Shane Tuttle
Staff
Just picked up an SDS Imports Zigana PX9 in OD Green from Palmetto State Armory. I was intrigued by all the features and solid reviews. I'm a fan of the Springfield XD series guns. However, recent years brought on other brands offering not only interchangeable backstraps, they also offer choices of side panels as well. I never understood why Springfield didn't step up their game. Their updated grip textures work pretty well. The Zigana seems to address my desire to have superb ergonomics via interchangeable panels along with no-so-aggressive texturing. It's pretty obvious they stole Springfield's XD slide shape/design. I figure they avoided copyright infringement by making use of an external ejector and a couple of other small tweaks. I mean, they brazenly state you can even use XD holsters (not that that's a smoking gun). For $280, I had to buy it.
https://palmettostatearmory.com/sds-zigana-px9-g2-9mm-pistol-with-holster-od-green-px9g2odg.html
The pros:
The overall ergonomics is fantastic. Dry-firing the trigger was a little heavy. But it was very smooth, NO creep, break was clean, and reset was a just a little long. I was really impressed, especially coming from an inexpensive polymer striker-fired gun. The serrations grabbed on to my finger, yet didn't dig into it. Racking the slide was smooth and fairly easy (it's no Shield EZ. But who is, though). No major sharp edges. You can use Sig P226 magazines for it. This one came with 2ea 18 rounders made by Mec-Gar. Extended magwell is included as well as the tool to change it out. Slide & barrel are hammer forged. Field strip is about as easy as any polymer handgun out there. You do have to pull the trigger to disengage the slide from the frame. Hitting the mag release without manipulating the gun in my hand was easy. At the same time, it doesn't seem like you can easily hit it by accident, either. My preference is having the mag release on the right side and use my middle finger to eject the magazine. I'm hoping to be able to swap sides with the release on this one. If not, I'm happy with how easy it is to use my thumb on the left side. Rear sight is fully adjustable. Very few tooling marks on the interior pieces.
Cons:
When I stripped it to give it a good initial cleaning, the coating seemed to consistently grab at my cloth. I guess I'm pretty spoiled how smooth finishes are on my XDs and 1911s. When reassembling, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the striker spring guide would not seat in the locking plate. A little persuasion and it finally popped right in. Upon further inspection, it appears either the plate or the slide's machining isn't exactly precise. I can see uneven gapping around the perimeter of them. Not the end of the world. And, again, it's an inexpensive gun made in Turkey. I'm sure 5min worth of a gunsmith's time can remedy it. The fit/finish between the magwell & frame wasn't exactly perfection, either. The gaps aren't going to interfere with the function of it. Just a cosmetic issue that I noticed. The holster sucks. I don't like any factory holsters. This one really takes the cake. Not only does the retention want you to grab the holster with one hand and the gun with the other just to disengage the damn thing, the tension isn't even adjustable. The mag loader isn't much better. If you have an Uplula, you're better off. Cleaning kit is a joke. Most of us have our own cleaning equipment, anyway.
Verdict:
Shooting it will tell the complete story. Hoping to in the next week or so and find out if the proof's in the pudding. Kinda weird that I'm excited to try out a budget gun like this one. Sure, it ain't no Les Baer. It just seems like they took all the best features of several of our big name manufacturers and melded them into one.
https://palmettostatearmory.com/sds-zigana-px9-g2-9mm-pistol-with-holster-od-green-px9g2odg.html
The pros:
The overall ergonomics is fantastic. Dry-firing the trigger was a little heavy. But it was very smooth, NO creep, break was clean, and reset was a just a little long. I was really impressed, especially coming from an inexpensive polymer striker-fired gun. The serrations grabbed on to my finger, yet didn't dig into it. Racking the slide was smooth and fairly easy (it's no Shield EZ. But who is, though). No major sharp edges. You can use Sig P226 magazines for it. This one came with 2ea 18 rounders made by Mec-Gar. Extended magwell is included as well as the tool to change it out. Slide & barrel are hammer forged. Field strip is about as easy as any polymer handgun out there. You do have to pull the trigger to disengage the slide from the frame. Hitting the mag release without manipulating the gun in my hand was easy. At the same time, it doesn't seem like you can easily hit it by accident, either. My preference is having the mag release on the right side and use my middle finger to eject the magazine. I'm hoping to be able to swap sides with the release on this one. If not, I'm happy with how easy it is to use my thumb on the left side. Rear sight is fully adjustable. Very few tooling marks on the interior pieces.
Cons:
When I stripped it to give it a good initial cleaning, the coating seemed to consistently grab at my cloth. I guess I'm pretty spoiled how smooth finishes are on my XDs and 1911s. When reassembling, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the striker spring guide would not seat in the locking plate. A little persuasion and it finally popped right in. Upon further inspection, it appears either the plate or the slide's machining isn't exactly precise. I can see uneven gapping around the perimeter of them. Not the end of the world. And, again, it's an inexpensive gun made in Turkey. I'm sure 5min worth of a gunsmith's time can remedy it. The fit/finish between the magwell & frame wasn't exactly perfection, either. The gaps aren't going to interfere with the function of it. Just a cosmetic issue that I noticed. The holster sucks. I don't like any factory holsters. This one really takes the cake. Not only does the retention want you to grab the holster with one hand and the gun with the other just to disengage the damn thing, the tension isn't even adjustable. The mag loader isn't much better. If you have an Uplula, you're better off. Cleaning kit is a joke. Most of us have our own cleaning equipment, anyway.
Verdict:
Shooting it will tell the complete story. Hoping to in the next week or so and find out if the proof's in the pudding. Kinda weird that I'm excited to try out a budget gun like this one. Sure, it ain't no Les Baer. It just seems like they took all the best features of several of our big name manufacturers and melded them into one.
