Sig Sauer P226 Pistol

[Bird]

If a fellow wanted to buy a Sig Sauer P226 pistol, where would he find the best deal?

[Mark_in_NH]

Bird,
You have chosen well Grasshopper, That is indeed an excellant weapon.
It has been many years since I purchased a handgun and the last time I went through a friend with an FFL. To my knowledge, short of a private sale, there is no way arond you having to go through the paper work and waiting period. It is going to require somebody with an FFL, do you have a friend with an FFL ?
If not, can a friend and fellow gun owner hook you up with a dealer he use's and trusts. I don't know of any other way than to visit your local gun shops. Gunshows, if there are any in your area can sometimes be a good place to shop.
It has been a long time since I purchased a firearm of any type. So I am hoping that some other TBN'rs pipe in with more suggestions and currant requirements.

[czechsonofagun]

I found several good deals on gunbroker.com.

[Bird]

Mark, I assume by FFL you mean Federal Firearms License? Probably just visiting gun dealers would be best. As for paperwork and waiting period, that would be no problem for me.

The situation is this: I'm an honorably retired police officer, which means I can legally carry a concealed handgun in any state as long as I go to the range and qualify periodically. Under Texas law, only once every 2 years, but under Federal law, once a year. Now the fact is that I haven't carried a gun in a long time and don't know whether I ever will again or not. I did go qualify 5 years ago, but hadn't done so since. However, with a little prodding from my wife and a retired lieutenant who used to work for me, I went and got qualified this morning again. I still have the two .38 revolvers I carried for nearly 25 years and one of those is what I qualified with. But the police department now issues Sig Sauer 226 pistols instead of revolvers. And the pistol course has been redesigned for automatics so it's easier to qualify with an automatic. Now I already have the revolvers, I can qualify with one easily enough, and no way I can justify the cost of the Sig, but I'd still like to have one just cause those flush-a-matics are fun to shoot. Of course, an oddity of the law is that if you qualify with an automatic, you can legally carry either, but if you qualify with a revolver, you can only legally carry revolvers. Of course, that's not a problem for me since I only own revolvers. I also know where I can borrow an automatic if I want to, but I just don't like to borrow anything like that.

In other words, I don't NEED one, and I can't justify the cost, but I just WANT one. And in those circumstances, if I should buy one, I'd want to get the best price possible.

[Bird]

Originally Posted by czechsonofagun

I found several good deals on gunbroker.com.

Thanks for the tip. They sure have a lot of them listed, but it seems the prices are pretty much the same everywhere I've looked on the Internet.

[Mark_in_NH]

Bird,
understand your situation and it sure would be nice to have the option to carry either the revolver or a semiauto. The Sig P226 is probably the cadillac of semiautos.
With modern technology and the internet there are probably hundreds of places online where you can shop and compare and as czechsonofagun said in his post GunBroker.com Search Results is one of them.
Irrelevent of where you purchase, locally or over the internet you will still need a FFL holder to complete the sale.
If you purchase over the interntet, the firearm will be shipped to the FFL holder who will sit down with you to do the paperwork etc. in order to transfer ownership the firearm to you. There is just no way around needing somebody with the FFL to complete the sale, accept for a private sale of course.
I would definatly visit your local shops, introduce yourself and go from there. Even if you buy over the internet, a local FFL dealer or shop will probably charge a fee for their service and understandably so. So you will need to figure that extra cost into whatever bargains the online stores may have.

[Sigarms]

Personally, I'd look to see if you can find any of those P6's (P225) still floating around.

Last couple I picked up went for about $275 each, and shoot just as good as any of the other Sigs I have, and myself having small hands, actually like the P6 better than the 226.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/SearchResults.asp

Looks like they went up in price a bit from last year.

Basic German police "dump offs" in the U.S market. I think most of the ones I got were already at least 20 years old when I bought them, but they almost looked brand new with a little holster wear. Single stack mags, 8 rounds plus one in the chamber. Figure if you can't hit what you're aiming at with 9 rounds, 15 rounds isn't going to help you that much more anyway.

The situation is this: I'm an honorably retired police officer, which means I can legally carry a concealed handgun in any state as long as I go to the range and qualify periodically

I'll pay you $50 to go to D.C or New York City and try out HR218 as a defense

The Sig P226 is probably the cadillac of semiautos.

I kind of think New Hampshire "over Americanized" the German pistol for the U.S market. Give me the good old days when the only color a Sig came in was black and you got fancy with wood grips

[Ductape]

FWIW, my local FFL 'dealer' charges $15 to do the transfer...... most of the larger gun shops around here charge $20-$25. Just for reference..... that cost needs to be added on top of what you would pay for the gun on Gunbroker.com.

Might be just as cost effective to just shop at your friendly local gun shop.

[2manyrocks]

Try a local gunshow.

Sometimes these guys will have stuff to pick from. I don't know if they would sell directly to you in TX or if you'd have to go through a FFL. Download Newest Catalog!!

[Dargo]

Hey Bird, I am not sure by any means, but a retired police officer who is also an FFL dealer told me that his permit isn't recognized in several counties like those in Chicago, NY, and Washington DC. Having said that, Joe knows that I've spent a whole lot of my take home pay collecting firearms over the last 30 years or so. I have a particular affinity for German firearms and really like the German made Sig 226 I bought new in the early 90's. It's a danged good firearm that competes well against any similar firearm at any price.

As others have mentioned, Gunbroker is a good place. There are several other huge dealers who run sales where I can often buy a firearm over the internet, pay shipping and pay transfer fee and still have less in the firearm than my local dealer's cost.