Zigana PX9 G2

[Shane Tuttle]

Just picked up an SDS Imports Zigana PX9 in OD Green from Palmetto State Armory. I was intrigued by all the features and solid reviews. I'm a fan of the Springfield XD series guns. However, recent years brought on other brands offering not only interchangeable backstraps, they also offer choices of side panels as well. I never understood why Springfield didn't step up their game. Their updated grip textures work pretty well. The Zigana seems to address my desire to have superb ergonomics via interchangeable panels along with no-so-aggressive texturing. It's pretty obvious they stole Springfield's XD slide shape/design. I figure they avoided copyright infringement by making use of an external ejector and a couple of other small tweaks. I mean, they brazenly state you can even use XD holsters (not that that's a smoking gun). For $280, I had to buy it.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/sds-...-px9g2odg.html

The pros:

The overall ergonomics is fantastic. Dry-firing the trigger was a little heavy. But it was very smooth, NO creep, break was clean, and reset was a just a little long. I was really impressed, especially coming from an inexpensive polymer striker-fired gun. The serrations grabbed on to my finger, yet didn't dig into it. Racking the slide was smooth and fairly easy (it's no Shield EZ. But who is, though). No major sharp edges. You can use Sig P226 magazines for it. This one came with 2ea 18 rounders made by Mec-Gar. Extended magwell is included as well as the tool to change it out. Slide & barrel are hammer forged. Field strip is about as easy as any polymer handgun out there. You do have to pull the trigger to disengage the slide from the frame. Hitting the mag release without manipulating the gun in my hand was easy. At the same time, it doesn't seem like you can easily hit it by accident, either. My preference is having the mag release on the right side and use my middle finger to eject the magazine. I'm hoping to be able to swap sides with the release on this one. If not, I'm happy with how easy it is to use my thumb on the left side. Rear sight is fully adjustable. Very few tooling marks on the interior pieces.

Cons:

When I stripped it to give it a good initial cleaning, the coating seemed to consistently grab at my cloth. I guess I'm pretty spoiled how smooth finishes are on my XDs and 1911s. When reassembling, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the striker spring guide would not seat in the locking plate. A little persuasion and it finally popped right in. Upon further inspection, it appears either the plate or the slide's machining isn't exactly precise. I can see uneven gapping around the perimeter of them. Not the end of the world. And, again, it's an inexpensive gun made in Turkey. I'm sure 5min worth of a gunsmith's time can remedy it. The fit/finish between the magwell & frame wasn't exactly perfection, either. The gaps aren't going to interfere with the function of it. Just a cosmetic issue that I noticed. The holster sucks. I don't like any factory holsters. This one really takes the cake. Not only does the retention want you to grab the holster with one hand and the gun with the other just to disengage the damn thing, the tension isn't even adjustable. The mag loader isn't much better. If you have an Uplula, you're better off. Cleaning kit is a joke. Most of us have our own cleaning equipment, anyway.


Verdict:
Shooting it will tell the complete story. Hoping to in the next week or so and find out if the proof's in the pudding. Kinda weird that I'm excited to try out a budget gun like this one. Sure, it ain't no Les Baer. It just seems like they took all the best features of several of our big name manufacturers and melded them into one.

[Eddiejoe]

I saw this on PSA. I was thinking about getting one, but priorities. Very balanced review. Thanks!

[wild cat mccane]

I've never found a copy or cheaper gun to shoot equal or better to the mainstream manufacturers. That said, some mainstream manufactures haven't been equally great per model. By all accounts, the Taurus TH9 is a HK killer. Same features as all V3 models. No one talks about the TH9.

So it will really be proof in the pudding with what you see for shooting. Keep us posted.

[Nodak1858]

I picked up one a year or so ago. I am a XD fan and I really like the PX9. It shoots noce, I have had zero issues shooting it. The only issue I ran into was after shoot it the safety was a BEAR to get back to safe. So I took out the safety, was a small burr on the safety detent. Cleaned up that and now it functions smooth. I loaned it to a friend so he could take his CCW class and he liked it as well, passed his course with it. I think they're a great deal, glad I bought it.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by Shane Tuttle

Just picked up an SDS Imports Zigana PX9 in OD Green from Palmetto State Armory. I was intrigued by all the features and solid reviews. I'm a fan of the Springfield XD series guns. However, recent years brought on other brands offering not only interchangeable backstraps, they also offer choices of side panels as well. I never understood why Springfield didn't step up their game. Their updated grip textures work pretty well. The Zigana seems to address my desire to have superb ergonomics via interchangeable panels along with no-so-aggressive texturing. It's pretty obvious they stole Springfield's XD slide shape/design. I figure they avoided copyright infringement by making use of an external ejector and a couple of other small tweaks. I mean, they brazenly state you can even use XD holsters (not that that's a smoking gun). For $280, I had to buy it.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/sds-...-px9g2odg.html

The pros:

The overall ergonomics is fantastic. Dry-firing the trigger was a little heavy. But it was very smooth, NO creep, break was clean, and reset was a just a little long. I was really impressed, especially coming from an inexpensive polymer striker-fired gun. The serrations grabbed on to my finger, yet didn't dig into it. Racking the slide was smooth and fairly easy (it's no Shield EZ. But who is, though). No major sharp edges. You can use Sig P226 magazines for it. This one came with 2ea 18 rounders made by Mec-Gar. Extended magwell is included as well as the tool to change it out. Slide & barrel are hammer forged. Field strip is about as easy as any polymer handgun out there. You do have to pull the trigger to disengage the slide from the frame. Hitting the mag release without manipulating the gun in my hand was easy. At the same time, it doesn't seem like you can easily hit it by accident, either. My preference is having the mag release on the right side and use my middle finger to eject the magazine. I'm hoping to be able to swap sides with the release on this one. If not, I'm happy with how easy it is to use my thumb on the left side. Rear sight is fully adjustable. Very few tooling marks on the interior pieces.

