P320 "Drop Unsafe" - revisiting the myth...?

Smis Five Creedmoor

Smis Five Creedmoor

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Is it an over-blown a myth as I've heard or is it still an actual problem? I got mine about 6 months before the handgun freeze started.
Because I like mine and while I didn't shoot that many rounds, I've had no issues so far. Even gave it a nice MCK thingy
 
It's a real deal. A number of police and military have had ADs or as they call it "Uncommanded Discharges". There's a number of tests you can do to see if yours is prone to an "Uncommanded Discharge". Check out various You Tube videos that have explored this issue.

It doesn't sound like SIG is making any real effort to get on top of this simply claiming everything to be shooter error.

Many well known firearms instruction schools have either refused to admit students who run the SIG P320 or made arrangements to place them at the end of the ready line to mitigate the risk.
 
PSE said:
It's a real deal. A number of police and military have had ADs or as they call it "Uncommanded Discharges". There's a number of tests you can do to see if yours is prone to an "Uncommanded Discharge". Check out various You Tube videos that have explored this issue.

It doesn't sound like SIG is making any real effort to get on top of this simply claiming everything to be shooter error.

Many well known firearms instruction schools have either refused to admit students who run the SIG P320 or made arrangements to place them at the end of the ready line to mitigate the risk.
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There was a voluntary recall at one point or some such right?

The one I had was sent back at some point for some new trigger parts, I don't know what was involved, under the idea that inertia would be less of a factor if the gun was dropped.

Guess that didn't fix things lol
 
Joel said:
There was a voluntary recall at one point or some such right?

The one I had was sent back at some point for some new trigger parts, I don't know what was involved, under the idea that inertia would be less of a factor if the gun was dropped.

Guess that didn't fix things lol
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That as I recall was the first issue and I'm not sure if that was only with the P320 - Trigger inertia. If the pistol fell and hit the ground or concrete the trigger was weighty enough (and pull light enough) that it would travel to the rear of the handgun and discharge it so the fix (as I recall) was installation of a lighter trigger that had less inertia.

This new issue and peculiar to the P320 was potentially slide to frame fit. When the slide was flexed against the polymer frame (as might happen in a police holster with enough body movement) the 3/4 precocked striker could discharge resulting in enough of a strike to fire the handgun while still in the holster.

To date I haven't heard of any real diagnosis or fix to this issue. This has resulted in a major lack of confidence by the industry/culture so that the reputation of the P320 line has been damaged - perhaps permanently.
 
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Pistol definitely had some drop safety issues in its original form. Unfortunately once the press became "sig pistol goes bang on its own" suddenly every single negligent discharge done with the pistol was blamed on said pistol and not the negligence of the shooter. I've yet to actually see any consistently repeatable evidence of anything one can do with the gun to make it go off without pulling the trigger, aside from the earlier drop safety issues. That said i haven't spent hours looking for said evidence, and im open to seeing it, i dont feel strongly one way or the other. Im just personally inclined not to believe every shooter by default when they have an ND and blame the gun, based on way, way, way, way too much 1st hand experience, especially with military and LEO shooters...As for US "tactical" pistol courses not allowing p320s to be used...that really doesnt prove a single thing...there is not a single (to my knowledge) proven case of the sig issue causing a fatality. Again, open to any evidence of the contrary, i dont own any sigs so couldnt care less.
 
To be honest I wish there was way more science and not just finger pointing.

Random ####ty videos from bad angles and much hear say. Minimal reports on if and what modifications were done to the pistol. Etc

I though forsure when the USAF one happened finally there would be real investigations and weapons tech work and reports.

Turns out dude shot his buddy and tried to blame the M17.

I'm not saying it hasn't happened but it can and has also happen with other pistols.

I want some real proven duplications and not dudes literally screwing wood screws into their fcus...

So far mine has yet to blow my johnson off and when I was at IPSC handgun Nats this year there was a butt load of 320s being competed with.

To each their own and YMMV but I love my P320
 
apexanimal said:
Pistol definitely had some drop safety issues in its original form. Unfortunately once the press became "sig pistol goes bang on its own" suddenly every single negligent discharge done with the pistol was blamed on said pistol and not the negligence of the shooter. I've yet to actually see any consistently repeatable evidence of anything one can do with the gun to make it go off without pulling the trigger, aside from the earlier drop safety issues. That said i haven't spent hours looking for said evidence, and im open to seeing it, i dont feel strongly one way or the other. Im just personally inclined not to believe every shooter by default when they have an ND and blame the gun, based on way, way, way, way too much 1st hand experience, especially with military and LEO shooters...As for US "tactical" pistol courses not allowing p320s to be used...that really doesnt prove a single thing...there is not a single (to my knowledge) proven case of the sig issue causing a fatality. Again, open to any evidence of the contrary, i dont own any sigs so couldnt care less.
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100% on point.
 
Given how many P320s are in circulation (armed forces, leo, civilians) a repeatable critical issue would cause negligent discharges at a frequency orders of magnitude greater than reported. We'd be talking daily, maybe hourly?

The truth is usually boring ... poor maintenance or bad handling ... not very exciting for the Instagram rage bait?
 
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