Maybe there’s more to it, but 580 pistols for $281,580 sounds a little steep:
"France’s Ministry of the Interior has announced the purchase of a new batch of SIG Sauer SIG ProSP2022 pistols for use by the National Gendarmerie. The contract worth 248,299 Euros (or $281,580) was announced in mid November.
The Ministry of the Interior’s procurement department, the Service de l’Achat, de l’Équipement et de la Logistique de la Sécurité Intérieure (SAELSI), handled the contract for the 580 pistols. These will supplement the over 200,000 reportedly originally ordered."
I’ve been happy with mine. It was my first handgun, and I’ve run a few courses with it and it hasn’t given me any problems that weren’t self induced (thumb on slide lock, one squib from my first reloads, etc.) I have approximately 15k rounds thru the gun, and I’m planning on sending it back to Sig for new springs, once I put an FNX 45 on order.
428 EURO per pistol, that’s not bad. Frankonia in Darhmstadt, Germany is charging 799 EURO for the same pistol and even mentions the French police in the description. Firearm prices are interesting in Europe. You don’t want to know what they are charging for a 320.
The SigPro, in the .40 version, had some popularity in Maryland law enforcement back in the day. Granted, the neighboring department to mine adopted the 2340 and then almost immediately transitioned to the 229. The SigPro isn’t a bad pistol (at least when we looked at them), but it wasn’t a 226. It seemed to have sharper edges, you could easily catch the meat of your hand on a reload, and I subjectively recall its bore axis being higher than the 226. As I recall, Gaithersburg, Baltimore County PD and SO, the University of Maryland, and Ocean City all had SigPro pistols. Gaithersburg now has Glocks and Baltimore County is abandoning the FNS for Glocks. I’m not sure about the other agencies.
I bought my first SP2022 in 2011, and another in 2014. I paid $399 and $349 for them. I think the low price is what caused people to dismiss or overlook them. At that price point, pistols have a stigma. Sigma, Taurus, P250, etc. The triggers are very smooth outta the box, and only get better with time. Mags are basically HK mag prices, and holster selection could be better, but my favorite holster maker JM Custom Kydex offers them. I’m wearing one AIWB right now.
When the original SIG PRO was introduced they had a street price about $550. People complained they were too close in price to the standard P series. The SP2022 with its standard 1913ish rail sells for less than the SIG PRO did when introduced due to economies of scale, paid off tooling and SIG simply getting efficient at building them after cranking out over half a million of them for various non-US LE contracts.
They were regionally popular in the mid Atlantic region with VA state police and Richmond VA police being among the bigger users.
I love mine in 9mm. My primary complaints are it could use a slight under cuts and the other grip sizes are hard to find.
I started SIG with a WG P226. Liked it, but didn’t want the DA/SA at the time as much as I thought. Sold it. Later, work up to DA/SA. Got an SP 2022 - like it better overall. Handier and lighter.
BEST DA OTB trigger you can find. I like CZ P Series and am invested in it. BUT, it cannot match the smoothness of the SP OTB. Also, there is not much aftermarket for them because you don’t really need it. The grip texture is perfect, and the sights are SIG. Barrel lockup is bank vault tight. Recoil management is good. Reliable, rock solid construction, and OBTW - the slide rides on VERY robust steel rails.
The only thing SIG out to do is offer a backstrap for very large hands. Also, MecGar needs to reshape the bottom of the 17 round mag to fill the gap in front.
