I'm looking to get another P series firearm starting with a 226. I've narrowed it down to the MK25 or the Legion and am curious what you made chose one over the other?

TBH I do really like the feature set of the Legion and the price difference is really nominal but didn't know if there were any nuances I've missed since being away.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

I’ve never had any interest in buying any of the exact “weapons used by XXXX.” For me, the P226 SAO Legion was more comfortable and had a much better trigger. I’m also not going salt water swimming anytime soon, so phosphated (sp?) internals aren’t a plus or minus for me.

The Legion, albeit initially expensive, has a lot of features that would just add additional cost to a base pistol and comes in under the cost of those additions, such as trigger work and my favorite, the undercut frame. I acknowledge not looking hard at a Mk. 25, cause the Legion ticked all the boxes I needed for an upgraded duty gun.

Bottom line is that it would cost more to build a Legion from a base pistol than to purchase a Legion outright. The features of the MK.25 didn't mean as much to me.

My Legion P226 DA/SA served as my duty gun for the last several years of my career, and still gets carried and used as a teaching gun, FWIW. The Mk.25 was never on the radar.

...and I have no idea where my special case and challenge coin are. The Legion "lifestyle" crap means nothing to me.

For me, it's very easy. The exclusive Legion club nonsense is a complete turn off. Plus, any P226 with a long external extractor will not be in my house.

The MK25 is a great gun but really nothing special about it unless you want a type of military style gun. The internals are coated differently compared to the original P226 but how many of us really need that? Not saying it is a bad thing and most definitely helps with moisture but for a concealed carry gun, it is a big one. I had one a little while back but only sold it as I made a good chunk of change on it. For a range shooter, it is nice.

I never owned a Legion and don't see myself getting one. It has a few nice features but I can't justify the price,personally. I am not knocking anyone who has one either. I guess what I am saying, a standard P226 is a great gun and is just as good as the others,on it's own merit. You can get a different hammer spring/strut,for older model P226 pistols that don't already have one, if you want to decrease the trigger pull weight, which I advocate very highly. It is a cheap fix but makes a big difference, in my opinion.

I bought the MK25 for 2 main reasons.

• I got a great deal on it.
  
• It’s dishwasher safe.
  

I bought my MK25 because the local farm and ranch store had them on the clearance shelf. Same reason I got the p227. I think I paid less for both of them together than the average legion would cost, but I've bought all my Sigs at clearance or mark down pricing except for the first one. There was a time frame about 4-5 years ago where a lot of special runs or discontinued models were on the web for ~$600. Still pissed at myself for not buying more when I had the opportunity.

I'd start with a nice P226 of '80s vintage...

Wait... What? Okay. MK25.

I just don't see anything that the Legion series offers that I couldn't do without.

I've drunk both the Mk25 and Legion Kool-Aid and I have to admit I like the Legion slightly better.

I chose the MK25 because it is closer to a regular P226 than the Legion. I prefer the features on the MK25, short extractor, finish, etc. over the Legion and wanted a traditional DA/SA. It sat in a case hung on a wall for the better part of a year and finally had its price dropped down below anything I could find online. So for me it was features and price that ultimately got me off the fence. After I added a GGI SRT kit into the MK25 the price ends up closer to the Legion than most would think. It’s a shame Sig doesn’t put that in for the price they charge.

I’m not into the stupid Legion club crap, but I do have an X5 Legion and registering it got me a pretty sweet range/carry bag. So I guess I’m part of the Legion even though I think the whole thing is queer.

Being how I live in the peoples demokratik republik, I am bound by a roster of approved handguns. My only choice is the MK25 unless I pay a roster tax…which I refuse to pony up.

Having owned both, if I were to get one again it would be the legion. The legion upgrades are desirable to me. Of all the P226s, the old school German folded steel slide ones are my favorite though. I know it doesn’t make sense, but they seem to point better for me.

I have the Mk25. At the time I bought it the Legion P226 didn't exist, not that I would've chosen the latter over the former anyway.

