Review of the Sig 229, 9mm

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If you have ever looked at guns on the Internet, then you know that the best gun ever is either the Glock or the 1911. The Glock people rave about the smooth, long, safe trigger of the Glock and its reliability. 1911 people gush about the inherent accuracy of the 1911’s single action trigger, and the overall ergonomics of the 1911.

If you would like a gun that combines the good features of each platform, then a Sig 229 in 9mm is the gun for you.

Now let’s talk about why this is such an awesome gun.

The Trigger

Sig’s traditional DA/SA trigger allows you to have the best of both worlds. The long double action trigger negates the need for any on-off safety. It is also very smooth. Some people spend lots of dollars on their revolvers to get a smooth trigger, and it comes standard on the 229.

The other awesome half of the Sig’s trigger is the single action. It is very crisp, and allows for fast, precise shots. 1911 aficionados lavish praises on the crisp single action trigger. The Sig lets you have that nice trigger pull without having to hit a safety to use it.

Like this.

The DA/SA trigger also is a great training asset. After you’ve taken a shooting class then you should be doing dry fire practice. The most important sequence of motions that needs to become automatic is drawing the gun and firing the first aimed shot.

With striker-fired guns, and single action guns, the slide has to be racked or the hammer cocked back before the gun can be dry fired again. Firing one shot, then racking the slide is not a good habit to cultivate.

With the Sig, you can draw, aim, fire, re-holster and repeat. You don’t have to rack the slide to reset the trigger.

Some say is that a long trigger pull followed by short ones is inconsistent and a problem for training. However, good training will teach you to pay attention to the trigger reset, which is consistent with every trigger pull in the Sig, just like any other gun.

Operating the Gun

When shooting the 9mm 229, the heavier weight is a major plus. The extra ounces soak up a lot of the recoil from already-low-recoiling 9mm round, making it very comfortable to shoot lots and lots of rounds through.

Sig has a very unique approach to reloading. Many companies manufacture extended slide release levers as drop-in parts for 1911s, Glocks, etc... With Sigs, it’s standard. 

The slide release button sits far back on the grip, within easy reach of your thumb. When you’ve reinserted the new magazine, you can flick the release with your thumb while re-establishing your grip with your support hand. 

Some complain that this design is different from what they are used to, and that their thumb rides the release during shooting. 

However it is possible to grip this gun without resting your thumb on the slide release.

If you like the idea of being able to easily and quickly hit the slide release, and have the crisp single action trigger with no manual safety, it is possible to learn to adjust your grip to a Sig. Most humans can be taught how to drive standard or automatic transmission cars.  If you are considering buying one, don’t let this minor training concern dissuade you.

The sights are designed so that the bullet will land right in the middle of the front sight, making it simple to aim. Just put the sights right where you want the holes to appear, instead of trying to guess how far above the sights the bullet might land.

Reliability

The rails on the frame and slide come polished pretty smooth from the factory, which makes the slide cycle even with a minimum of oil. It will cycle dry, though it will eventually start malfunctioning. I’ve never tried to bury it or fill it with mud, and then shoot it, but it did function through an all day class that took place inside an Iraq-style dust storm.  Oiling this gun is no great chore.

Also, the Navy Seals use Sig 226s, 229’s bigger brother. That says something about reliability.

Maintenance

Taking the gun apart is as easy as locking the slide back and flipping a lever. The recoil spring and barrel easily come out, which increase the likelihood that the owner will clean and lube the gun more.  For routine maintenance, simply pull it apart, rub a drop of oil around the square locking surfaces on the barrel, a drop of oil at the front of the frame rails and at the back of the slide rails, then put it back together.

This process shouldn’t need to be repeated more than once a month.

A full day’s sweat day-in and day-out doesn't seem to bother the stainless slide and aluminum alloy frame at all.

Concealment

I can conceal this gun on my body, however I am a 6 foot 3 inch male, with a bit of a gut. With the right combination of belt and holster, I can tuck in a shirt over the top of it. If you’re a smaller frame, you may have fewer options. Using a Galco belly band, makes the gun disappear. Other holster and belt options are available that are more comfortable, but more bulky as well, and so you have to adjust your dress accordingly.

Conclusion

If you are new to gun ownership, or are looking for an enjoyable pistol to shoot, consider the 229 in 9mm. It’s good for a novice to develop good training habits  with, and is a great choice for a multi-purpose gun. It’s not a Glock and it’s not a 1911, but it is a good blend of the best features of each of those guns.

