by Scott Smith
Contributing Editor

Over the years there have been bunches of firearms that we wished we had, could have, should have purchased. Even when you get to fire the best the companies have to offer, there are still those firearms that are needed in the personal collection. Over the years, those firearms I have missed that fall into that group are, generally, handguns.

In that group are: a Bren Ten-which in all reality is not going to happen because of the price; a 1911 built by Union Switch and Signal-again most likely not going to happen for price reasons, and on the side of reality-a Smith & Wesson (S&W) 1076, and a Sig P225.

Both handguns are fine pistols and are shooters. Unfortunately, over the years most of the samples of either handgun that I have seen are way overpriced, or the pistol has been shot to hell and shows it. Either way they have not been a "gotta have" pistol.

About three years ago, a Sigarms P225 9mm came to the top of the list of my "I want and need" list. At the time I came upon one that was in excellent condition, with six magazines and a holster; and most importantly, it was in the price range I had budgeted for a new pistol. After a close look and settling on the price, this Sig P225 was added to the rest of the Smith firearms stable.

So what is it about this pistol that can make a shooter search for one? Well, first off, it is a single stack 9mm that holds eight rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. This is not a huge amount of firepower, but for decades police carried and shot .38s and .357 revolvers with fewer shots.

Fits Small Hands
Because of the single column magazine and the overall length of the grip, the Sig 225 tends to fit shooters that have smaller hands; and this can be hard to find. Next, the pistol is compact, which makes it a good choice for concealed carry and IDPA. Lastly, the 225 feels good in the hand.

I have yet to run into a shooter that does not like the way the Sig 225 handles and shoots. That speaks volumes for the design of this Sig pistol. The Sig 225 is so highly though of, it replaced the venerable Walther P38 as the issue sidearm of the German Polizei in the late '80s.

For some reason it was never a huge seller here in the states. Most likely when it was introduced, the race to higher capacity was getting started and the capacity held it back. The 225's bigger brother, the 226, was one of the pistols to lead the charge for 15+ 9mm capacity.

Anyhow, the Sig 225 is a great little pistol. I say that as someone who believes a Commander-sized 1911 is a small carry handgun. I like the 225. It is one of those pistols that has seen a lot of carry time this past summer, when the humidity was hitting all time highs in southwestern Pennsylvania. It carried well in the denim-patterned paddle holster from Blade-Tech, with two mags carried in matching magazine carriers to balance it on the offside.

Reliability & Accuracy
Other than the smaller size, the other reasons I chose to carry the 225 in the summer is its reliability and accuracy. Both are important items in a pistol carried for self-defense or when used for IDPA matches. The Sig 225 always goes bang when the trigger is pulled, and is capable of keeping its nine rounds of 9mm in a 2°-inch group offhand at 15 meters.

To ensure that this compact blaster is easy to put in action, I installed XS Sights' 24/7 sights. These sights are a dot-bar setup; like a golf ball on a tee and they have tritium inserts for use in low-light conditions. XS Sights are easily picked up by those of us that are optically challenged and are quite accurate after you use them for a while.

I was very pleased with the acquisition of this Sig P225 and will have it for years to come. With a compact pistol checked off my list, that left a blaster at the opposite end of the size and caliber spectrum-a Smith 1076. The 1076 is a full-sized duty pistol that was built to the FBI's specifications and is chambered in 10mm.

So what makes this one of those have-to-have pistols? For me it was simply the fact that so few were put out on the civilian market, and the 1076 is a departure from the rest of the S&W line. Sure the 1076 looks like a Smith 1006, but it has a frame-mounted decocking lever a la SigArms pistols that have a downward sweep like any 1911 or Hi-Power uses to take the safety off.

Most Smiths have a slide-mounted decocking manual safety that must be disengaged either at the completion of the loading sequence, or as part of the draw stroke. Granted this is something you get used to. But I shoot many styles of pistols, and knowing myself, I'd screw it up and not be smooth with the action.

What makes the 1076 a great pistol to have? Simple, it's a 10mm. Today there are not many of these on the market, and they are not custom pistols. The other thing that makes this a gotta/want to have pistol is that its been a part of law enforcement history. The 1076 was to be the issue sidearm of the FBI after the failure of the 9mm Winchester Silvertip's performance in the Miami shootout in the early '80s.

Testing showed that the 10mm would be the be-all, end-all caliber, and the 1076 was to be the platform for the FBI. Unfortunately in its original loading, the 10mm was a beast to shoot and the 1076 did not fit shooters that have small hands. The first thing that was tried was to download the high pressure of the 10mm. This led to the development of the .40 S&W cartridge; the rest was history for the 10mm. But this article is about the Smith 1076.

In its hay day there were several loadings of the 10mm. They were from all the big players: Winchester, Cor-Bon, Federal, Remington, etc. Today, the number of commercial loads available is almost none. Federal has a couple of offerings; American Eagle has a lead training cartridge; Winchester has a hollowpoint for hunting and self-defense; Cor-Bon and Hornady have several hollowpoint loads.

This shows that though less in number today, there are still several outstanding factory loads available for this hand cannon. Never fear, brass is available for reloading from Starline and Hornady.

To carry the Smith 1076, there are still several options available. Safariland has the 560/561 series of holsters; Uncle Mike's nylon works well, and Blade-Tech offers its fine Kydex line to fit. If you check with any of the better-known holster makers-Milt Sparks, Sherrick, High Noon, as well as production lines such as Bianchi or Galco-you will find many holsters that work for duty, concealed carry, or for use in IDPA and IPSC competition.

Like any other firearm, the always pressing question is how's it shoot and perform? Performance-wise, the 1076 never missed a beat with any of the ammunition that was fired. Accuracy-wise, the big Smith was good too. This duty pistol was capable of delivering its 10-round (9+1) payload into nice sub 3-inch groups at 15 meters offhand. This is respectable for any duty handgun, let alone a handful like the 1076.

I installed XS 24/7s on the 1076 too. This keeps the sight pictures on these pistols the same and they are easy for my aging eyes (I recently had to get bi-focals) to pick-up in all light conditions. For carry, the big 1076 fits into the Safariland 560 series paddle holster. The 1076 carries well and will find a place at local IDPA matches.

With the great push to have the latest and greatest in firearms, great guns like the Sig 225 and S&W 1076 are often overlooked. Don't pass up the chance to check out older and somewhat forgotten handguns. Those value-priced 586/686s, M&Ps, Model 10 Smiths, etc., can be real shooters.

Newer used firearms such as Mossberg 500s, Ruger P-series pistols, police trade-ins-be they Glocks, Sigs or Berettas-all can be great additions to your personal protection or competition firearms collection. Retreads such as these are generally affordably priced. They can add diversity to your collection, and when you have them at the range or local pistol match, these pistols can be conversation starters, especially some of the older sort of antiques that do hit the market.