John Hawkins loves him some new offering from SIG:
In a world full of consumers seeking out pocket pistols, sub-compact daily carriers, and snub-nose revolvers built with a minimalist design, the Emperor Scorpion stands out as an ode to one of the most iconic, full-sized guns ever made. And thanks to Sig Sauer, the Emperor Scorpion not only captures, but actually surpasses, all the wonder and awe you and I felt when we shot the 1911s our grandpas owned.
One more point: The Emperor Scorpion is made in the U.S.A.
Well, allow me to retort. [/Jules Winnfield]
Things that put Kim off from buying a new-style 1911:
- front-slide serrations: never needed them, never will, and they wear on leather holsters
- ditto serrations on the front of the grip: chafes the hand after about 100 rounds, and I don’t suffer from sweaty hands anyway
- raised nubbin on the grip safety: these are for people who aren’t holding their guns tightly enough
- camo-Barbie color: ’nuff said.
Oh, and lookie here:
Finally: I’ve always made fun of SIG, S&W and Glock for their impenetrable model-numbering systems (in SIG’s case, 225, 226, 229, 232 etc.) but that does not give them an excuse to make their latest 1911 sound like a character from The Lord Of The Rings. “Emperor Scorpion”?
Call that the fifth “nope”. If I’m going to shell out over $1,300 for a 1911, it has to have more class. Kinda like this one:
‘Nuff said. And it too is made in the U.S.A.
No doubt some teenager running SIG’s marketing department would write me off as just another old asshole who’s going to die soon anyway — it’s far sexier to chase after the “youth” market, after all.
Except for one thing: I have probably another two, even three more 1911 purchases left to me before I shuffle off this mortal coil, and yet another one as a present for the Son&Heir, maybe as soon as his next birthday, even. None of those will be this Chief Insect 1911, though.
Kim,
Good morning. You never cease to create befuddlement, give me a moment’s pause to think about things. You’ve stated countless times that you’re largely bound by tradition. I’m a bit surprised you didn’t also mark off the accessory rail on that Sig as a 5th thing to lose. Then again, all the young whippersnappers today insist on hanging all sorts of clutter from all their firearms. I’m of the school of “keep it clean” – keep it neat, etc.
Enjoy your weekend …
Brad,
I don’t care much for the accessory rail on handguns, unless it’s to mount a red-dot laser (which I DO think is A Good Thing, especially for people who don’t practice enough to make sight acquisition instinctive).
But yeah, in the main I find that any kind of rail mounted on a handgun puts me off.
Damn you to Hell, Kim. Damn you to hell. Now I have to buy a laser to mount on the front of my Ruger PC Carbine … so much for sending my $1,200 stimulus into Brad’s Olde Age Retirement Fund (/grumbles while trudging away into the darkness)
As someone who has half a dozen of the 2xx Sigs, I have to admit that I was a fanboy for a long time. While there’s still much to admire in the traditional 2’s … 210, 220, 229 … it’s also true that Sig lost their way some time back. Perhaps it started with that abortion of a double-stack .45, the 227. It only lasted a few years in the market.
I started carrying a cheap little .45 Glock when I visited CA because it was on their list. Funny how I never carried the heavy Sigs again after spending time with that little polymer dingus.
Also, it may get me no Kim-points for saying so, but a 13 round .45 Glock might just be the ideal sidearm in these troubled times.
And even there, a CZ 97 is the better choice.
Look, I’ve got nothing against SIGs: they’re reliable, accurate handguns (especially the brilliant 210), but the newer models are block-y and ugly. The P232 is a lovely little gun — I carried one as a backup for years, as an alternative to the Mauser HSc or H&K P7 — but the 225/226 etc. are foul.
At least we can agree on the abomination pictured above.
My P230, by the way, is the queen of my safe … a thing of beauty.
The CZ 97 is a big, heavy gun, and holds just 10 rounds, which is a bit anemic by modern standards.
I hate to disagree, but I must. I like the P22X series guns, I consider them the best of the DA/SA breed. Once you play with the striker-fired guns, a P226’s trigger is fantastic.