Some pictures

I need to clear some photos off of my phone, so here they are.


This first is of a dead moose I saw on the road to Heber. I knew it was dead, because this was the second day that I saw it, but it was so big, that I still didn't get too close to it, for fear that it would suddenly jump up and eat me.
I must have an irrational fear of dead moose.


These next pictures are from a project that Sohm Photografx is working on, a catholic church in West Jordan.







If you want to get aerial photographs, but you can't afford a helicopter or don't know how to use one, you can just use a blimp.

It's interesting how Barnes and Noble arranges its books sometimes.




I don't know if Larry would be insulted, amused, or flattered to see a rack of his book next to a bunch of copies of "Twice Tempted By A Rogue".

Maybe it's targeted to bored suburban couples, with perfect selections for husband and wife.

Makes sense because this was at the Fort Union Barnes and Noble.

Trap shooting

So who could have known that this shotgun would not have performed as well as this one at a trap shooting competition?

And to anyone who says that you can't miss with a shotgun? Well I missed. A lot.

But it was fun.

Lots of moss and a Wedding

My cousin Neal got married recently, and the Lovely Wife and I were invited. Oregon is one of our favorite places. It's so pretty, green, and (when you get out of the city) wild. However, Oregon's Attorney General doesn't think that Utah's Concealed Carry Permit is up to par, so I decided to open carry the whole time. I did some research, and there are a few cities in Oregon that do not allow open carry, so I mostly avoided those cities.

First we stayed with some relatives in Hermiston, Oregon. They are cousins of my father-in-law, and very nice people. In the past, when my family would travel to Springfield, we would just push through, and it was pretty grueling. It was like a fourteen hour drive, and we usually didn't get onto the road until mid morning, like 11 a.m. So we would usually arrive in Springfield around midnight or later. We would also eat at fast food places along the way, so we would all arrive feeling pretty crappy.

After a refreshing night's sleep in a bed, and a delicious breakfast of real food from a grocery store, we took a leisurely drive along the Columbia River Gorge. We discovered that some really smart person built a whole legion of electricity generating windmills along the gorge. We got out of the car a few times and learned that the Gorge is a super-windy place.




































They could power probably half of Oregon with all those windmills, the wind farm probably goes on for forty miles.


Next stop was at some waterfalls.




Horsetail is cool, you can walk right down to the pond that the water falls into, its cold, but that can be refreshing if you've been sitting in a car seat all day.













Have you ever been on a trip, and wished you could go to the gym? Well if you go to Multnomah Falls, then you can do just that. It has a trail where you walk up to the top of the falls, it's a mile long hike, and really good for your legs and butt.








Along the way, the Little guy learned the word for moss, and then discovered that moss is EVERYWHERE in Oregon.





We continued on up the trail, took a few more pictures, then arrived at the river that fed the waterfall.












Once you get to the top you walk down some stairs and onto a platform, where you can overlook the edge of the falls.







It is a long way down to the lodge and visitor center at the bottom of the falls.

Some Pictures

The first picture is of someone sticking it to the man. 'It's not a motorcycle, it's a scooter.'



The second is a bizarre car accident that we saw. Some how the jeep ended up on top of a small white car, at first we thought that the white car had totally been smashed, but the roof was still intact. It begs the question of how the rear end of a car got on top of a smaller car, going perpendicular to the flow of traffic? I'll probably never know.

Storm Photos

On wednesday, there was a big storm, as I was heading out to the bus. The clouds over the mountains were getting blown north, and clouds over the valley were going south. And the sky was starting to turn green.

I thought for a few minutes that we might have another tornado, but no one reported one. Made for interesting pictures, and a musty class once I got to school.

Blood and Toenails

Remember, if you don't practice correct nail clipping technique, this could happen to you.


It actually feels a lot better.

Clearance?

We saw this delightful beverage on clearance for a really good price. You need to get over to the Dan's on Foothill to get your own bottle before people find out about this incredible deal.

Antelope Island Buffalo Run

My beautiful wife had signed up to run a race a few months ago, and then promptly developed foot pain and was unable to continue training. It was sad.

The race was today, and we went out to Antelope Island to claim our race packet, and just do something fun outside this week.

