The SIG SAUER P226 set the standard by which all other combat handguns are measured. The iconic P226 served alongside the U.S. Navy SEALs for decades and has seen action around the globe. With legacy of accuracy and reliability, and millions upon millions of rounds of proven performance, it has earned its reputation as the premiere combat pistol.

The P226 itself has spawned further sub-variants; the P228 and P229 are both compact versions of the double stack P226 design, while the P224 is a subcompact variant. The SIG Sauer P226 and its variants are in service with numerous law enforcement and military organizations worldwide

SIG Sauer

Several sister companies that design and manufacture firearms use the brand name SIG Sauer [ɛs iː ɡeː ˈzaʊ̯ɐ]. The original company, Schweizerische Waggon-Fabrik (SWF), later Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (SIG), went through several selloffs, leaving the SIG Sauer brand spread over several companies. The original SIG is now known as SIG Combibloc Group and no longer has any firearms business.

• The German company was SIG Sauer GmbH & Co. KG. It was formed in 1976 as a partnership between Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) of Switzerland and J.P. Sauer & Sohn of Germany.

• The Swiss company is Sig Sauer AG. Its predecessor SIG Arms AG was sold to L&O Holding in western Germany and was first renamed SAN Swiss Arms AG, commonly known as Swiss Arms, and in late 2019 was further renamed SIG Sauer AG.

• The American company is SIG Sauer, Inc. Its predecessor SIGARMS was founded in Virginia in 1985 to import and distribute SIG Sauer firearms into the United States: Its headquarters were moved to New Hampshire in 1990. This company was renamed SIG Sauer, Inc. in 2007, and since 2000 is organizationally separate from SIG Sauer GmbH.

The parent company is L&O Holding. It is the parent company of the German SIG Sauer GmbH & Co. KG, the Swiss SIG Sauer AG, and the American SIG Sauer, Inc.

History

1853: Schweizerische Waggon-Fabrik (SWF) is created

The origins of the SIG Sauer company lie in the company named Schweizerische Waggon-Fabrik (“Swiss Wagon Factory”), which was founded in 1853 by Friedrich Peyer im Hof (1817–1900), Heinrich Moser (1805–1874) and Johann Conrad Neher (1818–1877).

The group pooled their engineering talents and created the Prelaz-Burnand rifle, known as the “Prélaz-Burnand 1859” or “Prelaz-Burnand 1860” rifle. The invention of this rifle is credited to gunsmith Jean-Louis Joseph Prélaz and army officer Edouard Burnand. The rifle was submitted to an 1860 competition by Switzerland’s Federal Ministry of Defence. It won and in 1864 the company was awarded a contract to produce 30,000 Prelaz-Burnand rifles, adopted as the M1863.

1864: SWF changes to Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (SIG)

Upon receiving the 1864 government contract to produce rifles, the company name was changed to Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (SIG, German for “Swiss Industrial Company”), known as Société Industrielle Suisse in French-speaking regions of Switzerland, reflecting the new emphasis on their production.

The SIG P210 pistol was developed in 1947 based on the French Modèle 1935 pistol (the Petter-Browning design was licensed). It was adopted by the Swiss military in 1949 as the “Pistole 49”. This single-action semi-automatic P210 brought SIG much acclaim, due to the precision manufacturing processes employed in its manufacture and its resultant accuracy and reliability.

The P210 frame design incorporates external rails that fit closely with the slide, thus eliminating play in the mechanism during firing. The P210 was noted for its extreme accuracy. The Petter-Browning patent which was a refinement of the Browning Hi-Power (P35) which was John Moses Browning‘s last design which was created for the French 1935 pistol, but not adopted.

Swiss law limits the ability of Swiss companies to export firearms. Swiss companies which wish to do this have to do so by using a foreign partner. So in the 1970s SIG purchased both Hämmerli^[12] and J. P. Sauer and Sohn, which resulted in the formation of SIG Sauer.

1976: SIG creates SIG Sauer GmbH

SIG Sauer’s line of handguns began in 1975 with the SIG Sauer SIG P220. It was initially developed by SIG and produced and distributed by J.P. Sauer & Sohn, but in 1976 SIG bought J.P. Sauer & Sohn and the resultant company was called SIG Sauer GmbH, based in Germany.

Prior to World War II, Sauer had been primarily a maker of shotguns and hunting rifles. During the war, they produced a handgun, the Sauer 38H, but afterwards had withdrawn from this market. With SIG as their partner/owner, Sauer returned to the business of manufacturing handguns. Their Sauer 38H had been produced in competition with other German makers such as Mauser and Walther at a time when new designs began to feature a double/single-action trigger.

This double-action trigger mechanism, combined with advanced safety features including the hammer-lowering decocking lever, was incorporated by Sauer into the new P220 design. This new P220 design was derived from the Petter-Browning design and was created in response to a Swiss military and police requirement for a handgun to replace the P210.

This new P220 design should properly be called the SIG Sauer System, which was, in fact, the labeling on one of the first SIG Sauer handguns, a modified SIG Sauer P220 design produced for the Browning Arms company in 1977. On the right side of the slide are the words “SIG Sauer System”. This was the first SIG Sauer P220 type sold in the US.

At this point there were three entities:

• SIG, a company based in Switzerland.
  • The firearms division of SIG, based in Switzerland.
  • A subsidiary of SIG called SIG Sauer GmbH, a firearms company based in Germany.