AMEN tk.
I had the same armorer opportunity to strip out the 250 and was not overly impressed. Yeah, it has benefitted from some leading edge thinking - but it is far (IMO) from perfect. I say wait until SIG has an opportunity to perfect upon the design before you drop your $$. :2cents:
I have a slew of SIG pistols myself... P220 Elite, P226LE (.40), P229 (both the .40 and .357SIG), P239 SAS and a Mosquito.
ALL of mine (well except the Mosquito) have the SRT package, and I prefer the non-rail / older frames.
I further (partially) agree with elray in that the 556 I played with was cheap 'feeling' and gave the shooter little confidence in durability.
I do have a SIGTAC knife (several really), and really cannot complain about it - as it has served me well and is high quality. I do think SOME of their knives are junk, but not all.
I recently sold one of my P239's to a friend of mine who is a huge gun nut - but I was shocked to discover he wanted the P239 to replace the (Makarov!) he used for CCW. Now I am not anti-makarov, but I was really stunned to think he would bet his life on a 0 pistol.
I think he has come to that conslusion as well.
I got my first 226 20 years ago. It's everything a combat pistol should be -- high-cap, accurate, utterly reliable and easy to maintain. I've added several since then, but none are current US models.
Over the long haul, I think SIG has developed this line of pistols very well. The basic design has been proven all over the world, and the essential functional changes SIG has made over the years have been well thought out (like replacing the old pinned mainspring with the newer plastic-seated one). A 226 in .357 SIG is my daily carry gun.
But I am somewhat concerned that the company has developed a sort of fashion-boutique mindset. They keep coming out with more and more new models that are functionally identical to the old models, just in different colors, with different grips, fancier mags, etc. Want a compact carry gun? You could get a 225, 245, 220 compact, 228, 229 or 239. Oh yeah, and the 250 compact. And the only thing I can figure is that Terra must be on real good terms with someone at SIG corporate, cause the even make a hot pink .22 plinker (
http://www.sigarms.com/Products/ShowCatalogProductDetails.aspx?categoryid=30&productid=242).
And they seem to have had a lot of missteps with the 556. This is especially odd since it's a descendant of a famous and highly regarded combat rifle. They're already got the refined, established model, how can the new model be inferior? Even the sights they came out with for the gun have left folks flat.
It's tempting to blame the US division of SIGArms, but I see some of the same things going on in Germany.
I'm not dumping on the company -- I love working on their pistols, and would happily add a couple more to my collection (like a 220 supermatch). And I depend on their products for home and personal defense. I just think they've made some missteps in recent years. Like they're trying to be everything to everybody instead of focusing on a core business.
tk