[SIGfiend]

For example: the 228 has a 2 piece slide, if you look at the top of the slide you see a piece pressed in where the firing pin comes out when the hammer hits it. The 229 has a 1 piece slide where you just see a unit piece.

What are the key differences (and advantage if any) between SIG's 1 and 2 piece slides?

[wally]

I thought all SIG slides were multiple pieces where the slide is formed by basically bending sheet metal around the solid parts inside -- the quality of the Swiss welding and workmanship make it hard to tell its not a single piece.

I'd guess this difference at the rear of the slide is an attempt to reduce the overall lenght of the 229 a bit.

My 220 and 226 are multipiece slides, I don't shoot them much because I learned I don't like DA/SA autos but the are great guns.

--wally.

[Mark13]

I think the 229 has a one piece slide, originally made for the .40. It's a little bit stronger, but I doubt it really makes a difference unless every round you fire for the life of the pistol is at maximum pressure. Like military shooters only using really hot +P+ 9mm.

[Gabby Hayes]

Keep in mind also that the 9mm SIG that tied, and some claim bested, Beretta in the Army's M9 pistol trials, where they fired a bazillion rounds through guns that had been frozen inside wooley mammoths on a mountaintop in the Sahara Desert, was the stamped-metal slide version. Didn't seem to cause a problem back then. As I recall, the solid slides are made here in the U.S.A. where we have computer-controlled machining tools. The stamped metal versions are made in Europe.

[wally]

I stand corrected, the 229 has a very different slide from most SIG models -- I've not seen one taken apart.

SIGs earnd their reputation with the stamped slides.

OTOH maybe its reverse outsourcing, cheap American CNC machining vs. Swiss/German workmanship :)

Thanks.

--wally.

[SIGfiend]

If you get the all black (non-stainless version) 220 or 228 the gun will be made completely in Germany. If you get the stainless silver variants then the slide will be the one piece American made one.

Any difference in quality between them?

Does the 2 piece one make it easier to take a part the slide, pull out the firing pin, etc.?

[Billy Sparks]

I seem to remember that the one piece stainless steel Sig slides where originally built for the .40 S&W and .357 Sig. Which if you think about it are basically American rounds.

[SIGfiend]

so what are the pros cons to both

[Billy Sparks]

For whatever reason I can shoot a P229 9mm with a milled slide better than I can a P228 with a stamped slide. It is a personel thing. Hold both before you decide.
Obviously the cons of the P229 is that it is heavier and to some people feels unbalanced. The pro is that you can shoot pretty hot 9mm and the heavier slide dampens the felt recoil (which is also a very subjective thing). The pros of the P228 are lighter weight and to some people better balance. The con is a hypothetically less durable slide.

[BigG]

SIG/Sauer made their reputation with the stamped steel slide P Series pistoles. The P229 was the first to have the cast steel slide, made by IIRC *gasp* Ruger. :uhoh:

[Sean Smith]

Ruger makes the bare castings/blanks for lots of people, including Caspian.

The heavier slide is, well, heavier. Functionally there is really no difference, but it changes the feel of the gun some.

[Lone Star]

When the P-229 was announced, it was said that the heavier slide was required by the recoil forces of the more powerful cartridge.

I suspect - writers need to say more about this -that P-226 slides in .40 and .357 SIG are also the milled type.

The FRAMES of P-226 9mm's in heavy use by RCMP counter-terroism units developed cracks after much shooting, so SIG made the slide rails a bit thicker. Don't know when this happened. The Mounties have since handed in their P-226's, anyway, and Canadian military units now handle that role.

I think it was Ayoob who reported this.

Lone Star

[Tecolote]

OT Don't RCMP use SW 5906s?

[Frohickey]

Older model Sig Classic pistols have the stamped slide, with a breech block inserted inside of it. These are the P220, P245, P226, P228, and maybe a few others.

