Opinion
Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- SIG’s 320 Pistol was selected by the Pentagon for general issue within the American Military at the beginning of 2017. The 320 (designated the M17) ends the thirty-two year reign of the Beretta 92F (M9)
SIG narrowly edged-out Glock for this prestigious contract.
However, the “military version” of the 320 differs from the original “civilian version” in that:
When a drop-safety issue reared its ugly head during testing of the 320, SIG quickly re-engineered the pistol in order to correct the problem. This “new version” (the “military version”) is what is being currently delivered to the Pentagon. This Military Version also has ambidextrous, manual safety levers (an optional feature on the civilian version).
Since then, SIG has incorporated these internal “military upgrades” into all new, non-military production, although manual safety levers are still optional.
Most Operators, myself included, prefer the 320 without manual safety levers. The Pentagon, of course, insisted on them! The pistol is perfectly functional, either way, but I consider a manual safety lever on a pistol like this to be a superfluous redundancy. Indeed, it represents needless clutter.
Not everyone agrees.
However, a half-million 320s were produced and sold in general commerce before the above-mentioned military upgrades were incorporated.
Drop-safety issues have been haphazardly reported with a small number of these “pre-upgrade” 320 pistols, at least one involving injury to the shooter. Yet, I think it is safe to say that drop-engendered UDs, if they occurred at all, were exceeding rare.
SIG has responded by offering the military upgrade to all SIG 320 owners, at no charge.
My copy of the 320 was among the “pre-upgrade” production, and I carried and shot it for a number of months. It always functioned perfectly with no issues, as I would have expected. I didn’t “drop” it, but it was subjected to vigorous handling as are all my serious, working guns.
However, friends at SIG advised me that getting my 320 upgraded has no downside! SIG does all work at no charge and covers all shipping costs, both ways. I was advised that work would take four to six weeks.
So, I sent my 320 back to SIG in May (shipping details are on SIG’s Web Page). They returned it to me in only three weeks, completely upgraded and test-fired!
Trigger has been replaced, along with the completion of a number of machining operations. It is a sophisticated and involved process!
New trigger and reset represent an improvement over the old system, and the pistol is now absolutely drop-safe. I’m carrying it again, with complete confidence (of course, I carried it with confidence before the upgrade)!
Based on my experience, my advice to all owners of “pre-upgrade” copies of the 320 is to send them into SIG and have this work done, without delay!
Granted, non-upgraded 320s will probably serve their owners faithfully for the rest of their useful service lives, but getting them upgraded has no downside, as noted above.
Neither SIG, nor any other manufacturer, makes a “perfect” product, nor are all management processes and decisions “perfect.”
Yet, I have to give SIG credit for recognizing (some say too late, I know) this issue and instituting a legitimate and competent correction.
/John
About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
All you people with your 2 week turn arounds suck. This tues is 5 weeks for me …..
Damn I got my 320 back in 6 days……
I marvel at the furor over the alleged problems with the P320. Very few pistols have avoided major evolutions and improvements. We used to spend far more working on our 1911’s than the original purchase price. I have owned many S&W pistols from the 39 on. Almost every one required some kind of post-production modification. The M&Ps have been the best so far, but even they have gone through major evolutions, changes, and upgrades. I have owned many Glocks and a lot of those have undergone after market modifications. Glock is now on its 5th generation design. Any Glock old-timer… Read more »
I see that SIG has eliminated the Trigicon sights, but the price on the pistol is still the same. I guess they have found a way to make up the difference in the military contract revenue shortfall.
. . . and those of us who spent money and effort to fix the heavy trigger pull have no reason to send P320 back and face loss of the extra that we have paid for. Just continue not to drop the P320. Once again, the wisdom is seen not to buy a new design within the first two or three years – after the actual beta testing.
What is expected after M17 has been in the field is the failure of M17 due to mixture of internal, very-small parts/springs and dust/dirt/and other stuff.
Sent mine in, got it back in two weeks. I liked the trigger before, now it’s noticeably BETTER. All free. For me this is good customer service recovery.
I think its cool that Sig is letting civilians and our military beta test their products for them (sarcasm). I do not see this from any other major firearms manufacturer like Glock, FN, CZ, or Beretta. 320 issues, 365, Romeo problems… maybe they should test their own product before putting them in the hands of civilians or the military. This makes Sig look very unprofessional and careless. Maybe they should re-tool the QC department before they design another pistol.
Boom! As a SIG fan I don’t appreciate using people like me as beta testers.
Agreed. SIG is in danger of suffering from the Icarus effect. It’s hard to maintain QC when you: 1. move your production base away from your talent 2. try to be everything to everybody (i.e. silencers, ammo, weapons,optics, tshirts etc…) Over the years it seems that only FN has been able to control their QC while manufacturing (with license builders no less!) all over the globe. I have no idea what FN’s recipe has been to mfg. military and sporting brands with such hi quality all over the world but other mfg’s should take notes. SIG is not there yet… Read more »
I got mine back in 8 days. BUT, my Romeo1 site was defective and it took SIX and 1/2 MONTHS!!!!
I had zero issues with this process. One month after registered for upgrade, recieved shipping info. Shipped on a Monday they recievd it Wednesday, shipped it back the next Monday, I received back Wednesday, one and a half weeks. Great job.
Glock anyone?? Anybody on the Glock 19 being the best pistol in the world and you don’t have to worry about this crap or the next time crap or maybe it will fire crap maybe it will fire on its own crap maybe it will go off when it’s in my desk drawer and have a desk pop
Glock has been my most dependable for 20 years
One of the requirements of my handguns is that it fires when I demand it and does not fire when I do not demand it, it’s simple I’m not going to spend money I’m going to have something to worry about and dangerous
Matt Best, said it best, in his YouTube video, the best handgun in the world is ,the Glock 19, the Glock 19, the Glock 19, the Glock 19 and last but not least the Glock 19
Glock 17 and 34 are better than the 19!
Thinking about going after the Glock 29 this time, it’s one thing to have the best handgun in the world. Best handgun in the world. Best handgun in the world. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to say it so many times. But the Glock 29 will also have a superior round with the 10 mm. With the new Underwood Ammo going 1650 feet per second. That sending Shivers in your directions
The Underwood ammo will go slow in that short barrel, get a glock 20 or 40/40mos 😉
You’re absolutely right, I went with a Rock Island Armory Tac 2 full rail
Buy tje p226 don’t cheep on your carrie pistol.
“The” “cheap” and “carry”.. spell check is free terrorist.
Thank heaven the spelling and grammar police are on the job today. I was so skeered that they might be too busy over on their snowflake sites.
An important note missing from this article is the fact that the P320 without the voluntary upgrade is the susceptibility to firing out of battery. SIG is curing two problems, one, the well reported drop fire issue, and two, the much less reported “fire out-of-batter” issue that many people (SIG included) mistake as a double charged round. It destroys everything except the barrel and the firing mechanism of the pistol. SIG denies the issue, but the “voluntary upgrade” takes care of this problem without telling anyone why it is being done. There is currently a lawsuit that addresses this issue… Read more »
It took 6 days for SIG to return my P320 Compact.
I filled out all the proper paperwork 6 months ago. I got an email saying they were going to send me a return slip to send mine back. I never got it. Still haven’t heard anything from them
Try filling the forms out online.
I did. Still got crickets
I too have never heard back from Sig
Interesting name you have Jack. LOL
SIG failed to send me shipping info and I had to go after them again. I wasn’t too worried about it until I read Tim’s message above. WOW! Definitely going to pursue this now.