When business entrepreneurs Friedrich Peyer Im Hof, Heinrich Moser, and Conrad Neher opened a wagon factory near the Rhine Falls in Switzerland in 1853, they laid the foundation for what would become the international leader in the small arms industry. Just seven years after constructing an industrial plant for building their wagons and railway cars, the three ambitious owners undertook a new venture responding to a challenge from Switzerland’s Federal Ministry of Defense to develop a state-of- the-art rifle in hopes that the Swiss Army would adopt it.
Four years later, the trio found themselves facing an order for 30,000 of their rifles, and changed the name of their company to Swiss Industrial Company. The name was later shortened to SIG as they officially became one of the world’s premier firearms manufacturers.
In the 1970s, the SIG small arms division expanded within Europe to include Hammerli Target Arms of Switzerland, and the legendary J.P. Sauer & Sohn, GmbH of West Germany – one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious firearms manufacturers.
In the 1980s, SIG set its sights on the United States of America and opened its first American location in Virginia under the name SIGARMS, and began importing and assembling the company’s classic handguns (P220 / P230 / P225 / P226).
In the 1990s, SIGARMS expanded its United States footprint by opening new manufacturing facilities in Exeter, New Hampshire where it would continue to expand to include the world-class SIGARMS training academy in Epping, New Hampshire.
In 2007, SIGARMS officially changed its name to SIG SAUER® to reflect the evolution of the brand from just firearms. Since then SIG SAUER has experienced unprecedented growth and expanded its New Hampshire footprint to include a 206,000 sq./ft. corporate headquarters and advanced manufacturing facility at Pease International Tradeport.
SIG SAUER continually invests in workforce development by hiring the foremost industry experts in ever expanding and diversified product categories to ensure that all SIG SAUER products exceed the quality expectations that are synonymous with the brand.
Today, the SIG SAUER product lineup goes well beyond firearms to include a broad array of products such as electro-optics, elite performance ammunition, suppressors, and airguns, all designed, engineered, and manufactured to the same exacting standards of quality, reliability, and performance that have made SIG SAUER the brand of choice for the military, special forces, law enforcement, and civilians across the globe.
SIG SAUER has evolved because we continually compete against ourselves, because we believe our greatest success has yet to be engineered, and we are driven by the knowledge that our customers can’t afford to settle, so they trust we never will.