The SIG SAUER P320 isn’t drop-safe. Yes, the striker-fired pistol passed every official drop-safety test. But as a number of tests have now shown, SIG’s modular 9mm may discharge when dropped. SIG SAUER has flown firearms journalists into its New Hampshire HQ to explain the problem and reveal its plan for dealing with the situation. We’ll report as soon as we get the 411.

Meanwhile, has the P320 drop safe debacle changed your view of the SIG SAUER brand? Are you any less likely to buy a SIG product now? What should the company do to make this right?

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108 COMMENTS

  1. I bought a P226 new back when they were marked W. Germany. That pistol has been exceptional.
    Unfortunately, Sig has had some rough spots since then. Yes, my view has changed even though that old 226 remains trustworthy.

    • The big difference between then and now is that now Sig likes to let the general public Beta test their firearms. Thats a shitty habbit they seem to not be able to shake. Greed will bite you in the ass if you let it.

      • Ed, I don’t care for the practice, either, but given the high level of competition and the fact that most all gun makers are rushing to get new models on the shelves, it’s obviously an industry problem. Don’t just throw Sig under the base. If we haven’t learned by now to wait a full year before buying a new model so they can get feedback from the beta testers (us) and fix the bugs (usually minor), shame on us. Yeah, I know, it shouldn’t be that way-but it is.

  2. The way it’s been handled is poor. It makes me as a sig owner and sometimes booster feel burned.

    Transparency and honesty is sometimes tough in today’s legal environment but the more of it they show the better they’ll come off.

    • How have they handled it poorly? This whole thing just took off. They still have time to make good. The ball is in Sigs court now to do the right thing. As I write this they are already giving out trigger upgrades.

      • Someone on another site said it best, in the day of Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and other social media. Tomorrow is too late when it comes to getting ahead of a problem.

    • The police department I work for got new Sig P229’s a few years ago with the DAK trigger. Within a few months, we were told there was a recall because all our guns had some faulty part in them and we made arrangements to leave our duty pistols secured at the PD on our days off and a Sig armorer was going to come to us and fix them all. The day he was supposed to come fix them he “had to reschedule” and WE NEVER GOT THE REPAIRS DONE. I don’t understand why we couldn’t have gone with Glock like almost every other PD…

  3. Nope. SS is still one of the top tier manufacturers out there. Every new gun design has birthing (or sometimes adolescent) problems that will get ironed out over time (Glock 17M anyone ?) I’m sure SS will fix it at their cost. As for the XM17 — I bet its manual safety changes things a bit…

  4. Nope. Not a bit.

    They passed all standard drop tests, but people resented their MHS win, so they came up with new tests to make them fail. SIG will do a quick redesign and soon will pass this added criteria as well.

    That’s the beauty of a modular system. For those worried about their trigger, it should be an easy fix.

    Sincerely,
    A CZ Fanboi

  5. Nope

    They make good quality products and passed the standard drop tests. The solution will be an easy fix, plus it was caught pretty early so it will be easy to fix and cost little in the long run

    • Quickly. After, apparently, a police officer was shot due to a failure of their products. If they knew about it in January as posted above, they really sound like Remington.

      • Re-read the above link. There is Zero evidence Sig was aware of a drop-failure condition until now.

      • Let’s be a little fair.
        The LEO was injured because he negligently dropped his gun.
        We can blame SIG because any device, when handled negligently, may well fail, and cause injury. But notice I said “any device.” That means your car, your circular saw, your frying pan, any device. The operative word here is “negligent.”
        We have become a country of wimps. We do something stupid, then blame anyone but ourselves.

        • Well wimp or NOT the LEO’s gun was in a Holster when it hit the ground. So I think there is a problem like…”Houston we have a problem.”

  6. This does not change my opinion of sig at all. How they deal with this may. If they do there own testing isolate the issue and fix it no problem.

  7. Yes

    The couched response has already pissed me off, they knew about the cop lawsuit when they said “no discharges in the commercial market”. Not an outright lie, but close enough.

    Now I see discharges from landing 2 different ways, yeah, screw Sig, they knew, and it’s going to be a “When did they know” issue for the courts.

    Until now, I was very interested in a P320 system to replace my Glocks, not going to happen now.

