This report has to do with an investigation of a July 31, 2024, incident where a Sig M18 pistol suffered an uncommanded discharge while in the holster of state police officer. The officer was not manipulating the pistol at the time--in fact, he had both hands full holding items. The Armed Defender Research YouTube Channel has a short video on the FBI report as well as a dropbox link in the description that allows you to view or download the report. Per the report, the subject weapon had a defect--a slight ledge--on the striker pin hook that reduced the engagement surface between the the striker pin hook and the primary sear notch, which ledge may have also produced excessive wear on the primary and secondary sear notches (pp. 15-17); if the hook slipped from the notches while there was pressure on the weapon's frame, it could and did result in the striker safety lock not working at times and allowing the firing pin to strike the primer during testing (p. 29). There were other findings as well, but those seemed the most relevant to me.
I wonder if this affects the entire model 320 line - I'm thinking of the 10MM XTEN. It has a different, and larger, frame, I've read that the chassis - the fire control group - is larger than the 9MM 320, I do not know if it's also a different design. There aren't many XTENs out in the wild, so given the small percentage of 9MM 320s that have demonstrated the "self initiative" to fire, it could be just that there aren't enough XTENs to manifest the problem.
ReplyDeleteOr, it could be that a larger chassis obviates the problem. I suspect at this point few will have confidence in whatever information Sig provides on the issue, so anything worthwhile is going to have to come from elsewhere.
Hopefully, SIG will do what is right and issue a recall and fix these issues. The fact that the striker spring is fully compressed and ready to go allows the striker to ignite a primer. Design changes and upgrades need to be done to the striker system as well as the trigger system. I own a P320C in .45Auto in Massachusetts configuration. It is a safe queen until these issues are addressed
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