Whats your experience with a "certified pre owned" SIG?

[worldishis]

I've found a suuuuuch a good deal on a CPO SIG p229 .40, but Im so skeptical on the condition of these things. Have you or someone you know bought a CPO before? Were they all scratched up?

I will be using this as a CCW so I dont mind if it has scratches that Im gonna give the damn thing in 4 months, I just dont want it to look like its been ran over and blown up.

 

[scorpiusdeus]

I've shot a few Certified pre-owned. Their owners loved them and they shot like new. I've heard nothing but good about CPO Sigs.

 

[worldishis]

Sorry I should have been more clear. I dont doubt the mechanical quality of a SIG CPO. I believe SIG is a good enough company that when they say it has a 5 point inspection, and they replace worn parts etc., they do it. Its the aesthetic quality Im questioning. From what I understand all the CPO's are service pistols. So Im asking myself, what kind of cosmetic wear will they allow to be shipped out with the CPO title?

Anybody know?

 

[scorpiusdeus]

I've seen everything from like new to some serious holster wear.

 

[xrocket]

Perhaps I can give you some additional background.

In the last year I've purchased two CPOs and three NIB Sigs. The CPOs vary in finish somewhat and if your picky about that then you should personally inspect the CPO before buying. On the other hand I recently purchased a CPO from Buds and could not be happier. I asked Gurney to personally pull and inspect what I was looking for and two days later it arrived as described. All new purchase CPOs come with a one year factory warranty from Sig which also covers the finish. As you probably know, all the internals are as new and or replaced at Sig before going to the dealers.

There are Sig trade ins and these are not CPOs and when you purchase a trade in they are as original and have not been gone through at the factory. That might be an earlier posters misinformation about holster wear. The trade ins run from as new to really used and do not have a Sig factory warranty, but if you can inspect them there are gems out there.

None of my Sigs are collectibles or safe queens, I shoot all of them and my grown children shoot all of them so I'm not quite as picky as others might be. I actually prefer a gun with the right wear on the finish to a safe queen. Kind of like my well cared for tools.

In short the CPO can save you two to four hundred dollars off of new, but new it's not. Close, but not new and a buyer should be realistic in their expectations. It is also a good way to determine if you like Sigs and if you don't you can usually sell it for what you bought it for or pretty close and not take the new gun depreciation loss.

Good luck and good shooting.

 

[Colt Delta Elite]

xrocket, could you post pictures of your CPO's?

 

[wdelack]

I have a Sig GSR Revolution that is CPO. The pistol looked and functioned like new and continues to run 100%.

 

[JDG]

My CPO only has a few nicks in the coating, mostly on the trigger gaurd, shoots awesome

 

[Pilot]

I have a CPO Sig P228 and am very happy with it. Some very minor holster wear, but mechanically excellent.

 

[lafd04]

I was lead to belive that if bad enough they were redone. I have a cpo sig 229. I found two or three nicks on it when I had bought it and I wondered if they where there from sig or from the gun store because of the way the gun was in the case. However it took a bit before I saw them. As stated above the gun was just about brand new inside and had 2 new mags with it. I saved 250 dollars on the cpo over the new one. I'd buy another in a heartbeat. In fact theres a 220 thats caught my eye

 

[worldishis]

Thanks for the responses everbody, please keep them coming. I decided not to buy them online so I can personally inspect them before I invest in one. This is due to some horror stories I ran across (more on that later) Theres a gun show coming up at the end of the month so I can probably find a few dealers that have a good selection, and I can actually take the time to disassemble and take a look. Im glad you guys had good experiences with the CPO's.

I found a post in Sigforum from a guy that sent his CPO SIG in to get it refinished with some special coating, when the guy took off the Nitron there was excessive rust pits all over gun. He said it took him five hours to remove all the rust by hand. Soon after that one, another one came into his shop in worse condition. Apparently, SIG was (dont know if they still are as this was back in OCT/NOV of 07) just basically spraying over damaged finishes. There was another case of them spraying Nitron over a badly damaged stainless finish, well the Nitron chipped away revealing the chrome.

Im not saying this happens the majority of the time, because I dont know. Ive also read a hell of a lot more postive reviews then negative ones, thats for sure.

So point is, either ask for really detailed pictures or see it in person.

