Why did Sig stop making this wonderful gun? After waiting so long for a double stack p-series in 45acp, it seems Sig just unceremoniously discontinued it. I've been wondering recently if we'll ever see it again.

Was it that the 10-round mag capacity was underwhelming to most consumers these days?
Was it a shrinking market for non-1911 45acp weapons?
Was it hard for it to compete with Sig's own venerable P220?
Or was it just COVID?

For those who have a 227, I'm wondering if you love this gun as much as I. It's not my preferred carry weapon, but it may be my all time favorite 45.

(I also noticed CZ recently stopped the 97b. Sad. I wonder if that was for similar reasons.)

I think the 227 was gone before Covid. Not sure though.
That was a sizeable handgun and I had one. Big grip on it but was manageable for me.
I just think it didn't catch on like some firearms do.

The same thing that happened to other models that small, vocal minorities clamored for and the “clueless” decision-makers at SIG resisted offering for years, but when they were offered, it was, “Oh, I guess I don’t really want one after all.”

And yes, COVID had nothing to do with its demise that started long before anyone heard of the disease.

Rationally, the 45 ACP round had been becoming far less popular than it was at one time; heck, people were complaining about the recoil of the 40 S&W as a reason for switching to 9mm. Strangely, nothing much was said about the even greater recoil of the 45, but I always suspected that while it was okay to complain about the 40, admitting out loud that one couldn’t handle the 45 was somehow thought to be un-American and best simply not mentioned at all.

I also suspect that adding an additional two rounds in the standard magazine over the P220’s didn’t set too many people on fire, and the 14-round mag was not a success for whatever reason(s).

My LGS tells me that any pistol whose caliber starts with "4" is a slow mover.

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I also suspect that adding an additional two rounds in the standard magazine over the P220’s didn’t set too many people on fire, and the 14-round mag was not a success for whatever reason(s).

This is what I've always suspected. Just an additional two rounds didn't give enough separation from the P220 to justify people buying it or switching to it. If they had figured out how to make a 12 or 13 round mag it may have been more tempting. Just my opinion.

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I also suspect that adding an additional two rounds in the standard magazine over the P220’s didn’t set too many people on fire

I think this probably had the most to do with it, with waning interest in the .45 round a close second.

Considering existing competitors already had 13 round mags (G21, XD/XDM45), SIG was a day late and a dollar short releasing the 227 (just like the 224).

Unfortunately, there is no way to determine with scientific precision why a specific gun fails to generate adequate sales volume. What is certain is that when a manufacturer looks at the sales volume and determines they can't make an adequate profit...it's Gonzo.

I rather liked the P227 and was considering buying one. The 10 round capacity, as mentioned by sigfreund, wasn't a big deal compared to my eight round 1911's. Got excited when the 14 round mags were introduced. I was now in the hunt.

Then, during one of our weekly defensive shooting group's range sessions, I changed my mind. A PA State Trooper was having stoppage problems with his P227/14 round mags. Helped him through diagnosing the problem. It was obvious that it was solely a magazine issue with the 14 rounders. He and several other Troopers had bought a bunch of them. After that I started reading about the same problems on the Sig Forum. Since it was never resolved, I decided not to buy a P227.

This gun went 180 degrees against all the trends in the firearms industry (think smaller, lighter, cheaper.) There are a lot of people who don't believe this, and are surprised when guns like this fail. This is especially true when they are sold by mass market manufacturers like SIG, who want to sell in volume.

The P227, while excellent, never had a large following in the first place, but it always had, and still has, a "small, vocal minority" as it fan base. Obviously, that was never enough to sustain its life, as SIG tends to focus on bigger and better (translation, profit), imo.

The 14-rounder, ah yes. This was the main feature of the P227 that attracted many folks who wanted a true high cap .45 SIG. But, it was also the nail in its coffin, because it was poorly designed. I was the first to report to SIG with the jamming problem with the 14-rounders in the Tacops. 10-rounders were gtg. This is a problem they apparently never bother to fix, although it was claimed that they did. There were no obvious indications on the mag that they did anything. So, if you buy a 14-rounder, you just hope that it will work. So, many folks soured on the P227, because, what's the point of a 10-round fat .45, when they can just carry the slimmer P220 with 8 rounds. And, if they want 10 rounds, the P220 10-rounder was already around.

Oh yeah, the covid scamdemic has nothing to do with its demise. It died long before that crap.

Love my P227 Carry, but I understand why Sig had to discontinue it. Anything in 45 is a slow mover and Sig wants to make money. It's a great pistol, although I probably won't be carrying it anytime soon. My son had the Tacops version as his duty gun for awhile, however he prefers to carry a 9mm Staccato now. I'll keep my P227 and IWB holster in case I feel the need to be "short, fat, and slow".

