SIG Sauer P226 X-Six Supermatch Skeleton Black

Look at the front half of this slide and you start to understand what the Skeleton designation really means. SIG's Mastershop cut a long open channel through the upper, then ran a row of lightening ports along the muzzle end, shedding reciprocating mass exactly where it slows a fast string of fire. This is the top-shelf version of the X-Six, the long-slide competition pistol that sits at the head of the German X-Series line, and it carries the build quality those guns are known for.

It's a 9mm chambered single-action-only, built around a full-length stainless frame with a forged slide. Both wear a deep matte black finish that holds its color across the controls and the flats. The X SIX laser marking sits clean on the slide, the SIGSAUER name runs along the dust cover, and the German proof and address are stamped where they belong. Made in Germany, not assembled stateside.

The grips are the detail your eye keeps coming back to. They're a sculpted aggressive-texture set in gray and black laminate, with a stippled upper panel for purchase and a relief-cut X worked into the lower. They fill the hand and they look like nothing else on the rack.

Up top you get the X-Six target setup. Adjustable rear sight with the SIG UP marking, a long sight radius down the slide, and the crisp adjustable SAO trigger that defines the platform. The Picatinny dust cover rail runs forward under that ported slide. There's a beavertail tang and a competition-length grip with a flared magwell at the base.

This one comes complete with its factory case, manual, and the test target SIG fires with every Mastershop gun. For a shooter who wants a German match pistol that reads as one across the room, this is the configuration to chase.