The Sig P226 has been a longtime favorite gun in our house.

If you ask me, the Germans are not capable of making bad weapons. I have yet to shoot a German gun I didn't like. When we bought our Sig P226 in the fall of 2007, my husband and I fell in love with it. Everything was so fluid with the way it shot. The craftsmanship was typical of fine German work. So how much do we love this gun? It's like this, when I was pregnant and we were trying to get a first name for our son, we were certain that our son's middle name would be Sig (true story.) So this month, I would like to feature one of Germany's finest, the Sig P226.

The Specs
Caliber: 9mm
Magazine Capacity: 15+1 (although they also make a low capcacity magazine version for the states that don't allow the 15 round magazine.)
Recoil: Average.
Ease of use: Because it's a full sized gun, it shoots nicely, sights are easy to line up quickly, but if you are the kind of person who gets frustrated with a lot of buttons, you probably won't enjoy the Sig and it's decocker button.
Cost: Sigs are like the Toyotas of the gun world. You're not getting a cheap little Hundai, yet you're not getting a fully loaded Lexus. It's a moderately priced gun that handles nicely.
Misc: Just like with cars, the Sig also has different options with purchase. You can get it with a standard safety, or in our case, a decocking button. You can also order them with double action only or single action only. The options are endless. OK, they're not endless, but there are a lot.

How Does The Gunslinging Housewife Rate It?
Pro: This is just another example of fine German engineering in the world of firearms. The action on the stock trigger is very smooth. Everything on this gun just seems to flow. You can easily wind up shooting several hundred rounds in an afternoon with this pistol. While I love high capacity magazines, I also hate them. The good thing with the Sig is that while many high capacity magazines tend to have too much pressure and have feeding issues, I have yet to experience that with this pistol. Of course, I have had the issue of sore thumbs, but that comes naturally with the territory.

Cons: This is a matter of personal taste, but some people may not like having a gun with an exposed hammer that needs to be decocked or require a safety. It's also not the cheapest gun on the market, but it's not the most expensive one.