The Travails of the Sig P320 and the People Who Own Them
BY Herschel Smith
1 month, 2 weeks ago
We had previously discussed the Sig P320 (with comments that ran at length), and there have been fatalities. There has now been another. Here you get a first-hand account of the primary means of discovery, and none of it involves the legacy media.
Next up, Ben Stoeger discusses this incident.
Then finally, James Reeves discusses how we got here with the Sig P320 being the sidearm of the DoD. Eh, I don’t know. I still think there was something afoul in the process.
As for his comparison with the Beretta and 1911, the Beretta was a fine pistol, and I’ll bet that in all of the 1911 failures (FTF and FTE) none of them were using Chip McCormick speed mags. I’ve never had any such failure with a 1911.
On July 25, 2025 at 8:47 am, John said:
In order:
Wave the bloody shirt.
I have never seen anyone other than Hogg happier that a gun manufacturer may have a problem.
The army chose the Barretta because it was a Barretta and 9mm. All the 1911A1s in my arms room were manufactured in the 1940s (1989) or earlier. Same for all the M2HBs. Magazines were definitely a problem. The M9 was OK, except when the slide broke and hit you in the face or some drugged up jehadi demonstrated why the Army chose the .45 FMJ over the .38/9mm FMJ.
Almost all NDs are operator error, either bad handling or poor maintenance. I did read a report about an issue 1911A1 that discharged by itself, the sear notch on the hammer was so worn (probably the original from 1944) that a sufficient impact dislodged it.
The three lessons I have learned from all this are: 1. Do not mount a light on your carry pistol. It is too easy for the trigger to be actuated by something getting into the big hole for the light. 2. Basic trainees need more firearms instruction than they receive. Gone are the days when everybody had some experience. and 3. Apply the three-day rule and wait for the full report. The preliminaries are almost always wrong.
On July 25, 2025 at 9:12 am, Herschel Smith said:
Yeah, all good advice (except for not running lights), but that has nothing at all to do with a pistol sustaining an uncommanded discharge while sitting on a table. The Sig has deeper problems than handling errors.
On July 25, 2025 at 12:15 pm, Arch Stanton said:
Oh the whining about the trials. Same thing we heard when they selected the M9. Same thing we’ll hear about the next selection.
First off, if you think they will go back on thier selection you dont understand the army; never gonna happen. They already doubled-down on the M17/18 last week.
Second, the M9 was a POS. Disfunctional; overly large for average hands, slide mounted safety is unusable and at times would engage without intent, and the open barrel induced failures. Beautifully made and shot well, but that cant excuse the above issues. A welfare program for our nato allies.
IF they do anything soon it will be a grok. And just wait for the NDs to pile up then.
On July 25, 2025 at 2:01 pm, Bill Buppert said:
The Glock 19X reliably fires 99.98% of trigger pulls.
The M17/18 reliably fires more than 100% of trigger pulls.
On July 25, 2025 at 2:41 pm, John said:
…uncommanded discharge while sitting on a table.
Hell, I’ve done that.
When did yours happen?
I have carried a 320c for over ten years. Except when at the range, always with a round in the chamber. Never had a problem.
I have a flashlight that I can hold alongside the pistol or not. I do not flag someone (violating rule 2) with it, unless I want to.
I have yet to see any evidence that convinces me that a SIG is any less save than a Glock or any other pistol. That includes the FBI report where they beat on one with a hammer over 50 times.
On July 25, 2025 at 4:10 pm, Paul B said:
I have 1911s, 92s, and one 320. I like shooting the 320 and am reasonable accurate with it. Came ready for a light when I added one I started having issues. Not discharges but slide lock ups. Have not tried it since locking it up.
Might have to get rid of it.
Make me look at sig as less of a mark of excellence.
On July 25, 2025 at 5:13 pm, Chris Mallory said:
“uncommanded discharge ” Was unintentional discharge not good enough? Can’t use misfire? Malfunction not a word any more?
I have owned a M18/p320 for 8 years, never an issue. Plus it does not have one of those abomination trigger safeties.
On July 25, 2025 at 11:02 pm, Steve Miller said:
There is more to this. Much more. Reminds me of Remington’s approach to its problems with their Walker fire control group. Here in WA our state patrol has banned the P320. Sig’s response was to sue over the ban. Houston pd officers are suing Sig over this. Officer Rick Fernandez had a holstered P320 fire with the round striking his leg without touching the weapon
On July 26, 2025 at 10:37 am, Latigo Morgan said:
I got an e-mail from the local range the other day informing everyone the Sig P320/M17/M18 are banned from their range- no ifs, ands or buts.
On July 26, 2025 at 1:38 pm, Bones said:
You can add a +1 on the Chip McCormack 1911 mags from me.
I have a M18, no problems, (so far). I prefer to carry a 1911 now, and have stored the SIG after reviewing the MSP/FBI report you poasted here. Thanks, BTW.
If true, and the Bureau’s report seems to be reasonably solid, This should cause some soul-searching in the DoD and LE. I carried a SIG P229, and P239, on duty, and despite the execrable DAK trigger group, they shot well, and I shot them well. Again as you have noted in the past, (I think), they are hammer fired. SIG guns are pretty well made and the triggers are usually good.
What about my P365? Does that have a similar staged striker like the P320? I like to carry that, too.
What say you, commentariat?
On July 27, 2025 at 10:43 am, Tec's Dad said:
Yes, The P365 has a fully compressed striker spring once the pistol is charged with a cartridge. I have not read nor heard of any issues with the P365. I think the P320 has known issues that absolutely need to be addressed. Is it the outside vendor parts that are used, is it a fit issue or is it a design issue? Or is it a combination of issues. SIG has been doubling down that the P320 is a safe platform yet outside agencies and firearm experts have called the P320 an unsafe design that by design is faulty.
On July 27, 2025 at 9:08 pm, Herschel Smith said:
BTW, the smart assery in the comments (one or two of them) is offputting. I’ll address them later.
It sort of makes me want to stop writing at all because there’s no point to it.
On July 30, 2025 at 11:19 pm, john844 said:
“Then finally, James Reeves discusses how we got here with the Sig P320 being the sidearm of the DoD. Eh, I don’t know. I still think there was something afoul in the process.”
Oh oooh! I know I know… [he says raising his hand and bouncing in his seat…] Sig’s CEO is someone named ‘cohen’. There’s your answer.