Newer model Sig Classic pistols, especially the ones in 40Short&Weak and 357Sig have the milled slide, and these are the one-piece slide. These are the P226, and P229.

Supposedly, the milled slides are for the higher pressure cartridges such as the 40S&W and 357Sig. These milled slides are also a bit heavier than the stamped ones.

[Marko Kloos]

I stand corrected, the 229 has a very different slide from most SIG models -- I've not seen one taken apart.

There are two different kinds of SIG slides, as someone else pointed out already. The older type is made from sheet steel folded over a mandrel, with the breech block pinned into the slide. The newer type is milled out of a single blank. The older slides couldn't stand up to the pressure of the new .40, so all SIGs which come in those calibers now have the newer milled slides. In that respect, the only difference between a P229 and P226 slide these days is about 1/2" length. They're certainly not "very different" from each other.

OTOH maybe its reverse outsourcing, cheap American CNC machining vs. Swiss/German workmanship

Yeah, because a piece of sheet steel folded over a mandrel and mated to a breechface via hollow roll pin is so much more sophisticated and workmanlike than a slide CNC-milled from a blank, as long as it's those magical Swiss/German gnomes who do the folding. :D

[Ash]

Some of those German gnomes even produced cars...Trabant anyone? :neener:

Davis

[Gixerman1000]

220 standard model = stamped / ST, sport and stainless models = milled stainless
225 = stamped
228 = stamped
226 standard older 9mm = stamped / standard newer model 9mm-40sw-357sig, ST, sport and stainless models = milled stainless
229 = always milled stainless
239 = always milled stainless

Stamped slides have an internal extractor & roll pins for the breach block, milled slides have an external extractor & a solid pressed in pin just to retain the firing pin.

----------------------------------------

I like the lighter and more balanced feel of my 228 a little more than on my 229 in 40/357, with a full mag the 229 balances ok and I love the way it shoots but it is still noticeably heaver than the 228 for carry.

I was looking to buy a used 226 in 9mm the other night and was trying to make my mind up on the newer milled slide or older stamped slide, the milled was a little heaver but I could barley tell the difference even back to back, I then looked at a 226 in 357 and it felt heaver than both the milled and the stamped 226 in 9mm.

I don't know if it's true but I have heard the 229 in 9mm and newer 226 in 9mm have a little more metal removed from the slide to lighten them up a little, that would explain why the 226 in 357 felt heaver than the other two 226's in 9mm but I don't know for sure.

BTW, I went with the milled 226 in 9mm over the stamped one because it looked unfired, had night sights and was a little cheaper, I should pick it up in a few weeks.

[JNewell]

IIRC (big if in this case), there was a theory that when the MD SP were experiencing front rail failures (which, by the way, did not affect functioning and barely affected accuracy, but were less than confidence-inspiring) that it might have been caused by the stamped slides flexing, which in turn was caused by the breech block being out of position, which in turn was caused by bent roll pins, which in turn might have been caused by not replacing the roll pins at the recommended intervals and/or too much +P ammo...something along those lines. This is all IIRC so better memories are invited to chime in with corrections or supplementations.

[Lone Star]

Tecolote-

The RCMP use the DA-only S&W 9mm, but I'm not sure of the model number, or whether it has the steel or aluminum frame.

The SIG's were only used by their anti-terrorist unit.

Undercover guns are Walther PPK's.

This info came, as I recall, from a Mountie who posts on the gun forums. By the way, he doesn't seem to think much of Canada's excessive gun laws.

Lone Star

[SIGfiend]

Quote: Supposedly, the milled slides are for the higher pressure cartridges such as the 40S&W and 357Sig. These milled slides are also a bit heavier than the stamped ones.

If this is the case though, that the two-piece slides aren't adept (or can't handle) higher pressures as well...why does the .45 caliber 220 have a 2 piece slide still?

[Marko Kloos]

Because .45ACP is a low-pressure cartridge.