Sig Sauer has long had a solid reputation for reliable guns. I have had a few of their firearms on my “to buy” list if I ever got to the point where I could buy guns like a top-tier guntuber and a lot of people had them as their first-choice guns. They earned that fair and square.
But like my daddy used to say, “It only takes one ‘aw s***’ to erase a whole lot of ‘atta boys.'”
For Sig, that “aw s***” comes in the form of the P320.
The civilian model of the military’s new handgun, it was going to be popular no matter what. Then they marketed it to numerous police departments, and the weapon threatened to take a big chunk of Glock’s market share.
Then there were concerns over it firing if dropped, should it land a certain way. Sig admitted no problems with the guns, but they did offer a free voluntary upgrade that was supposed to address the issue.
Next came the reports of guns firing while still in the holster.
I was skeptical of that, even though I knew about the drop firing, because guns don’t just do that, and the reports at first were just word of mouth. Then more and more came, including video, and it was inescapable that this was happening.
And rather than address it in a useful way, Sig went on the defensive with an ill-advised social media post that really just pissed everyone off. I mean, they were saying that their guns couldn’t do it, and it was all an anti-gun conspiracy.
Except, now it seems they’re admitting there’s an issue via a single line in the P320 Operators Manual.
Well…that’s a take.
Now, keep in mind that carrying with an empty chamber is particularly stupid. If you need a gun, you need a gun right then. You don’t live in a movie where you, the action hero, will always have time to rack the slide before going into a gun fight. You need to be able to pull the trigger immediately.
Go to the Donut Operator channel on YouTube, or any other channel that compiles police shooting videos, and watch. Things happen so fast that half the time, I can’t even tell why the officers are shooting until it’s slowed down. There’s absolutely no way officers could identify the threat, rack a slide, then start firing in the microseconds needed.
And yet Sig, a company selling this firearm to police officers and private citizens looking for a carry gun, is telling them to carry with an empty chamber.
Honestly, if people follow this “advice,” then no, the gun won’t go off in the holster and result in injuries. That’s absolutely true.
Instead, it’ll be useless when needed and result in death.
It seems like Sig will do anything but fix their damn guns.
Look, mistakes happen. Things that worked great in testing can turn up in the field. It’s not a great look, but what really sets companies apart is how they respond to these things. Had Sig just recalled the guns, fixed the design, then moved on, they might have taken a bit of a hit in the short term, but now they’re just digging the hole deeper and deeper.
When I saw this on social media, I had to go and look for myself because I couldn’t imagine Sig being this stupid. Nope, they’re exactly this stupid.
I mean, that’s an approach.
It’s not a good one, but I guess we can’t really accuse Sig of being smart anymore, now can we?
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