Swiss and US Made P210's Compared

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Someone recently asked for a comparison of these two pistols so I said I'd do it.....here it is. This will without question be found wanting by some and excellent by others. Unfortunately, when discussing certain firearms (and the P210 is certainly one of those certain firearms) people's egos, biases and wallets tend to get hopelessly entwined with reality. These pistols are expensive and for reasons lost on me, expensive always seems to attract people who wish to own them for nothing more than bragging rights and member length comparisons. Sadly, that's just the way it is. But you won't find any of that in this essay. This is simply what was asked for; a comparison of the two pistols. I won't be discussing metallurgy because I don't care. I have absolutely no doubt both are well made from good steel. That's good enough for me. I won't be discussing accuracy. Both are FAR more accurate than I am and I'd lay money on it they are far more accurate than you too. Who care's which is more accurate when both are stupid accurate anyways?? See above for a description of who cares....I don't. Now, what I WILL say is that I'm an admitted gun snob lite and I prefer the Swiss one simply because it was made by hand in Switzerland. However, I'm not so much of a snob that I won't admit I feel that the US made one is nicer made. Yes, it's probably mostly made by robots and that's probably why it looks nicer. The fit and finish is better and the trigger is too. It also costs a little less than half what the Swiss one will cost you. Give it time though. Eventually they will go out of production and the value will rise steadily. So, even if you feel that the approx. $1400 price tag is high, it will be considered a steal in not too many years, I guarantee it. Alright, enough drivel....lets take a look. This will take a few posts but I'll get a decent start in tonight.

We'll start at the beginning:
On the right is a leather holster and shoulder strap made in the early 1950's. This holster and its contents will cost you about $3000 used. On the left is a plastic case marked "SIG SAUER". This case and its contents will cost you about $1400 new.


Here are the contents of the two:

On the right is a SIG P210 made in Switzerland circa 1953. On the left is a SIG SAUER P210 made in the United States circa 2018.


The warning card in the new P210 makes it very clear what the purpose of this pistol is. It isn't made for carry and it's not made for combat. It's made for a nice, relaxing Sunday at the range on a warm summer's day. When seen from the proper perspective, the silly things you'll find on the internet about stocks being too large and triggers too light for carry will make you roll your eyes. It's a plinker folks.


A couple closeups of the two:



They certainly look similar and you can clearly see the lineage. Notice that the newer one has improver ergonomics. The hard to reach and hard to manipulate slide release on the Swiss one is horrid compared to the US one which is light and right where your thumb wants it to be. The same can be said of the safety. On the Swiss jobber, it's pretty much a two handed affair because it's in a weird place and it's STIFF, especially when pushing from "fire" to "safe". Again, the US model's safety is light and nicely located. The US model also a thumb magazine release where the Swiss one is located at the heel of the grip. The wonderfully fitted and perfectly checkered walnut grips on the US model don't fit my hands as well as the wonderfully fitted and perfectly checkered bakelite grips on the Swiss one but my hands aren't the same as yours. You may prefer the walnut. Nice idiot mark on the Swiss one....I didn't do that. HAHA!!



A few shots of the magazines:





The magazines are not interchangeable. Notice that the new 210 magazine is made in Italy, presumably by MecGar and that the follower is plastic. Pretentious gun snobs will point to these things as evidence of inferiority. Okiedokie.



Muzzles. Notice that the Swiss one shows machining marks. I LOVE machining marks. They add character!

Notice too that you cannot see the front of the recoil rod on the new 210. There are many little and some not so little design difference between the two. I'll point them out as we go.



Front straps and trigger guards:

Beautiful knurling on the new model and near perfect grip fitment on both.


Bottom of the magazines:

Both have metal floor plates but I think the US one is aluminum or some such lightweight metal. I'm pretty sure it isn't steel.


Rear straps again showing really Schweet fitment of the grip panels on both pistols:




A side comparison of the grips showing just how much longer the new model is:



Notice too the reshaped and elongated beaver tail on the new pistol. If you get hammer bite on this clunker, you must have gorilla hands!






Front sights.





Rear sights:



Just look at the Quality of that Swiss cross!! MMMM MMMMM GOOD!!


That's it for tonight. I'll be back to pick this up in a day or two.

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