Mk 25
The Mk 25 is the United States Navy's designation for the SIG Sauer P226 as carried by the Navy SEALs: a standard P226 in 9mm with a phosphate-coated barrel and internals, a corrosion-resistant slide and frame finish, a rail for a light, and the fouled anchor of the Naval Special Warfare command engraved on the slide. The SEALs adopted the P226 in 1989 after slide failures on their Berettas, and it was their sidearm through the Gulf War, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, including the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Also known as Mk25 Mod 0, Mk 25 Mod 0, P226 Mk25, Navy P226
Origins
The Beretta M9 became the American service pistol in 1985, and within three years the US Navy SEALs, who fire far more rounds than any conventional unit, had suffered a series of slide separations in which the rear of a cracked slide struck the shooter. The Navy tested alternatives and in 1989 adopted the Sig Sauer P226, which had tied the Beretta in the Army's XM9 trials four years earlier. The SEAL pistol received progressively more naval-specific features, and the Navy formalized the configuration as the Mk 25 Mod 0. SIG Sauer has sold a commercial version under that name since 2011.
Design & Construction
Mechanically the Mk 25 is a P226: short recoil, tilting barrel, double-action first shot, decocker, fifteen-round magazine, 4.4-inch barrel. What sets it apart is preparation for salt water. The barrel, slide internals and small parts are phosphate coated, the stainless slide carries a Nitron finish, the alloy frame is hard-anodized, and every part is chosen for resistance to the corrosion a combat swimmer's pistol invites. The frame has an integral accessory rail for a light or laser, the sights are SIGLITE tritium night sights, the controls and grips are standard P226. A fouled anchor is engraved on the left of the slide, and government guns carry a Unique Identification (UID) barcode on the frame. The Mk 25 was issued with 9mm ammunition of higher pressure than commercial standard, which the pistol handles without modification.
Combat Use
The Mk 25 went everywhere the SEALs went from 1990 onward: Panama and the Gulf, Somalia, the Balkans, the invasion of Afghanistan and the long campaign in Iraq. A SEAL's pistol is a secondary weapon, drawn when the rifle fails or in the confined spaces where a carbine cannot swing, and the P226's reliability under fouling and its smooth double-action trigger suited those moments. Members of DEVGRU carried the P226 on Operation Neptune Spear on 2 May 2011 alongside their HK416 carbines and HK MP7s.
Legacy
Naval Special Warfare began replacing the Mk 25 with the Glock 19 around 2015, valuing its lighter polymer frame and simpler striker mechanism, and the Mk 25 is now a legacy pistol. It remains one of the most desirable P226 variants to civilian buyers, who can purchase an essentially identical pistol — anchor, night sights, rail and finishes included — from SIG Sauer's New Hampshire plant, and it stands as the sidearm of the SEALs' most celebrated quarter century.
Sources
SIG Sauer. P226 MK25 product documentation.
Cutshaw, Charles Q. Tactical Small Arms of the 21st Century. Gun Digest, 2006.
Owen, Mark, with Kevin Maurer. No Easy Day. Dutton, 2012.
Naval Special Warfare Command, small-arms designations.
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