    • An unconfirmed report of a dischage is NOT the same thing as evidence.
      Anecdotal evidence isn’t evidence.

      • Yep, video of discharges don’t count, right?

        3 videos so far and one hole in a cop =/= unconfirmed.

  8. Still going to be my daily carry. I’m not entirely sure if this is something that can be fixed. I watched one of these tests (not yours, different site) and you can see in slow motion that the impact of the gun actually causes the trigger to move as if it has been pulled. If that is in fact what’s happening then I’m not sure how you can fix that without increasing the trigger weight.

    • You use a blade like Glock and others do. If the blade is not depressed, the blade hits the frame when the trigger moves rearward, physically preventing the trigger from moving far enough rearward to fire. Simple solution.

      • “Simple solution.”

        Yes & no.

        I agree something like that needs to be done, but it will increase complexity somewhat.

        The only other alternatives I see are lowering the mass of the trigger enough that it takes the gun being forcibly flung at the ground to induce discharge.

        I can see a potential industry popping up making ultralight triggers in carbon fiber or Titanium as a work-around…

        • From even more recent articles, the problem doesn’t seem like something that would be solved with a trigger like Glocks. It’s apparently a combination of factors (trigger mass, frame flex, etc) that result in the discharges. Don’t care one way or another, but it doesn’t appear to be an obvious design flaw or oversight that they should have seen coming at least.

  9. They build quality pistols here in America, stand by their product, and it sounds like they’re taking it a step further by bringing media onboard to explain this situation. Not sure what’s to hate unless you’re a fanboy.

    *I own Sigs, Glocks, Rugers, Smiths, Colts, Berettas, Brownings, etc/

    • Don’t rob people of the opportunity to loudly virtue signal their own moral superiority to that of the lowly tax collector corporation. How else are they supposed to get their public self-righteous on?

  10. It only brings me concern over the P320. I would still buy a P226, P229, P220, etc. Those have a proven history.

  11. I have doesn’t change my opinion at all — I dumped my most-problematic gun (a Sig, my only Sig) and already decided I was done with ’em. That decision has just been further confirmed.

  12. Only an idiot not paying attention thinks today’s SIG is the same quality as the mid-90s SIG. I also recently learned that SIG fanboys are about 10x worse than Glock fanboys.

    All of those internet ass-kissers saying “Oh you see, the P320 is drop safe” just three days ago are now eating a nice steamy bowl of hot crow.

    Of course, any objective person with access to the internet and who doesn’t drink the bathwater of Ron Cohen, could have figured this out.

    Let’s recap: 290 – Light hammer strikes – the 290RS is the “solution”; MCX – Recall (That was like, a f***ing month ago. Just shows how dumb and short of a memory a SIG fanboy has.) In 2009, the Sig P238 was recalled for having a defective safety that, when the safety was engaged and the trigger pulled, would fire a round when the safety disengaged. P320…drop go boom.

    WHAT DO ALL OF THOSE HAVE IN COMMON? NONE OF THOSE ARE VARIATIONS OR DERIVATIVES ON THE P220/P226 PLATFORM.

    SIG hit a homerun with their flagship pistol. My W. German P226 from the mid-90s is the finest pistol I own. Everything since the millenium onward is a giant pile of garbage.

    Evaluate the pistol, not the brand. Each pistol should stand alone on it’s merits.

    Don’t say: But it’s a Glock. But it’s a Taurus. But it’s a SIG.

    Each pistol, is a unique machine. Evaluate them as such.

    • RyanC,

      All good points … and add frequent defects with the .22 LR Sig Mosquito semi-auto pistol to your list of examples of poor quality coming from Sig.

      • Ryan:

        I owned a Sig .22 Mosquito and until I discovered that there is a fix for it, I too thought, like you, that it was too tempermental for a .22 LR. The fix is that there is a ridge between the feed ramp and the chamber. If you get a dremel tool w/ a cone shaped sander / grinder you can take out that ridge, polish it nice and then start feeding brick .22 ammo through it without a miss. I did this with mine and it was like turning it into Glock. Ran 80 rounds through it without a single miss, stove pipe or failure to eject or reload. Completely different gun – the way a SIG should be. There is a YouTube Video for it. I did the smithing myself and felt so good about the outcome that I made it a gift to my best friend for range work and plinking. You have to remove the barrel from the frame (2 Screws) secure it to a flat working surface for the grinding and polishing and you will be good to go.

