A report by the FBI’s Ballistic Analysis Facility that was just lately made public has positioned the Sig Sauer M18/P320 sequence of striker-fired semi-auto pistols again into the highlight. The report was based mostly on the BRF’s assessments of a Sig Sauer M18 that had been issued to a motor officer with the Michigan State Police. That pistol skilled an “uncommanded discharge” in July 2024, in response to the doc. The incident occurred whereas the gun was holstered, and in entrance of a number of witnesses. It joins a considerable checklist of comparable studies, lots of which have resulted in lawsuits.
The report was launched Monday after a public-records request to the Michigan State Police, the company confirmed to OL, and distributed Tuesday in a YouTube video. The outcomes of the August 2024 report had been inconclusive, however that hasn’t stopped a renewed move of on-line hypothesis by folks questioning the pistol’s design. At challenge is whether or not the P320 and its variants are able to an uncommanded discharge — that means that the gun can probably fireplace when there is no such thing as a contact with or manipulation of the set off.
A Years-Lengthy Matter
This has been an ongoing dispute relationship to 2017 when Sig Sauer initiated a “voluntary improve” to early-production P320s. Sig upgraded the P320’s set off shoe with a disconnect notch on the rear of the slide, a captive striker security lever, and a reduced-mass sear with a secondary engagement floor. These adjustments addressed a difficulty the place the pistol might probably fireplace when dropped from a peak above present business requirements whereas placing the bottom at a specific angle. All through the controversy, Sig has maintained that the pistol features as designed and is barely able to firing when the set off is pulled or compelled rearward.
The Newest Considerations
With respect to the FBI report that was simply made public, two observations stand out.
One is that the striker security spring, which retains strain on a plunger that stops the striker from shifting ahead, shifted place throughout one portion of the FBI’s check. If the spring had been by some means dislodged, that might probably negate that security function. The opposite was a check the place the first and secondary sear locks had been deliberately overridden. Throughout one iteration of this check, which was carried out with the slide and body being pressed collectively and pulled aside by hand whereas manually releasing the sear, the FBI was in a position to trigger a number of empty primed instances to fireplace.
The issue with the primary challenge is that the window the FBI reduce into the slide (with the intention to look at the striker security spring below recoil) is a part of what retains the spring. By eradicating that materials, the spring was in a position to transfer.
The second challenge is much less clear. The FBI’s description of their check the place its brokers utilized strain and torque to the slide and body is obscure. And to this point, the FBI hasn’t responded to OL’s requests for touch upon the check.
A spokesman for Sig Sauer confirmed the check doc’s authenticity for Out of doors Life, and was independently obtained by OL from the Michigan State Police.
The By no means-Ending Story
What is for certain is that this has been a persistent PR and authorized headache for Sig Sauer. A cadre of on-line commentators have perpetuated the concept the P320 sequence is inherently flawed, usually citing anecdotes that assist the concept the pistol is subjectable to uncommanded discharges.
And Sig has confronted a number of lawsuits over the P320, a few of which have resulted in verdicts carrying substantial monetary penalties.
Many of the lawsuits filed in opposition to Sig Sauer in respect to its P320 have been dismissed; nevertheless, the corporate misplaced 2024 jury selections in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Earlier this 12 months Sig’s residence state of New Hampshire passed a bill that helps shield the corporate from future lawsuits.
The corporate maintains that the P320 is secure and these incidents are attributable to person error, corresponding to improper dealing with or snagging on clothes or holsters or clothes.
Sig says they take all these accounts severely, however have been unable to recreate an uncommanded discharge regardless of rigorous testing.
“At this level we have now a pistol that’s been via tough dealing with and examined greater than another firearm in Sig Sauer’s historical past,” says Sig Sauer’s vp of shopper affairs Phil Strader. “Our testing concludes that the one approach for the pistol to fireplace is moved to the rear — it leaves us to query, how else is a pistol presupposed to work?”
In the midst of addressing the 2017 drop test by Omaha Outdoors check that led to the voluntary improve, Strader says Sig was solely in a position to induce a difficulty when the pistol was dropped from a peak above SAAMI and NATO specs and famous that the P320 in its authentic type handed all business tough dealing with protocols. The upgrades took an already secure pistol and made it safer, he says.
P320 Gross sales Stay Robust
Whereas on-line debate in regards to the P320 hasn’t run out of steam, it doesn’t appear to have gained widespread traction with handgun consumers. Gross sales of the P320 through the first half of 2025 have outperformed different firearms on Guns.com, in response to the positioning’s director of digital advertising Will Altherr.
“Since January 2024, Weapons.com has maintained a steady gross sales quantity for the SIG Sauer P320 sequence,” Altherr says. “Within the first half of 2025, gross sales declined by a modest 1.7 % whereas the broader firearm market contracted by roughly 3.9 %. This comparatively regular efficiency over the previous 18 months suggests enduring shopper curiosity within the P320 platform.”
Different gun sellers are nonetheless reporting wholesome P320 gross sales, which is noteworthy contemplating gun gross sales are down between 10 and 15 % proper now “relying who you discuss to,” says Richard Sprague, president of the eponymous Sprague’s Sports in Yuma, Arizona.
At Sprague’s, Sig P320 fashions gross sales are literally up 59 % in 2025 in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months. Sprague additionally checked with six of his key salesmen, who reported that “solely haters carry up” the P320 controversy on the gun counter.
“They mentioned it had no actual influence and mentioned it barely comes up,” Sprague says, noting that many shoppers are navy or Border Patrol personnel . “Those that do [mention it] are primarily individuals who wish to hate — like an HK man or a Glock man.”
Whereas a number of giant businesses have moved away from Sig amid security considerations, the overwhelming majority of businesses and models that reassessed the pistol after adopting it have continued to make use of it.
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“Any company that’s taken the time to ask questions and do their due diligence has caught with it,” says Sig’s Strader.
That features the Michigan State Police, which is on the heart of this newest chapter within the Sig P320/M18 saga.
Natalie Krebs contributed reporting.
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