The P228 is the compact one. Set the two side by side and the P228 has a visibly shorter slide and barrel, a shorter grip frame, and a 13-round magazine against the P226’s 15. Both are the same double-action SIG Sauer design in 9x19mm, and West German examples of either carry a two-letter date code stamped alongside the proof marks that decodes to the year the pistol was proofed.
The fast check, before you measure anything
The grip tells you first. A P228 grip frame is cut shorter than a P226’s, so the magazine floorplate sits closer to the bottom of your hand and the pistol conceals in a way the full-size gun never quite does. The slide follows suit: shorter in front of the ejection port, with the muzzle sitting almost flush at the end of the dust cover instead of standing proud of it. If the pistol is on a table without its magazine, the grip length is still the reliable tell.
The magazine settles any remaining doubt. A P228 magazine holds 13 rounds and is shorter than the P226’s 15-round magazine. The relationship only runs one way: a P228 will happily feed from P226 15- and 20-round magazines, which stand proud of the grip, but a P226 cannot run a P228 magazine. A short magazine sticking out of a short grip is a P228 with the correct magazine; a long magazine with a step at the bottom is a P226 magazine in a P228.
Side by side, in numbers
| SIG P226 | SIG P228 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall length | 7.7 in (196 mm) | 7.1 in |
| Barrel length | 4.4 in (112 mm) | 3.9 in |
| Height | 5.5 in (140 mm) | 5.4 in |
| Width | 1.5 in (38.1 mm) | 1.5 in |
| Weight | 34.0 oz with magazine | 26.1 oz unloaded |
| Standard magazine | 15 rounds | 13 rounds |
| Introduced | 1984, for the US XM9 trials | 1988 |
| US military designation | none (M11 went to the P228) | M11 |
Height is the trap in that table. The two pistols are within a tenth of an inch of each other on paper because the P226’s frame is only slightly deeper, so measuring height proves nothing. Length, barrel and magazine capacity are what separate them.
What “Made in W. Germany” actually narrows down
The W. Germany rollmark is a date range, not a quality grade. Pistols built at SIG Sauer’s Eckernförde plant while Germany was still divided are stamped “Made in W. Germany”; after reunification in 1990 the mark became “Made in Germany”, and later P226 production moved to the United States. Because the P226 arrived in 1984 and the P228 in 1988 or 1989, a W. Germany P226 sits in a roughly 1984–1990 window and a W. Germany P228 in a much narrower one at the end of it.
Two construction details usually travel with that marking on a P226. The slide is folded carbon steel with a pinned breech block rather than a milled stainless slide, and early examples may wear the wider wraparound grips collectors call “mud flaps”. Neither is a dating tool on its own, but both are consistent with early West German production and both are visible in photographs.
Reading the two-letter date code
The date code is two letters that stand for two digits, and the digits are the last two of the proof year. German proof houses substituted letters for numerals on this chart: A=0, B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4, F=5, G=6, H=7, J=8, K=9. The letter I is skipped, because a stamped I and a stamped 1 are too easy to confuse.
So a code reading JK is 8 and 9, which is 89, which is 1989. The full run of codes covering the West German window looks like this.
| Code | Year | Code | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| JD | 1983 | JJ | 1988 |
| JE | 1984 | JK | 1989 |
| JF | 1985 | KA | 1990 |
| JG | 1986 | KB | 1991 |
| JH | 1987 | KC | 1992 |
One caveat matters more than the chart does. The code records the year the pistol was proofed, not the day it was assembled, so a gun proofed in January can carry parts made the previous autumn. Treat the decoded year as the production year to within about twelve months, which is all any collector needs it for.
Where the stamp actually lives
Look under the definitive proof mark, and look under the muzzle. On West German SIG Sauers the date code sits with the proof marks on the slide chin, the flat underside of the slide near the muzzle, and it also turns up on the frame ahead of the trigger guard and on the barrel depending on model and vintage. Some codes only appear on the barrel, which means you will not see them until the slide comes off.
The proof marks next to it are worth learning. The Kiel proof house mark is a Nesselblatt, the nettle leaf from Kiel’s coat of arms, and it appears on genuine German SIGs because Kiel is next door to the Eckernförde plant. An eagle over the letter N is the nitro definitive proof applied under CIP rules. Frame, slide and barrel codes can disagree by a year on a pistol that has been through an armorer’s shop, which is normal on service guns and not by itself evidence of a parts gun.
Police, service and IDF surplus marks
Most West German P226 and P228 pistols on the collector market today served first. They come out of German police and government service as trade-ins, and a large share of the P228s reaching the US market arrived as mixed German law enforcement and Israeli IDF surplus. Expect honest holster wear on the outside and a bore that was maintained as duty equipment.
Import marks are a separate question. A legally imported surplus pistol carries an importer’s name and location, usually stamped small on the slide or frame; the absence of one on a pistol that plainly came from overseas service is worth asking about.
Common misidentifications
- A P226 called a P228 because it looks small in a photo. Photographs with no reference object flatten the difference. Ask for the magazine capacity or a shot of the pistol next to a ruler.
- A P229 sold as a P228. The P229 is the same size class but uses a milled stainless steel slide rather than the P228’s folded carbon steel slide with a pinned breech block. Look at the breech block seam.
- A German-marked pistol read as a German-made one. “Made in Germany” is post-1990 German production. “Made in W. Germany” is the cold-war plant. Both are German; only one is West German.
- A date code read as a serial number. Two letters with no digits following them is a date code. Serial numbers on these pistols are a letter prefix followed by six digits.