      • In all fairness Sig didn’t make the mosquito. That was sub contracted out to GSG and Sig just rolled their name over the top.

        • Having owned a Mosquito, I can tell you that that little bit of misrepresentation turned me off to all Sig products. I can never know what they are lying about next. (To be fair, I really didn’t have issues of FTF and FTEs on my Mosquito, but it was so damned complicated with all the various safeties and the terrible trigger topped off by at best mediocre if not terrible accuracy that I was pretty soured on the whole thing. To make matters worse, I can’t sell the damned thing to buy a Ruger.)

          Add to that the current issue plus quality control issues since they opened their US plant, I would rather buy something else.

    • I would consider myself a Sig “purist” instead of a fanboiiii. The West German P225 (not P6) and German (read: West German) made P226 I own are hands down the highest quality factory pistols I’ve ever laid hands on. I hold them at 95% the quality of my Wilson Combat CQB Tactical LE. Hell, even my half n half P220 ST, 229 and 239 are top shelf guns. Any of the DA/SA or DAK all metal 2xx series are fantastic. The earlier the better.

      All that said, I totally support your statements. I bought and traded a 290rs. I’ve passed on the P320 (even at a bargain price of $385) several times over a Glock 19s, several flavors of XD, and even a Kahr K9. I owned a P238 equinox, had QC issues with it, and settled on a more recently manufactured (improved QC) p238 extreme.

      Its getting to a point where I don’t even look at sigs new offers in favor of their earlier products when they were good at making pistols and weren’t trying to be everything to everyone.

      • Other notable SIG abominations: SIG’s with the Tribal tattoo tramp stamps, the one that made the slide look like the metal from a manhole cover, those brown pistols with Molon Labe and a Spartan helmet on it.

    • My West German P-228 is now my father’s carry gun. I will only buy pre-Cohen guns if I can find them or I will stick to someone else’s product.

  13. If Sig:
    (a) jumps all over this,
    (b) identifies a fix immediately, and
    (c) within five business days of identifying the fix offers free and quick repairs …
    this will not tarnish their image in my mind.

  14. It does not change my opinion of them in the slightest… I’ve always thought their stuff was garbage. 😛

  15. No. It was recommended by a very respected gun expert at my local gun store. SIG is excellent company that will make it right (if necessary). If I had wanted a pistol with a manual safety, I would have purchased one. I was also aware of the easy trigger pull and dropping any gun there is a potential for unwanted discharge. If you want a manual safety you can get the P320 with one or carry it without a round in the chamber.

  16. Nope.
    My Sig P320 will continue to sit unused in my safe, because I don’t care for the muzzle flip compared to my CZs.
    If they announce a recall with some sort of snazzy offer (like Springfield did with the XD-S), I’ll send mine in.

    • Check out their new X-5 frame for the 320. I’m a bonafide CZ fanboi, and Sig’s new frame erased every complaint I’ve ever had about that platform. It really feels like a CZ to me.

  17. My concern is over the lawsuit. A cop got shot by a holstered firearm. If this turns out o be true and they knew and did nothing , I may skip the 320. Which is sad because I really like the gun.

  18. nope…still not a fan whether they got the contract or not. overpriced (both guns and magazines) and not that special. I like the look and feel of their P938 but they are too spendy for my budget.

  19. I look forward to the sudden decrease in price and increase in availability of x-change kits and mags.
    Other than that I don’t care. If they offered me what I paid for it to buy it back I wouldn’t bother. If they offered me full MSRP to buy it back I’d ship it out tomorrow.

    As a survivor of the XDS recall I’m not looking forward to sending it back for repair. Installing a new part on my own though would be doable.

  20. Nope. Still getting one at some point after my other crazy projects stop stealing my wallet.

  21. I had been thinking of buying a P320, but I won’t now. It’s a pity they’ve discontinued the P250, which probably is drop safe.

  22. It doesn’t change anything.

    I’m sure its a fine gun. All totally new designs have teething problems. It wouldn’t be a big deal except for the fact that our military committed to buying tens of thousands of these things without really testing them rigorously.

