I'm sure everyone knows the feeling. At least, I hope you do. You decide that you will take a quick run through the used gun case at Bass Pro Shops just to see what they have. If history is any indicator, then you may find something nice. But the price is not worth looking any closer. Well for me, that all changed last Friday. I had just left the showroom at AIM Surplus. I resisted temptation there as they had just added some nice imports that were certainly worth looking at. This included a real P225 in very nice shape, and a German proofed two-tone P229 in .40 S&W. Price on both was reasonable, but not enough to sway me to take them home. So before lunch, I ran into the relatively new Bass Pro Shops to swing by the used case. At first, I didn't see anything exciting. A month ago, they had a used P230SL. No box and only one mag for $650. It was nice, but I didn't need another one. But this day, I found something hidden in that case. There sat a P229 in 9mm. You usually don't see 9mm P229s in my opinion. Most of the time they are in .40. It was listed at $449. Well, at that price you of course need to look at it. And look at it I did.

The associate handed me the pistol from the case. It turned out to be a more recent P229 with E2 grips and slide serrations that more resemble my P228 than classic 229 lines. The hang tag said it came with factory box and 3 mags! Upon further conversation, the sales guy said this was the last of 5 police trade-ins they had received. Now I'm very interested as I am looking at a P229, in 9mm, with 3 mags and original case for $449! It also has the Sig X-Ray sites. Physical appearance is very clean. Not a scratch on it other than some markings on the rails where it appears a light was mounted at one time. Long story short, someone like me who has been a Sigforum member now for over 21 years will not be leaving a steal like this behind. Here she is in all her glory.





Once I got her home I started to research this model more. Most of the examples I could find on Gunbroker are the Elite model. That is not this pistol. The other examples I find are the CA compliant model. Again, not this one as it does not have the horrible loaded chamber indicator on the top. The box provided is a real Sig box that is time period correct. But the label is not a full Sig label with model number even though the serial number listed matches. My searching over the weekend tells me the model should fall in the E29R-9-BSS listings. But I am not finding anything current, or selling on Gunbroker matching exactly what I have. Any thoughts out there to my collective friends here? If it really is a police trade in, would Sig provide where it was initially sent?

While the outside looks unfired, the inside told a different story. It was dirty! But it cleaned up easily and now looks like a brand new pistol. One can never turn down a quality Sig like this for under $500 out the door. My only complaint would be the amount of time it took to complete the sale at Bass Pro. I swear it took 30 minutes to complete the 4473 as it required 4 additional associates to come and re-check the paperwork! I totally get the CYA attitude, but this seemed excessive. I guess that is the price you pay for stealing a deal.

If anyone can help shed some light on the actual model number here I would appreciate it. Or perhaps it is a special model only offered to Law Enforcement orders. Either way, I just like to keep track of what I have in my collection. Thanks for any input.

That was a great buy, and honestly exactly what I've been looking for lately. I wonder if Bass Pro has any more in the pipeline? The nearest one is over an hour away, but it would be well worth the drive for that price!

Congratulations on that most excellent find! I’ve recently rediscovered the goodness of a P229 in 9mm - wonderful pistols!

No idea on the pipeline or distribution across all the Bass Pro locations. When speaking with the sale associate, he told me this is the last of the 5 they received. He also said he was only putting one out at a time because he has seen other vendors come in and buy out the entire stock only to re-list as their own offerings later at a higher price. Not sure if that was a sales story or just hyperbole but it didn't matter here. That wasn't going to sway my buying decision. I have been lucky enough to score several deals/steals over the years. I'm adding this one to my score list. I do think I will replace the E2 grips at some point. They feel okay in the hand. But I still value the old classic look.

Sigh. Congrats on a fortuitous stumble. That is an excellent find. I've got a P225 from 3x years ago, the real 225, and would love to have a 229 like that to join it. Guess I should go window shopping more often.

quote:

My only complaint would be the amount of time it took to complete the sale at Bass Pro.

Blame the game, not the player.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

My only complaint would be the amount of time it took to complete the sale at Bass Pro.

Blame the game, not the player.

Agree 100%. At no time did I get upset with that team. Just kept thinking "are we done yet?"

Congrats! You've got yourself a very soft shooting/compact 9mm and even if this wasn't specially made for an LE contract, it's still a great pistol at a great price.

High five my man!
I would have been all over that deal too, but I'm not jealous. Last Friday, I came across a deal on a P226 that was too hard to pass up, so we both have cause to celebrate our great finds on legacy Sigs.

quote:

Originally posted by dwp10mm:
My only complaint would be the amount of time it took to complete the sale at Bass Pro. I swear it took 30 minutes to complete the 4473 as it required 4 additional associates to come and re-check the paperwork! I totally get the CYA attitude, but this seemed excessive.

I bought a gun at a Range USA last year. I was prepared for 30 min or so, but no exaggeration - it took nearly an hour for them to complete my purchase. It wasn't busy either. It was around lunchtime on a weekday, and there were more staff on the sales floor than customers present. The long time they took caused me to be late for an appointment.

quote:

I guess that is the price you pay for stealing a deal.

