I have lost count how many times I have said this on this forum. So many years and so many threads stating the exact same thing. It was true when I started and it is true today. Todays Sig Sauer is not the Sig Sauer of old. They are now an excellent marketing company that happens to make guns. They have become the Bose headphones of firearms IMHO. Bose headphones suck when you compare them to brands like Sennheiser or Bowers and Wilkins but ask the avg person who makes the best headphones they will say Bose or maybe these days Beats which are the same level of crap. They are no longer a old school German manufacturer of some of the best firearms in the world.
What they are today is an upscale mass marketer of great looking decent performing pistols. Kind of remind me of Kimber for some reason.
They have gotten here because the old way did not make any money. The company and the processes that made the NJSP's P228s is long gone. It has been replaced with a streamlined manufacturing process using MIM and CNC machining to squeeze out every penny out of every pistol. They have become masters of economy of scale and you can see it up and down their product line.
When you look at the production changes of classic P series pistols like the P228, P229, P226, P220, P239, P225 etc... none of them where made to make the pistol better. They were made to make the pistol more efficient to manufacturer. For those who have been there or in the know the production at todays Sig is done at a blistering high volume pace where the avg line worker is constantly balancing QC with moving units down the line. I know that Tunnelrat can speak to this.
Sig used to be an old world small to medium sized gun maker when compared to people like FN Herstal or S&W. They are no longer small in terms of size or production numbers. They are now a high volume mass producer who need volume to make money. They make money by producing everything quickly and efficently and moving that metal down the distributor chain and to Govt and civilian contracts. The model only works when you move a lot of metal.
How does this all relate to the NJSP's P229? Well they changed the extractor once the pistol was approved. The change did not make the already tested tried and true P229 more reliable. It made is cheaper to manufacturer because they started an external extractor design. Prior to this change the P series guns used internal extractors but these cost more to make and more to install on the line. They IIRC could not MIM this part. They tried and they failed.
All P series pistols went to external extractors from internal ones. Originally the short ones were used and ran well but they switched to the long, to save money via economy of scale IMHO, and started to have problems.
Short Extractor:
http://www.topgunsupply.com/sig-sauer-extractor-p-series-new-style-external.html
Long Extractor:
http://www.topgunsupply.com/sig-sauer-extractor-p-series-new-style-external-long.html
So NJSP I am willing to bet tested short extractors and then got delivered long extractors. Look it up many dedicated Sig shooters avoid the long extractors. Also the shorter extractors are easier for the end user to service the extractor.
IMHO it does not matter what ammo the NJSP is using even though that seems to have been cleared up because the pistols worked via testing and failed once delivered after a model and design change. On top of that because of the move the metal volume model Sig now runs under they could not fit the new replacement guns into the production lines in the promised time frame. To me that it telling. Also it is unclear that Sig was ever able to deliver and number of pistols which were as reliable as the ones tested.
Now this does not mean that Sig still does not make good guns. For the most part they do. Most will run well and never give end user any trouble. I really like the P320 and will eventually get a Legion P229 or P226 but I buy them with open eyes. I still shoot my older P228s more than any other Sigs. Hopefully the 3 I own will out last me.
The current Sig Sauer is not the old school Sig Sauer. It is now Sig "Cohen" Sauer and you have to understand what that means. I give Cohen credit he saved the company but in order to do that he had to leverage the old school craftsmanship and name while delivering new world mass produced products. So far it has worked. It got them the US Army Pistol contract I just hope they can deliver for all those involved.
