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| Member |
I'm looking at an older P220. European model in 9mm. 1984 date code. On the left side of the slide, it's rollmarked "assembled by RPS". I'm looking for some insight as to the origin of the mark. Thanks.This message has been edited. Last edited by: sodacan, | ||
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Oriental Redneck |
This one has been brought up every so often over the years with various theories. And the bottom line has always been, no one knows the real answer. Q | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
Should read Assembled by RPS. Roadway Package Service..  | |||
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| Member |
Does it have importers marking? Also matching triple serial numbers? I suspect it was converted from 38Super to 9mm. If it has proof marking and marching serial number on 9mm barrel should indicate country where it was assembled. | |||
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| Member |
"assembled by Rock Scissors Paper" -MG | |||
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Member |
I have a P220 .45 date proofed 1984, made in W.Germany, G1303XX, Euro heel magazine release, SIG blue original box. The pistol has the same stamped legend ASSEMBLED BY RPS on the left side of the slide. The stamping is hi-lighted white. Looks done at the factory, not commercial enamel paint. I've had this as a used gun since about 1992. Around that time I called SIG and the guy told me the marking indicated it was a military contract overrun pistol. To this day I have no idea whether he knew what he was talking about or not. I've heard some whack stories from customer service geeks in different companies over the years, so..... I'd be interested if 12131 could give a quick synopsis of some of the theories as the search engine revealed no clues. | |||
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| Member |
Sodacan and monoblok, I am pretty sure the pistol sodacan is looking at is stamped ASSEMBLED BY RPS - not RSP. | |||
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Member |
I've read that RPS was an outfit in Canada. Supposedly the company was changing some P220s into .45 from 7.62 or 38 super. But I could be repeating BS. . | |||
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| Member |
Well, mine is 45acp barrel, slide, and receiver -all match. So no conversion here. | |||
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Member |
I've done a bit of research on P220's over the years. If there is an answer to this mystery, it may well be SIG's best kept secret. | |||
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| Member |
Any hypothetical pistols like the ones you described would have been required to have importers information stamped on the pistols if they went to Canada and then were re-imported to the US (for any reason), whether they went from W. Germany to Canada to the US, or went from SIG Arms USA to Canada and back to the US. None of which makes any sense. I bought mine in a little gun shop in Halifax, PA. In the case of mine, there are no importer's markings. It has - a slide stamped SIG SAUER SIGARMS EXETER-NH (left side). On the right side of the slide P220 MADE IN W.GERMANY | |||
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| Oriental Redneck |
Yeah, this was one of those theories that was brought up. Members GaryBF and OTD were the two that did all of the info digging. Not sure what happened to all the past threads on "Assembled By RPS" because I can no longer find them. The Canadian assembly theory doesn't hold water, because these guns were made and proofed in W. Germany, with all the markings on them. If you support the Canadian theory, then you will have to accept that the parts were made in W. Germany, shipped to Canada to be assembled into complete guns, then shipped back to W. Germany to be proof tested (with subsequent proof marks placed on them), and this makes absolutely no sense. If the guns were destined for the Canadian market originally and were shipped there in separate parts to be assembled by RPS, there would have been no proofing requirement since Canada is not a CIP member state. But the German proof marks are clearly there, meaning the guns had to be completed to be proofed. So again, it makes no sense.
"SIG SAUER SIGARMS EXETER-NH" - That is the import mark. SIGARMS in Exeter NH imported your gun, no doubt about it, but not at the time it was made & proofed (1984), but years after that, when SIG had relocated their HQ to Exeter. Q | |||
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| Member |
Technically true, Sig Arms was the "importer", but what I meant was there were no 3rd party importer company stamps, ie Century Arms Inc., or Interarms, etc. Since SIG Sauer was the maker and their US division was SIG Arms I don't consider them separate entities at that specific time. | |||
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Member |
Not an expert, but I think USA import laws consider them to be separate entities. | |||
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| Member |
I don't have any decisive answers to this question, I can offer one observation. Last year an example of a "Assembled by RPS" marked P220 was sold on GunBroker. (not to me) The serial was G 127 5XX. included was the original blue single layer cardboard box with removable lid and red insert. The box was labeled with a normal SIG Sauer label with matching serial in this style. P220 ART. NO.34. 220.032 CAL. 9MM NO. G 1275XX In addition the box contained an official owners manual and a test target with matching serial number. The pistol was proofed "JD" which is normal for a 1983 in the serial range. I still can't explain the added marking but it appears this pistol falls in the normal factory sequence. | |||
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| Member |
PS Someone somewhere knows what the second line on that label means in words. | |||
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| SIG-Sauer Anthropologist |
The background of the pistol is known. So is the discrepancy between proof date and import marking. The pistol was made, assembled in Germany and sold years later as NOS to the SIGArms Exeter. Not known is who or what RPS is. SIGSauer could not or did not want to answer the question. Canada is out of question. Proof mark, test target and missing import/export markings of Canada are speaking against this hypothesis. | |||
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| Member |
Udo possible to check the test target for caliber, date and other info. | |||
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| Member |
I've been digging for my notes, but I recall checking and the caliber was 9mm, serial matched the gun and the date was consistent with the proof date. As OTD says above it has been established that the guns were made in Germany (assembled). I'm only offering this reference pistol as proof of the actual assembly and to debunk any concepts of caliber changes. I have very little interest who RPS was as long as the originality of these pistols is established. | |||
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