Ok, today I saw a German 226 at my LGS with markings I haven't seen before. The serial # was U666xxx with made in Germany on both frame and slide. What was interesting was the serial number was below the takedown on the left side, not on the other side (right)where they are usually found. Also, where the serial number would be if there were one on the slide, there was a long oval cut into the slide.
I know there wouldn't be ser# there but it's as if someone professionally cut it out.

Has anyone seen anything like this? If so, please enlighten me as I have not seen one quite like this, not that I'm an expert or anything.

Thanks!

The sn on the left side of the frame is odd, but I've seen it a couple of times.

The cut out slot where the sn is supposed to be on the slide is done sometimes by SIG on their CPOs. Also, they do this at customer request, when building a replacement slide, because the slide sn is not the same as the frame sn.

What about the barrel on that gun?

Here is what SIG did for my replacement P228 slide.

Thanks!

The barrel did not look like it had a serial # (they wouldn't let me take it apart) and the take down lever was the new style but I don't know the year they changed them.
The cut out is exactly like the one in your pic.

My West German CPO 226 looks the same wrt the frame serial number location and the milled oval.

Could you post a photo of the left side of the P226? You can tape over the last 3 digits of serial number. I'm curious what the font of the serial number looks like.

Some years ago SIG released pre-owned pistols that were obviously assembled with slides and frames that were originally on different guns. Some of the slides were marked with the serial numbers of the original guns and therefore didn’t match the numbers on the frames they were reassembled to. That mismatch gave a bunch of people the vapors and SIG’s response was to mill off the numbers on the slides. That didn’t change anything except for the fact that the slide numbers were no longer there to disturb anyone.

I don’t recall what, if anything, was done about mismatched serial numbers on barrels. Perhaps the barrels weren’t reused or maybe because they couldn’t be seen when the gun was assembled they didn’t produce the same angst as the slide numbers. I don’t recall reading that the barrel numbers were milled off, and that seems less likely.

My CPO has a number there. It is the same as the number on the receiver. Guess mine stayed together during the turnaround.

quote:

Originally posted by wgsigs:
Could you post a photo of the left side of the P226? You can tape over the last 3 digits of serial number. I'm curious what the font of the serial number looks like.

My SN is on the right side. There's nothing on the left side of the frame. I'll try to snap a picture of the right side tonight.

I'll go back to the LGS where I saw it and get a pic of the serial # on the frame. If I remember correctly, it's font was slightly different from what you usually see.

The later CPOs where just mix master parts guns that SIG put together, and as mentioned often times the slide markings were changed/redone as an attempt to hide these facts (mainly to remove the serial number from the slide).

quote:

Originally posted by darkest2000:
The later CPOs where just mix master parts guns that SIG put together,

Not necessarily. These 2 P228s were part of a large batch of German and W. German CPOs sold on GB a few months ago by THE ATTIC.
They all retained their matching numbered original frames, slides, and barrels.

quote:

and as mentioned often times the slide markings were changed/redone as an attempt to hide these facts (mainly to remove the serial number from the slide).

Not sure if they were "attempting to hide" anything, but merely removing the non-matching, and unnecessary, number. If they were trying to hide anything, they wouldn't have left such a big goose egg of a clue.

quote:

Originally posted by darkest2000:
an attempt to hide these facts

Ah, yes: Just another nefarious act by the military/industrial complex to deceive the poor, ignorant consumer by doing something that was obvious to anyone who paid the slightest attention. One of these days they’ll figure out how to do the one without the other.