Recently purchased a P229 'Red Box' pistol in .40 S&W. These are law enforcement trade-in guns fully reconditioned by Sig Sauer, essentially as new condition. MSRP for a new P229 is now $1087, with NIB pistols regularly selling at or about $900, and I got this one for just over $400, in the 'red box' with manual, lock, 2 magazines, and one-year factory warranty. I am impressed with the quality, in every respect just like a new pistol.

This is my third Sig pistol, the first being a P232 .380 that I have owned for about 15 years (excellent shooter, very lightweight and easy to carry) and the other a P6 (German police surplus version of the P225 in 9mm). Both excellent pistols.

First trip to the range today with the P229. Experienced more difficulty loading these 12-round magazines with .40 ammo than I have ever encountered. My old retired arthritic hands are still sore from stuffing cartridges against those strong springs.

48 years experience with double-stack pistols such as the Browning Hi Power and never had this much difficulty loading magazines. Guess I will have to look into magazine loaders. Any suggestions?

Hello Lobo,

I don't think that you can do much better than a maglula loader. They are small, and durable (at least I have not broken one).
Here's a link http://www.maglula.com/product/uplula-9mm-to-45acp/, Amazon sells them pretty cheaply, and with free shipping whether or not you are a prime member - for the rest of the holiday season. I have the larger 9mm-45acp, and the smaller which works great for 380acp.

Ditto on the MagLula. And leaving your mags loaded for a week should make them easier to load.

After having the same problem with my PPQ M2 and then nearly slicing the end of my finger off when I slipped, I bought a MagLula too. Clearly a a needed accessory for any range bag. I like mine so well I bought a baby version for my singlestack mags too.

Another fan of the Maglula, which turned out to be another million dollar idea. The Red Box Sigs are a great deal and I have had a couple. Nothing like saving a few dollars on a great platform while not sacrificing quality. I wish I could find a P228 certified preowned for $400.00 .

I'll second what Yooper said regarding leaving the mags loaded for a week. I've done this with a few new magazines that were initially tough to load and they broke in nicely. I can't recall for certain, but I may have done this with P229 magazines as well as I also picked up a "red box" P229, about a year ago, and also felt it was an excellent buy. Mine is a P229R with the "legacy" slide and short extractor, indistinguishable (to me at least) from new, and for a little added interest has a serial number with a USPIS prefix, which I believe means it was a US Postal Inspection Service contract gun.

Lobo,
Where did you find a "red box" Sig?
I would be interested in one myself.

MAGLULA. Greg Cote sells them.

Yup. Maglula: the Ultimate Thumb Saver.

I remember when the CPO Red Box Sigs came out years ago. $475 to $550 for a like new Sig. I bought and sold several. Made money on every deal.

quote:

Originally posted by JSB3:
I remember when the CPO Red Box Sigs came out years ago. $475 to $550 for a like new Sig. I bought and sold several. Made money on every deal.

Dis they stop this? CPOs were good deals.

I've been using a maglula for about 13 yrs. now. It saves my thumb a lot of pain.

Just placed an order for the Maglula loader. Thanks for all the recommendations.

$400 for a CPO 229 is a good price. I've owned 4 229's and loved them but found I like the 220 more so I've sold all of my 229's.