As for actually owning the Legion...nope, it ain't for me. While the new gray color was interesting the original Legion slide 'miracle' PVD finish in application was absolute crap; SIG now does them instead with Cerakote which at least gives it a decent chance of lasting more than a dozen draws from a holster. I will never like that foul "improved" slide stop that the Legion uses, though I admit it's harder to bump on the last shot. I also dislike the "big" aesthetic of the MIM extractor, but that's not as critical of a thing as it once used to be in my mind. Early on I knew of three broken extended extractors from local customers (one gun I actually shot prior to its extractor failing a couple of months later), but I haven't heard of any further issues in the years since, so at least functionally all seems very good. None of these early failures involved Legions, btw. But it still looks ugly compared to the original external extractor design...like the one the Mk25 (and each of my other classic P-SIGs) has.

Forward serrations I can either take or leave; I don't use them for press/clear checks regardless of their existence. The sights on either gun more or less suck since I don't care for 3-dot options these days, though I suppose some will say the XRay design is better than the basic SIGLite. For me I'd change them out for I-Dot or HD (EDIT: with a blacked out rear), especially for a set that can change the POA away from the damn Combat hold that SIG insists upon. The way I look the two guns, about the only clear advantage the Legion might offer over the Mk25 is in the quality of its trigger from the factory, but then a SRT kit will more or less rectify that if the Mk25 trigger action is actually seen as a shortcoming, which btw I actually don't. And as for the rail...well if the gun's gotta have one I'd rather have a M1913 Pic than the silly curved bastardization that SIG created once upon a time, so the Mk25 wins out there.

As for the whole 'Join the Legion' marketing ploy; well this is SIG under the Cohen era, after all. Silly marketing decisions is apparently a hallmark of their blessed CEO, whether now at SIG or prior at Kimber. I admit I sometimes wish we could send him back to Germany for a little more Merkel prison love; maybe some jailtime would do his brain a bit of good. At the very least it might give him some quiet time to reconsider relying upon early adopter beta testing all of the time.

Naw...now who's being delusional? It's Rapid-to-Market Ronnie; he'll never change.

I’ve had my MK25 for 8 years but choosing my P226 Legion was easy. I jumped on it as soon as I saw it priced at $499.00 in the used display case at my LGS .

I chose both, plus several other P226's.

The Legion has several upgrades, such as the undercut, positive magazine release (doesn't just drop, mag flies out), great grip, trigger, beavertail, and actual slide/receiver tolerances (it is smooooth). If you've held it, you notice the differences immediately. It's become my favorite P226 to carry. It's reliable - and that's key.

The MK25 is not really a gun to buy to actually carry, unless you are in a different world of work, you carry while swimming, jumping outta planes and/or raiding beaches. It's something to own, to shoot, and collect just for oneself. It may never become a collector's piece, and that's ok. I personally enjoy shooting it a lot.

Why make life difficult by having to choose? Each has its place, and they're all great. No way to go wrong.

I went with the mk25 when a friend of mine with a gun shop did a AAC tirant9/glock 17 combo deal for $1000 bucks. He ran out of the glocks, so for 100 bucks more he sold me the mk25 and the AAC tirant9. The tirant has since been dedicated to my HK sp5k sbr and the mk25 has a barrel I traded a forum member for a few years back.

All my paperwork cleared and I picked it up enroute to my wedding and the groomsmen had a hoot shooting at the farm after the wedding.

Thanks, all. Looks like we are split, all for valid reasons. I appreciate the insights.

In a perfect world, the Legion would have the short extractor but it seems to be a non-issue now and I already have a couple of the half moon punches from my E2 nitron.

Cheers!

I love my Legion. Purchased it the week they were released. Zero function problems, and I haven't had any finish wear even though.i shoot it the most of any gun I own and it's been abused at USPSA matches.

It was the 1913 rail for me. I chose the MK25

The MK25 is stil a P226. Because it has the outside finish on the interior parts for enhanced corrosion
for the navy seals (was Seal's pistol for two decades) for salt water. It is still a P226.
The P226 Legion is a different cat.
It's Sig's top of the line P226.
Poli Viejo