There's probably a camp of people who want to see the Kahr PM45 replace the M9 solely because of .45 stoppin' powah. I haven't handled a P227 personally, but my intrigue for their double stack .45 competitor immediately vacated when I heard "10 round capacity". I don't think it's enough rounds given the size of the gun either, especially considering how long we've had options on the market that easily trump that (Glock 21, Para P14, Springfield XD, and the newer FNP-45 Tactical). Granted, only one of those has a relatively reasonable sized grip (XD) and three of them are polymer framed allowing for less overall mass, but I know the engineering exists to make a slim and trim double stack .45 with any frame material. If it could be done for the Hi-Power in 9mm nearly 80 years ago, we can do it now with all of our technology.
Given that though, I think it's an R&D thing. As far as I can tell, the P227 is literally a P220 with a slightly stretched frame to accommodate (only) 2 more rounds. The 14 round extendeds, to me, are a beefy joke. If SIG had gone from the ground up, the could easily make something far more light and trim, but they want parts commonality and ease of manufacture along with reduced R&D time and cost, so they churn out something "new" that kind of isn't. And to top it off, you lose that slimness of the single stack P220, as well as all the prestige that comes with the model name.
Most companies just want to adapt the parts that they have to popular concepts instead of tooling up to make a proprietary but potentially groundbreaking product, and that's the core issue. You'd think that converting a single to a double wouldn't be such a problem, but it is, especially with a company like SIG whose flagship handgun is legendarily chunky. All in all, another "innovative" design hasn't innovated, it's merely split the difference. The P227 is not truly double stack/high capacity, it's not really more trim than other options that exists (some with better capacities), and it's not very prestigious either, but it's not a P220 either. Aside from SIGs decocker and other proprietary items from their other models, nothing separates this gun from the lame HK45 as far as I'm concerned, at least in a concept applied sense.
I'll handle one eventually, but I'm not looking forward to it. I have a P228, a true double stack, a 9mm, something of prestige, and something that in it's time was innovative. It's definitely worth the 1 more than the P227.
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