The SIG P210 (Swiss Army designation Pistole 49) is a locked breech self loading, semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured in Neuhausen am Rheinfall (Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland) by SIG. The former SIG P210 model is now the SIG Sauer P210. It is of all-steel construction chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum and 7.65×21mm Parabellum.
In the last few weeks a serious issue emerged questioning the safety of the P320 pistol, a variant of which was selected by the U.S. Government as the US Army’s Modular Handgun System (MHS). In some cases, it was found that the weapon would go off when dropped with a certain angle of impact. Now, as anticipated, SIG Sauer is offering a voluntary program for P320 pistols. This will include an alternate design that reduces the physical weight of the trigger, sear, and striker while additionally adding a mechanical disconnector. To upgrade your P320s, you should visit this page: and sign up - one serial number per form submission.
SIG Sauer will contact you regarding the best method for you to get your P320 pistol to them. Once SIG Sauer receives your P320 pistol, they will apply the upgrades, test it, and then return it to you free of charge. If you own multiple P320s, you will need to enter each P320 serial number separately. The P320 serial number can be found by looking on the right side of the pistol grip. The serial number will be stamped into the receiver. This number should be entered into the first entry field of the form. The form will automatically populate if your P320 is on a qualified list of U.S.
Domestic consumer serial numbers. The online form is for U.S. Domestic Commercial consumers only. If you are an international customer (including Puerto Rico), you should contact your Global Defense Sales representative or local distributor. The upgrade is being offered at no cost, and SIG Sauer will cover the shipping both ways, too.
SIG Sauer claims that their guns are safe even in their current configuration: “The P320 meets and exceeds all US safety standards. However, mechanical safeties are designed to augment, not replace safe handling practices. Careless and improper handling of any firearm can result in an unintentional discharge,” they state on their website. So, why is this upgrade happening?
“Through additional testing above and beyond standard American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Sporting Arms & Ammunition Institute (SAAMI), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Department of Justice (DOJ), Massachusetts (MGL, Chapter 140, Section 123) and other global military and law enforcement protocols, we have confirmed that usually after multiple drops, at certain angles and conditions, a potential discharge of the firearm may result when dropped. Although it is a rare occurrence, with very specific conditions, SIG Sauer is offering an upgrade to all of its current P320 owners.”. This voluntary program won't be cheap for SIG Sauer: besides replacing every P320 trigger, sear, and striker assembly, every slide and frame must be machined to fit the new parts. All calibers and pistol sizes, regardless of serial numbers, are affected, which means more than 500,000 P320s. About the turnaround time to receive the upgraded P320, for the US commercial market once you contact SIG Sauer and register for the process, you will receive an email from SIG at a later date with a shipping label and instructions as to when you may return your P320. This may take several weeks. Once your P320 is received at SIG Sauer, turnaround time will be approximately 4-6 weeks.
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43897 Views If you’ve heard someone mention proof marks or date codes when discussing a SIG Sauer pistol, but weren’t quite sure what those were, then the goal of this article is to bring you up to speed. And even if you’re already familiar with proof marks, maybe this article can broaden your knowledge and teach you something new. What are Proof Marks?
Proof marks are stamps embedded in certain parts of a firearm following (and sometimes during, depending on the firearm type) its manufacturing to indicate that the firearm has been “proven” to be able to handle the specific type of ammunition for which it was designed. In modern years, they truly do serve that purpose. But like many government regulations, their origins have more to do with self-interest than safety. The first proof marks started appearing in 15th century France, and by the 17th century, European firearms guildsmen were heavily promoting their use — and lobbying their governments for laws requiring them — primarily to dissuade competition from non-guildsmen and scare potential purchasers away from un-proofed guns. In 1637, after heavy lobbying from the London Gunmakers Company, a London-area firearms guild, King Charles I issued a Royal Charter setting firearms safety standards. The London Gunmakers Company set up a “proof house” in London, and not surprisingly firearms makers who were not part of a guild tended to fail testing more often than the guild members. Guns that passed testing were stamped with a mark representing the proof house.
Over the next few decades, other countries established their own safety standards and proof houses, along with their own unique marks. Much like reciprocity of modern concealed carry permits between states, some European countries began to recognize each others’ proof marks as a high enough testing standard for foreign countries’ firearms to be legally imported. Fast forward to 1914, when a number of European countries formed the as a formal standards group to ensure consistent testing among member countries. As of 2015, the CIP includes 14 member states. In order for a civilian firearm produced in a CIP member state to be legally imported to another CIP country, it must bear the proof mark of a CIP member state (military testing standards are, predictably, different than civilian ones). The United States does not participate in CIP, but instead formed its own standards group named. While the CIP and SAAMI do share information and cooperate, neither has a requirement regarding selling in each other’s countries. Because the US is not a CIP member state, foreign guns do not need a CIP proof mark to be sold in the US, nor do US guns need a US proof mark to be sold in CIP member countries.
This is an important fact that will become relevant again later in this article. Examples of German Proof Marks Here’s an assortment of mid 20th century proof marks used through Germany’s (and West Germany’s) history: The top row (a) indicates the German (or East/West German, depending on the year) city in which the proof house is located. The column marked (b) shows varios German/West German proof marks after 1945, while the column marked (c) shows German proof marks used from 1939-1945. Here’s another image showing the marks of German/West German proof houses, along with the approximate year they were first in use.