    Lets not forget that Glock had uncommanded discharge problems when it was new.

    Its now well proven and would have been a better choice.

    • “Teething problems” with firearms that can cause serious injury and death are unacceptable. Just ask Remington.

      • ..and water is wet. Thanks for clearing that up, as though anyone actually thinks it IS acceptable.

  23. Until the same test is done with competing striker fired guns we will not know how far the issue spreads among other companies

    • Pretty sure other striker fired pistols would do fine as they were all smart enough to add a trigger safety (Ruger had to do a recall on the SR pistols because they weren’t drop safe do to the 1st gens not having a trigger safety). It seems Sig was more interested in making their trigger feel better while ignoring and obvious safety issue.

  24. I don’t own any Sigs, but have been eyeing the P320 since it hit the radar because I like the concept. I think it does tarnish the brand in the short term (these things always do), but the damage can be mitigated by quickly and completely resolving the problem (including fixing the guns already out in the wild). If they do that, and nothing else turns up, it’ll quickly fade from memory and be a footnote for trivia games. If they don’t immediately get it together and fix this..then yeah, this is such a high profile product that a defect like this can do lasting, serious damage to the brand.

  25. SIG has not handled this well at all. Look to the uninformed first statement from Phil Strader to see just how far in the sand their head is. The guy in charge of calling a recall has no idea of the issue, has no statement and doesn’t respond later with a statement addressing the problem? That’s a guy that shouldn’t be in charge of anything. When they finally do release a statement they try to be too smart by half and cover over the fact that a officer is suing them for a ND. SIG is in deep here and they don’t seem to be remotely ready to deal with it.

    • “they don’t seem to be remotely ready to deal with it.”

      “SIG SAUER is offering these enhancements to its customers. Details of this program will be available at sigsauer.com on Monday, August 14, 2017.”

      Pick one.

  26. I had problems with their P226 pistols that I used to own years ago (bought brand new), so I decided against buying anything else they made. I guess you can say I ‘dissed’ them before it was cool. Most of their guns are terribly overpriced, so they made it easy for me to go with other brands. Their stupid tribal tattoo editions didn’t help either. And the fact that guns half the price of Sig’s proved a lot more reliable in MAC’s tests only confirmed my decision to avoid them was the correct one.

  27. Sweet pic!

    (It’s mine!)

    Assuming there’s no Benghazi-style cover-up going on, no. They did their testing and found no issues. I expect a mandatory recall, and they’ll probably refit with trigger shoes with a dingus.

    I’m sure some people’s confidence will be shaken and I’m sure sales will dip. Then Remington will have a new R51 problem or something and everyone will move on to the next thing.

    • We’ve already moved on from the ICE agent that shot himself in an Orlando airport with a GLOCK.

      • an incompetent agent who tried to catch his gun after dropping it and shooting himself in the foot is different than a very dangerous design issue from SIG and lack of strenuous testing by the regulating authorities on the matter before it was considered “drop safe” in my opinon

        • The 320 passed all relevant regulations for drop safety.

          We can definitely make the case that those regulations need improved, but they most definitely did pass all currently available safety tests.

  29. Nope.

    I own two SIG’s and swear by either. One of them I am qualified for as an off-duty or secondary weapon.

    Since I don’t buy firearms with the intention of dropping and since the 320 did pass drop tests that are standard testing and since no other firearm has been shown to not fire, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a 320 if I had room.

  30. Nope. I’ll keep the SIGs I have (938 & 238), no problem.

    Given the “they’re dead to me” debacles that ensued after the Remington R51 and the revelations of Springfield Arms and that other IL gun company spending their political contributions the wrong way, and now this, we are soon going to run out of gun manufacturers that we’re willing to do business with. Granted, businesses should be run the right way, but everybody makes mistakes. Let’s cut them some slack and give them a chance to square themselves away, shall we?

    • I heard the relaunch and resigned R51s are good. I think they are a sexy gun. I like the lines. Though that’s not enough to get me to buy one yet.

