These guns were never commercially imported into the US, they were intended for club level ISSF matches in Germany. The original P226S was introduced in 1994, they made a batch of 2,000, they have trigger stops on the back of the trigger and the rear sight was cut into the slide. Then there is the second model made in 1995, also a batch of 2,000, you've got one there, serial numbers start around U552401. Then they went to the stainless steel slide and the bull barrel in 1996. Not sure how many they made, the gun you've got there is the standard version, but there were other versions made for Eduard Kettner. Then there was the Sport 2 SL which had a stainless steel frame, which came out in 1999. There are several versions of that, one with a 112mm barrel, one with a longer barrel and a detachable frame weight, and the same thing again but with the front sight on the weight. That last one was imported into the US officially. Then there was the X5, X6 etc. ad nauseum but the last pistol that they made that was similar to the P226S was the LDC2. And then they went bust in 2019. Because of a whole scandal where they were evading German export laws by shipping SP2022 pistols to the US, and FMS was selling them to Colombia. It's important to note they retooled with CNC in 2012 and the design of the guns changed slightly. SIG Sauer in the US did not follow those changes. They put a shim plate inside the mechanism which tightens up the sear and gives the gun a better trigger pull. You can only do it with the tolerances you can get from CNC tooling. But anyway the original P226S is just a chrome-plated P226 with LPA sights, the only major improvement is that it has a target sear which gives a lighter let-off. If you put a 16lb or 17lb hammer spring in it, the trigger pull becomes really excellent.
Cool, man. I wasn't aware of these. To clarify... the bull barrel was a factory offering? It's almost like a more "basic" X5... if that's not an oxymoron. Even on the standard P226s, the milled slide with the non-railed frame is a nice combo--I feel like those are rarest of the P226 variants. Thanks!
Yes the bull barrel was factory. There is an excellent informational chart on the Sig Talk forum. And yes you are correct this is the model before the X5 was introduced.
These guns were never commercially imported into the US, they were intended for club level ISSF matches in Germany. The original P226S was introduced in 1994, they made a batch of 2,000, they have trigger stops on the back of the trigger and the rear sight was cut into the slide. Then there is the second model made in 1995, also a batch of 2,000, you've got one there, serial numbers start around U552401. Then they went to the stainless steel slide and the bull barrel in 1996. Not sure how many they made, the gun you've got there is the standard version, but there were other versions made for Eduard Kettner. Then there was the Sport 2 SL which had a stainless steel frame, which came out in 1999. There are several versions of that, one with a 112mm barrel, one with a longer barrel and a detachable frame weight, and the same thing again but with the front sight on the weight. That last one was imported into the US officially. Then there was the X5, X6 etc. ad nauseum but the last pistol that they made that was similar to the P226S was the LDC2. And then they went bust in 2019. Because of a whole scandal where they were evading German export laws by shipping SP2022 pistols to the US, and FMS was selling them to Colombia. It's important to note they retooled with CNC in 2012 and the design of the guns changed slightly. SIG Sauer in the US did not follow those changes. They put a shim plate inside the mechanism which tightens up the sear and gives the gun a better trigger pull. You can only do it with the tolerances you can get from CNC tooling. But anyway the original P226S is just a chrome-plated P226 with LPA sights, the only major improvement is that it has a target sear which gives a lighter let-off. If you put a 16lb or 17lb hammer spring in it, the trigger pull becomes really excellent.
Wow thanks for all of the information. I wish I had know all of this info before I made the video.
Great video, ill definitely be keeping my eye out.
Thank you!!
Cool, man. I wasn't aware of these. To clarify... the bull barrel was a factory offering? It's almost like a more "basic" X5... if that's not an oxymoron. Even on the standard P226s, the milled slide with the non-railed frame is a nice combo--I feel like those are rarest of the P226 variants. Thanks!
Yes the bull barrel was factory. There is an excellent informational chart on the Sig Talk forum. And yes you are correct this is the model before the X5 was introduced.