There are those, myself included, who believe the short extractor is better. SIG changed to the long one for cost saving - the long one is better suited to MIM production. And while the long version has generally been reliable, there have been far more failures that with the short version - just going from the reports of failures on forums like this . . . I don't know of any proper statistical study or analysis.
Yeah, but H&K, Walther, S&W all use long extractors too. S&W for a long while.
I prefer the short though. My big beef with the long extractor is this, why is it still short on the p220, p227, p220 10mm, p239, p225-a1, MK25..?
But long extractors have been around for over 5 years and seem to be gtg, at least with the p226. BTW, the p226 is my only long extractor Sig besides the p224, and I don't plan on any more.