browning bdm

[new wildcatter]

I think it is a sig P220 with browning's name on it, if that is true then it is an excelent pistol

[papajohn428]

It's an original Browning design from the early 90's, but still not a bad pistol, whether a SIG or not.  The main idea behind its conception was that it was either a traditional DA/SA pistol, or straight DA only, with the "flick of a switch".  I do remember an endurance test that showed some weakness, but I think Browning fixed the problems in production models.  Had I been looking for a 9mm when it came out, I mighta bought one.  Even if you never use both firing modes, it's still a good pistol, but it came late in the flood of wundernines and by then most people/departments that wanted one already had one.  Just my dos centavos.

PJ

[fz4vgq]

Nope, not a Sig Sauer P220. It stood for Browning Double Mode. Like papajohn428 said above, it had a rotatable "switch" on the side of the slide to turn it to conventional double action or could be rotated to double action only mode. They were all steel (no aluminum frame) and probably the thinnest hi capacity/double stack "wondernine" ever produced.  I bought two of them when Browning ceased producing them and closed them out to distributors for a ridiculously low price. I like the BDM except for the safety lever is opposite of what is normal for me. Safe is lever down, Fire (off safe) is lever up. If you've shot a 1911 for any amount of time the BDM safety lever is just bass ackwards. I sold one and kept one even though I don't pull it out of the safe to shoot it very often. The other disadvantage with the BDM is magazine prices, the BDM was released right before the '94 crime bill so 15 round magazines were only shortly produced and they go for a high premium ($125-$150) and they won't get any cheaper even if the crime bill sunsets because Browning probably won't pull out the tooling to make them again. If you have a chance to pick one up in good condition or even NIB for a good price grab it up and try it out.