 

[Moe Howard]

I just got a CPO p229 a few months ago and it only had one small nick on the bottom of the dust cover. Other than that the refinish was fine. I did strip the finish, polish, and sand blast the slide so I can't give any comment as to longevity of the refinish but when I got it, it was well done. I have read on a couple of forums, I know, that Sig has changed the process and criteria for the refinish on their CPO guns due to some of these problems. One thing I have not found is a CPO with function problems, not saying there is not some but I have not seen any in my Sig researches.

 

[Lawyer Daggit]

What is he certifying- is he merely certifying that it is pre-owned.

 

[2cooltoolz]

I bought myself a "surprise" 9mm P226 CPO as a gift from my wife for Christmas. Bought online, sight unseen, Gunbroker. It was/is in outstanding functional condition, came packaged as new, new magazines, paperwork, etc, but in a red, instead of blue, box. The finish was not perfect, but probably 95%. You could certainly tell it had been used, particularly the exterior of the barrel which shows some "slide action" marks. A couple of "smudges" on the slide, not scratches, and one slight circular scatch, which I have mostly polished out since this pic, where the take-down lever swivels.
That being said, it functions perfectly; probably a thousand rounds without a single failure. It came with "night sights", which had died, and which I changed out to the factory bar and dot (or "dot the I") to match my P220 anyway. Picked them up on eBay for less than $10. It is now one of my favorite pistols to shoot. I've heard them called "boringly consistent" and I somewhat get that, but that is really a good thing in a defense pistol.
I bought it as a less expensive to shoot complement to my .45 P220ST and it fits that bill perfectly. I also like that it is a bit of a "Frankensig" in that I don't know if this reverse two-tone combination was ever released new.
Yep, I like it. Yep, I would do it again in a minute.

 

[1goodshot]

I bought 2 P226 1 in 9mm and the other in 40sw. Both look pretty close to new and have very little wear on them. Im happy

 

[Creature]

My particular CPO 9mm P226 was perfect, inside and out, that I was not able to tell it from a NIB specimen. Based on my experience, the CPO option seems like a great alternative to paying the high cost of a new Sig.

BTW 2CoolToolz: did your CPO P226 come with the short trigger already installed as seen in your picture?

 

[2cooltoolz]

did your CPO P226 come with the short trigger already installed as seen in your picture?

I've made no mods to the gun. Educate me. I've heard of short triggers, but didn't notice a significant difference from my P220. I understand the "short" trigger is thinner (?) to effectively shorten the reach. If so that works well for my medium hands with the fat staggered column grip. The P220 came with the wood grips, from the factory, which are fatter than standard P220 plastic grips. Does it have the short trigger, too? They appear to be about the same. The 220 has a slightly lighter SA pull and the P226 has a slightly fatter grip, so while I noticed a difference, it was hard to quantify.

 

[Creature]

You would be correct.

Sig P229 with short trigger:

Sig P229 with standard trigger:

Whether on a P226 or a P229, the trigger differences are visible. You wouldn't think it, but the short trigger makes a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE in trigger reach. Your P226 definitely has the short trigger.

 

[Tom2]

I had a second hand CPO 220 once. Guy said he put 50 rounds thru it before selling. The finish looked perfect on it. Did not really look like a refurb to me. Only thing was I could not extract that legendary accuracy out of it. It shot about as well as an out of the box standard 1911 for me, like maybe groups at least twice as large as most people claim for the model. It was not loose or anything. Just did not live up to the rep. But it was fully reliable and a nice gun. I kept my stock 1911, as if I want to make it more accurate, it is an easier process.

 

[dave421]

I bought a CPO P226 last year and it was amazing. I can only recall 3 flaws with it. There were 3 little "spots" on the frame (kinda like pin-pricks) but the finish was not broken. I have been told that the guns are refinished if needed so perhaps that's the way mine was.

I traded a XD40 SubCompact (3 mags) for it (with 4 mags) straight out. The XD had somewhere between 1000-1500 rounds through it. Needless to say, I jumped on the opportunity and became sold on Sigs. To this day, I've never seen a CPO that needed to be refinished. I've seen some like mine with some small imperfections but nothing approaching bad whatsoever. I think I'd be a bit turned off by anything advertised as CPO that had major finish wear. I'd question whether it was a "new" or fresh CPO or used.