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Semi-automatic pistol From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The SIG Sauer P320 is a modular semi-automatic pistol made by SIG Sauer, Inc., SIG Sauer's American branch.[7] It is a further development of the SIG Sauer P250, utilizing a striker-fired mechanism in lieu of a double action only hammer system. The P320 can be chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum, .357 SIG, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and 10mm Auto and can be easily converted from one caliber to another; a change from .357 SIG to .40 S&W requires only a barrel change; a change from 9mm to .357 SIG or .40 S&W (or vice versa) is accomplished using a caliber exchange kit.
SIG Sauer P320 | |
---|---|
Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
Place of origin | United States Germany Switzerland |
Service history | |
In service | 2014–present |
Used by | See Users |
Production history | |
Designer | Sean Toner[1] Michael W. Mayerl [2][3] |
Designed | 2014 |
Manufacturer | SIG Sauer Inc. SIG Sauer GmbH & Co. KG till plant closure 2020 |
Produced | 2014–present |
Variants | See Variants |
Specifications | |
Mass | 833 g (29.4 oz) (incl. magazine) |
Length | 203 mm (8.0 in) |
Barrel length | 120 mm (4.7 in) |
Width | 35.5 mm (1.4 in) |
Height | 140 mm (5.5 in) |
Caliber | 9×19mm Parabellum .357 SIG .40 S&W 10 mm Auto .45 ACP |
Action | Short recoil operated, locked breech SIG Sauer System |
Muzzle velocity | 365 m/s (1,200 ft/s)[4] |
Effective firing range | 25 m (27 yd) [5] |
Maximum firing range | 50 m (55 yd) [6] |
Feed system |
|
Sights | Fixed iron sights, front—blade, rear—notch, with optional tritium night inserts, Optical Reflex sight on RX models, high sights on RX and Tacops models |
The P320 chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum was introduced in the North American market on 15 January 2014, followed by the .45 ACP compact model at the SHOT Show in January 2015.[8] On 19 January 2017, it was announced that a customized version of the SIG Sauer P320 had won the United States Army's XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. The full-sized model is known as the M17 and the compact carry-sized model is known as the M18.[9]
According to The Washington Post, the P320 is one of the most popular handguns in the United States.[10]
The P320 was designed to be ambidextrous in handling, sporting a catch lever on both sides of the slide and user-reversible magazine release, and all other operating controls are designed so they can be operated from either side. The firearm can be field stripped with no tools. Additionally, the firearm can be field stripped without depressing the trigger, an additional safety feature to prevent negligent discharge of the weapon.[11] The fire control unit is removable, allowing the switch to a different frame size.[12]
The P320 trigger shoe is available in an all-metal, solid trigger.[7]
The requirements for the new US Army handgun included the requirement that an existing handgun model would be preferred for the Modular Handgun System Request for Proposal, known as the XM17 Procurement. SIG Sauer submitted a P320 with a number of modifications and submitted them for the XM17 Modular Handgun System competition.
Modifications include:
On 19 January 2017, it was announced that the SIG Sauer P320 MHS variant had won the United States Military's Modular Handgun System trials. The P320 will be known as the M17 (full size) and M18 (compact) in U.S. Military service. Though the pistol will remain chambered in 9 × 19 mm Luger rather than a larger caliber, the contract allows the services to procure SIG Sauer's proposed XM1152 Full Metal Jacket and XM1153 Special Purpose ammunition.[15][16]
In May 2017, the Army announced that the first unit that will receive the M17 would be the 101st Airborne Division by the end of the year. At the same time, the rest of the U.S. Armed Forces revealed they also intend to acquire the handgun, making it the standard sidearm for the entire U.S. military. The services plan to procure up to 421,000 weapons in total; 195,000 for the Army, 130,000 for the Air Force, 61,000 for the Navy (XM18 compact version only), and 35,000 for the Marines.[17][18]
On 17 November 2017, soldiers of the 101st Airborne received the first XM17 and XM18 pistols, with over 2,000 handguns delivered. The XM17 has better accuracy and ergonomics and tighter dispersion than the M9. It will also be fielded more widely, being issued down to squad and fireteam leaders; while special forces would dual-arm all of its members with a pistol and rifle; previously junior leaders in regular infantry units were excluded from carrying sidearms but policy was changed to give them more choices and options in close quarters battle situations. All Army units are planned to have the M9 replaced with the M17 within a decade.[19][20]
Initial production models of the P320 were found to have a "drop safety" issue if the firearm was dropped at a specific angle, potentially causing it to discharge. SIG Sauer has since refitted the P320 to make it drop-safe and offers a voluntary upgrade program for early P320s.
