SIG Sauer P226 CO2 Pellet Pistol, Black

I was ready to accept that this pistol is not accurate but I was impressed. At 10 feet, this pistol put 4 out of 5 pellets into a 2" target shooting hand-held. At 6 yards. I was putting 5 out of 8 shots into the same target. The pistol shoots a tad low and slightly to the left but I was able to compensate using the non-adjustable white dot sights. Performance Specs were as follows: Using Crossman 7.4 grain Wadcutters: Max Velocity= 324 fps, Min Velocity=321 fps, Average Velocity=322.2 fps, SD=0.97 fps, fpe=1.71. Using H&N Field Trophy 8.64 grain Wadcutters: Max Velocity=298 fps, Min Velocity=284 fps, Average Velocity=289.4 fps, SD=4.8 fps fpe=1.61. Neither grain weight made spec. Using H&N Field Target Trophy non-lead Greens at 5.71 grain, Max Velocity=427 fps, Min Velocity=385 fps, Average Velocity=406.8 fps, fpe=2.1, but SD=17.75 fps and Variance was 315 fps! Greens are fast and made spec but were all over the place.

Not much. Pellets are easy to load. I shot 64 7.4 grain Crossman Premier Wadcutters with no sign of diminished gas. Weight and Balance are solid and blowback is harder than expected for a pellet pistol. While I am not the worlds best shot (for sure!), by my standards, this pistol is a great performer. If I had to find something wrong with this pistol, it would be the separate mag from CO2 arrangement. Normally, I like a one-piece magazine, containing both. However, I am slowly becoming a fan of the double 8 shot mag setup and the piercing mechanism on this pistol is far superior to the adjustable thumb wheel on some 'snap it closed' piercing setups.

Choose your ammunition carefully before you pull the trigger for the first time. Unless you intend to shoot BBs, only, on this pistol, do not shoot BBs or the rifling will suffer over time and your accuracy in shooting pellets will suffer. I chose pellets first and will spare the rifling the punishment of steel ammunition. I bought two extra magazines and I advise you to do the same. I have put 4 magazines through this pistol and it was still going. Not sure yet what the final number of shots per fill will be but it is very good so far. This pistol is an example of the old adage, "See for Yourself". While, I would never buy this pistol for competition use, how many of us use our CO2 pistols for competition? Do yourself a favor. Check the P226 out. This pistol is a keeper.

CO2 cartridge loading system is AWESOME. My other CO2 pistols all fail at the cartridge seal after a short time with the uncontrollable squeeze of a thumbscrew,

Plastic magazine seems flimsy, full metal like the pistol would have been nicer. Lock the slide after firing last pellet,

Very nice replica with realistic look and feel

Nice look and feel, realistic blowback action and loud enough to give a semi-realistic experience. Fun to shoot.

The safety is extremely hard to move, it takes two hands because it is so stiff, making it unusable for practice removing from a holster and shooting unless I leave the safety off. Frequently misfires by not advancing to the next pellet-the gun fires but no pellet comes out. This is fixed by continuously pushing up on the magazine while firing, so obviously there is a mechanical problem. Also, the sights are way off. At 8 yards, using a pistol rest, it makes a reasonably tight grouping of about 2 inches in diameter, but unfortunately, this grouping is low by about 4 inches and to the left by about 2 inches. This was the best result I could get from trying various pellets. It has a nice look, feel and firing action, but unfortunately the mechanical problems and inaccuracy make the gun useless to me. I was surprised by the problems, because the gun has a high quality look and feel to it, but the design and/or manufacturing are poor.

Pyramid Air took good care of me and promptly allowed a refund. I appreciated the excellent customer service.