I had three pretty similar "mini 9mm" pistols and still have two of them. There was the 469, the Sig P225 and the Star UltraStar. The Star was the most modern of the group and the Sig P225 the earliest introduced. The S&W 469 was my first compact semiautomatic purchase and was made during the mid 1980s then the P225 in the late 1980s and the Star UltraStar in the early 1990s.
The Sig P225 and Star UltraStar are both single stack 9mm and were 8 +1 and 9 +1 capacity while the S&W 469 was 12 round staggered stack + 1 capacity initially and so really a WonderNine. The Star with it's polymer frame was the lightest of the bunch and all three were traditional DA/SA action. Of the three I could never quite get efficient and proficient with the Sig P225 although I also had a P226 and P2009 that were wonderful, so I gave the P226 to my brother who found it near perfect. I still have a 469 (not the same one I bought way too long ago but as nice) and the UltraStar.
Of the three, the Sig P225 had a decocker but no safety while the Smith and Star both have ambidextrous safety/decockers but they work in opposite directions. The Star is up for safe while the Smith is down for safe. In practice though all three were carried using the same procedures, the handgun decocked but in the live position for a DA first shot and SA subsequently. All three fit in the same holsters which at the time was really important. Holsters were expensive and there just weren't all that many places you found them.
There were a couple years when I could get 15 and even 17 round magazines for the 469 and so it was the one I most often carried until the early 1990s when the first magazine ban went into play. Then things kinda dried up and if I needed a replacement magazine all I could get were 10 round ones. Since that still was more than either the P225 or UltraStar had it wasn't much of a problem in my opinion. My most often carried handgun at the time was a revolver and so anything more than six rounds was a luxury.
The Smith and the Star both required that a pin get pushed or pulled out but the Sig had the easiest field strip drill, just lock the slide back, turn the lever down and then ease the slide off the frame.
I still find the Star UltraStar and the S&W 469 near perfect as a carry option but as an old fart in a much changed world I'll admit that the newer micro 380s are what I actually carry on a constant basis. When I do carry anything larger there will almost certainly also be one of the micro 380s along for the WalkAbout.
Sig P225 & Star UltraStar:
The Sig P225 and Star UltraStar are both single stack 9mm and were 8 +1 and 9 +1 capacity while the S&W 469 was 12 round staggered stack + 1 capacity initially and so really a WonderNine. The Star with it's polymer frame was the lightest of the bunch and all three were traditional DA/SA action. Of the three I could never quite get efficient and proficient with the Sig P225 although I also had a P226 and P2009 that were wonderful, so I gave the P226 to my brother who found it near perfect. I still have a 469 (not the same one I bought way too long ago but as nice) and the UltraStar.
Of the three, the Sig P225 had a decocker but no safety while the Smith and Star both have ambidextrous safety/decockers but they work in opposite directions. The Star is up for safe while the Smith is down for safe. In practice though all three were carried using the same procedures, the handgun decocked but in the live position for a DA first shot and SA subsequently. All three fit in the same holsters which at the time was really important. Holsters were expensive and there just weren't all that many places you found them.
There were a couple years when I could get 15 and even 17 round magazines for the 469 and so it was the one I most often carried until the early 1990s when the first magazine ban went into play. Then things kinda dried up and if I needed a replacement magazine all I could get were 10 round ones. Since that still was more than either the P225 or UltraStar had it wasn't much of a problem in my opinion. My most often carried handgun at the time was a revolver and so anything more than six rounds was a luxury.
The Smith and the Star both required that a pin get pushed or pulled out but the Sig had the easiest field strip drill, just lock the slide back, turn the lever down and then ease the slide off the frame.
I still find the Star UltraStar and the S&W 469 near perfect as a carry option but as an old fart in a much changed world I'll admit that the newer micro 380s are what I actually carry on a constant basis. When I do carry anything larger there will almost certainly also be one of the micro 380s along for the WalkAbout.
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