Issues of drop firing or shooting its user in the leg while holstered[21] have continued sporadically with at least six departments removing the P320 from service.[22][23][24][25] As of April, 2023, an investigation has shown more than 100 people have reported that their own P320 fired without someone pulling the trigger, wounding at least 80 of them, including 33 officers at 18 law enforcement agencies.[25][26][27]
Around 400 P320s were procured for the Canadian Joint Task Force 2 special forces unit (JTF-2) in 2019, but these were withdrawn and the earlier P226 pistols (also manufactured by SIG Sauer) reinstated following a misfire that injured a soldier during a training exercise in November 2020; JTF-2 was the only Canadian military unit using the P320.[28] In June 2021, a technical investigation found that the misfire was due to "a partial depression of the trigger by a foreign object combined with simultaneous movement of the slide [...] that then allowed a round to be fired whilst the pistol was still holstered" and that the usage of a holster designed for a different pistol was a contributory factor; the P320 itself was not at fault nor were there any issues with how it had been procured by Canadian defence officials (since questions had been raised as to whether these officials were aware of the drop safety issues). However, the pistols would remain in storage pending a third-party safety assessment.[29] The safety assessment and other proceedings related to the misfire were concluded by June 2022, with a decision to reinstate the P320 being taken towards the end of that month.[30]
The X Series lineup includes the following grip module sizes:
In January 2019, SIG Sauer announced the XCompact handgun as the newest entry in their X Series lineup.[31]
The XCompact size grip module is the smallest grip module SIG currently carries, as they have not come out with a subcompact X Series grip module to date.
In May 2022, SIG Sauer announced a 10mm Auto P320 variant, named the P320 XTEN.
The X-Carry is a larger model of the XCompact featuring 17 rounds per magazine, compared to the Compacts 15 rounds, enlarged grip, longer slide and a smaller slide lock.[33] The X-Carry is the frame used for the M18
Released in late July/early August 2019 the XFIVE Legion is considered the flagship of the P320 platform that brings added weight and features. The TXG grip module has tungsten infused directly into the polymer along with an attachable magazine well. It comes standard with Henning group aluminum base pads and a skeletonized flat trigger. The complete 9mm slide has lightening cuts in the top to reduce weight and assist in recoil. It is also optics ready through the removal of the rear sight plate assembly. The optics cut is the Delta Point/Romeo 1 Pro profile, but will accommodate multiple optics via adapter plates.[34]
The SIG P320-XTENMAX is a 10mm Auto chambered X Series variant of the P320, released in 2022. It features an X Series grip module, bull barrel, flat X Series trigger and a Nitron-finished stainless steel slide with a cut for mounting aiming optics. Magazine capacity is 15 rounds. It weighs 33 oz (936 grams), has a 5-inch (127 mm) bull barrel, overall length of 8.5 inches (216 mm), overall height of 5.6 inches (142 mm), overall width of 1.3 inches (33 mm) and a sight radius of 6.8 inches (173 mm).[35]
The SIG P320MAX is a sporterised variant of the P320, designed in 2021 for use by competition shooters. The pistol comes with ROMEO3 MAX sights and tungsten infused TXG heavy grip module, weighs 43.5 oz (1.23 kilograms), has a 5-inch (130 mm) match grade barrel, and an overall length of 8.5 inches (220 mm).[36][37]
In late July 2017, the Dallas Police Department in Texas instructed all personnel to stop carrying the P320 pending an investigation.[38] There were concerns that the firearm may discharge when it is dropped and the back of the slide hits the ground at a 33-degree angle. The problem was thought to be related to the trigger weight; some triggers were heavy enough that they essentially continued to move due to inertia after the gun hit the ground. Internet publications, such as TheTruthAboutGuns.com, conducted independent tests that appeared to confirm potential drop firings (at a 40 percent rate).[39][better source needed]
