chas Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Link: http://www.acmgear.com/p226-rail-version-gbbp-black-p-2755.html Length: about 20 cm Weight (w/ mag): about 900 gr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcB0iPgDZhU&feature=plcp The Sig Sauer is, undoubtedly, one of the most famous and sought after pistols. In my case, as in that of many others, I just wanted the pistol that the Navy SEALs use. And thankfully, the chose a beatifyl side arm, cause this is my favourite pistol of all times, only rivaled by the 1911. I have had 3 different P226 makes: the Marui (great gun, but plastic), the KSC (great blowback, the rest... meh) and the KJWorks (metal, but horrible finish and stupid laser etched markings). After I had to sell all 3 of them due to unsolvable internal problems (and I had spent a lot on them) I was more than excited to find out that WE is making a version of this Sig (it turns out, they are also making a P228, hmm... wood grips). So here are my imppresions on this gun. 1. PRESENTATION You never know with WE: sometimes you get a really flashy satinated box with lot's of cool graphics and sometimes you get a plain brown box. This one comes in a nice black satinated box with a picture of the P226, the SEALs' logo and reference to "WE Tactical S Series" (maybe they are making more Sigs than just the 226 and 228 ?). Included is the gun and one mag, protected by thick styro. No cheap BBs, no cleaning rod. 2. EXTERNALS This is where this gun really begins to shine: full metal, as is We's tradition, but instead of the shiny black paint that is common in the airsoft world (except if you get a 150$ aftermarket kit), this gun has an excellent dark grey "almost black" finish on it. The finish is matte and grainy, so that it really looks like the finish on many real guns, except that the real P226 is "blacker", I believe. What stands out a lot, too, is how well it is put together, almost no slide movement, We is really getting their parts tolerances together. The feel is amazing and the pistol is heavy as *suitcase*, but that may be due to me buying only half plastic guns lately, like the Glocks, the XDM or the PX4. Despite the weight, the P226 is the most handable pistol for me personally, because of the combo of weight, length and grip angle: it's like it was designed specifically for my hands and the way I like to hold pistols, especially in CQB. So well balanced, but I guess that depends on every individual. The grips are not as nice as on the Marui, IMO, but they are OK. I remember them to be more "rubbery". Still feel very comfortable. Stupid markings. There's a small texturized area on the front of the frame, where your fingers go, and on the trigger guard, nice touch, small and smooth. Slide has serrations only on the back, but cocking is no problem, grip is good. Trigger has a single and double-action mode, thanks to the decocker, a rare feature. Go to the video to see how it works. All controls are big and very easy to access. From lefto right: slide disassembly lever, decocker, slide catch/release and, at the bottom, mag release, which is very short, to prevent accidental mag loss. The slide disassembly lever is kinda hard, maybe Im spoiled by the Glock's ease of disassembly. The chamber has the only markings, apart from the grips, and the top is polished, dont know why. The outer barrel is satin black and has a small scratch on the side, no biggie. It has an internal thread that will allow you to put a silencer adapter on it, but be carefull that it clears the recoil spring rod. The sights are one of my favourite parts: 3-dot sights (I call them combat sights) are not very good for precision shooting, but ecellent for quick target acquisition, they are super easy to aim and recover (because they are so open) and look great. There's a 20 mm rail with 3 positions on the front of the gun, this allows you to put lasers, flashlight's or whatever on the gun. Looks cool even when empty. Id give the externals a 10 out of 10, but the lack of markings bugs me, so just a 9.5. A fully marked version is coming soon, Im told. 3. INTERNALS I have a bad history with P226's breaking on me and me not being able to put them back together, So Im only going to field strip it. 4. OPERATION Better watch the video if you wanna see the trigger action, no-safety and decocker function. 4. PERFORMANCE As you saw in the last picture, the WE P226 has (of course) an adjustable hop up. It's easy to adjust and stays in place. To get the best performance out of it, thoroughly clean the inner barrel, but dont touch the hop up rubber; be careful not to soak it with silicon oil. Magazine holds 25 and, as is customary today, takes green gas. Average FPS (20 gr BBs, no hop up and Big Dragon chrono: FPS). The only issue is that the spring is too strong, loading the BBs is kinda hard. Hope it weakens a bit with time. Range is OK, a bit inferior to my Glock 18C, which is now shooting 50 meters easily. Man sized target at 20 meters is no challenge to the P226. This was the result of 5 aimed shots at 11 meters. As all WEs, the blowback is strong, heavy and loud. I guess you must try the gun yourself to get the amazing experience. So, as you can see, Im really glad I gave the P226 another chance. This is a fantastic pistol, but maybe it's just the Sig fanboy in me speaking. Seriously: it perfroms great, the externals are awesome, feel, weight and texture are great, balance is just perfect... if you like the P226, get it. If you like a pistol that performs, looks and feels great, get it. My only complaints are the lack of markings, but ten again it's only 79 $. A fully marked version is probably going to be more expensive. I would only wait for it if the engravings are really important to you. Bye! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DarKVipeR Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Damn nice little review, and after reading it i got immensly tempted to go buy one! Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Number5 Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Nice review! Please keep us updated with the pistols performance in the longterm! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T3CH Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Got one of these, very nice. Pain to find mags for though :/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BaBaBooey Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 The magazines look very similar to the Marui P226R...are they not compatible? FYI - the components in the frame look very similar to the P226R (but the trigger looks like an SRT from their P226E2). If they are the same, there is a trigger safety...push the take down lever from your right hand side to left and this will lock the trigger. To release it, push it back in from left to right. At least this is how all Marui P226's work. Also, it would be more helpful to take chrono readings for 15 to 20 shots. In my opinion, a true test of performance is not necessarily how high it chrono's, but how constant the FPS is between shot to shot. Also your audio in the video goes out (at least for me) so we have no idea what BB weight you are using, what propellant, what temperature, etc....all these factors affect how well the pistol performs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FireKnife Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Got one of these, very nice. Pain to find mags for though :/ Those look mightly like a Tokyo Marui mag made in low quality metal to me, find someone else with a TM P226 and see if they fit 'FireKnife' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T3CH Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 WE mags fit in a Marui, but not the other way around Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FireKnife Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 WE mags fit in a Marui, but not the other way around Well, fricking, done to WE then Seriously how can they clone a gun and then not make the mags from the original work and really improve nothing? 'FireKnife' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
