I am in the market for a Sig Sauer Legion. However I keep hearing that the finish on them is a weak spot. I keep my weapons pristine and take very good care of them...although it will be a concealed carry gun...Can my Sig Sauer Brothers That own the Sig Sauer Legion give me some feedback...Has Sig Sauer addressed this concern? This is the only issue I have for not buying a Sig Sauer Legion already...Thank you...

quote:

Originally posted by XxRCHAWKxX:
I am in the market for a Sig Sauer Legion. However I keep hearing that the finish on them is a weak spot. I keep my weapons pristine and take very good care of them...although it will be a concealed carry gun...Can my Sig Sauer Brothers That own the Sig Sauer Legion give me some feedback...Has Sig Sauer addressed this concern? This is the only issue I have for not buying a Sig Sauer Legion already...Thank you...

If you want it buy it. I have 3 with no issues. I do not keep my weapons “pristine”. I shoot the ever loving shit out of them. Probably end of the year I’ll add a 229 to the stable.

If you are one of those guys that a pin head sized spot of imperfection bothers you, you might want to pick something else. Chances are if you look hard enough, you’ll find something. If not, find a good price on one and enjoy!

The only gun I have had that shows no holster wear is a frying pan Gen4 G19. Everything else has shown some wear. I don’t sweat it much. I’ve got one that’s down to the bare steel on the slide.

Not aware of any changes to the Legion finish. It is what it is. Have a Legion 226 and a non Legion 229. Would not mind a Legion 229 tho.

I have a P226 Legion DA/SA. I have up towards 30,000 rounds through it. It is my EDC, bedside and IDPA gun.

It has seen probably several thousands holster draws since I practice from the holster to the DA shot a LOT. My finish has been incredible. The frames rails are "golden" in color now and the slide has some wear (only a tad) at the leading points and edges of the front of the slide from holstering, but that is it.

It is wearing, but it is wearing very nicely.

It's not a great finish. Mine showed holster wear after a relatively short time and I don't care.

The only part of my guns that I stare at studiously is the rear of the front sight.

I've carried mine for about 4 months now. No problems at all.

The "PVD" finish on the legion looks good, but quickly wears. Mine show holster wear along the slide, shiny silver along the edges showing through. The only way to avoid that would be to not carry it at all, but that would seem to defeat the point of having one in the first place.

All the same, for the price point, I'd expect a better finish.

Inspect before you buy.

There is nothing wrong with the finish on the four that I own. They ride in leather lined kydex.

For carry, the finish benefits from wipe downs and being oiled lightly. The "stainless" slide does better if I don't let sweat get to bare PVD.

Bill

With all due respect if you are looking for something to look at I suggest to buy something else, my 226 legion is the tool I can trust my life to. The last thing in my mind is how it looks but the most important thing is if do my part it will work when I needed the most and that is what really matters to me.

The rails on both my P229 Legions look like shit. The rest of the gun looks great, and they both get LOTS of holater draw time.

It is a tool, not an art piece. Like buying a car but you dont want to drive it or it might get dirty. My Legion finish is fine but my guess is, it would still function if there was a scratch on it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Decker:
The rails on both my P229 Legions look like shit. The rest of the gun looks great, and they both get LOTS of holater draw time.

The rails on SIGs with alloy frames have always been a concern. Bruce Gray commented on that some time ago and gave a "color scale" indicating what was acceptable and when the rails were compromised.

I don't know how the Legion alloy frames are done or how the PVD finish and the anodizing relate to one another.

The solution from Gray Guns was grease rather than simply oil. Perhaps the CLP that one uses would also help to protect the rails from wearing down the anodizing.

Of course, as always, there are those that those that took issue with what Bruce Gray said about the rails and declared it was a "tempest in a teapot", "much ado about nothing".

For my money, I figure he knows what he's talking about. This was written by "scott", but I know Bruce has endorsed it in other posts I've seen.

Guide to Sig Sauer pistol inspection

And there is, of course, this.
Flork's Lubrication Recommendation

I know I was not aware of this when I bought my first SIG pistol, which was admittedly, not a Legion as it was back in 2005. The rails on that P229 are shot, pun intended. I shot the hell out of it and the rails were shiny silver. If it was not already ruined, it was well on it's way.

Now, I use grease on all my guns. I may make an exception with guns that have a stainless frame, but otherwise it's grease all the way on everything.

I've been chastised by one gunsmith for the grease saying it will gum up the works and is not good for a carry gun, oil only, he says and that lightly. I've had others said I am simply creating a lapping compound which will adversely affect the slide/frame fit. I still use grease.

I don't have any Legions right now, but have one on layaway and it is not going to be a carry gun.

A gun is a tool, but you want to maintain your tools as well.

This is also probably "old news", but SIG did change the finish on the Legions from PVD to Elite Cerakote.

Are the issue I've read about with the PVD or the Cerakote finish? I assume it's the former.

We are refinishing many of the Legions lately. Mostly have extensive wear from both the PVD and cheap Cerakote finishes

quote:

Originally posted by CCR:
We are refinishing many of the Legions lately. Mostly have extensive wear from both the PVD and cheap Cerakote finishes

Good for CCR, not so good for SIG. It should be disturbing for SIG, this is supposed to be a premium gun.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SIGWolf,

In my experience with an earlier Legion P226 with the PVD finish and a newer Legion P226 SAO with the current Cerakote finish, the only difference I really noticed was the color. The earlier one was a lighter gray. The newer one was a darker gray that many people thought had an OD green tint to it. I have since sold both of them, but it was nothing to do with the finishes. I didn't particularly notice anything unusual about durability, but I only had them for a couple of months or about 1000 rounds each. They were just range guns. I didn't carry them. When I went to sell the newer one, I did have the buyer pass initially because he thought it was an aftermarket finish due to the darker color. He already owned one Legion with the PVD finish and noticed right away. After he verified the factory finish had actually changed to Cerakote, he decided to buy it.

My pvd is weak. I will CCR it someday. I think the legion frame is worth the pvd.

I have two Legions and will have more. My P226 Legion has a little wear on the finish but it has been in and out of the holster thousands of times and I have shot hell out of it. My P220 will get there in time. As far as I am concerned it is just normal wear that comes with using and carrying these guns. To keep things in perspective, I carried a total of 14 different handguns for duty in my career. S&W, Colt, Beretta, Sig. And every single one of them got finish wear. I have seen M-11's and Glocks that are worn to bare metal, and the P220 Carry Elite I have carried every day for 8 years is worn to bare metal on all the edges. When I retire it to the safe I may send it in for a refinish but until then I am going to carry it and not going to worry about it.