"SAS" Style

[UNM1136]

Is that a 226 mag in a 228? In his holster.

I don't think 228s were a thing then. Big mags in standard guns were...

pat

[Suvorov]

This is a fairly famous photo from the mid-late 80's that was in a lot of those "Elite Forces" type books. It's simply an SAS training/capability demo photo from that time period. Nothing more, nothing less.

OK. It’s from the 80s - I don’t doubt you. Why does the pistol not look like a HiPower?

[RAM Engineer]

OK. It’s from the 80s - I don’t doubt you. Why does the pistol not look like a HiPower?

I don’t know. What year did the SAS adopt the L105A1?

[Suvorov]

I don’t know. What year did the SAS adopt the L105A1?

To my knowledge they used the HiPower up to the end of the 20th Century.

[JAD]

I can’t unsee the duck on the back of that thing.

[Wondering Beard]

I can’t unsee the duck on the back of that thing.

Damn you, that's contagious.

;-)

[UNM1136]

To my knowledge they used the HiPower up to the end of the 20th Century.

Couple of online sources list the L9A1 being retired in the "late 80s", with the the L105A1 being adopted by the MoD in 1990. I would ASSume that the SAS would have gotten the Sigs earlier than the rest of the MoD, as well as being able to retain the Hi Powers longer than the rest of the MoD.

And it looks like I was wrong: the P228 was introduced in 1989...

Just to be goofy I just spent 5 minutes googling for an old photo, purportedly of a SAS soldier with a wierd vertical crossbow, possibly from the Malayan excursion, but my skills seem to be failing me.

pat

[HeavyDuty]

I can’t unsee the duck on the back of that thing.

Damnit.

[ST911]

That's not the one people are making fun of, the P365 SAS is the one and the following pics should explain why:

I very well may be the person here with the most trigger time behind one of these (a friend has one) and I really don’t find it bad. Then again, I used to shoot a Guttersnipe.

I interpreted the phrase "gimmicky anti-snag treatment Sig used to offer" more broadly. Maybe misunderstood I am not particularly a p365 fan but that doesn't seem as bad as some of the or the guns, current and past they came up with. That seems like a re-creation of the old "guttersnipe" sight maybe? Not sure I see the point or advantage except for the old joke about filing donw the sights so it doesn't hurt so much when someone, well, I'm sure you know the phrase.

I imagine it's nowhere near as bad as a lot of folk make it out to be and nowhere near as good as the marketing make it out to be., but I have no experience shooting one. Still, if I want something totally snag free to draw easily from a pocket, my pre lock 442 will do the job nicely.

I've used the SAS sights and have had them come through CCW and BUG training. They can work, but are harder work. Slide indexing up close is easy, but they obscure smaller low% shots up close and larger targets at distance. They aren't even as good as basic J frame grooves and ramps. Mostly a marketing gimmick, and smartly choosing a set of irons is a better course of action. Not allowed for anyone I'm responsible for. I'd ban them from other stuff, but sometimes (and in the last year especially) it might be the only gun they have and they may as well learn to use it.

I like this from Karl Rehn on the SAS sights, here: https://blog.krtraining.com/365-sas-sights/

The SAS sights seem to appeal to people that aren’t skilled or knowledgeable about shooting or carrying. They think that regular sights, which are easier to see, will “print too much” or snag on clothing, or they plan on using the 365 as a pocket gun, with no expectation that they will ever need to hit a target at farther than 5 yards. It’s true that the majority of self defense incidents occur at close range, but even in those situations, the threat may be moving, obscured behind cover, or there may be a family member in between the shooter and the threat. So the ability to shoot with precision should be considered essential.

[Suvorov]

Couple of online sources list the L9A1 being retired in the "late 80s", with the the L105A1 being adopted by the MoD in 1990. I would ASSume that the SAS would have gotten the Sigs earlier than the rest of the MoD, as well as being able to retain the Hi Powers longer than the rest of the MoD.

And it looks like I was wrong: the P228 was introduced in 1989...

Just to be goofy I just spent 5 minutes googling for an old photo, purportedly of a SAS soldier with a wierd vertical crossbow, possibly from the Malayan excursion, but my skills seem to be failing me.

pat

Your Google-Fu is better than mine. So it seems plausible that since this is reportedly a mid-80s photo, the dude could be sporting a SIG as I'm sure they were T&Eing them prior to the official adoption.