The SIG Sauer P250 takes a new approach to handgun ergonomics. Instead of swapping out a backstrap, why not change out the whole grip? Innovative engineering allows the P250 to be configured into any one of five different grip frame sizes and four different chamberings … all with only one receiver.
By Wiley Clapp, Field Editor
The trend in modern handguns is toward variety. No longer are police, military or civilian shooters content with whatever is issued—one caliber, one size, one action, etc. This is a logical turn of events in that the handgun industry can now address the specific needs and even subjective preferences of just about everyone. Most makers produce several variations of their pistols and have developed ways to tailor the individual gun to the hand size of every shooter. Beginning with the Walther P99 and continuing through the S&W M&P and Springfield XD(M) to the latest H&K P30, makers have come up with plates, panels or other devices that increase or decrease the gripping surfaces to fit the size and shape of most shooters’ hands.
SIG Sauer’s latest design, the P250, goes several steps further by offering a pistol that is efficient for a variety of roles by virtue of its capability of being assembled in five hand size configurations. In police terminology, the new gun can be a full-size holster pistol, a scaled-down mid-size for those who work in civilian clothes or even a subcompact hideout gun for undercover or off-duty work. As if that were not enough, with the right components, each gun may also be configured in any one of four chamberings: 9 mm Luger, .357 SIG, .40 S&W and .45 ACP.
That’s right, a single receiver can be built up with an array of suitable accessory modules into any one of several completely different handgun configurations.
To give you a clear idea of how this all works, we need to examine the frame and fire-control assembly. For brevity’s sake, I refer to the latter module as the “lock.” The lock is the heart of the gun. It carries the P250’s serial number and is, legally speaking, its receiver. It houses the hammer, the trigger and the springs that power both, as well as the slide rails and the solid steel guide block that cams the barrel in and out of battery during the firing cycle. The lock module fits snugly into a grip module, and the two form what we normally think of as the frame in a conventional pistol.