I have a very high opinion of the 229.
The SS's 229 was in .357. The rest of Homeland Security's are in .40. THe SS's gun did not come to them as a result of the past procurement testing (below)
It took me a bit to find this...
http://www.defensereview.com/sigarms-and-heckler-kochhk-defense-win-major-pistol-contracts-with-dhs/
http://pistolsmith.com/heckler-koch-pistols/16323-hk-awarded-dhs-pistol-contract.html
I know a couple of guys that were there for the testing.
In the lab, one of the things they did was push a bullet down the bbl a prescribed/certain distance, and then assembled it, and fired a round behind it and the H&Ks and Sigs passed the test. They were accuracy tested before and after the test.
They were tested, I think, with 8,500 rds of a 155 grain load that was not found on any manufacturers product line, and although not listed as even being +P, it was was the upper end of the performance spectrum (H-O-T). AND, the round was hard on guns. FWIW, the Berreta was adopted by INS and the BP in... '96? and it passed a 10K rd. test, w/the same round.
I heard that some of the H&Ks went the whole test w/o a jam...that of course is 2nd hand info (hearsay).
The testing was 250 rounds, clean, 250 rounds, clean and armorer inspect and then do it again....although the guns get hot while being shot, they were at least allowed to cool when being cleaned...there definitely was no "Lolly-Gagging" going on during the test.
They have a machine that loads the mags and they just shot until they got to 250.
The guns that were tested is a closely guarded secret, but who are the manufacturers that have enough money to pass on the largest pistol contract to date?
My 229...it went through ICE FI Tng w/o it being cleaned (about 850rds) (BWIW, so did my BP 96D, and INS H&K USP Compact (BTW, this gun never, not once, jammed on me)). It jammed about 3 times...always when I couldn't check it...I would do a Tap, Rack, Bang and it would go...I finally figured out that it was w/1 mag, and when I finally had time to look at it, the round was coming straight out of the mag and hitting "something" head on. When I pulled the slide back, the nose of the bullet would jump up, and when I released the slide, the round would chamber (and then fire). Therefore, it was a bad mag. I pulled it apart, and bent the spring up in front, and it never jammed again (it should have been thrown away). I carried the gun for about 8-9 years, (4) 50 round quals a year, pistol matches, and all the rounds that I could get my hands on...(A LOT).
You can't go wrong w/a 229...IMHO
John 14:6