They brought the gun to market too late and they botched the 14 round magazines. By the time the 227 was out, the world was already starting to trend away from .45 and away from hammer fired guns. Had they released the gun in 2003 instead of 2013, it might have been a different story, although production of all classic series Sigs is low right now. I also think the 10 round capacity was a tough sell against guns like the USP 45, Glock 21, XD45, and FNX 45.

Had they found a way to offer a 12 round magazine (wider grip, longer grip, follower design, etc.), that also likely would have helped against the other established 10 round offerings (HK45, S&W M&P, 1911 with extended magazine).

Our troopers still carry them, and all the ones I've asked about them like them. I'm hoping that someday when they retire them I can snag one at a decent price. They're decent guns and I'd love to have one, although I find the P245/P220 Compact a more practical platform for carry off-duty.

I just bought the standard Nitron version about two months and 12131 is right, the 10 rounders are dead bang reliable. I ran many, many rounds through it and it never hiccupped once. Maybe it doesn't have as many rounds as it should, maybe Sig should've done a reliable 12 round mag, dunno. But it is a great shooter.

I wish I'd bought it about three years ago, when the Elites and Tacops were still around and reasonably priced.... I really wanted one of those, but settled on the base model because the others are either non-existent or idiot sellers on GB are asking prices that would get you into Les Baer 1911 Premier II. They're nuts.

In the coming year, I'll probably try to add the two smaller versions, the P227 Carry and the P227 Gen 2 SAS, just because it's a beguiling platform. They're smaller and still hold 10+1, which I have to admit probably makes it a more attractive package.

Probably because it came out 20-30 years after it would have been super popular due to sig dragging its ass on making it for so long.

I absolutely love my P227 but I don't think Sig ever really fully believed in the project. In addition to the 14 round magazine fiasco, Sig tried to address the bulkier magwell with the use of a one piece wrap around grip that required a special plastic tool to remove it, some may disagree, but I personally hated them. They should have designed the P227 to have grips like the rest of the P series line. Eventually Houge made G10 grips for the P227 but there were no factory threads in the frame so it required aligning 4 bushings into the frame in order to screw in the grips. I don't think it was ever designed to replace the P220, I viewed it more as an extension of the P226. Maybe it would have done better if it was marketed as a P226 45.

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Originally posted by TrojanX4:
Sig tried to address the bulkier magwell with the use of a one piece wrap around grip that required a special plastic tool to remove it ....

If you are referring to the "E2" grip, that became more or less standard on all the large frame Classic line pistols. With the others, though, they could at least accept screw-on grip plates.

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but there were no factory threads in the frame

I didn't realize this. I'm not a fan of the E2 grip, and if they can't be had with regular grip panels, that kinda changes my perspective on them a bit.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:

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but there were no factory threads in the frame

I didn't realize this. I'm not a fan of the E2 grip, and if they can't be had with regular grip panels, that kinda changes my perspective on them a bit.

That's right, E2 grips...couldn't remember their name. You are able to put on regular grips, you just have to use the provided bushings from Hogue. The bushings fit into a section of the frame, but when you unscrew the grips the bushings fall out of the magwell. Minor inconvenience, but my main point was it wasn't very well thought out by Sig.

I got my first P220 back in 1977. When the P226 was introduced we were all asking SIG about a widebody version of the P220

The P227 took too many decades to hit the market. Like many have said, the masses have moved on to smaller calibers.



Well I got my P227 just as soon as I could. I had four 10 and three 14 round magazines ship with it. As has already been pointed out the early 14s did not function well. But the 14s were changed. The Factory sent me three of the later mags and they work just fine.

Now I am not positive when the change occurred, but my early 14s arrived in SIG plastic bags for hanging while the ones that work were packaged in the hanging cardboard boxes. I do not know if the packaging change coincides with the magazine change, but I would not buy a bagged 14 rounder.

As to capacity, the flush fit P220 magazines are only 7 rounds. Lets talk apples to apples. So that makes it a 3 round difference. Now the P227 mags share a body with the P320 mags. When those P320s first came out the trick was to replace the big plastic mag base locking piece with a flat metal one allowing the follower to move farther down inside the magazine. I used P226 locking pieces. That change allowed the 10 round P320 mags to hold 11. Well this works with the P227 mags as well. So now we are talking a 4 round difference from flush fit P220s

I still think the populations move from 45 ACP is the biggest reason this pistol did not take off. In recent years SIG drops things quickly if they do not show a profit. Does anybody remember the P224?

BTW change out the locking piece in a 14 round magazine and it now holds 15. I do not know how many hundreds of rounds have been through my newer 14 round magazines, but I am happy with them.

I will probably pick up a P227 SAS sometime later to go with my original gun. Just need to find a good deal

Colt_saa, that's good info! Thanks for sharing. Will P320 .45 mags work in a P227 if you swap the baseplates?