Coat of arms of SchaumburgThe shape represents a Nesselblatt, or nettle leaf. Tradition held that the leaves of the nettle were symbolic of the nails used to crucify Christ, so the three larger leaves represent the nails of the crucifixion.
All true German and West German SIGs were test fired at the Kiel proof house, so the Nesselblatt proof mark is an indicator of a true German or West German SIG. I’ve also heard one report of the Ulm proof house’s stag antler mark appearing on a the frame and slide of a 1993 SIG P226 (in addition to the Kiel mark on the slide), which would imply that the firearm required repair and re-proofing and presumably the repair took place at a location that was closer to Ulm than Kiel.
Normally, you’d expect to see the Ulm proof mark on a Walther or H&K firearm. The German Definitive Mark and Nitro Testing Underneath the Kiel Nesselblatt (though the order of the marks is not important), we find the image of an eagle with the letter “N” underneath. Some incorrectly believe that the eagle mark is a remnant of Nazi-era Germany, particularly since Germany’s firearms proof mark was a previously crown, and was changed to an eagle in 1939. In actuality, the German Reichsadler (literally “Eagle of the Realm”) dates back to the eagle on the standard of the Roman Empire, and was used as a symbol of the Second German Empire as early as 1871 long before the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The same eagle design has continued its use in West Germany since 1945, but under a new name of Bundesadler, or “Union Eagle.” The Eagle-N mark signifies that the firearm was proofed in Germany (or West Germany, depending on when the firearm was proofed), while the “N” indicates that the firearm was proofed using a Nitro Beschuss load. As “bombardment,” “shelling,” or “firing” depending on context, and “nitro” is short for “,” a highly flammable compound used to creates pressures inside the firearm higher than standard gun powder. Pistols are delivered to the proof houses in their fully assembled form for proofing.
For pistols, CIP standards require cartridges that generate pressure 30% higher than the standard ammunition for which the pistol is designed, so the two high pressure nitro rounds are fired through the pistol. Technicians then disassemble the pistol and examine it in a dark room using a fluoroscopic lamp, looking for magnetic flux leakage. Provided everything looks good, the pistol is re-assembled and receives the country’s CIP proof mark indicating what type of test it passed (the Eagle-N or “definitive” mark in the case of a German gun), the mark of the proof house, and marks indicating the date of the tests. The firearms is then returned to the manufacturer who can legally sell the firearm domestically or export it to another CIP country. The “nitro” proof mark is also referred to as the “definitive” (or final) mark of the proof house, as opposed to a “provisional” mark which would generally only apply to shotgun barrels in an early stage of manufacture, which are tested at proof houses to prevent the manufacturer from continuing work on defective tubes. Date Codes Looking back at our photo, the “JK” under the definitive proof mark is the date code. Date codes are two-letter indicators of the year that a firearm was proofed.
Major German firearms companies such as Heckler and Koch, Walther, and SIG Sauer all used a similar date code format. German gun manufacturers used these letters in place of numbers for date codesJust to keep things interesting, SIG Sauer chose not to use the letter “I” because it looked too much like the numeral “1,” so J = 8 in SIG speak. The proof house in Koln (Cologne), Germany also follows this format. Walther and Heckler & Koch chose to use “I” for 8 but skip “J,” except that you will see a “J” on an H&K magazine’s date code.
Gotta love German logic. П™‚ Using the above table, we can determine that the “JK” date code in the photo stands for “89” — meaning this firearm was proofed in 1989 which coincidentally happened to be the year the Berlin Wall came down.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the pistol was manufactured in 1989. It’s quite possible the barrel was made in 1986, the frame in 1987, and the slide in 1988 but that all the parts weren’t assembled together into a firearm and delivered to a proof house until 1989. Or it’s possible that all the parts were actually made in 1989, and then assembled and proofed that same year. There’s no way to know. A true German / West German firearm isn’t technically “born” until it’s been proofed. Note that a gun’s date code is different than its serial number. It’s impossible to decode a SIG serial number to determine when it was proofed, although you can try to locate the range of your SIG’s serial number to approximate when it was made, or call SIG Sauer with the serial number and see if they have any info in their system.
Serial numbers aren’t always truly representative of the chronological order of a firearm, but they can sometimes get you close. Only a date code can tell you the year of proofing. Non-Proofed “Made in Germany” Guns If you’ve read my article on, you’ll know that proof marks are one of the primary indicators or whether a SIG Sauer (or any other firearm) is truly “made” in Germany (or West Germany) as opposed to assembled in the US using German-made parts even though the parts might be stamped “Made in Germany.” Because the US is not a CIP country, guns marked “Made in Germany” do not need to be proofed in order to be sold here, as long as they are assembled in the US. In my opinion, a gun without German proof marks (with very few exceptions) is not truly a German gun. Whether that actually affects the desirability or quality of the gun is for you to decide. But you should at least be aware that for most SIG purists, the existence of proof marks is what determines whether a gun is correctly referred to as “Made in Germany.” Putting it All Together Now that you know how to decode proof marks and date codes, see if you can figure out where and when the following firearms were proofed. Most are SIGs, but I threw some other German guns in there just for fun.