Some years ago I bought a Sig 1911 Carry Nightmare for about $700 at a gun show. I wanted something more plain Jane than my Colts, something that I could carry and not care about devaluation from honest wear. The steel frame, flat black finish and round butt made it a good call for concealed carry. I almost didn’t buy it because the teenage mall ninjas in Sig’s design department just had to call attention to all the controls – safety, grip safety, etc. – by leaving them bright.
https://image.sportsmansguide.com/adimgs/l/6/642547_ts.jpg
Ugh .
But, it’s accurate, reliable and so far eats everything I feed it.
I have owned a S&W 1911 and liked it alot. IT had the front strap checkering, I believe it has front slide serrations, no rail, bump on the grip safety and external extractor. I like the front checkering on the grip frame because it’s not that my hands get sweaty while shooting it’s that if I’m injured I don’t want any blood making the grip slippery. The external extractor doesn’t require custom tuning and hasn’t given me any trouble at all. Oh and it does have the blasphemous full length guide rod but that doesn’t really help or hinder so I kept it
It works well and is accurate enough on playing cards at respectable distances.
JQ
I may be wrong, at least on some models, but I’m pretty sure Springfield Armory makes their 1911 frames in Brazil.
I work a few days a month at a gun store that sells cigars (or a cigar store that sells guns, sometimes I forget which). My store carry is a Sig Ultra 1911 .45 because it’s GD beautiful and a .45. It’s strictly open carry in the store, but when I’m out and about on personal bidness, it’s a CZ 2075 BD RAMI in an Urban Carry holster. I like hammer fired, I like DA/SA with a decocker, I like 14+1, I like CZ and I like not having my nuts crushed every time I sit down.
I’m with Kim. I don’t understand what Sig is trying to do with this gun. It’s like when Kimber came out with the BelAir Micro. The last thing you want to do is explain to a judge and jury why your carry piece is a fashion accessory, but I swear we sell the living shit out of those. They don’t last 1 day on the shelf. Maybe Sig is trying to capture the gamer market with the Emporium Scrotum model, I don’t know.
I like a checkered (or stippled) front grip. Front slide serrations are iffy, and they can keep the under-frame cheese grater. I’ll keep my light in the other hand, thank you.
Although I’m not a big 1911 shooter. My real love are the percussion revolvers…and both flint and percussion duelling pistols.
I like plain and functional. Currently my only 1911 is a Colt Govt model in 9mm. I will probably swap it out for the same thing but in stainless in the next few years. I like stainless.
Kim,
there is a functional reason for most of those mods to the frame areas of the 1911. They are a gunsmith response to shooter complaints from those who shoot with their thumb on the safety, as promulgated by Col Cooper. The problem is that lifting your thumb up there pulls your palm away from the backstrap area, which has a bad influence on recoil control. Adding the undercut beavertail to this exacerbates the loss of contact, hence the bump being added to attempt to get the grip safety depressed. This usually ends up being inadequate, with the grip safety often getting pinned to the frame, or just being disabled. Think about that. Even that stupid bump, sticking way above the backstrap line, is usually inadequate to get the grip safety depressed consistently and reliably. That means that the only area that is touching is the heel of your palm, and the web between your finger and thumb. The gun constantly moves around, making accuracy poor, and beating up your hand, making practice a painful endeavor. Just stupid. So, gunsmiths started adding lots of grippy surfaces to the 1911, in an expensive attempt to get the gun to stop moving around in the hand.
Cooper began pushing this “thumb on safety” due to an IPSC competitor forgetting to take his safety off during a match. BTW, the thumb on safety was used, back in the day, as a means to cheat during target shooting. Realize that you blew a shot, and then drag your thumb on the slide to induce a malf, thereby getting a do-over. Think that can’t happen during a gunfight? I wouldn’t be surprised if it had.
I’m sure that the Cooper fanatics will quickly arrive to bad-mouth this comment. I have the utmost respect for the man, but I can also see that he wasn’t perfect. None of us are. This was one of his rare mistakes.
I have to laugh when they also bring up that JMB designed it this way, and that the Army forced him to put the grip safety on the 1911. That is incorrect. The grip safety came first. The thumb safety is what the Army requested after they accepted the gun. JMB appears to be left-handed, and the grip safety is an ambidextrous safety, which he designed into a lot of his guns.