On 8 August 2017, SIG Sauer issued a notice that they would upgrade all P320s to address the issue.[40] The upgrade is described on the company's website as: "an alternate design that reduces the physical weight of the trigger, sear, and striker while additionally adding a mechanical disconnector."[41]
A 2023 investigation by The Washington Post and The Trace found more than 100 people who say their P320 discharged with no trigger pressure; at least 80 of them were wounded as a result. At least 35 of the shootings are purported to have occurred with either post-2017 P320s with the updated design intended to address the drop firing problem, or older ones which had been updated by SIG Sauer.[10]
Unlike other striker-fired guns, the P320 is "effectively fully cocked at rest", since its striker is under constant spring pressure, which is released when the trigger is pulled. Most such guns, including the P320's military variant, have external safeties (like thumb safeties), which the P320's civilian variant lacks. According to gunsmith James Tertin, this is a rare and "uniquely dangerous" configuration.[10] Sean Toner, the P320 designer, has acknowledged in court that "U.S. standards are not very stringent."[42]
By April 2023, six American law enforcement agencies[which?] discontinued use of the firearm due to concerns over unintentional discharges.[10] The Fraternal Order of Police's Wisconsin state lodge recommended in mid-September 2022 for the state's police departments to stop using the weapon, claiming three Milwaukee Police officer injuries involving them or their partner's service weapons firing without any trigger pressure since 2020.[43]
SIG Sauer responded by asserting that most accidental discharges involve negligence; that many other gun models suffer from such discharges; that the P320 has been extensively tested and meets safety standards; and that, despite years of complaints and litigation, no one has successfully recreated the claimed phenomenon by demonstrating a P320 firing without its trigger being pulled.[10]
In May 2017, Steyr Mannlicher filed a patent infringement lawsuit against SIG Sauer.[44][better source needed] Steyr refers to their patent US6260301 (filed in 1999 and approved in 2001),[45] which is for a handgun with a removable chassis. Steyr Arms requested a preliminary and permanent injunction against SIG Sauer selling any such firearms. On 25 February 2020, the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire granted SIG Sauer summary judgment, finding that SIG Sauer did not infringe Steyr's patents.[46][47]
On August 4, 2017, four days before the Voluntary Upgrade Program was announced, Stamford Police Department SRT officer Vincent Sheperis filed a negligence action in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut against SIG Sauer after his holstered P320 allegedly fell from the back of his vehicle and discharged a round into his knee on January 4, 2017.[48][49] Although SIG re-assured the public that the P320 design met industry standards regarding its drop safety, Sheperis's attorney, Jeff Bagnell, stated that the upgrade was telling. "The suit has been validated already," he said, adding that having SIG recall and fix the alleged defect is one of the demands listed in the complaint. SIG settled the case in June 2018. https://ecf.ctd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/DktRpt.pl?226526557839259-L_1_0-1
A lawsuit related to the above-noted drop firing problem and filed in April 2018 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri led to a class action settlement in February 2020.[50][51][52] Elements of the agreement include:[51]
A class action settlement form is available on the SIG Sauer website.[53]
