Alright it was a good day in my world. I picked up a new Sig P290 subcompact 9mm today at my usual dealer, Johnson’s Sporting Goods in Adrian MI. My man in there Smitty took great care of me as usual.

 We were discussing how nice an extended grip/magazine would be when behold he found a factory SIG one on the magazine rack. So they already thought of that. 🙂 The thing works like my XD one’s do by extending the grip and giving you a higher mag capacity. In this case it takes the mag from 6 to 8 rounds and gives the shooter plenty to hold onto.

First impressions: The Sig P290 is a good looking gun, looks like a Sig as it has their usual style to it, slide shape and so on. I got a stainless slide and the black polymer frame. It came equipped with full-size night sites. 🙂 Also a factory installed laser with ambi-on/off buttons. Easy to use and a good bright dot. Like I said it comes with a flush fit 6 round mag but I also bought the 8 round extended grip mag with it. You also get a Kydex holster in the case. It’s paddle holster that retains on friction and I jumped up and down and ran around a tad with no signs of the gun falling out, so that’s good. The pistol doesn’t weigh much and is balanced well. Its a nice compact little gun, it’s in the size range of the Ruger LC9 but a tad thicker. Not so much so that it’s bulky, it’s not, it is easily carried or concealed.

The night sites were dead out of the box. I called my dealer and they said no problem they would install a new set for free if Sig sent them. I called Sig and spoke with Jason who was quick to help and within 4 minutes I was off the phone with new sights headed my way. No problems whatsoever. Kudo’s to Sig customer service and my guy’s at Johnson’s.

The range-I headed right out to my local range with the Sig and 200 rounds. 100 rounds of dirty, filthy shooting, crappy, under or over charged Israeli surplus 9mm, 50 rounds of 147 grain Winchester SXT’s and 50 rounds of American Eagle 115 grain ball. All ammo was fired except for my usual 2-3 duds in the Israeli stuff. There was 1 malfunction a FTF and I promise you it was that lousy surplus ammo. It is by no means a black mark on the guns performance. That stuff just sucks. It jams up everything I shoot it in regularly. For what 4000 rounds of it cost me though it’s worth putting up with it. Plus it gives me a chance to train with a real jam. Something you probably won’t ever have with good ammo. So she was a little champ out there. Shoots absolutely point of aim. I do find it is much easier to shoot well with the extended mag. The flush fitting one while very concealable doesn’t give me but 2 fingers on the grip. I have very large hands. Either way though, the little girl is a champ and I really like it. The best thing was FINALLY a micro pistol with FULLSIZE sights!

The cons-It’s a nice little gun but it does cost too much. It just does. $750 wrapped up in a single stack 9mm pistol, c’mon guys this ought to be $450 tops. I know I got night sights and a laser, well it’s NOT that much cheaper to get it without those things, I checked. I would have gotten them anyways I just was curious. I checked gunbroker and nope, I was right it just costs too much. Now nobody made me buy it I know. At the same time this price tag is going to send a lot of people scurrying away. I often wonder if companies would make more $$ if they sold volume on an item like this, allow more people to afford it at $450 It’s getting a bit rich for a lot of folks at $700’ish. 

One last thing, if you have trouble with the mag release being tripped in the factory holster then do this mod in the pic above, it will cease. It’s easy.

Summary- Well so far so good. An excellent shooting, attractive looking, quality gun an no complaints thus far other than the dead sights (which is covered) and the price tag, which is my fault for paying it. If your in the market for a tiny 9mm I really like this one. 

Thanks for reading.

By: Cary Kieffer

 

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Cary Kieffer

USMC Infantry/Combat Veteran/MUESOC/Sniper School - Med Retired LEO w/ 8yrs on job before Iraq wounds caught up with me.

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