SIG Sauer P226 X-Five Supermatch Skeleton Black

Look at the slide on this one and you start to understand where SIG's German custom shop was heading. The P226 X-Five Supermatch already sits at the top of the X-Series line, but this Skeleton Black version takes the cuts further. Deep lightening windows run along both sides of the slide, opening up the metal between aggressive slanted serrations and dropping weight right where it counts for fast, flat tracking. It's a lot of machining, and you can see the care that went into each pass.

The whole pistol wears a deep black finish, broken only by the bright bare-metal flats on the slide sides where the cuts catch the light. Chambered in 9mm and built on the full-size single-action X-Five platform, it runs a five-inch barrel that peeks out past the skeletonized nose. The frame is heavy and planted, exactly what a Supermatch is supposed to feel like when you drive it hard.

The grips are what pull the look together. They're laminate panels carved with a detailed eagle-and-flag motif over a stippled field, and they wear the same gray-and-black tones as the rest of the gun. An extended beavertail, a checkered front strap, and an undercut trigger guard fill the hand and put the bore line low. The controls are X-Series through and through, with an adjustable target rear sight, a tuned single-action trigger, and an ambidextrous thumb safety.

This came over from SIG Sauer in Eckernförde with its German factory tag still attached. For a shooter who wants a precision SIG that looks as worked-over as it shoots, this Supermatch covers both ends. It's a flagship build from the era when the German shop was still turning out X-Series guns like this, and those don't come around often.