The P210 Carry is a rather interesting pistol that’s descended from the legendary P210. The SIG P210 came about in the wake of World War 2 and served for decades. The pistol still serves to this day, but it is admittedly a bit outclassed by modern service pistols.
The P210 didn’t become a legendary pistol because of its police and military service but because of its performance. The gun was reliable, it had great ergonomics, and it was well-known for its accuracy. It was accurate enough to become a fairly common competition pistol.
Years after it fell out of production, SIG Sauer brought it back. The legend continued, and the new P210s were well received and gave a lot of shooters their first chance to own a P210 without taking out a mortgage for one. SIG”s P210A and P210 Legend were built to the original 1949 production specifications.
In 2022, SIG decided they could update the duty-sized pistol into a more modern variant and named it the P210 Carry. This seemed like an odd take for a classic pistol, but in a world where we still see new M1911-style designs, it’s not totally out of this world. This new P210 seemed like an interesting experiment, so SIG sent me one to test and review.
What’s New With the P210 Carry
The original P210 was a gun of its era. This meant the weapon featured a fairly long 4.7-inch barrel, small controls, and plain sights. For its era, the sights were impressive, but they would be considered outdated in 2024. So, SIG started chopping and changing the gun.
The barrel was trimmed down to 4.1 inches to make a much more compact but still fairly large pistol. SIG also got rid of the wood grips for a highly textured G10 design that helped slim the gun down a bit. SIG tossed the old sights and replaced them with SIG Lite night sights that are large, easy to see, and glow in the dark.
The tiny safety is gone. In its place is a huge frame-mounted safety. It has a great shelf that allows you to drop your thumb on the safety and then drop the safety down and ready the weapon. It’s big and very usable. The same could be said for the slide release, which is also massive and easy to reach.
The P210 Carry uses a traditional magazine release instead of a heel design. While this separates it from the traditional P210, the new P210A also has a traditional magazine release.
Finally, it’s topped off with front slide serrations and a Nitron finish and comes with two magazines.
Carrying the P210 Carry
The P210 Carry isn’t a micro-sized gun, but it still falls within the realm of carryable for most shooters. It’s roughly the size of a Glock 19.
Some features of the original P210 are kept and do lend themselves well to concealed carry. This includes the hammer, which is rather small and resists being pokey and proddy.
The P210 Carry design utilizes the same metal frame as the OG P210, which ends with the weight being around 29 ounces unloaded. It’s not featherweight, but lighter than the P210.
The gun is fairly smooth, with few corners to catch and claw at you. The larger safety and slide release might be a bit big, but not enough to make the gun tough to carry.
The gun is mostly thin. It has a width of 1.44 inches at its widest, which is likely at the safety. However, this slight increase in width doesn’t make the gun tough to carry. It oversells the width because it’s a fairly slim gun outside of the enlarged controls. The grip is very thin, but admittedly, the 8-round magazines make the gun feel dated.
My much smaller P365 offers at least 10 rounds total, and in reality, it turns out to be 15 with the right mag — almost double the P210 — while still being smaller than the P210.
To The Range
While the gun might feel old with its limited magazine capacity, it gives us a true single-action trigger. When it’s only job is releasing the hammer to fire the gun, it can’t help but be sweet. The modern take on triggers and accuracy is that grip matters more than trigger — and while that’s true, a sweet trigger is still a sweet trigger.
The grip, sights, and trigger make the P210 Carry easy to shoot accurately. The sights are fairly large and very easy to see. Larger sights are easy to find and help to get on target. It’s easy to fade focus back and forth from front sight to target. The grip helps with accuracy, and the thin, expertly-designed grip of the SIG P210 helps you hold onto the design. It’s comfy, and a nice high grip is possible.
Hitting a 10-inch gong at 25 yards is child’s play. I’ve been shooting a number of Bill Drills for another article and figured why not try the P210 Carry?
I’m no two-second Bill Drill guy, but I scored what I think is a respectable 2.7 seconds with the P210 Carry on my first try. The light trigger makes the gun easy to shoot fast mechanically, and the 29 ounces of metal make it easy to shoot fast practically.
It really is like a race car. If a Glock is a workhorse truck, the P210 Carry is more like a sports car. Sure the Glock does more and does it better, but the P210 Carry is just a bit cooler and a little faster. Blasting through quick strings of fire, like the six rounds needed for the Bill Drill feels natural and easy.
Beyond 25 Yards
After hitting the gong consistently at 25 yards, I began walking back five yards and shooting till I missed more than I hit. At 30 yards, I was still good on the gong; at 35, I missed more than I hit, so I switched to a bigger IPSC target.
At 50 yards, I was about 50/50 in hits and misses. The large sights cover a ton of the target up. With a rest, I could ring steel consistently once I found a good hold, for lack of a better term.
After 50 yards, I shot a group at 15 yards, offhand but slowly. My group was able to form one big hole in my target. I think it’s clear that the P210 Carry is pretty dang accurate. Throughout my shooting, I never found any ergonomic flaws with the gun, like slide bite.
The magazines fly out when you attempt to reload, and reloads can be done quickly. This is one of the few SIG Sauer pistols where my thumb doesn’t hold down the slide lock. The slide lock is huge, so after slamming a magazine in the gun, hitting the slide release resulted in a quick and efficient reload.
Is It Carry Worthy?
Everything about the gun seems rock solid. It’s got a great trigger, good ergonomics, and capable accuracy. It can shoot fast, shoot straight, and reload quickly.
Speaking of reloads, you’ll need to do it fairly often due to the 8-round magazines. That’s honestly the biggest problem with the P210 Carry, the single stack magazines. In a day and age when the P365 exists, the P210 Carry is a tough sale.
It’s certainly a more refined option, but refined doesn’t maximize efficiency. Will it get you out of a self-defense jam? Yep, I don’t doubt it.
I think SIG has a neat addition to the P210’s legacy. It’s well made, fun to shoot, but admittedly a little out of date and a little pricey. It’s not for everyone, but it works for me.
