SIG - The innovators

Rushcreek

Well-Known Member
My Sig 220 memory involves a friend's Browning BDA .45 that I used in a combat match in Gilmer, Texas long ago. I did fair to middling through the course, but on the time stopping 50 yard target- my double tap was dead center and one inch apart. The scorer looked at me and said "Damn good, son!" I was the only non 1911 auto shooter.
Decades later a 220 DAK did not thrill me after owning it a while, so I sold it.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
My Sig 220 memory involves a friend's Browning BDA .45 that I used in a combat match in Gilmer, Texas long ago. I did fair to middling through the course, but on the time stopping 50 yard target- my double tap was dead center and one inch apart. The scorer looked at me and said "Damn good, son!" I was the only non 1911 auto shooter.
I can't recall how many years the P220 was imported under the Browning label, but it was only a few. Those early BDA marked P220 pistols had the European style heel magazine release. By around 1980-ish (?) SIG set up their own distribution in the U.S.A. and the Browning BDA was dropped from the Browning lineup. Both SIG and H&K elected to establish their U.S. import companies in northern Virginia (likely to take advantage to the proximity of Dulles International Airport and Virginia’s then gun friendly environment). Those early SIG P220 pistols were marked Tysons Corner, VA., indicating the location of the importer. The early SIG marked pistols still had the heel magazine release and the later models had the button style release. I can recall seeing the Browning BDA and early SIG P220 pistols being displayed in gun shops side by side.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
When I purchased my HP in the 70's, the LGS also had the BDA. I was heart set on the HP so I didn't pay much attention if it had a heel type release. Being a southpaw, I happen to like the heel type release. The Ruger Mark II is the only heel type release I have. Nowadays, most mag releases are reversible, so it's becoming more of a moot point. Now, if the designers would only make the safeties reversible' like they did on the venerable Model 12.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I have previously written about heel magazine releases, and I will not dive too deep into that topic again.

Americans tend to have a negative view of heel type mag catches. This is a bit unfair. There are some positive attributes to a heel type mag release. They are ambidextrous. They force the user to grasp the magazine when withdrawing it from the gun (useful if you are not discarding and abandoning empty magazines). They are far less susceptible to inadvertently releasing the magazine (critical if that is your only magazine, like say in a back-up gun).

Pistols with heel magazine releases are slightly slower to reload (and with practice the difference in speed is small) but they have some strengths too. SIG, like most manufacturers, recognized the need to cater to their American market and made guns Americans would buy.