We found a hiking trail that just happened to be the route that everyone was running.

By the time we got hiking it was just about nap time, and for whatever reason, he just didn't want to be in his external frame baby backpack.






But after thrashing around for a few minutes, I took that video. Then I showed him the video, and he thought it was funny to see a baby crying like that, and calmed down.

He ended up having fun, though he got a little toasted, because he hates wearing hats.









That place is fun. You basically go back in time to see how Utah looked when the Pioneers rolled in. It's a very pretty, rugged, desolate place, and you can visit for only 9 dollars a day. It's very pleasant in March. Go check it out sometime.

Kids do need naps sometimes

When I took this picture, KC had been frustrated with life, but was happy when I picked him up. He played for a little while after that but then everything was making him mad, or was a crushing blow to his self esteem and he would start crying. We figured it was time for a nap. The first time we put him in his bed, he was freaking out, it was like he was getting attacked by a predatory animal or something, so we brought him back out. He played for a little while longer, but was just unable to enjoy life so I put him in his bed.

I'm sure everyone in our building and in the parking lot could hear Kay as he went completely ballistic. At first he was sad, probably thinking I was punishing him, but then you could hear the rage growing in his voice just gaining in intensity. I think he actually got the clouds to start snowing. It's a wonder that he still has a voice because I think he was louder than most Utah Jazz fans.

After five minutes of COMPLETE meltdown mode, Mom went in and said the magic words, and left. Kay shrieked for a little when she left, but he was like a balloon that is left to fly around the room. It makes a lot of noise and is crazy for a few seconds, then runs out of air and plops onto the ground.

KC is asleep now.

Fine art Photography

KC got a hold of my cell phone this morning and took some interesting abstract photos.

So if a 16 month old baby can get these kinds of images by holding down the shutter button and running around the house, what does that say about some abstract, fine-art photographers?

Utah construction

There is a building that was built near where I live, as part of a slew of new office buildings that were put in an abandoned section of VA property. One of the buildings, which has been up for at least a year, had a great big banner that said "coming soon; Red Butte Bakery" or something like that. The coming soon sign has been up there for most of the time we've been married. There was street resurfacing a few days ago which forced me to walk by the building. I looked inside as I went past and noticed that there is just a gravel floor that has been so neglected that knee-high shrubs have appeared.

When I was a missionary in California, I noticed that their construction industry is cram packed with contractors. There are so many, that competition works for the public good. The projects are under pressure to get done quickly, so if a contractor takes too long on a project, or milks it for more money, or does a shoddy job, then they won't ever get hired again, because there are so many other contractors to choose from.

In Utah, it seems like there are so few contractors, that when they get a job, they take their sweet time, woops! go over budget, and drag it out as long as they can. Or maybe the only requirement is low cost. For example, when I lived in Sandy, every few years the major roads would get resurfaced. Lets say they had a total of five miles of street to do. The company would take one week to first put up cones and block off all the surfaces that need work. In reality, the coning can be done before noon on one day. So the cones would hang out for at least a week, with no sign of work on the road. Then the old asphalt would get stripped off at the rate of about an eighth of a mile per day, until they got the whole 5-mile area of road stripped. Then they wait two weeks, making a total of about a month spent on just stripping the asphalt.

Then they would start laying down new asphalt. They make some headway on this, and then it snows, because that's how long its taken them to do this. So they wait for a month for a lull in storms, and for the snow to mostly melt so they get going on the resurfacing again. This continues through the winter. They finish sections of road, but they don't take those cones down, because they aren't done with whole project. Sometime next spring, the asphalt is all down. Then we get to wait three weeks for the new roads to get painted. Once they get painted, the cones stay up for another week and a half, because apparently it takes a full eleven days for paint to dry. Then the cones disappear.

A week later, cones appear, blocking the other half of the road that needs surfacing.


If this happened anywhere on my mission, the original company would be dropped after two months, and a new one would be brought in and the job would be complete two and a half weeks later.

In the Bee Hive state, where the motto is Industry, why do these thing happen? Why let a building sit unused and unfinished for two years? Stupidity? Thievery? Legislative Conflicts of Interest? A sense of powerlessness from the general public? I don't know, but its a waste of time and money.

Tickets for the Louisville game

It took me about an hour of waiting in line to get mine and a guest pass. It should be a pretty big game.

Thunderstorm plus sunset equals

This