  32. You all know my opinion of most modern gun companies: furiously chasing the price curve down into mediocrity and schlock products. Sig’s quality has fallen off in recent years, as they’re chasing the same marketing mindset downwards. Then they decided to contract a serious case of the stupids and chase a DOD contract. They might have just shot themselves in the head by so doing…

    I had an impressive little rant typed up for this spot, but because my comments always go into review and I’m not able to edit them, I’m not going to bother. Suffice to say, you, the American gun consumer, are part of the reason why we find ourselves with more and more guns that are worse and worse pieces of crap.

  33. Before anyone else chimes in regarding the pureness of the Sig design perfection, I heartily suggest they first view the TTAG drop test video.

    The TAG drop test video It is a real shocker.

    That the gun when dropped in a manner that is most certainly not contrived, and will very likely occur in the field, results in an unintended discharge is proof positive of serious negligence by the manufacturer.

    • “proof positive of serious negligence by the manufacturer”

      I think you need to look up what negligence means… or just read the friggin manual. Either/or.

  34. The P320 owners’ manual says it is not drop safe. I have three.

    Firearms are dangerous. Do not drop them.

  35. I own a P320c and a G19. Love them both. Sig just announced a volunteer upgrade being released on August 14 that will fix this problem. Many First Gen guns have teething problems, Sig is not immune to them.
    Oh, BTW my first G19 couldn’t get through a magazine without a malfunction, but Glock updated it with a newer recoil spring. Just saying.

  36. I don’t have a problem with the company but the Sigs just don’t sit as well in my hand as Glocks, M&Ps, or even the old Smith DASA guns

  37. Nope, it doesn’t change my mind about SIG but it does reinforce what I’ve been saying all along about version 1.0 of any gun from any manufacturer — let somebody else be the beta tester, because it’s going to be recalled.

  38. I’m not all that bothered, because I don’t drop guns – especially loaded ones. And this one has passed the standard tests anyway, so it’s not like it’ll go off with just any bump.
    Besides, it’ll be no time before Sig has figured this out. Then they’ll be safer than ever, and Sig’s standards will be higher than ever – already a pretty high bar.

    I’m still buying a P320 for myself the first chance I get. That will be my first striker fired firearm.

  39. They have one bad design out of how many? A design that passed conventional testing and military testing. It’s up to Sig to do the right thing. If they do which seems to be happening with the trigger upgrade. This won’t change my view of the brand. If they handle this poorly from here on out then yes it will negatively affect my view of the brand.

    Sig and FN have been my favorite large gun manufacturers. But I’m more of a small company AR parts guy.

  40. “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
    -Bruce Lee

    I generally find this to be true.

  42. Yep, it sure does. I happen to be between SIGs ATM, and will likely not get another in the future. Can’t see spending my money with them.

  43. Hell yes! Sig ever since they moved their company from Germany to the states has been cutting corners and quality control to the point that now it has literally gone off in their face. I only own one Sig Sauer P220 that stamped made in West Germany from 1982. Not a spot of rust on the gun and it gobbles up two to three hundred rounds of 45 ACP a month and still will hold a 2 inch group at 25 yards. As far as I’m concerned Sig Sauer is circling the drain and we just need to go ahead and flush the toilet. Their customer service is absolutely obnoxious and their guns or junk. Unless you pop the 13 $1,400 price tag for an elite which is still made in Germany that’s the only gun they offer that is still made in Germany and is still biltwell. There barrels they rust out the newer ones that is. I’ve had a single action only P220 compact that I had for years as a safe Queen and cleaned every month took it to the range started shooting it and noticed that the pattern was spreading out all over the Target so I quickly broke down the weapon to check the condition of the rifling in the barrel and it was all gone. Apparently during storage of this weapon before I bought it it had gotten rust inside the barrel this left uncleaned and untreated created the lands to get rust all the way through them. So after firing a couple of 230 grain ball rounds down the barrel it just blew the rifling right out the end of the barrel I was able to find some of it on the Range floor about 4 ft 5 ft in front of me. Junk is junk.