- Frame and slide codes a year apart treated as a red flag. On service pistols this is routine. A mismatched-looking pair of codes is worth noting on a listing, not worth walking away from.
On the floor at OSA
We grade and photograph every West German SIG individually, and we read the date code at intake so the production year is on the listing instead of being something you decode from a photograph. The full case is on the West German SIG P226 & P228 hub.
Right now the compact side is where the depth is. The P228 Grade A is mixed German law enforcement and Israeli IDF surplus in near-excellent condition with mirror bores, and the P228 Grade B is the same lot graded a step down for exterior wear. Both ship in original configuration with one magazine, import marked. The full-size P226 side is down to a last pair of Stainless/Two-Tone pistols, and those cannot be restocked.
General information for collectors, not legal or investment advice. Codes, markings and dating can vary; verify details on the individual firearm.
Common Questions
Is the P228 just a shortened P226?
Close, but not exactly. The P228 shares the P226’s locked-breech, double-action/single-action mechanism, its decocking lever layout and its aluminium-alloy frame, and it was developed specifically as a more concealable companion to the full-size gun rather than as a separate design. What changed is dimensional: a shorter slide and barrel, a shorter grip frame, and a 13-round magazine instead of 15. The result handles like a P226 with less muzzle out front and less grip below your hand, and it gives up a little sight radius for that. Because the fire control layout is identical, anyone trained on one is immediately at home on the other, which is exactly why the US military adopted the P228 as the M11 for personnel who needed a smaller sidearm without retraining on a new manual of arms. A P228 will also run P226 magazines, so a shooter who owns both is not buying two magazine inventories.How do I tell when my West German SIG was made?
Find the two-letter stamp near the proof marks, most often on the underside of the slide near the muzzle, sometimes on the frame ahead of the trigger guard or on the barrel. Convert each letter to a digit using A=0, B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4, F=5, G=6, H=7, J=8, K=9, skipping I. The two digits are the last two of the year the pistol was proofed, so JH reads as 1987 and KA reads as 1990. That proof year is within roughly a year of when the pistol was assembled, which is precise enough for collecting purposes. If the code on the frame and the code on the slide disagree by a year, that is common on pistols that passed through an armorer’s shop during service and does not mean the gun is assembled from unrelated parts.Does "West German" mean a better pistol than a later one?
It means an earlier one, built to a particular set of production methods. Collectors chase West German SIGs for the stamped-and-welded frame construction and the folded carbon steel slide with a pinned breech block, plus the cold-war police and military service history that usually comes with them. Whether that makes a better shooter is a separate argument: later milled-slide pistols are not fragile, and plenty of shooters prefer them for exactly that reason. What the W. Germany rollmark reliably delivers is provenance. It places the pistol in a specific factory, Eckernförde, during a period that stopped existing when Germany reunified in 1990, and that combination cannot be reproduced by any current production run. That is why the marking itself has become the thing people search for, and why a surplus gun with honest holster wear and a mirror bore still commands attention.Can I still buy a West German P226?
Fewer every month, and the trend runs one way. West German P226 surplus lots have largely dried up, and once a batch is gone it cannot be reordered, because nobody is manufacturing new cold-war pistols and the pool of service guns coming out of European inventories is finite. The P228 is in a better position for now: the same Eckernförde pedigree, the same markings to decode, the same duty history, in a compact frame, and still arriving in quantity from mixed German police and Israeli IDF surplus. If your interest is West German SIG production rather than the full-size frame specifically, the P228 is where the supply currently sits, and it sits at a lower price per pistol. If you want a P226 in particular, buy when you see one rather than waiting for a restock that is not coming.What condition should I expect from a surplus SIG?
Expect service wear on the outside and service maintenance on the inside. These were duty guns, so holster wear along the slide edges and at the muzzle end is normal, grips vary because units replaced them as they cracked, and finish can range from nearly complete to visibly thin on the high points. What matters more is the bore and the mechanics, and duty-maintained pistols are usually strong there, with mirror bores and crisp lockup common even on pistols whose exteriors look tired. Some examples show attractive rainbow-toned bluing on the barrel and hammer from heat and use, which is a by-product of service rather than a defect. Grade the outside with your eyes and the inside with a bore light, and buy from a listing that photographs the actual pistol rather than a representative stock image of the model.Sources
- Real Gun Reviews, “SIG Sauer Proof Marks and Date Codes” — https://www.realgunreviews.com/sig-sauer-proof-marks-date-codes/ (letter-to-digit chart, JK=1989 worked example, Kiel Nesselblatt, eagle/N nitro proof, stamp locations)
- Wikipedia, “SIG Sauer P226” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIG_Sauer_P226 (P226 dimensions and weight, 1984 XM9 trials, Eckernförde and US production, P228 introduced 1988 and designated M11)
- Guns.com, “Classic 1990s Parabellum: The Sig P228” — https://www.guns.com/news/2021/02/04/classic-1990s-parabellum-the-sig-p228 (P228 dimensions, capacity)
- The Mag Life, “The Sig P228 — It’s An Oldie But Goodie!” — https://gunmagwarehouse.com/blog/the-sig-p228-its-an-oldie-but-goodie/ (P228 magazine interchange with P226)
- SIG Talk, “Looking to date your German Sig” — https://www.sigtalk.com/threads/looking-to-date-your-german-sig.498/ (date code location on the frame below the muzzle; serial prefix convention — cited from search summary, thread itself paywalled)