SIG Sauer

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SIG SAUER
Type Private
Founded Tyson's Corner, Virginia USA, 1985
Headquarters Exeter, New Hampshire, USA
Area served USA
Industry Firearms
Products Handguns, rifles
Services Gunsmithing, training
Employees >280
Parent SIG
Website SIG SAUER Homepage

SIG Sauer (SIGARMS until October 2007) is the U.S. representative of Swiss/German manufacturing firm Swiss Arms AG, which was split off of Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) in 2000. SIGARMS was established in 1985 to import and distribute SIG firearms into the United States although it now also has some manufacturing capabilities. As of 2000 it has been a separate entity. The original SIG Arms AG parent company was simultaneously renamed as Swiss Arms AG.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1853–1985

The origins of the original SIG company lies in a wagon factory created in 1853 by Friedrich Peyer im Hof, Heinrich Moser and Conrad Neher.[1] Upon winning a contract to produce 30,000 muskets, they changed their name to Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG), German for "Swiss Industrial Company".[1]

SIG began work on designing a pistol that would balance price with quality. Swiss law limits the ability of Swiss companies to manufacture arms and Swiss companies who wish to do this have to do so by using a foreign partner. In the case of SIG they chose the German firm of Sauer & Sohn. Thus, the SIG Sauer line of handguns began in the 1970s starting with the SIG Sauer SIG P220 handgun in 1975. Pre-WWII, Sauer had been primarily a maker of shotguns and hunting rifles. During the war they produced the Sauer 38H. However, after the war, Sauer had retreated from this market. With SIG, Sauer returned to the business of manufacturing handguns.

SIG also produced a machine gun, the MG 710 which was a general purpose machine gun chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO and based on the German MG42. It also used roller-delayed blowback as used in the CETME/G3/SIG 510 rifles and sometimes had a muzzle capable of launching rifle grenades. However, the MG 710 had a high price so the weapon was only exported to Bolivia.[2]

[edit] 1985–Present

In 1985, SIGARMS was created as the American branch of SIG in Tysons Corner, Virginia to import the P220 and P230. In 1987 SIGARMS moved to Herndon, Virginia, and in 1990 moved to Exeter, New Hampshire to accommodate new manufacturing.[1]

SIGARMS, and its European sister companies, Sauer & Sohn, Blaser, Mauser and Swiss Arms were bought by Michael Lüke and Thomas Ortmeier in October, 2000. Today, SIG Sauer is the largest of the five companies and one of the largest firearms manufacturing entities in the world.[1] It is also the fastest growing firearms maker in the United States, expanding its operations and increasing sales nearly 50% since 2005.

On October 1, 2007 SIGARMS officially changed their name to SIG Sauer. SIG Sauer has recently tripled its work force and invested eighteen million dollars into state of the art manufacturing facilities and equipment.[1]

SIG Sauer was recently awarded two government contracts. One is for the United States Coast Guard, worth 4.2 million dollars. This is in an attempt to replace the Coast Guard's current standard issue firearm, the aging Beretta 92FS. The other contract is worth 23.7 million dollars from the United States Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[3]

SIG Sauer also operates a firearms training school, the SIG SAUER Academy, in Epping, New Hampshire.

According to SIG Sauer, one-third of U.S. police use SIG firearms.[4]

[edit] Products

[edit] Handguns

[edit] Rifles

  • SIG SHR 970 (Swiss Hunting Rifle). Multiple calibers. Barrel change capability.
  • Blaser
  • Mauser
    • M 03 Basic
    • M 03 Extreme
    • M 03 Trail
    • M 03 Match / Jagdmatch
    • M 03 Solid
    • M 03 Africa
    • M 03 Arabesque
    • M 03 De Luxe
    • M 03 Old Classic
    • M 03 Alpine
    • M 98
    • M 98 Magnum

[edit] Machine guns

  • MG 710, General Purpose Machine Gun based on the MG42, also known as the MG55.

[edit] Airsoft

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e About Us
  2. ^ BELLUM - SIG Maschinengewehr (MG) 710-1, 710-2, 710-3
  3. ^ Grand Prize Winner: Sig Sauer P229
  4. ^ SIG Sauer Military/LE customers

[edit] External links


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