SIG Sauer P210 Legend Prototype

Some pistols earn their reputation. The P210 was born with one. Swiss-built from 1949, it set the bar for accuracy that target shooters still chase today, thanks to an unusual layout where the slide rides inside the frame rather than over it. That gives tighter tolerances and a cycling action that feels almost mechanical in its smoothness. This pistol belongs to the chapter where that legend crossed the border into Germany.\n\nWhen Swiss production wound down, SIG Sauer in Eckernförde took up the design and reworked it for a modern run called the Legend. Before the production guns shipped, engineers built a handful of trial pieces, marked with a V prefix, to test the changes. This is one of them. The accompanying factory letter, signed by SIG Sauer's Head of Sales and dated 2017, lays out exactly what was being evaluated. The frame profile grew slightly to add weight. The surfaces and controls moved to a PVD treatment for better wear resistance. The safety was redesigned so the area between fire and safe no longer scratches, a flaw that bothered owners of the older Swiss guns for decades. The beavertail was extended too.\n\nThe pistol itself is classic P210. Deep black finish, precisely machined steel, and warm checkered walnut grips that fill the hand nicely. It's chambered in 9mm with the single-action trigger the platform is known for. The slide carries the P210 marking and German proofs.\n\nWhy does a trial gun matter? Because only a few V pieces ever left the factory. They document the actual handoff from the last Swiss P210-6S to the German Legend, and that's a moment you can't manufacture after the fact. For a serious P210 collector, this fills a gap that production examples simply can't. It comes complete with its factory case, manual, test target, and the SIG Sauer provenance letter.