I've never owned a SIG handgun, but that changed yesterday when by happenstance I had some extra cash and encountered a German police surplus P6 at my local gunpusher's den. These have been pretty common in the market lately, mostly seen around here in the $300-350 range, complete with 2 mags and a funky but superbly-crafted duty holster.

Mine is typical of the ones I've seen -- plenty of holster wear, and in sore need of a cleaning, but mechanically A1 all the way. Once home I field stripped, cleaned, and lubed it, and headed outside to my backyard "range" for a workout.

Man, this thing is NICE! I fired all told 150 rounds of Winchester 115 gr. ball ammo plus 50 rounds of Federal's 9BP load, a non-+P 115 JHP load that has pretty much become my standard for testing thru the years. Firing two-handed at 15 yards, I found that with the exception of the first DA shot (which, due to the heavy pull, I was pulling a bit low) both loads will easily group under 2". Absolutely no failures to feed, fire, or eject -- in fact, not even the slightest feel of a bobble. As mentioned, the DA pull is heavy, but smooth and comparatively short. The SA trigger, after some very light takeup, breaks very cleanly at around 7 pounds, and reset is very short and quick.

My absolute favorite carry 9mm pistol is my S&W 6906. The P6, by comparison, holds 9 rounds vs. 13, and is a smidgen longer overall, but feels a couple of ounces lighter fully loaded and is considerably thinner. I slid it into one of my homemade IWB holsters this morning, donned a Hawaiian shirt, and carried it on my rounds as I served several summonses around the county. A complete joy to carry.

If anyone is looking for a deal on a solid compact 9mm carry gun, the P6 gets my recommendation. As soon as I get my "stimulus check" candy from Uncle Sam, I'm shopping for another one!

BTW, don't let the holster wear on the slide bother you. Happily, I found that the slide steel takes Birchwood Casey Gun Blue perfectly, and 5 minutes worth of rubbing had the slide of my P6 looking as-new.

I paid $235.00 from Aim a few months back. It is like new, great handgun. There are also some real nice P1's out there. I picked up a 1979 that has a parkerized upper and some P4 features. $265.00 w/ 2 mags. It is more accurate than the PT92AF I had customized 15 years ago for competition. The weird thing is it ejects left. Congratulations, Jim

they are about 400. at the gun store now..i look at the other guns in the 400 range and in my opinion,no doubt..
its best bang for the buck out there..

they are about 400. at the gun store now..i look at the other guns in the 400 range and in my opinion,no doubt..
its best bang for the buck out there..


Locally, we also have a lot of nice police trade-in S&W 5906 and 6906 pistols, also in the $300-350 category. I picked up my 6906 a couple of months ago, dirty but as-new and with 2 mags, for $325. Another "best buy", in my book.

My family owns several of the P-6's now, we also have many 226's too and a few 220's. The p-6 does not like the long 147grHP's but most anything else is 100% function. It's not too often that you can buy a cheap semi-auto that runs as good as the P-6.