starburst Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Was taking interest in this as a replacement for my old Marui, then I read it doesnt accept the mags....hmmm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chas Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Dont have Marui mags anymore. The Marui Glock mags worked in the WE/HK3P Glock 17/18, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kenxin Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Well, fricking, done to WE then Seriously how can they clone a gun and then not make the mags from the original work and really improve nothing? 'FireKnife' I believe it's like that because WE made the nozzle bigger so it would have stronger blowback (or at least I remember something like that from a blog of a WE worker)...... Also Chas, you said that the upper part of the chamber is polished, that is odd to say the least...Also you mention that the finish is good, yet in the first picture you can clearly some holster wear (or at least I assume it's holster wear and not random scratches), has the finish worn off anywhere else? Also there were some reports about the valve knocker damaging the frame on WE p226s on chinese forums, mind keeping an eye on that and reporting please? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T3CH Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Bugger got a leaky fill valve now on mine Seriously what is it with me and GBB's they work fine, I look after them, then when my backs turned bits fall off, crack, burst, and in the case of my KWA glock 19, just mystify everyone who's looked at it's cycling problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1st Commando Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 TM mags do fit and work well but due to inconsistent finish on the TM mags , some of the older design mags are too thick to fit . Of my 8 TM mags ,2 work fine , 3 work because i filed some of the paint finish off to fit my KJW and 3 are too thickly painted and i haven't sanded them down yet ! TM E2 mags seem to have a better finish and fit fine straight away ! The problem really is down to the various thickness fo paint finish on TM (old style mags) rathe rthan down to the pistol as it appears they mag well is made to high tolerances ,probably to prevent "mag rattle" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LordElpus Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 I witnessed this last night, TM mags DO work in the WE Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AMC1096 Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 How would you say this compares to the KWA M226? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T3CH Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 (edited) I witnessed this last night, TM mags DO work in the WE awesome, solved a possibly expensive problem for me there guys Edited August 1, 2012 by T3CH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1st Commando Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 If some of your TM mags are too thickly painted ,it is only a matter of minutes to lightly sand down the finish on them Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rafT Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 Nice! My next pistol will be a 226 and your review will help me decide which brand to choose. What do you think about blowback? You said that you have had Marui, KSC and KJWorks before. Which one, including WE, has the stronger/better blowback? Hey AMC 1096, I'm also considering a KWA. It seems a very interesting gun. The only problem is that it doesn't have the original trademarks. As a collector, I appreciate trademarks very much. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kenxin Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Hm, apparently some people on the chinese forums have cracked slides, any updates or problems? Source: http://www.arms-cool.net/forum/thread-121179-1-1.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chas Posted August 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 How the hell did they manage to do that!? Mo problem with mine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SimplyEpik Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 If I remember correctly, someone posted a picture awhile back of an WE P226 where the slide broke into two pieces.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T3CH Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hm, apparently some people on the chinese forums have cracked slides, any updates or problems? Source: http://www.arms-cool.net/forum/thread-121179-1-1.html Gold trades? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kenxin Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Apparently the slides do take up a beating on the front from normal use: The thread on arms-cool has gotten kind of big, and there is even an official WE response in there: http://www.arms-cool.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=121179&page=7#pid1438182 According to google translation (and therefore open to being completely wrong): "Grateful to all levels of players criticism and advice, thank WE company. About this problem, although for the present, should belong to the cases, but WE, or the spirit of service consumers proposed new scheme of service of the product. Purchase F228 players try to operate (not limited to any pressure of the gas, but shall the legitimate out speed regulations limit), Enjoy. Under these conditions damage the F228, the Company free of charge free replacement service. One hand, expectations can really identify trouble spots, as well as the occurrence of the causes and ratios, in order to improve the problem. In addition to expect under these conditions, that the Company's products stand the test. Can take the opportunity in the F229 and the times of new works (TT-33, and the mysterious product ) Launched at the same time, the "optimization" of products introduced to consumers. Also on the situation in this edition discussion string, WE would like to see benign and rational discussion, do not use heated remarks come against each other, non-WE company as well as a toy gun community would like to see. Thanks again for all levels of players on the a WE company's criticism, advice and love. Thank you" Interesting, free replacement slides for anyone experiencing this... nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Number5 Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 Good to know that WE are offering replacements. Though as with most cases like this from any airsoft manufacturer it would be helpful to know actually how many have failed in relation to how many have been sold... Also whether the damages are occurring more in hotter climates and with what gas. It's hard to imagine this occurring in the UK except on propane on high summer... Unless there is a serious design/ manufacturing flaw. This is of course onIy based on personal experience of gbb's and others in UK may tell a different tale. The WE translation didn't make a great deal of sense in places, what was interesting was the TT-33 mention and the 'mysterious' product. Perhaps the M&P that's in the news thread? (pure speculation) Regardless of the broken slides I think I'll be picking One of these up soonish, they look great and the price is right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1st Commando Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 finish wear where the guide spring coils and rotates against the inside of the frame is to be expected but is it just me or was that cracked slide not a WE ! WE have never called a pistol M11 or whatever it was on that slide ,not to mention the barcode tab etc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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