FBI declares Sig 320/ ‘M17/ M18 unfit for duty
- By alpine44
- The Bear Pit
- 89 Replies
This is what I found online:
What got my immediate attention was the horrendous surface finish and dimensional deviations that are simply untenable for a pre-cocked, ready to fire striker mechanism. Would you carry a 1911 without safety if hammer and sear looked like this garbage? Oh, and let's not forget that the affected SIG pistols have the additional complication of movement between slide and frame influencing the sear engagement.
If you design a fire control group with that much inherent risk (pre cocked striker, able to set off a primer) in the presence of inevitable slide to frame movement then you need material science, manufacturing and QC at the level of where Geissele operates currently. SIG USA is obvious nowhere near this league. The old SIG (Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft) set a high bar in metallurgy and manufacturing with the iconic P210 and even the P226/228/229 produced after the merger with Sauer were well made. These design were inherently safer and were very well executed. The downhill slide of the company started with Cohen, failing forward from Kimber. More complicated and half-baked designs while simultaneously racing to the bottom of parts quality and QC. What could possibly go wrong? BTW, Sig Sauer Swiss still exists but they closed the German plant in Eckernfoerde and now import the handgun garbage from Exeter.
PS: I am not a SIG hater. I love my P226 and P228 and think that DA/SA is a valid way to combine absolute safety with an excellent trigger. The whining about the initial heavy trigger pull is range primadonna BS. In a high stress, life or death scenario you will not even notice the difference and most likely benefit form the first shot needing a little more deliberate finger movement. If the first shot needs to be a precise one (Dickens Drill), then cock the dang hammer. I also own a SIG Cross, a smoking deal after the "voluntary recall", which was also a sear engagement issue. And then there is the SSG 3000, a reliable hammer, unfortunately obsoleted by the newer chassis designs.
