As we enter the holiday season, we simultaneously enter a very busy part of the year for the shooting industry.  Manufacturers are finishing out the testing and development of guns they want to introduce in the following year.  With the annual SHOT Show in January, the push is on to get the guns ready for production.

So, what are the gun companies working on for 2013?  Here are three new guns that have not been officially announced, but will be seen in the coming year.

SIG P227 – How does a double-stack, .45 ACP from SIG Sauer grab you?  That’s exactly what SIG will introduce next year.

The P227 will sit in a frame that is nearly identical in size to the popular P226, but will take any of the company’s P220 upper assemblies.  Since the sizing is roughly the same as the existing guns, holsters for both the P226 and P220 should all work.

The new SIG .45 will come with 10-round, flush-fit magazines and extended, 14-rounders will be available also.  The pistol will also have a Picatinny-style rail for adding a white light or laser.  Other options are not yet known, but I would expect the normal range of choices in sights and actions.

This gun will be a full-size handgun, best suited for home defense or law enforcement.  While you can carry it concealed, it will not be thin and light.

MSRP is not yet known, but I would expect it to be in the same range as the P220 and P226 models currently on the market. http://www.gunsholstersandgear.com/2012/11/13/sig-sauer-p227/

SIG SMG – If you allow me to double-dip into the SIG Sauer realm, I can tell you about their new submachine gun.  Yes, I said submachine gun.  The unnamed subgun looks to be very exciting and there will be civilian legal versions available for purchase.

In its native trim, it is a full-auto SMG that will be available in 9mm, .40 S&W and the .357 SIG.  The guns will have a short barrel, Picatinny-style quad rail and an adjustable & folding stock.

SIG is making the gun very easy to operate and maintain, keeping controls very similar to those on an AR-15.  Anyone used to running an AR/M4 will likely feel right at home with the SMG.  The bolt release, selector switch and pistol grip are all very similar to the AR.  Additionally, uppers can be swapped, like and AR, to change calibers, barrel lengths, etc.

If you add to the mix the fact that SIG is going to be introducing their own line of sound suppressors, you can see how this gun could be a lot of fun for those able to purchase it.

Even though civilians in the US cannot personally own newly manufactured full auto firearms, there will be two versions of the gun available for them.  The first is a carbine style gun with a 16” barrel.  The second is a SBR (short barrel rifle) version.  The exact barrel length of the SBR is not yet known, but it should be the same length as the military SMG.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I really like the idea of running a .357 SIG version of the new gun.  Looking at the data from Ballistics by the Inch ( http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/357sig.html ), I would imagine you could get about 1650 fps out of a 125 grain JHP out of a SBR and maybe a bit more out of the carbine version.

The Mystery Diamondback Pistol – This qualifies as a rumor, but I have it from a very good source that Diamondback will introduce a new, full-size pistol in 2013.  In fact, the gun will probably be seen at the SHOT Show in January.

There is a lot about this gun I do not yet know, but here is what I do know.  It will be:

• “full” or “duty” size; • striker fired; • polymer framed; • chambered in 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP; and • it will not use the same firing system that is in the DB380 and DB9.

While the above could describe everything from a Hi Point to a Glock, I expect to see good things from Diamondback on this one.  Their recent introduction of DB15 rifles has shown they have some good designers on board, and they certainly have the manufacturing credentials to produce high quality products.