The newer guns are 229ish, yeah. They're not REALLY 229's from Ye Olden Days. The frame of the 228/ 229 was the same, the 228 had the stamped carbon slide, the 229 the milled stainless. They made some small changes to the frames when Germany got all bitchy and they switched to US made. The M11-a1 has the US frame, and one piece slide (not stamped) along with the newer parts which from everything I've heard are cheaper but okay compared to original German parts that were better.
So yeah, you're right, it's the same as current 229's. I got the threaded barrel model and it comes default with SRT& short trigger, but it was an impulse buy since I couldn't find a real 228 when I was looking. The flipside is that the original 2 piece slides, which were lighter, never had a good finish on them. A guy I knew that was in er, some branch investigative something. They used M11's, but weren't active duty. He said the ones they had got refinished so often that the markings were barely visible.
Now you've got me thinking I should track down an old one, but I never see the West German stamped ones for good prices anymore. I should have bought a P6 years ago...
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Heck, the spot on the top of the barrel where they remove the finish, has little speckles of rust already. Stupid SIG.