One of the more intriguing stories to come out of the 2016 SHOT Show is SIG Sauer’s burgeoning air force.
No, the European-American manufacturer’s catalog isn’t expanding to include F-16s and A-10s, by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, SIG’s air force is comprised of its new line of airguns the company unveiled at the shooting industry trade show in Las Vegas.
And boy howdy, if a shooter is aiming for authenticity in a low-cost plinker, they won’t have to go further than these new additions. SIG lived up to the tagline for its new airguns, creating “Carbon Copies” of four of the company’s favorites, the P250 pistol, P226 Navy pistol, MPX Rifle and MCX rifle.
The .177-caliber, CO2 powered airguns were engineered to closely match the specifications (weight and handling) of the originals. This is a boon for shooters. As the company touts, creating air-powered replicas of their firearms gives shooters an affordable and convenient way to keep skills sharp. This could be an attractive selling point for many, given how sporadic ammo has been — particularly .22 LR.
SIG does not appear to have sacrificed form for function, outfitting the guns with features that should make them a pleasure to shoot. Two that jump out right off the bat are the guns’ rifled steel barrels, ensuring more accuracy, and full mounting options of the originals for optics and accessories.
The pistols feature a rotary feed system, with 16 rounds in each magazine. However, the magazine has to be turned around after eight shots to access the next eight pellets. The rifles function off a belt-feed and boast a whopping 30 rounds.
The airguns all are capable of throwing a pellet at 500 fps or grater, however there is some variation in the top-end velocity of each gun. At the bottom is the P250, which has its top velocity listed at 500 fps, while the MCX is listed at 750 fps.
At time of writing, no MSRPs were available for SIG Sauer new airguns.
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