BDA P220 question, again

[kBob]

Well I have asked before, but as the membership changes maybe someone can give me a definitive answer this time.... like "sure kBob, I done that 'un myself and it (did or did not) work."

My wife has one of the first type of the Sig 220s that came in the US. Imported by Browning Arms it is marked BDA and no where on it do the numbers 220 appear in that sequence.

What I want to know is if after market or Sig parts for 220 parts (for a Euro mag release) will fit this gun.

Specifically is there an after market or Sig replacement trigger that will reduce the distance she has to reach to pull the trigger that will fit this gun.

If so is it kitchen table doable? About what would such cost?

When these first came in the country they also offered a .38 Super BTW and (even though it seems a large package for it) 9x19mm all marked;

Browning Arms CO.
Morgan, Utah P.Q.
on the front left of the slide and
SIG-Saur System
Made in W. Germany
on the other.

Caliber is marked on the right side of the barrel chamber area where the ejection port exposes it and on the magazine base plate.

I just noticed that despite what it was called at the time the letters BDA also do not appear on the gun and that title was used on the later FN .380 high cap pistols.

So.....how about it?

-kBob

 

[Walt Sherrill]

[The following comments have been edited to clarify some points.]

The only thing I can find about the BDA in question (which might have meant "Browning Double Action") was that Browning didn't even advertise that model name until after the BDA was discontinued. (First offered in 1977, it was discontinued in 1980.)

As you noted, it was available in 9mm, .38 Super, and .45. (According the Fjestad Blue Book,, SIG also offered this model in .22 and 7.65mm. for a while -- and eventually made them in DA/SA, SAO, or DAO over time.) I can find no mention of anything but a DA/SA model.

The SIG-based BDA was never really called the "Browning Double Action", as that model name apparently wasn't used in the Browning/FN catalog until several years after the SIG-made BDA was discontinued, apparently in preparation for the BDM and maybe in identifying the .380 version (called the BDA-.380 in some reference sources.). The

BDA being discussed here was apparently exactly the same as the SIG P-220, made by SIG. ( I wouldn't expect to see any difference except markings). The 9mm and .38 Super models are apparently quite rare -- I don't think I've heard of or seen either caliber in the wild, but have seen a couple of the .45s, locally, here in NC.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I don't remember a previous thread, but the answers are pretty easy.

Yes, there are aftermarket parts that will fit, but they would be for the 1st Gen 220...easily identified by the pointy spur hammer and nonremovable front sight.

While the 220 was designed to accommodate the .45ACP length cartridges, it's original chamber ingredients was 9x19mm as a replacement service pistol for the Swiss.

The .380 BDA you refer to was a rebranded Beretta 84.

 

[mongoslow]

The SRT should work, maybe someone can back me up on this though.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

The .380 BDA you refer to was a readied Beretta 84.

If your comment cited immediately above was about my response (#2) -- I wasn't referring to the .380 version. I've since amended my original comments to make that point more clear (or less easily misconstrued.)

My comments about FN/Browning's name use for the .45 version was based on Fjestad comments, and not on any confusion between the .380 and .45 BDAs. The BDM/BRM/BPM, and a BPM-D -- seen on some sites and in some discussions as a Browning DA gun (and less correctly, as a DA/SA Hi-Power!) -- complicated matters further for marketing purposes, because those newer models included DA/SA Brownings in 9mm and one of them even had a decocker. (None of these were available in anything but 9mm, however.)

(Fjestad calls the Beretta-based model the BDA-.380 -- and never calls it a BDA. Then, too, many of us have long been familiar of the Browning BDA-.380's Beretta lineage.) While many folks on these forum call both models the BDA, I'm not sure that FN or Browning ever did that.

 

[entropy]

As 9mmepiphany said, early P220 parts are correct for the BDA.

 

[9mmepiphany]

If your comment cited immediately above was about my response (#2) -- I wasn't referring to the .380 version.

I was responding to the OP

 

[9mmepiphany]

The 9mm and .38 Super models are apparently quite rare -- I don't think I've heard of or seen either caliber in the wild, but have seen a couple of the .45s, locally, here in NC.

The .38Super models really are rare; there were only something between 400-600 imported...and I've only seen 2.

The 9mm models are more common as many of the first Browning ones were only available in that chambering until they ramped up imports. I've shot several and even came across some that were brought in, I think it was by CDNN, as surplus. The rarest one I've ever seen was one made for the JSDF and I'm not sure how the owner got his hands on it as they don't usually allow them out of the country

 

[kBob]

Oddly enough the first of these pistols I ever handled was a .38 Super in late 1977. At the time I just could not see a need for what I viewed then as a 9x19 Wantabe. The person trying to sell it seemed to think I should have been buying it because he felt it would be collectable in the then future. Another "Wishida." It was in a Western Auto Store BTW, though a very special one in Perry FL that did 'chinegun sales.

My wife picked up hers a few years later at a gunshow. I borrowed it to shoot plate racks a few times, more to prove to some college kids tht I actually could shoot something other than a 1911type than anything else. My wife does have difficulty with the first DA shot. Her solution for years was to thumb cock from the hammer position the gun is in after using the decocker. Of late she has adopted empty chamber carry and I am not wild about that as she needs two hands to get the thing working that way. Thus the questions about a shorter pull trigger.

Back when the Beretta 84 and BDA-.380 were still in development there were magazine articles that described the project as a joint FN/Beretta project. It always seemed a bit odd to me that after the break up as it were that Browning went with a safety like the Beretta slide mounted dingus while Beretta went with a very John Browning frame mounted safety.

Previous to handling the .38 Super, my only SIG experience was when I shot a 210 around 1975 while stationed in Germany and despite all the hype I was not that impressed at the time. When the German various states were replacing their .32s in 1981-82 (back in Germany for a second time) I shot what would become the P6 with a couple of different Special Police groups ( Frankfurt a M and Darmstadt) during their early transition training. I was impressed with that pistol after I shot it in shall we say Action Pistol situations (no one was shooting back so how could it be "Combat" and "Tactical" is a word that sees way too much use.)

Honestly I would rather have been issued a P6 than the Beretta M9 despite the "loss of firepower" of the P6 single stack magazine over the Beretta. I just liked the feel of the P6 and shot better with it, especially from out of the holster and fast and furious, than with the Beretta.

Anyhow I just want to keep the Spousal Unit's BDA .45ACP going and if possible improve it for her.

-kBob

 

[bannockburn]

Back in the day I had a BDA in .45 ACP and it was a great pistol. Very accurate, even with it's fixed sights, and very easy to shoot. At the time I saw a number of 9m. and .38 Super models, usually heavily discounted, on the dealer's shelves. Didn't have the money or else I would picked up a .38 Super model as I have always been a big fan of the cartridge, especially in Colt Commanders.

 

[Dudedog]

I had a BDA in 9mm, picked it up for a good price as no seemed to want it and the dealer wanted to move it. Unfortunately it was destroyed in a house fire (not in gun safe at the time bedside gun) and I had concerns with other people in the house before the gun.
I was quite happy with it, but when I went to replace it they were no longer made. (At least as a Browning BDA).