A negligent discharge (ND) in a weapon is when the operator strokes the trigger that results in the firing of the weapon. In my time, the lion’s share of these are NDs but actual mechanical (unintentional, accidental or “uncommanded”) discharges were rare and then the SIG-Sauer P320 arrives and now it becomes the Accidental Discharge (AD) king in the SIG pistol. NDs are a training issue and AD is a mechanical issue that causes it to fire.
SIG settled two cases out of court but Robert Zimmerman just prevailed in winning a court case that may start the train on finally resolving this. I suspect this happened with an early serial number. Most likely a drop-safe problem of an early model which may be fixed now.
Forgotten Weapons is a blog and YouTube channel started in 2011 by firearms specialist Ian McCallum (Gun Jesus!). I consider Ian the final word on all things weapons in the West, he discovered in this video that the problems are more nuanced and may be more operator-centric than not.
Sig even issued a Safety Bulletin in 2023. They make the claim this affects only light bearing lights and that is simply not the case. Occam’s Razor tells us the best solution is to fix all the affected models, freeze production, engineer a solution and recommence manufacturing. If you produce a gun with rails that accommodate a light and there are a rash of ND/ADs, then recommend to all customers to stop or cease producing light bearing pistols until you fix it instead, Sig for the most part is stonewalling and claiming the problem doesn’t exist. Although I do suspect the problem is solved for new manufacture pistols.
The pistol became very popular when the military adopted it because people who have not been in the military assume that the military adoption of a tool makes it desirable. Those in the military know better than this but the mystique remains.
SIG has produced some terrific weapons in the past. One of my bucket list guns for me is a SIG P210.
The SIG Sauer M17 and M18 are service pistols derived from the SIG Sauer P320 in use with the United States Armed Forces. On January 19, 2017, the United States Army announced that a customized version of SIG Sauer’s P320 had won the Army’s XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. The full-sized model was designated the M17, and the shorter length carry model, the M18. Unfortunately, Glock lost the contract which is the superior handgun by a mile. We Glock folk did get a bonus by getting access to what may be a one the best models ever in the 19X.
I happen to think for a variety of reasons Glock was sandbagged in the adoption process by the military much like the rigged trial to adopt the M14 (T44) over the FN-FAL (T48) & AR10 (BRN10A) in the 1950s. The FAL was adopted by over 90+ countries, the M14 by about 30. The M14 remained in service for seven years (1957-64) as the primary rifle for the US armed forces before being replaced by the Stoner design in the 1960s. In 1969, the M16A1 replaced the M14 rifle to become the US military’s standard service rifle. The M14’s service in the Army was cut short when Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered a halt on production of the rifle on 23 January 1963, after more than one million had been manufactured. That story is a post for another day.
Despite the Coprophile Media insisting the negligent/accidental discharges are not mechanical but user neglect, the SIG corporation does offer a volunteer upgrade program to address this mechanical issue in earlier models. This begs the question, why not make that a standard improvement on all follow-on manufacturing? Maybe they did, I don’t know.
For me, the number one way to carry and ensure ND and AD issues don’t occur is training & everyday usage and to ensure whatever holster configuration you use covers the trigger completely. Don’t use any holster that doesn’t achieve this rather simple end-state.This prevents anything accidentally getting in the trigger guard to action the trigger.
There will be a historian in the future who will examine this whole acquisition debacle and get to the bottom of it. I remain a Glock pistol user exclusively.
If I leave you with one thing, it is this: don’t think a military endorsement of a weapons system means it is worthwhile for your use.
YMMV.
Email me at cgpodcast@pm.me.
