BehindBlueI's
Grandmaster
- Oct 3, 2012
- 25,897
- 113
I recently purchased a Sig P245. It came with two flush fit magazines and two extended magazines (P220 magazines with a spacer floor plate). It is a used gun, of course, but appears to be a very low round count gun. The exterior of the barrel is barely worn, and the frame rails look almost same as new.
Based on the serial number, I believe it was manufactured in 1999, and is a German made gun with factory Sig night sights.
I carry a P220 daily, and the first thing I noticed is that the gun fits my hand exactly like the P220. The grip is the perfect length for me to get all of my fingers on it but not have any grip hanging out the bottom. It feels just as good in my hand as the P220 and does not feel “small”. Of course, it is not particularly small, despite being what Sig considers a compact. The overall length is ½” shorter (7.1” vs 7.6”) and the height is 1” shorter (top of rear sight to bottom of magazine: 4.75” vs 5.75”) Width is the same, and the pistols will share holsters (with the obvious that a P245 specific holster will be ½” to short if a closed bottom design or if you don’t want the P220 to stick out).
Shooting it, it feels very much like shooting the P220. I was worried the recoil would be noticeably more intense, but it wasn’t. The heft of the P245 and the good grip-to-hand feel made it feel so close to the full sized P220 that I can’t say for sure how much, if any, more recoil there is. I was on an indoor range and did not engage in rapid fire or timed follow-ups, to it’s a bit tough to tell at this point. First instinct is any difference is minimal, though.
So, here’s my first group. 6 shots of my own reloads (230 gr plated bullet over 4.4 grains of Winchester Super Target). All groups are at 7 yards.
I strung them a bit vertically, and realized I was holding too tight with my support hand. I was concerned it would have more recoil than it did and had squeezed to hard in anticipation. Once I figured that out, it tightened up a bit. My third string was near perfect, as I’ll show in a later picture.
This is 6 shots of Hornady Critical Defense 185 gr. Hornady markets this as being for short barrel guns. The P245 is a 3.9” barrel, so its sort of a middle length. I’ll be interested to chrono it when I shoot outdoors next time. Recoil was very minimal, and it was an extremely pleasant cartridge to shoot. The one flier is all my fault, and otherwise the group touches. I believe this cartridge would allow very quick followup shots. This is likely what I will carry in the P245.
Next up was Hornady Critical Duty 220gr +P. Hornady markets this as being for 5” barrels. I sucked with it. I was consistently low, often left, and the group was dinner plate sized. I thought perhaps the P245 just didn’t like it, so I tried a magazine through my P220 (4.4” barrel) and the results were basically the same. I thought perhaps I was just shooting terribly for some reason, so I then ran a magazine of my reloads through the P220 and shot normally, about a 2.5” group. I don’t know if the Sigs just don’t like this cartridge (both are rated ok for +P) or if I just wasn’t doing something right. The recoil was very heavy, but I didn’t feel like I was shoving the gun and I can normally call my shots if I push it and hit low. Regardless, I ran all 20 rounds through the two guns and even taking my time, firing single action, and concentrating on the fundamentals I could not hold groups approaching those with the reloads or with PDX-1s or Critical Defense.
I then did some basic head shot/torso shot….torso shot/head shot with a bit of speed and with both eyes open. I had to relax my strong hand again, as I was starting to string left, but got it figured out and back on track. Note the group labeled #3. That was my 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] string ever with the gun, and at that point I had the sights and the grip figured out. I still prefer my Trijicon HDs, especially for trying to shoot with both eyes open, but the Sig lights did just fine.
I had one failure to fire. One of my reloads did not go off with the first hammer fall. Pulling the trigger again touched it off with no problem. This batch was reloaded on my old press when I was having trouble seating large pistol primers, and the primer was likely set to deep, so I’m blaming the cartridge and not the gun on this one. There were no failures to feed or eject. All factory ammo fired as expected.
The trigger is good, but not quite as smooth as my P220. It does stack just before tripping in double action and feels heavier than my P220. Firing them back to back makes it much more apparent. The SRT trigger in the P220 is also much crisper and quicker to reset. The P245 has a bit of mush in the trigger as it resets. Once it clicks there’s some very light mushy feeling take up before it “catches” and starts to feel clean, then breaks the hammer cleanly. The SRT clicks and is immediately “catching” and trips the hammer very cleanly. The stock P245 trigger is certainly good, but its just not excellent. Luckily, a SRT trigger is an easy upgrade.
The one concern I did notice is the magazines do not drop free when the slide is locked back. They drop partially free and then hang. I know certain guns are designed to do this so you can retain your magazines easier, but I don’t know if the P245 is designed to drop free or not. None of the 4 mags drop free with the slide locked back, but all 4 eject with authority with the slide closed. I would prefer my mags drop free on an empty gun reload.
In the future, I’ll likely send this gun to the Sig custom shop for an SRT and an Equinox style front sight (to help facilitate both eyes open shooting) and to have the trigger polished up a bit. I don’t intend for this to replace my P220 as a EDC, but I’m sure it will get some quality holster time on longer road trips or vacations when the shorter height will be more comfortable and easier to conceal.
Thanks to Indy Trading Post for the range time!
Based on the serial number, I believe it was manufactured in 1999, and is a German made gun with factory Sig night sights.
I carry a P220 daily, and the first thing I noticed is that the gun fits my hand exactly like the P220. The grip is the perfect length for me to get all of my fingers on it but not have any grip hanging out the bottom. It feels just as good in my hand as the P220 and does not feel “small”. Of course, it is not particularly small, despite being what Sig considers a compact. The overall length is ½” shorter (7.1” vs 7.6”) and the height is 1” shorter (top of rear sight to bottom of magazine: 4.75” vs 5.75”) Width is the same, and the pistols will share holsters (with the obvious that a P245 specific holster will be ½” to short if a closed bottom design or if you don’t want the P220 to stick out).
Shooting it, it feels very much like shooting the P220. I was worried the recoil would be noticeably more intense, but it wasn’t. The heft of the P245 and the good grip-to-hand feel made it feel so close to the full sized P220 that I can’t say for sure how much, if any, more recoil there is. I was on an indoor range and did not engage in rapid fire or timed follow-ups, to it’s a bit tough to tell at this point. First instinct is any difference is minimal, though.
So, here’s my first group. 6 shots of my own reloads (230 gr plated bullet over 4.4 grains of Winchester Super Target). All groups are at 7 yards.
I strung them a bit vertically, and realized I was holding too tight with my support hand. I was concerned it would have more recoil than it did and had squeezed to hard in anticipation. Once I figured that out, it tightened up a bit. My third string was near perfect, as I’ll show in a later picture.
This is 6 shots of Hornady Critical Defense 185 gr. Hornady markets this as being for short barrel guns. The P245 is a 3.9” barrel, so its sort of a middle length. I’ll be interested to chrono it when I shoot outdoors next time. Recoil was very minimal, and it was an extremely pleasant cartridge to shoot. The one flier is all my fault, and otherwise the group touches. I believe this cartridge would allow very quick followup shots. This is likely what I will carry in the P245.
Next up was Hornady Critical Duty 220gr +P. Hornady markets this as being for 5” barrels. I sucked with it. I was consistently low, often left, and the group was dinner plate sized. I thought perhaps the P245 just didn’t like it, so I tried a magazine through my P220 (4.4” barrel) and the results were basically the same. I thought perhaps I was just shooting terribly for some reason, so I then ran a magazine of my reloads through the P220 and shot normally, about a 2.5” group. I don’t know if the Sigs just don’t like this cartridge (both are rated ok for +P) or if I just wasn’t doing something right. The recoil was very heavy, but I didn’t feel like I was shoving the gun and I can normally call my shots if I push it and hit low. Regardless, I ran all 20 rounds through the two guns and even taking my time, firing single action, and concentrating on the fundamentals I could not hold groups approaching those with the reloads or with PDX-1s or Critical Defense.
I then did some basic head shot/torso shot….torso shot/head shot with a bit of speed and with both eyes open. I had to relax my strong hand again, as I was starting to string left, but got it figured out and back on track. Note the group labeled #3. That was my 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] string ever with the gun, and at that point I had the sights and the grip figured out. I still prefer my Trijicon HDs, especially for trying to shoot with both eyes open, but the Sig lights did just fine.
I had one failure to fire. One of my reloads did not go off with the first hammer fall. Pulling the trigger again touched it off with no problem. This batch was reloaded on my old press when I was having trouble seating large pistol primers, and the primer was likely set to deep, so I’m blaming the cartridge and not the gun on this one. There were no failures to feed or eject. All factory ammo fired as expected.
The trigger is good, but not quite as smooth as my P220. It does stack just before tripping in double action and feels heavier than my P220. Firing them back to back makes it much more apparent. The SRT trigger in the P220 is also much crisper and quicker to reset. The P245 has a bit of mush in the trigger as it resets. Once it clicks there’s some very light mushy feeling take up before it “catches” and starts to feel clean, then breaks the hammer cleanly. The SRT clicks and is immediately “catching” and trips the hammer very cleanly. The stock P245 trigger is certainly good, but its just not excellent. Luckily, a SRT trigger is an easy upgrade.
The one concern I did notice is the magazines do not drop free when the slide is locked back. They drop partially free and then hang. I know certain guns are designed to do this so you can retain your magazines easier, but I don’t know if the P245 is designed to drop free or not. None of the 4 mags drop free with the slide locked back, but all 4 eject with authority with the slide closed. I would prefer my mags drop free on an empty gun reload.
In the future, I’ll likely send this gun to the Sig custom shop for an SRT and an Equinox style front sight (to help facilitate both eyes open shooting) and to have the trigger polished up a bit. I don’t intend for this to replace my P220 as a EDC, but I’m sure it will get some quality holster time on longer road trips or vacations when the shorter height will be more comfortable and easier to conceal.
Thanks to Indy Trading Post for the range time!
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