Turns out Sig is revamping their whole lineup this year. Coming from both Erhardt and my Sig rep, this is pretty reliable.
- Everything’s going to have a rail except the P239.
- Production will cease completely on the P225, P210, Trailside and even the P228. There’s a nickel-slide GOM available, and that’s the last of them.
- Next year will introduce a single-action P220R and the P240, which is a P245 slide on a P220 frame (think Commander P220)
- All new GSRs will be the Revolution platform, as Sig has moved all manufacture to in-house facilities.
Very sad news to see so many classic (in the truest sense) models go, and I’m no fan of light-rails. All they do is accelerate holster-wear, and whatever gets swept by the light, gets swept by the muzzle, which I find unacceptable. But hey, I guess that’s what people want.
The details surrounding the GSRs are the most interesting, though. As you’ve heard, the platform was plagued with problems, and all were caused by Caspian. Sig had outsourced large portions of the manufacturing to them, and obviously the folks at Caspian couldn’t keep up with demand. Erhardt brought several examples to the last SHOT Show. He had several slides, some of which had mismatched serrations, some of which were missing slide rails on one side altogether. The whole deal reeked of sloppiness. Since Sig’s taken it all upon themselves, these problems have disappeared from what I’ve heard. Having handled one of the Revolutions recently, I can attest to that. It’s one of the most solid-feeling 1911s I’ve handled, and it’s got a wonderful trigger. (It’s also worth mentioning that I picked up one of the P228 two-tones, and it really is a fine piece of work.)
Moral of the story: if you want one of the “classic” models, now’s the time. Get one before the price gouging starts.