Sig Sauer P226 XFive Overview
Welcome back to Jim's Armory. In this one, Jim takes a first look at the Sig Sauer P226 X-Five from Sig Custom Works, the American-made version of the West German competition gun that made waves on the scene over two decades ago. This is an overview rather than a teardown, with Jim walking through the features, the trigger, and his initial impressions of fit, finish, and function - plus a preview of some fixes he has planned for a follow-up video.
Background and Two Versions Jim explains that the original X-Five was built in Germany and wasn't easy to get in the US, despite being wildly popular. This American-made version is built on the tried-and-true 226 platform and is single action only, which Jim notes should feel familiar and comfortable if you're coming from the 1911 world. Sig offers two variants: the modern version Jim has on the bench, and a "classic" that mirrors the original German gun more closely, with a Hogue Cocobolo grip, a solid (non-skeletonized) trigger, and a standard takedown lever instead of the sporty thumb-rest lever. Otherwise, Jim believes the two are identical, including the same adjustable trigger.
Highlights Out of the Box Jim runs through the gun's standout features: three 20-round magazines included in the case, a 5-inch bull barrel, the skeletonized three-way adjustable AX3 trigger, Dawson-style rear sight, a fiber optic front sight, and an oversized thumb rest takedown lever with a button you push to release it. Jim likes this design detail - it addresses a concern he'd had about the slide potentially flying off the front if the lever were bumped during cycling.
Other features include an ambidextrous thumb safety that Jim says is beautifully contoured to avoid hot spots on the web of your hand, a firing pin safety lock similar in concept to a Series 80 1911 (though he's clear it isn't a 1911), Hogue G10 Piranha grips that he describes as sticky and aggressive but comfortable, an included alloy magwell, a stainless steel accessory rail up front, and factory RMR and Delta Point Pro mounting holes already drilled and tapped under the optic plate - removable with two T10 Torx screws.
Handling and Weight The first thing Jim notices picking up the gun is its weight - 48 ounces, or 3 pounds, which he calls maybe the heaviest gun he's had on the bench in a long time. Despite the heft, he finds it comfortable to hold, and thinks the weight helps mitigate recoil, giving it some snap but not compensated behavior, similar to what you'd expect from a heavy 5-inch gun. Jim praises Sig's production quality broadly, especially their metal-frame, hammer-fired guns.
The Trigger: Adjustable Four Ways Jim calls this the nicest trigger he's ever encountered on a production gun. It's adjustable in four ways: a factory-cautioned screw for pre-travel that Sig's manual warns against touching (Jim admits he won't be able to resist experimenting with it eventually), a 2.5mm Allen key adjustment for trigger reach forward and backward, a front-accessed adjustment (roughly 2mm Allen key) for pull weight, and a bottom-accessed screw, also 2mm, for overtravel.
Jim measured the trigger pull across several pulls: 2 lb 5.2 oz, 2 lb 2.2 oz, 2 lb 4.9 oz, and 2 lb 0.9 oz, averaging out to about 2 lb 2.88 oz. He describes the break as crisp with a soft but very tactile reset - something he could clearly feel even during rapid fire.
Pro-Tip: If you want a lighter trigger than stock, Jim doesn't think you need to go much below what's achievable with the factory adjustments - the sub-2.5-pound break here is already about as light as necessary.
A Few Rough Edges Not everything is perfect. Jim isn't fond of the slide release's position relative to the safety - it's close enough, but the safety sticks out enough that he has to either hook his hand around it or reach over the top, which means changing his grip to engage it. He'd rather not alter his grip to hit a control, calling it a minor safety concern.
The bigger issue, in Jim's view, involves the sights and optics setup. The factory sights are excellent, but removing the optic plate to mount an RMR or Delta Point Pro means losing the rear sight entirely (Sig's own Romeo X Pro and Romeo M17 optics have integrated sights, but a standard aftermarket footprint does not). Sig does sell a suppressor-height iron sight to co-witness in this scenario, but it requires buying a matching front sight as well, and Jim finds the sight less attractive than the one it replaces.
Also included is an extended magazine release that Jim likes - easy to reach, doesn't interfere with this support hand, unlike some aftermarket releases he's had bad experiences with in the past.
Final Thoughts Jim's first impression of the P226 X-Five is overwhelmingly positive - a heavy, well-built, single-action gun with what he considers the best trigger he's found on a factory pistol, alongside thoughtful touches like the takedown button and included magazines. The rough spots he found - the slide release position and the optics/iron sight compromise - are things he considers easily addressable rather than dealbreakers.
Jim plans a follow-up video showing his fixes for these issues. Subscribe so you don't miss it, and if you enjoyed this one, drop a like - Jim's got plenty more guns and content on the way.
