A couple of years ago I picked up a Sig 229 CPO in 40 for around 500 bucks. It was in excellent condition, really like new, I added the SRT and was a fine shooting gun. I added a 357 Sig barrel to it and for a while it was my nightstand gun. Then, in order to fund something or other I sold it and regretted not having a 229 ever since. As much as I love the 226 the 229 is a really nicely sized gun that you can carry if you want and is still plenty accurate enough for range fun.
So a few months ago I started snooping around for another 229, thinking to pick up one used and have some fun with it. I picked one up from CDNN for 480 but wasn't happy with it from day one, it was more beat up than I wanted and it just wasn't a good shooter. I wound up trading it in with a dealer towards the X5 I recently got and since I got my money back I was happy enough.
Then a few weeks ago Cuda PM'd me would I be interested in trading my FNX 45 for his P226 in 357 Sig straight up? I liked the FNX but like most polymer guns I eventually lost interest in it and it was just sitting so I figured what the heck and made the swap with Cuda. And a side note, Cuda is a pleasure to do business with and a very honorable guy, I would buy or trade with him again in a nanosecond. So now I've got the 226 in 357 Sig from Cuda and I ran a couple of boxes through it and it ran great, but still wanted the 229.
So now a couple of weeks ago a dealer buddy has in a 229 Extreme that Sig is running a special on, it's the Extreme series with the front serrations, G10 grips, and the SRT, but only a cardboard box for mid 700's. He gave me a very fair trade number on the 226 from Cuda and here it is, my new 229 in 40. I also had the 357 Sig barrel I bought for the CDNN 229 so I'm set with 5-6 mags and both barrels. Now all I needed to do was add the 9mm barrel, which I picked up from BarSto, and some 229 mags in 9mm that I picked up.
The BarSto barrel is "semi-fit" which didn't fit my gun at all, so I had to very CAREFULLY file down the barrel to fit the gun, using the 40 barrel that came with a gun as a template. But, you don't want to file down the BarSto exactly like the existing barrel because you lose the hand fitting you get from working with the new BarSto. So after several days of working on it, slowly removing material, polishing areas, then running the gun to check the fit, polishing some more, running the gun to check the fit, etc., I've got a fitted barrel specifically for my gun that just fits in all the critical dimensions. I REALLY enjoyed fitting the barrel and I think the results are excellent.
I got the gun to the range and ran all 3 barrels and all 4 loads. I continue to not be much of a 40 fan but if ammo gets crazy again I have the option of buying and using 40. I do dig the 357 Sig loads, the recoil isn't bad and you get a nice flame and very loud pop when shooting the gun, good fun. But in 9 with the BarSto the gun really shines, it's quite accurate and after the first couple of mags it ran several hundred reloads and factory ammo with zero issues of any kind. One of the pictures below is of the 229 in 9mm, 2 mags (30 rounds) worth of shooting at 25 feet. For a relatively short barreled gun that's fine performance. The grips are Hogue Chain Link, which are about my favorite P series grips (I have them on both my X5's) since VZ stopped making their Kraken grips.
Here's the obligatory phone pics:
So a few months ago I started snooping around for another 229, thinking to pick up one used and have some fun with it. I picked one up from CDNN for 480 but wasn't happy with it from day one, it was more beat up than I wanted and it just wasn't a good shooter. I wound up trading it in with a dealer towards the X5 I recently got and since I got my money back I was happy enough.
Then a few weeks ago Cuda PM'd me would I be interested in trading my FNX 45 for his P226 in 357 Sig straight up? I liked the FNX but like most polymer guns I eventually lost interest in it and it was just sitting so I figured what the heck and made the swap with Cuda. And a side note, Cuda is a pleasure to do business with and a very honorable guy, I would buy or trade with him again in a nanosecond. So now I've got the 226 in 357 Sig from Cuda and I ran a couple of boxes through it and it ran great, but still wanted the 229.
So now a couple of weeks ago a dealer buddy has in a 229 Extreme that Sig is running a special on, it's the Extreme series with the front serrations, G10 grips, and the SRT, but only a cardboard box for mid 700's. He gave me a very fair trade number on the 226 from Cuda and here it is, my new 229 in 40. I also had the 357 Sig barrel I bought for the CDNN 229 so I'm set with 5-6 mags and both barrels. Now all I needed to do was add the 9mm barrel, which I picked up from BarSto, and some 229 mags in 9mm that I picked up.
The BarSto barrel is "semi-fit" which didn't fit my gun at all, so I had to very CAREFULLY file down the barrel to fit the gun, using the 40 barrel that came with a gun as a template. But, you don't want to file down the BarSto exactly like the existing barrel because you lose the hand fitting you get from working with the new BarSto. So after several days of working on it, slowly removing material, polishing areas, then running the gun to check the fit, polishing some more, running the gun to check the fit, etc., I've got a fitted barrel specifically for my gun that just fits in all the critical dimensions. I REALLY enjoyed fitting the barrel and I think the results are excellent.
I got the gun to the range and ran all 3 barrels and all 4 loads. I continue to not be much of a 40 fan but if ammo gets crazy again I have the option of buying and using 40. I do dig the 357 Sig loads, the recoil isn't bad and you get a nice flame and very loud pop when shooting the gun, good fun. But in 9 with the BarSto the gun really shines, it's quite accurate and after the first couple of mags it ran several hundred reloads and factory ammo with zero issues of any kind. One of the pictures below is of the 229 in 9mm, 2 mags (30 rounds) worth of shooting at 25 feet. For a relatively short barreled gun that's fine performance. The grips are Hogue Chain Link, which are about my favorite P series grips (I have them on both my X5's) since VZ stopped making their Kraken grips.
Here's the obligatory phone pics: