
This gun has a 4.4-inch barrel, an overall length of 7.7 inches, overall height of 5.5 inches, and width of 1.5 inches. This is a solid pistol and you feel that durability as soon as you pick the gun up.įeatures time. The P226 Nitron has a full-size, alloy frame with a hard-coat anodized finish and a stainless steel slide with a Nitron finish. It’s a semi-auto, of course, with the DA/SA feature JSSAP required years ago. 40 S&W – but the 9mm is the classic and it’s the one I have. The gun comes in a trio of calibers – 9mm. Even so, it isn’t a bad trigger, just also not the best ever. My only real issue with the P226 Nitron is the trigger because it has noticeable take-up, some stacking, and a seriously long reset.

There are quite a few variants out there such as the extremely cool Legion P226 but if you want to stick to the gun’s roots, this is your model. The P226 Nitron is the “older” and more original design. The P226 was originally made to fulfill those JSSAP requirements and hasn’t seen a lot of change since then.Īfter all, if the SEALs, a bunch of federal agents, and LEOs from the Texas Rangers – among others – are happy with it, why mess with awesomeness? I mean, who doesn’t want a gun so tough, accurate, and reliable the SEAL teams guys rely on it in combat?īe honest. Sig Sauer Mk25, the pistol that the Navy SEALs adopted The US Navy SEALs decided to use the SIG P226 beginning in the 1980s, a move that would make the gun something of a legend. It was during the end-of-trial bidding that SIG lost to Beretta so it seems safe to say SIG’s not being selected as the winner wasn’t about performance, it was about money.Īll was not lost, though. By round three it was clear the SIG P226 was one of the best, holding its own alongside the Beretta 92FBS. They’d designed the P226 specifically for JSSAP and it performed well. It wasn’t until round two that SIG Sauer got involved with their P226. Quite a few big names threw their firearms hats into the ring for the first round including Beretta, FN, Steyr, Heckler and Koch, and Smith & Wesson. They also wanted it to be durable – no more than eight malfunctions allowed per 5,000 rounds fired – and a minimum capacity of 13 rounds.

The mandatory stuff included a need for a magazine release that could be operated with one hand, a first-round trigger pull in double-action with follow-up shots being single-action, and a 9mm chambering. In typical military fashion, they came up with a rather exhaustive list of 85 requirements for the new handgun, 72 of which were mandatory.
