history
The P228's demise can likely be traced to the intoduction of the P229 and the .40 S&W ctg. The P229 was made with a forged and milled slide, while the P228 and all its kin had stamped slides, with a breech block and associated parts pinned in place. The milled P229 could handle the .pressures developed by the .40, while the stamped and pinned pistols could not, or at least likely not for long and were never offered in .40 or .357SIG either. When SIG started offering the milled P229 in 9mm, the P228 was discontinued shortly thereafter. Eventually the full size P220/226 got milled slides as well and became available in .40 and I suppose .357SIG. My understanding is that the entire stamped and pinned pistols were phased out, and all Pseries received milled slides as production continued.
The P228 had a lot going for it. It was likely the first compact 9mm of the wondernine era, preceding the SW 469 and the Glock 19. It was accepted internationally, and here in the US was adopted as the M11 by the military, , and a number of Fed agencies picked up the P228 as well. Then the FBI had its Miami shoot out, the 9mm was condemned, the .40 arose, and the lone SIG offering at the time, the P229, was Johnny On the Spot.
I was fortunate enough to be an instructor/armorer in that era with the NPS. As we transitioned from revolvers to semiauto (SIGS) everybody initially got the P228-9mm. A policy was instituted to allow a one time career choice of other SIG pistols once one had transitioned from the revolver to the SIG P228. One could retain the P228, or select the P225, P226, P229 or P220.
The P229 was the only offering in .40, as all other P guns were still stamped and pinned. The 9mm was largely abandoned, and most staff, some 1300 sworn, chose the P229-.40, or the P220-.45. There were a few P228's retained, a few more P226-9mm and a smattering of the single stack P225's.
As the compact 9mm crowd were largely administrative and aged out, the P228 and the P225 disappeared as well. The full size P226-9mm hung on a bit longer, but when the full size guns got milled frames and were approved and offered in .40, they became immediatley popular and there were never enough in the academy armory to go around.
The NPS has retired the P-series as well and now carries the P320. I am uncertain if there are options in caliber as there were in my era. The individual choice policy was a headache, requiring multiple holsters and mag pouches, and 3 calibers of handgun ammo on hand at the park level. But the staff of my day carried the SIG and caliber of their choice (within policy) and scores and confidence in use increased agency wide.