It's more a matter of a business not trusting their employees. There's a LGS I frequent where as long as there's at least 10 min before closing, they'll close the sale and jump through all the ATF hoops w/o worrying about failing to CYA. In fact, it's the one I bought the P226 I mentioned above. I didn't wait until near closing time to purchase, but I've been in that situation before, and they gladly served me.

I have a 9mm 229 that I bought at FJ Vollmer many years ago. I think it had belonged to an officer. It only came with one 10 round magazine. I have shot it a lot and it is accurate and reliable.

Well, I got lucky today myself! Scored a 9mm P229 Elite on GunBroker for what should come to just over $600 after fees, shipping, and transfer. Not as good a deal as yours, OP, but not bad for GunBroker. Plus it should come with night sights and an SRT already installed, which will save me buying those.

I'm excited about this one as it's going to be the basis for a optic-equipped DA/SA carry gun build. I wanted an optic-equipped counterpart to my P229 SAS, because cutting that one up and adding a dot would detract from the svelte-ness of its melt job. I tried a couple weeks ago to do something similar by buying a used slide off eBay and that turned into a disaster, so hopefully this purchase goes a little smoother.

Sounds like you got a great deal as well 92fstech. Please share your pics of that buy once you have it in hand.

It came in yesterday but I was working, so I had to wait until today to go pick it up. I have to say this was the easiest gunbroker transaction I've ever had. I used a new transfer FLL that I've never used before...a little feed store in a little town about 20 minutes away. They were super nice to deal with, still use the paper forms which I much prefer to the computerized crap most places are going to, and only charged $20. Their FFL was already on file with gunbroker, so I didn't have to mess with that, and the seller didn't charge any credit card fees and shipping was quick and only $10. Not at all what I have typically come to expect from GB. All in I'm at $625 OTD.



The gun itself has some very minor cosmetic handling marks, but otherwise is perfect. I was just looking for any old 9mm P229, and never did my research on the Elite, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. What I can tell from looking it over:

1. Front Strap Checkering - I like this a lot
2. Checkering on the bottom and front of the trigger guard - Not sure why, not something I'd ever use, but it's not hurting anything.
3. Grip is undercut under the trigger guard - I'm a huge fan of this.
4. Trigger is adjustable for overtavel - I didn't know Sig made a factory adjustable trigger, and at first I thought somebody might have swapped in a Grayguns part, but it's clearly MIM and has casting marks on it, so it's not from Bruce. The trigger is also standard length, not the short one that I hate, so that's a huge plus.
5. Factory Short Reset Trigger - Another huge plus that saved me $40 because I install an SRT kit in every P22X Sig that I own.
6. Factory night sights that still work - Very nice.
7. New style mag release with the retaining clip similar to the design that they use on the P320. This is my first P22x gun with one of those...they've worked fine for me on the 320s, so I don't foresee a problem. I like the checkering on the button, too.
8. Solid steel guide rod - Not something I probably would have invested in were it not included, but it's a nice little add-on.
9. E2 Grips. Those have gotta go. I like the texture, but prefer the size and shape of the regular factory panels. I did pop them off and confirm that there are screw holes in the frame to accomodate them.
10. It has a rail and beavertail. I could do without both of those on a carry gun, but the rail won't hurt anything and at least the beavertail is the newer more subtle design, not the huge one they were doing for a while. It's clearly a little bulkier than my P229 SAS, but sticking an optic on it is going to do that anyway.



The trigger pull on this gun is excellent right out of the box. Smooth and consistent all the way through with a slight roll to the break. From what I can tell it has factory struts and springs, and I'm not going to change anything there.

I took it straight to he range and put about 75 rounds through it. Here are the first five at 7 yards. I was hitting about 2 inches low at 15, but this thing will be getting milled for a dot so I'm not too worried about that. Both of the included factory mags worked fine, and seemed to load full a little easier than my other P229-1 mags.



Overall, I'm really happy with this one. I need to source some grips, then figure out what dot and milling service I'm going to go with and start saving my pennies.

Excellent addition. I agree with you on the grips. Going to add some Hogue G10s to mine soon.

Great find!

It's never a waste of time to stop and check out the used case, especially at Bass Pro. A few years back, I scored a Beretta 92 LTT Elite that they had ordered for a customer but got the wrong barrel size, so it had to be sold as used and I got it for $500 less than new.

And the 229 in 9mm rules! Great find!

Upgraded the grips today courtesy of member redleg2/9. He was selling two sets of Hogue G10 grips in the classifieds and I couldn't resist. While the E2 grip does feel nice, I'm more of a traditionalist when it comes to my Sigs.



The second set of grips was added to my older police trade-in P229 in .40.

Those are nice, and very cool that you now have a matching pair! I managed to find a decent deal on some factory panels on MGW, so my E2s should be going away Wednesday. I'm starting to shop around for the optic and milling. I think I've settled on the RomeoX compact so I can keep the factory sights.