With its roots going deep into the lands of Germany and Switzerland, SIG Sauer arrived on the American market some 37 years ago and has been in full bloom ever since. “Born in Europe, Perfected in America” - that’s the motto that embellishes the top of the History page on SIG Sauer’s website. Reliable as a Swiss watch and thought-through as a German car, the company keeps improving with every day of bringing their customers only the highest quality goods. SIG Sauer knows no other way of working.
Noone would call SIG Sauer an industry newcomer, for it has been operating since the middle of the 19th century. The company was founded in 1853 by three engineers Friedrich Peyer im Hof, Heinrich Moser and Conrad Neher. With no thoughts of producing rifles at the time, the trio opened a wagon factory in Switzerland. But only seven years after the launch, the company chose a radically different path. The Swiss Wagon Factory entered the competition, organized by Switzerland’s Federal Ministry of Defense. The competition to develop a state-of-the-art rifle. Quite an undertaking for a wagon company, don’t you think?
You can probably guess who won the prize. The company’s Prelaz-Burnard rifle brought glory and changes to a wagon factory. The founders changed their factory’s name to Swiss Industrial Company, or Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft, known worldwide as SIG.
Thus began SIG’s firearm-producing history. The company has been a steady supplier of pistols for the Swiss army and police. But SIG needed to cross the boundaries of their own country to keep growing. And they could only do so through a foreign partner. So in the 1970s SIG purchased two companies: Swiss Hämmerliand and German J. P. Sauer and Sohn, getting the last puzzle to the company’s current name: SIG Sauer.
The next milestone was the SIG Sauer’s boarding on the lands of America in 1985. SIGARMS was the name of the subsidiary, founded in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. The company imported SIG P220 and 230. SIGARMS changed its location several times until it arrived at its current location in Exeter, New Hampshire. SIGARMS stopped being a mere importer when the company introduced several SIG Sauer 9mm pistols of its own development: SIG P225, P226, and P228.
In 2007, SIGARMS changed its name to SIG Sauer to reflect the fast growth in demand all over the world. With the new name came new models of pistols and rifles, as well as upgraded-with-state-of-the-art-equipment facilities. Some popular pistol models include SIG P320, P365, and P938. The company also produces sub-machine guns, of which SIG Sauer MPX is a proud representative.
SIG Sauer keeps growing and it's only natural for the company to expand its product line with time. On Gritr Sports you can also find SIG Sauer optics, magazines, ammo, and holsters. In case you came here for a firearm, we have many of the brand’s pistols and rifles. SIG Sauer M400 for rifle enjoyers, P320 for pistol appreciators.
