Blammer - Gun Blog

I’m preparing to take the training and apply for my California CCW. Since you have to register the weapon you intend to carry, I needed to select my first gun intended for concealed carry. My other firearms were not ideal choices. Most of my guns are magnum revolvers in stainless steel, heavy and not very concealable. My autos consist of a Walter P22 (.22 is obviously not a good defense round) and one 1911. A 1911 is a fine choice, but mine is full size and I’m shorter and smaller than your average man - I would have a hard and uncomfortable time keeping it hidden. It also features a manual safety, which I don’t train enough to trust that I’ll remember to disengage it in a fight. Also, my 1911 is “home gunsmithed” which puts it out of the question from a reliability standpoint (I’m not a professional smith) and from a liability standpoint, which I’ll get to in a bit. So there was nothing to do but head off to the gun store! My wife agreed, bless her Kimber Eclipse carrying heart.

In reality, I had already made up my mind after much thought and all I had to do was plunk down the moolah and paperwork. I chose a SIG 239 SAS in .40. Here’s why: I wanted something small, concealable, easy to wear, with good stopping power and night time suitability. And I wanted all of this to come with the gun with zero gunsmithing or modification, which might be perceived as unsafe or negligent.

The last point is important. When you decide to carry a gun and end up in harm’s way, you have to defend your life not once, but twice. The first is during the life-threatening encounter which causes you to deploy deadly force. The second is when you appear in court to defend the use of said deadly force. It does no good to save yourself or your family if some over zealous DA’s office decides they will use any and all tactics to “punish” you for your legal right to defend your life. Should justice fail to prevail, and you are imprisoned, for all practical purposes your life is over. Even if you win, the legal fees can be devastating. You need to make your right to self-defense airtight. Since each choice you make about the weapon will be debated in court, you should choose wisely from a legal as well as a defense perspective.

First and foremost, the Sig 239 meets all the criteria for an effective carry weapon. It is of a good, demonstrably capable caliber in .40. I avoided 9mm, because of it’s underpowered repuation. Although I’ve read that modern loads now make 9mm effective, the general thought was that I couldn’t go wrong moving up a notch to the forty. The .40 is effective, won’t over-penetrate (to keep bystanders safe), but fits in a small, easily hidden gun. The round also has negligible recoil, making it easier for me to control in stressful situations. I also wanted something that the police or the government carry, and load it with the same ammunition that they use. This diffuses the argument that the gun was used with “mankiller” or “cruel” rounds, a point of attack in many cases. By using the same caliber and ammunition as the police, you can’t readily be accused of being “Rambo” about your choice of bullet.

The Sig 239 is also small. As I mentioned, I’m not a large man, and what I wear on a day to day basis requires something with very little “print.” I thought about the 229 version of the SAS, but the butt was too long for me and the DA trigger was too far forward for my smallish hands. The 229 grip was also too fat to sit comfortably in my hands. The 239 was just right, allowing me a good grip. It only holds 7+1 rounds, but most fights statistically never require a reload and are resolved in just 3-4 rounds. Besides, in CA, the 229 is capped by law at 10 rounds, so I was only missing out on two rounds by sticking with the 239.

The 239 SAS stands for “Sig Anti-Snag” and features a “melted” finish that is both visually pleasing and functional. No sharp edges means nothing to catch when you are drawing from clothing. This isn’t a “knock the corners off” job that can still poke at you with long hours of carry, but a true soap bar type of melt. No halfways about it and no gunsmithing needed. The reason I wanted all the features as factory standard is to address the argument that I created a gun that was unsafe. Any gunsmithing, even by a qualified smith, might be interpreted as a “zeal” to create a “murder weapon” which also resulted in a negligently unsafe handgun. I wanted everything to be absolutely stock and tested/approved by the state of California.

The sights are tough and functional, with a single tritium night sight up front and a plain black notch in the rear. I have trouble lining up triple-dot sights on the range, and triple night sight dots can cause problems in the dark since you may not immediately know which dot is the front sight. A single dot leaves no confusion. Again, I would not have to have a gunsmith retrofit the sights to my liking.

The DAK trigger was the single most deciding factor in choosing the 239 SAS. The DAK trigger is double action only. Many police departments have switched to double action triggers because they are perceived as being safe as compared to DA/SA or single action only weapons. Like it or not, this is the prevailing wisdom in legal settings these days. If I wanted to be percieved as a safe and responsible gun owner, I would have to go with a double action only weapon. The problem is, they all suck. Many DA only semi-autos have heavy and long trigger pulls. Others, like those on the Glock, do not have a second strike capability. If the hammer falls on a round that fails to fire, you must rack the slide to re-cock the internal striker. In a fight, requiring two hands is a liability. Shooting Times reports that 80% of the time, a second strike on a dud round will fix the problem, and instinctively, your first move would be to pull the trigger a second time. Sure, you can train for tap-rack-bang, but I don’t train nearly often enough to make this a perfect combat move, and it ejects a perfectly good round in many cases. The Sig’s DAK system is the best feeling DA trigger around and doesn’t feature a pre-cocked striker. If you have a misfire, just pull the trigger again. DAK also has a secondary fire mode that features a shorter and lighter trigger pull. After the first DA pull, you just ease the trigger forward about half-way and the gun is ready to fire again without having to fully reset the trigger. This move might require some practice, so I’d probably just fully reset the trigger. Since I mostly shoot revolvers, I’d be well trained for the Sig’s DA trigger-another good reason to choose a DA system.

That’s quite a bit of thought, but I wanted to be thoughtful about the weapon I choose to carry and, possibly, bet my life. The Sig is known for its reliability and accuracy, and has all the features you might want in a carry weapon including night sights and melted carry packaging. Just as importantly, it also fulfills legal criteria for what is considered a safe and responsible weapon, but does so without compromising function. No easy feat! Of course I hope never to use it, but if I have to, I can do it with confidence both in the field and in the courtroom.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 27th, 2006 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Autoloaders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.