  44. never had a problem with hammer fired SIG’s, most striker fired guns seen to be more inherently weak in this area
    have dropped a few pistols in my time .45 acp., Sig Sp 2322, in forty cal. motorcycle accident claimed one , impact bent the frame but it didn’t fire keltec 32. all the above were cocked and locked a time of incident! Its easy to say don’t drop a gun however reality is quite different for each person,

  45. Does being unreliable and expensive to fix stop Land Rover sales? SIG SAUER makes competent guns, but there main focus is cultivating a premium brand image as the choice of “operators operating operationally.” Bottom line they target status conscious gun owners. The only thing that could really hurt SIG is if big names who are trend setters start bad mouthing their products. Then the coolness bubble will pop and a customer is left with a decent enough pistol that they spent way too much for.

  46. Nope…only been into guns for some 7 years. I wasn’t scared off Taurus because I prefer to do my own testing. And I realized I can’t have 6 perfect Taurus’ by chance. A LOT of gun owners are INEPT. So I cut major manufacturers some slack. I’ve had some real shite vehicles in 46years of driving but I also bought the same brand again. YMMV…

  47. nope. its a man made machine, of course it will fail in some way eventually. i want to see OTHER polymer framed pistols tested the exact same way, my guess is they all do this. not enough mass in the frame to absorb the shock of hitting the ground.

  49. Thing is, I gave my daughter a P320. Now I will have to give her another…..she would love to have a brand new P226.

    I’m in a pickle. A pricey pickle.

  51. No company is infallible. Sig makes great weapons. I’ll continue to buy them.

    The one thing I was thinking about was how another not as well capitalized company could respond to such a problem.

    • I, too, wonder how a company with some lower-case letters in its name would have handled the situation.

  52. I feel like my parents and maybe some teachers drilled into my head many years ago that sometimes doing just enough doesn’t cut it. Sure, they passed the standard drop tests. But their major competitors did more, made safer guns. Sig tried to get by with just enough, and now they need to own that. I still think they have some good products, but this one was a clear engineering miss.

  54. After beta-testing a 556XI until I forced them to give me a refund on it, I was pretty bitter.

    I was willing to give them a chance because I liked the P320 Compact a lot, but after this I will never, ever buy anything SigSauer at all. I’ve cancelled my order for an electro optic as well, and will not be supporting this manufacture nor make any recommendations to anybody about their product lines any longer.

    Which is a shame, because the industry as a whole as been relatively stale in regards to interesting firearms lately.

  55. They came out with a fix within, what two business days of the problem being revealed?

    It doesn’t change my opinion of Sig, but it changes my opinion of ‘safety standards’, or maybe causes me to apply my general opinion on safety standards to firearms engineering standards for the first time.

  56. Everybody makes mistakes. That’s why pencils have erasers, and hospitals have emergency rooms.

  57. Just own the problem and fix it and I will still respect Sig and their quality. I wish this kind of stuff was unusual but it’s really not.

  58. I made fun of Sig in FB for this major brouhaha but I still think Sig guns are high quality firearms that are worth the premium prices. The P320 trigger needs a little tweaking but I’m sure they’ll be ok.

    It’s the Sig fanboys that needs a little goading to lower them down a peg. They’re much worse than Glocktards.

  60. Not really because
    1) it looks like they’re dealing with it and
    2) the p320 passes “industry standard” tests.
    If this tells me anything it’s that industry standard safety testing is a lower bar than it should be.

  61. Once solution is engineered, seems like they should offer to repair/replace components in all P320 pistols (based on serial #) free of charge (drop at local SIG dealer or cover postage & FFL fee if no SIG dealer w/i 50 miles.

  62. Trying to remember the last time I dropped a firearm onto concrete from 4 foot high.

    Oh yeah, never.

    Now account for the fact that this occurs only in an unlikely orientation, divide that into the never…

    The P320 passes all of the industry standard drop tests, muzzle down, and on it’s side which are the normal orientations when a handgun is dropped. That one might go off when subject to an impact in another orientation is not unreasonable.

    This only came to light because some video bloggers spent the weekend dropping Sigs trying to figure out a way to get them to go off when dropped. Until someone makes a hobby of dropping other firearms we don’t even know if this is manifestly unusual.

    The original video shows that it does not happen with the competition version (straight trigger) and that the problem, if it is one, goes away when the competition trigger, which has a lighter trigger shoe, is swapped in.

    Tempest in a teapot. I’m perfectly comfortable carrying a pre-series 80 1911, no reason I wouldn’t feel comfortable carrying one of these.

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