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Tanaka Sig Sauer P229 Steel Finish
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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1
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5106
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12/3/08
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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£88.00
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8.0
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Description:
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Tanaka's new release of the old Sig Sauer P229 in a new "Steel Finish".
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Keywords:
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tanaka sig sauer p229
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Homepage/URL:
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Author
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Shao14
Misopethamenos
Registered: September 2004
Posts: 306044
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Review Date: 12/3/08
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £88.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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decent "steel finish", solid, comfortable, gas efficient, good accuracy
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Cons:
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finish could've been even better, weak power, mediocre blowback
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Introduction
Being a Sig Sauer fan, after Marui released its P226, I waited patiently for Marui to release a smaller sibling of the P226, but evidently, Marui had decided to move on to the more popular 1911 line. Tanaka must have observed Marui’s success with the P226, and it started to re-release some of its Sig models. Tanaka is more well-known for its wide range of airsoft revolvers, and there are only a couple reviews for its GBBs around. After spotting the Tanaka Sig Sauer P229 Steel Finish on Dentrinity, however, I knew I had to get this, and this will be my first Tanaka GBB experience. A side note: Den has impressed me once again with their speedy service. After only two business days, the package made its way from Hong Kong to me.
In the rest of this review, P229 refers to the title item.
External
After cleaning up the putty and paint, I start to admire my new toy. This is the old P229 model without the accessory rail and with the rounded trigger guard. Tanaka calls the finish the Steel Finish. Nothing like its midnight gold finish for some of its recent revolvers, the P229 is black, and it has somewhat a polished metal look to it, especially the sides of the frame and slide are quite convincing. The top of the slide, however, looks more plastic than steel. The breach and outer barrel have a dull finish. The external metal parts are the trigger, hammer, slide catch, decocking lever, take down lever, front and rear sights, recoil spring guide, magazine release button, and the grip panel screws.
Tanaka hides the seam lines very well in major places like under the frame, or behind the grip, but looking closely and carefully, you can still find some light seams along the top edges of the slide, inside the trigger guard., and on top of the breach. The front sight has a painted white dot, and the rear sight has a small painted white bar under the notch. Lining up the sights are pretty easy.
On the left side of the frame, it reads, “SIG SAUER P229”, “STAINLESS”, and “SIGARMS INC. EXETER-NH-USA.” On the other side, it says, “AB 19965”, “-SIGARMS INC. EXETER NH-”, “FRAME P229 MADE IN JAPAN”, and “MFG TANAKA WORKS.” On the breach, it says, “357 SIG AB19965”. The grip panels have “P229” on the left, and “SIG SAUER” on the right. All the markings are nicely and clearly engraved.
Feel
The P229’s grip is almost the same as that of the P226, only slightly shorter, and I found the P226 very comfortable to hold, and natural to point, so I like P229’s feel just as much. The piece is on the light side, but fairly hefty (with the mag in) for its small size. It is very solid without any creaking or rattling of any kind.
Operation
The P229 operates exactly like the Marui P226 (other than Marui‘s own safety in the take down lever), the decocking lever is functional. Being brand new, the slide was a bit sticky. The round follower in the mag is also sticky. A little bit of silicone lubricant helps a bit, and the actions should become smoother after a short period of breaking in. The magazine does not fall freely either at the moment.
Internal
To field strip the P229, one pulls the slide back, and rotates the take down lever 90 degrees, and then slides the slide forward and out. The barrel and recoil spring guide are all pretty standard except one should push the recoil spring guide forward, and take the barrel out first, and then slide the recoil spring guide back and out. The slide rails have an inner metal reinforcement, which I was very pleased to see. The hop up adjustment is on the under side of the breach, and can be adjusted using a hex wrench.
Performance
I bought this gun mostly as a collection piece, but I still want to see how it shoots. All I have is some propane, and although there’s a sticker on the box that warns about using any gas stronger than 134a, knowing the slide is reinforced, I wasn’t too worried. The magazine has a valve stopper like that on WA mags.
I filled the mag, and loaded the BBs, max 15, not as much as Marui, but more than the real steel counterpart. I lined up the sights, and popped a few rounds. Running on propane, the cycling is pretty quick, but the blowback is just mediocre (not bad by any means, but I'm too spoiled by WA and Marui's blowback). I finished the mag, and the slide locks back. I repeated it two more times on the single charge of gas, and then a few more rounds, total 53 round. Not too shabby at all on the gas efficiency side. The trade off is the less stellar blowback action and the power. The P229 failed to even make a cut on a side of a regular coke can, and this is with propane in room temperature. Even my Maruzen PPK/S can make a cut on the side. All the P229 did was put a dent on the side of the can at point blank range.
Accuracy, on the other hand, is quite good up to 20 feet. Easily hitting a 2 to 3 inch grouping. I did not go out to test longer range, but knowing the weak power, I doubt there’s anything to write home about.
No misfed or jam so far.
Conclusion
The Tanaka Sig Sauer P229 Steel Finish has a decent finish, not the best I’ve seen, but pretty good, solid build, comfortable feel (to me at least), gas efficient and good accuracy. The weak power, mediocre blowback, and relatively low magazine capacity will probably keep this piece off the field. As a collection piece, this just fits the bill. |
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