Last year, Sig Sauer’s P250 lost the ATF handgun tender because of significant reliability issues. Sig’s response was to improve the pistol – no, wait, their response was to appeal to the GAO, saying in part that the ATF put too much of an emphasis on reliability. The GAO promptly smacked Sig’s claim down in a pretty embarrassing manner.
Fast forward to this year, where Sig’s big contract with the Dutch police for the P250 was pretty much the only thing the company had to crow about. Frankly, I was surprised that the P250 had won anything. Now, it turns out that my suspicions weren’t misplaced. The Dutch have rejected the P250 for unspecified issues that would place police officers in danger. To put it mildly, they don’t seem happy with Sig or the P250:
On the basis of the results of these tests I no longer find it responsible to continue with this pistol. There is no longer enough confidence in the quality of the pistol, nor in the capacity of the manufacturer to improve the quality or safeguard it. All this brings a risk to the safety of police officers on the street.
Sig wins again.
Sig seems to have lost it’s way on a number of fronts. I was excited about news of their 7.62×39 carbine, that is until the wave of negative reviews came in.
I had a P250 at one point, emphasis on HAD. The decline of a once great is really sad to watch.
I think Sig’s problem starts at the top.
Unless something has changed recently, the guy on top of Sig is Ron Cohen, who was, IIRC, at Kimber before coming to Sig. The problems of the Series II guns at Kimber were on his watch. That can’t be a coincidence.
I concur and totally agree also with Haji’s comment. If one looks at the pistols Sig has developed, which models were successful and when the decline started, and compares that with the changes at the top management level of the company … then it starts to become clear why there is NO MORE INNOVATION.
For sure Ron Cohen had to leave Kimber for bad management skills and totally wrong decision making. I’m also sure he’ll try to stay at the top as long as possible, even if the company is going to collapse eventually.
I’m wondering however who makes the push for such individuals to take over such top management positions without having the right skills for it. Do they just attend private parties where the big bosses meet and have fun and decide who is going to run the store?
Is it the 250 that has the cloud or is it all Sig Sauer firearms? I am intrigued by the 2022 but being a lefty, probably would not buy it anyway as it is not lefty friendly. Is it the plastic guns or all of them?
The Sig Pro is a great gun, especially if you can get a German made one, but apparently even Exeter is having a hard time screwing up the SP2022.
I love my 239 and 226 and I’m thinking about a 2022. The 250 has some appeal, but I’m a DA/SA guy through and through. Caleb over at Gun Nuts never complained about his P250 and he whines about everything. What kinds of problems are they having?
When three different LE Agencies from two different nations say a gun has some problems and/or compromises officer safety.
Well I am not in LE, but I am pretty sure that Philip Marlowe would call that a clue.
Why don’t they just stick with the 226? Quit wasting time and money on these crap models and focus on QC and push what works…
I think a version of the Sig Pro with an improved and/or different trigger would have been a great idea. But it wouldn’t have been as interesting in the gun magazines.
This makes me really sad. Sig used to be such a great company. I absolutely love my P226. Sure, the new models are over-hyped and over-marketed. I didn’t run out and get the Blackwater edition. Just got a police trade-in that had some holster wear and like new internals. And it functions flawlessly. Very sad that SIG can’t replicate that reliability and continue a great tradition.
Anyone else notice how bloated their current line is? They should focus quality and control for what they’re best known for. For example, who is asking for a Sig branded piston or DI AR15 anyways?
Meh, if you do a little digging, the test wasn’t done with a P250, it was done with a prototype P250Dc, which had not finished SIG’s internal trials, The P250Dc featured a locking take-down lever that’s not at all like the standard lever.
The pistols were also disassembled and reassembled by the Dutch police; SIG has filed allegations that the pistols were reassembled incorrectly, with the trigger return spring installed incorrectly.
That’s actually the likely culprit. It’s possible to install the spring backwards or unhook it unintentionally if you’re tinkering with the fire control unit and not familiar with how it goes together.
The P250 is a remarkable handgun that hasn’t broken free from its first-generation reputation. I’m not defending SIG too much, here. They really botched the P250 launch, and should not have released it in its original state. But the current P250s are recommendable handguns.
Yeah – because the Dutch police didn’t want the weapon being taken down all the way by individual officers right? In any case, I’m not cutting Sig any slack on this one – they either should have gotten the pistol done on time or not submitted it. Beyond that, they were apparently given multiple chances to fix it and were unable to do so…
Edit: Oh, and if it can be screwed up on disassembly by untrained personnel, it will. Better to find out during the procurement process than after the pistol hits the streets.
Can anyone provide a translation, or a link to a translation, of the Dutch document?
It’s really odd to see Glock Gen. 4 issues and also Sig extraction and these P250 issues. I don’t understand how companies with sterling reputations for reliable pistols can just trade that away.
One word: COMPLACENCY
I read comments from a source who works for Sig that their best pistols right now are their 1911 line. Maybe they are spending too much time on 1911’s and need to shift some of their attention to the other pistols coming out of their factory. Not that I should be complaining since I purchased a Sig 1911 TacOps in their Nitron finish a couple of months ago. It’s a damn fine pistol and a steal IMO for the money.
Another major lost opportunity for Sig Sauer was with the NYPD back in the late 1980’s when they were transitioning from their service revolvers to semi auto pistols. Several test pistols were examined by the NYPD, but they found that the P226 tended to rust over a period of time. Sig did not correct this issue and insisted that their pistols were fine.
You know what then happended? The NYPD dropped the P226 from consideration and went with the Glocks and S&W instead. After this major lost, then Sig came out with the K-Kote guns to fix the problem but it was too late. They could have armed all 40,000 NYC police officers with the P226 back then. I wonder if any of the upper senior managers at Sig were fired or let go because of this??
My 40 S&W Sig Sauer P250 jammed every 5th round for the first 100 rounds out of the box using 165 grain Remington UMC ammo. It failed to feed several times after pressing the slide release with a fresh magazine. I’ve put about 500 rounds through it, and the last 300 have been absolutely reliable. However, the DAO trigger pull is so heavy it’s hard to shoot accurately without a lot of practice. I’m not surprised it has been kicked out of every service weapon trial. I wouldn’t recommend buying this pistol for any reason.
I just purchased a Barretta PX4, and it is wonderful. Sig is wasting their time and reputation with the P250.