To be fair, I didn’t buy my first Legion pistol because of the Legion program. I bought it because I liked the features – improved trigger, high visibility night sights, grey finish, G10 grips, etc. And I will likely continue to add Legion series firearms to my collection for those reasons.
At the same time, I have to admit that the marketing surrounding the Legion program got me excited.
Sig Sauer, in my opinion, did a good job marketing the Legion program. Since the program launched, the program offers member-only access to “unique opportunities and gear tailored to meet your elite requirements” and unlock “a full range of exclusive benefits.”
Part of those benefits are a complimentary Themo-mold carrying case for the Legion firearm and a challenge coin matched to the gun. The other benefits include access to gear and merchandise exclusive to Legion members and exclusive communications where Legion members will be the first to know about new additions to the Legion series.
Sounds cool, right?
On the surface it does indeed sound cool. At least, to me it does. But, I haven’t really seen a lot of value in those benefits. Or rather enough value in the benefits to get much use out of them. I’ll break it down a bit.
The complimentary Thermo-mold case I received with the P229, while nice, just collects dust in the closet. The 5.11 Tactical case I received with the P220 is much more practical and may get some use, but it can easily be replaced by any other quality case or range bag. Either way, it’s nothing to get excited over.
The complimentary challenge coins are neat. I may display them decoratively someday (assuming I keep adding Legion firearms to my collection), but again nothing to get excited over.
All of the exclusive Legion member gear is viewable on Sig Sauer online store. The gear is a collection of holsters, apparel, range gear, weapon lights, and some firearm parts with Legion logos and finishes. Some of the gear is pretty nice, but there isn’t anything there that can’t be purchased without a Legion logo directly from Sig Sauer or other retailers.
I haven’t really seen any information in the exclusive Legion communications that I haven’t come across already from other firearms news outlets. Perhaps, I have received it before others… but I certainly haven’t noticed it.
I haven’t seen many exclusive Legion member events. The only one I can think of was the Camp Legion event held on September 16-20. The event was limited to 50 Legion members and included all meals and local transportation. The event was made up of a VIP-ish factory tour, meeting with Sig’s senior management, and 2.5 days of training with some well known Team Sig shooters. The event also included all of the ammo needed for the training. The packages for the event ranged from $2500 to $3500 (with a guest). Estimating the cost of the hotel (which was pretty nice) of $200/night, about $100/day for food, $50/day transport, and $250 for ammo – I’d say the event was a 2.5 day training priced at about $500 to $750 per person with a complimentary factory tour. Assuming it was high quality training, that’s a pretty good deal. On the other hand, for the similar total price one might be able to go out and get a lot more quality training at one of the big name training facilities like Gunsite Academy. I suppose it just depends how big of a Sig fan boy one really is. Maybe, I’m not that big of a fan boy as I’d probably opt training at Gunsite Academy over the Camp Legion event.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Sig bashing here. I’m still a fan boy. Sig makes some great firearms – the Legion firearms included in that statement. I’m just saying the Legion program, while delivering on its promises, doesn’t seem to live up to the hype from my point of view. Yes, it’s cool. But not cool enough to be the deciding factor on selecting a firearm. For example, let’s say one is picking between the P220 Hunter and the P220 Legion and happens to be leaning towards the Hunter for it’s features, then in that case don’t let the Legion program steer you away from the Hunter towards the P220 Legion. That’s all.