Cons:

When I stripped it to give it a good initial cleaning, the coating seemed to consistently grab at my cloth. I guess I'm pretty spoiled how smooth finishes are on my XDs and 1911s. When reassembling, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the striker spring guide would not seat in the locking plate. A little persuasion and it finally popped right in. Upon further inspection, it appears either the plate or the slide's machining isn't exactly precise. I can see uneven gapping around the perimeter of them. Not the end of the world. And, again, it's an inexpensive gun made in Turkey. I'm sure 5min worth of a gunsmith's time can remedy it. The fit/finish between the magwell & frame wasn't exactly perfection, either. The gaps aren't going to interfere with the function of it. Just a cosmetic issue that I noticed. The holster sucks. I don't like any factory holsters. This one really takes the cake. Not only does the retention want you to grab the holster with one hand and the gun with the other just to disengage the damn thing, the tension isn't even adjustable. The mag loader isn't much better. If you have an Uplula, you're better off. Cleaning kit is a joke. Most of us have our own cleaning equipment, anyway.


Verdict:
Shooting it will tell the complete story. Hoping to in the next week or so and find out if the proof's in the pudding. Kinda weird that I'm excited to try out a budget gun like this one. Sure, it ain't no Les Baer. It just seems like they took all the best features of several of our big name manufacturers and melded them into one.

What was the price? Out of stock now so PSA does not show price.

[Shane Tuttle]

Was able to hit the range on Tuesday and these are my findings:

1. How did it feel?
This gun absorbs recoil better than my XD guns. I have a feeling the recoil spring is more stout in regards to lbs. (More on that later). It was a soft feeling recoil and my speed on follow-up shots were above average. If you're a Glock fan, you'll still be disappointed in the bore axis, but not as disappointed as firing an XD. If you're a fan of letting the gun fire and settle back in line like I am, you're going to be impressed. The provided grip panels were afforded me to dial in the perfect contour for my hands. The two included mags were easy to insert and the locked in tight. They sprang out and dropped free every time. The mag release was very easy to reach with my medium sized hands, yet did not get in the way while shooting. I purchased a 20rd mag from DK Firearms (very fast shipping, BTW) and it worked as advertised. It didn't quite spring out as robust as the other. However, it did drop free with no issues.

2. How precise was it?
It shoots just about an inch low, even when lining my sight picture at Combat Hold. I'll either file the front site, replace it, or just leave it alone. This is going to be a play/range/training gun. At 21ft, it shredded a fist sized hole. I'm no Rob Leatham and I didn't use a rest. If a low-mid budget gun can provide that type of grouping at that distance, I'm a happy camper. Long story short, 21ft is my go-to distance for basic tests. If you want to know how accurate it is at 25yds or beyond, I'm not your guy to rely on a proper assessment.

3. What ammo did you use?
I used factory GECO and a couple of my reload recipes. It gobbled up the GECO ammo like there was no tomorrow. Absolutely zero issues. My reloads? That's a different story. 2 light strikes (they did fire on the second try) and several failures to feed. I had my XD(M) Elite OSP that I was trying out for the first time as well, today. It had zero issues with my reloads. As mentioned about the PX9's recoil spring; I think you need to run this gun with fairly stout reloads. Mine were all soft shooting reloads that were well below the maximum charge. I firmly believe that was the core issue with failures to feed. The light strikes? The brass used in the reloads I had are getting long in the tooth. Knowing I was going to be in a snowy, muddy mess, I didn't want to use my good brass. It was enough of a pain to retrieve my GECO brass as it was.

4. Was it worth the purchase?
For $280, I believe it's a great value. I have a feeling it's going to the range with me just about every time. It's one that I'm confident to run 500+ rounds in one session and not worry about fatigue or the gun to hiccup on me (if I use the correct loads). I won't cry if it gets dropped on the ground like I would my higher end handguns. It's combat accurate for me. I can modify the grip for just about anyone to shoot it comfortably. Aesthetically, I love the olive green. Fit/finish is average with a couple of quirks. Two major drawbacks are only a 1 year warranty and it's not made in U.S.A. In the end, I highly recommend looking into getting one.

[SpareMag]

I bought a Gen 2 recently, but can’t figure out the holster. How does it go together?

[Mosin44az]

My PX9 Gen 3 Night Stalker, available for $280 from J & G Sales, has been nothing short of excellent. Only a couple hundred rounds so far, but I swear it looks, shoots and operates like a $700 gun.