. I bought 2 .22 rifles last year. I'm itching to go to the range with them again, but my go-to outdoor range is temporarily closed.

They really enjoyed shooting my Ruger .22 pistol, MKIII.

The same here, used to stop at Lefferson at least every week, had a FFL at the time so it was dangerous, i walked out with things i still shake my head at.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
I used to live near them years ago before the actual store front. When you ordered online and picked up your stuff through a 3’x3’ window.
I visited every other Friday. I would grab a case of S&B 9mm for $99.99 and a case of Silver Bear 7.62x39 for $79.99.

I have been meaning to get up there again and see the store front.

Florence, Ky PD is down the road about 40 miles from AIM and they dumped their 226 .40s for 320s so they could have possibly come from there.

Back in stock, probably sell out fast. I picked up another one...

LEO Trade-In P226