Reviews - Sidearms

Tokyo Marui - Sig Sauer P228(springer)

DolphiN#1

Tokyo Marui Spring powered Hop-up Hand gun.
The P228 is one of the series of pistols produced by Sig Sauer based on the sig P220. Using the 9mm parabellum cartridge it is favoured by many police forces and law enforcement organisations in the world. Including the British S.A.S. and the American F.B.I.

In fact the most probable place that you have seen the P228 would have been on the X-files television series, Where it is regularly seen partnered with Mulder, Scully and Glock 17's. This has helped the P228 become quite famous, although the Glock series of hand guns has had a lot more coverage in comparison.

The Airsoft Version reviewed here is made by Tokyo Marui. Tokyo Marui is the main airsoft manufacturer based in Japan. They are the biggest, Having cornered the Automatic Electric Gun market. As such they have a lot of experiance in producing well detailed good looking pieces of equipment. As such there spring weapons ashould also have good detailing. The P228 doesn't dissapoint.

The P228 is made from a matte Black plastic which looks exceedingly pleasing on the eye. The gun does not show the horrrible shine that some plastics are prone too. However this finish is not metallic. In fact the only visible metal parts of the gun are four anodised black screw heads in the hand grip. The markings moulded into the gun are very welll defined, The majority of these on the top slide.The Sig Sauer logo, as well as the "Sigarms.inc herndon-VA" moniker on the lefthandside denoting that this version was based on the american versions of the P228. On the right hand side the ejection port has "9mm para" moulded into it, A very nice touch. along with some serial numbers there is also "Made in Japan" under the P228 logo. Surely an addition by TM.

The top slide is nice and firm . The rear and front sights are moulded details. offering a nice clear sight picture, however the rear sight is not exceedingly well defined, and neither blades are picked out with colour. the last third of the top slide has some very nicly moulded grips that help with the racking action. The ejection port also deserves some mention. Apart from the aforementioned markings on it, This model has a full cut out ejection port! When the slide is racked back, This cover actually physically shifts downwards from its flush posistion! Which is an awesome piece of work. The cut out also reveals the internal workings, showing the spring piston moving into the barrel guide. You can also see the BB being transferred from the magazine to the barrel, where it gets locked into place.

The trigger blade is made of plastic and nicely fills the spacious trigger guard nicely. with its longitudinal grooves it is also very comfortable. The trigger is also connected to a moving hammer at the rear of the slide. The hammer can be cocked without sliding the top slide back, and can only be released by the trigger. Unfortunetly when released the hammer bounces back into its closed posistion.which can be annoying.

The firing cycle of the P228 is quite stiff, and many people have complained about it. The Author however has no such problems. This is probably because the gun is quite short so can only accomodate a short stroke to compress the spring.

As a springer the range of the P228 Is well under 20 metres. In fact Shots can be seen to be dropping before they reach 10 metres. However due to its hop-up mechanism, The sig is fairly accurate. The magazine is fairly light, but with a fair amount of weight in it. But it slides out of the grip easily. On tapping the magazine release button. Which can be accidently activated if you have lage hands. The Sig can hold 23 BB’s easily in its full size plastic magazine. 

The Sig features a few items on its control fascia, including moulded safety, working hammer and slide release. It’s a shame that some of these items do not actually work. However, the decocking lever is present and acts as the safety too. In its up posistion it locks in place, putting the gun into "safe" mode. However, It DOES NOT! decock the hammer. The only way the hammer can be placed into its down posistion is by pulling the trigger!

The Gun is single action, Which means that continued trigger pulls will not cause the hammer to fire. The slide must be racked back each time. However the hammer can be locked back even if the slide is not racked. Which is merely cosmetic.
 

On the range the Sig, Is a great airsoft to use, Its well known looks and ease of use is a boon, while its compact shape makes it easy to shoot, even if cocking is a mite harder then usual. Its large magazine and Hop-up also serve it well. Only the mildly annoying hammer decocking system detract from what is otherwise a superb first spring airsoft. 

Long term update

The P228 is still availiable from TM, and it is still a very nice looking Springer pistol, However, Due to some kerfuffles with logo licencing, You can no longer get it with the American SIG logos, instead you will have to make do with German police markings!

However, TM have announced that they will be releasing a GBB SiGP226, This will probably have full markings, and licensce, If so, Expect the Logos to make a come back on the Springer :)