I have a Sig Sauer P228 that I would like to find out a little bit more about.

It is stamped “MADE IN GERMANY” and “SIGARMS INC” (first line) “EXETER – N.H.” (second line). It has a camouflage finish. Its serial number is B 304 211. See attached photo.

Based on the serial number listing on this forum, it seems that it may have been made around 2003.

I am wondering over what period the camouflage P228 was made, along with whether the slide and frame were made of aluminum or steel and what kind of finish was used.

I would greatly appreciate this an any additional information.

Your photo isn't showing. Is it this camo?



This P228 - model number 228-9-CAMO - was the July 2003 Gun of the Month, of which 352 were made. (GotM was a line of limited production special runs with different cosmetic configurations that Sig did monthly for several years, from 2003 to 2005.)

Like a normal P228, the slide is steel and the frame is aluminum alloy.

I'm not sure what the exact camo finish is, but it's just a thin top coating of effectively paint. Unlike the more modern applied coatings (Cerakote et al), it is not very durable and known to wear off easily from use and cleaning with solvents.

Sig just called it "desert camo", but to me, it's highly reminiscent of the Natural Gear hunting camo pattern.

Rogue - Thanks for posting your photo. Never knew Sig made this specific model. Gonna have to keep my eyes open for one as a future purchase.

As Rogue said, the finish is really junk. SIG did try to offer another GOTM just 2 months later, in Sept that year, a P229 (.40) in realtree camo, but it was "cancelled due to problems with the finish", according to the GOTM List.

Thanks Q - This will now make me rethink my earlier comments. I guess if I think I want a camo SIG, I can take one of my well used West German P226 pistols and have it professionally done (dipped).

I had a well used (some surface rust) Benelli SBE shotgun dipped for my oldest son over 15 years ago and he is still shooting it and the finish is still holding up really well (a few wear spots).

I had no idea we actually know production numbers for the GOTM guns. A few of these caught my attention back in the day and I got one of these and then sig put out a note saying that the finish is crap and unwarrantable. So I said all right I'll get another one to shoot and keep one pristine. And then my LGS had one with a big discount and a huge note on it finish will not last. So according to those production numbers I own about 1% of production. And the finish is really junk.

The irony of designing a gun with a finish designed to prevent it from being seen, that you can't shoot/use because it will make the finish look ugly

Hydrodipped with nothing over it? lol
It's a shame since other companies are able to do it, fairly durable. But SIG was being SIG I guess, flavor of the month wasn't important enough to do right.

Neat P228, even if the coating sucks.

Hydrodipped coatings need a clearcoat sealer to stand any chance of lasting. They also tend to adhere better when applied on painted surfaces rather than onto bare material, particularly metals. I'd guess that SIG likely didn't know this sort of stuff back then. But even with time and the accumulation of more knowledge and experience, many petroleum-based gun cleaning solutions will still eat away at the clearcoat and then inevitably get into the hydrodip film that's underneath. Mild non-petroleum based cleaning detergents generally work the best at making the pattern last the longest.

SIG revisited hydrodipping at least once years later when they did a version of the 10mm P220 in Optifade Waterfowl. I think they learned a thing or two in the intervening years on how to make the finish last longer because it did seem like there were far fewer gripes about that gun's film finish quickly failing. SIG's production on that dipped 10mm variant lasted at least 3-4 years, if I remember correctly.

I've a customer whose brutally hard-used Beretta A400's camo dip is almost completely gone. The thing looks like absolute shit, its appearance not helped by the hodgepodge of replaced bits in differing camo patterns that I've had to scrounge and source to keep his Beretta usable as its original external parts fail and break. The specific factory Optifade pattern his gun was in--pretty sure it was the same as the P220's pattern described above--was dropped by the Beretta several years ago and as a result replacement furniture like the foreend handguard and other camo'd parts in that pattern are now nonexistent from the company. I think I've replaced his handguard locking nut twice so far due to them cracking with heavy use, both times in different camo patterns due to whatever Beretta CS had in stock at the time. But this customer simply doesn't care because according to him his A400 is just a 'beautiful waterfowl-killing machine'. By now he's likely put well over 20,000 rounds of duck and geese loads through that poor shotgun, and frankly it very much looks the part. But he loves this fugly thing for what it does, not how it looks.

On barrels and receivers, some shotgun makers like Benelli have begun moving away from hydrodipping those metal surfaces and now embrace Cerakote as a far more durable alternative.

Yeesh that is not a nice looking camo job. The P220 10mm Hunter, though, tits!

Rogue,

It is exactly that camo. Thanks for the reply.
Where in NW Arkansas. My wife was born and raised in Fayetteville. Our three children were all born in Fayetteville in the same hospital as my wife.

Thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Your photo isn't showing. Is it this camo?



This P228 - model number 228-9-CAMO - was the July 2003 Gun of the Month, of which 352 were made. (GotM was a line of limited production special runs with different cosmetic configurations that Sig did monthly for several years, from 2003 to 2005.)

Like a normal P228, the slide is steel and the frame is aluminum alloy.

I'm not sure what the exact camo finish is, but it's just a thin top coating of effectively paint. Unlike the more modern applied coatings (Cerakote et al), it is not very durable and known to wear off easily from use and cleaning with solvents.

Sig just called it "desert camo", but to me, it's highly reminiscent of the Natural Gear hunting camo pattern.