On May 4, 2018, Loudon county deputy sheriff Marcie D. Vadnais filed a negligence action against SIG Sauer in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after her holstered P320 allegedly discharged and broke her femur in half in February 2018 as she was removing it from her belt. The case settled on May 29, 2019, the second day of a jury trial.[54]
In September 2019, an Arizona gun owner who purchased a P320 in September 2016 initiated a class action lawsuit.[55] It claims that SIG Sauer "continued to sell the flawed gun to the public",[55] and that the upgrade offered "would still not fully compensate him for the significantly diminished resale value of his pistol."[56] In March 2020, judge Joseph N. Laplante denied SIG Sauer's motion to dismiss the case.[57][56] In May 2020, a trial notice was issued, with pretrial statements due on 5 October 2021; in January 2021, the due date for pretrial statements was revised to 1 February 2022.[58] The motion for class certification was denied in 2022.[59][60]
On 30 November 2022, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court alleging several P320 pistols unintentionally fired "without the trigger being pulled or deliberately actuated by the user."[61] The lawsuit claims there have been "over 100 incidents" of such discharges, "many of which have caused severe injury." An attorney representing the lawsuit's plaintiffs, Robert Zimmerman, said it was the largest lawsuit against SIG Sauer involving the P320 on behalf of people who were injured.[62] The twenty plaintiffs in the case (twenty individuals and about a dozen spouses) are from thirteen different states.
On March 15, 2019, Glock disputed the adoption of the P320 X-Carry into Danish military service, claiming the P320 did not meet DALO specification No. 79, which stated "No parts of the pistol shall be possible to mount incorrectly or in the wrong places." The case was won by Leo Nielsen Trading ApS and Glock Ges.m.b.H as they proved the ejector could be assembled incorrectly, were paid 30,000 Danish krones, and the purchase was cancelled. Later the contract was put out with different requirements, which the P320 fulfilled.[63]
Country | Organization/Notes | Model | Reference |
---|---|---|---|
Australia | Australian Defence Force: In 2022, the P320 XCarry Pro was selected to replace the Browning Hi-Power. | P320 X-Carry | [64] |
Bolivia | Cuerpo de Policía Nacional (National Police Corps) | P320 | [65] |
Brazil | Civil Police of Ceará State
Military Police of Ceará State |
P320 | [66][67][68] |
Military Police of Goiás State | P320 | [69] | |
Canada | Canadian Armed Forces: Procured for Canadian Special Operations Forces Command in 2019. In October 2022 the P320 was selected as the new regular force service pistol, with the last of 19,700 full-frame (C22) and compact (C24) variants delivered in March 2024. | P320
C22 C24 |
[70][71] |
Costa Rica | Public Force of Costa Rica: Adopting P320 9mm as national service handgun. | P320 | [72] |
Denmark | Ministry of Defense: The P320 X-Carry was selected as standard-issue sidearm replacing the M/49 Neuhausen (SIG P210)
Rigspolitiet: The P320 X-Carry as selected by the Danish police to replace the HK USP 9mm Compact |
P320 X-Carry | [73][74][75][76][77] |
France | French National Railway Company Security: replacing the Ruger SP101 revolver.[78] | P320 | [78] |
Wasquehal Municipal Police | P320 | [79] | |
Indonesia | Indonesian National Police | P320 | [80] |
Mexico | National Guard of Mexico: Placed order of 50,000 P320 9mm pistols in April 2020 | P320 9mm | [81] |
Norway | Norwegian Police Service: Adopted the P320XCarry in 2019, replacing the SIG Sauer P226 and Heckler & Koch P30. | P320 XCarry | [82] |
Spain | Grupo Especial de Operaciones: the police tactical unit of Spain's National Police Corps currently adoption P320 Pro 9mm handguns. | P320 | [83] |
Switzerland | St. Gallen Police | P320 | [84] |
Thailand | Royal Thai Police | P320 | [85][86] |
Ukraine | Armed Forces of Ukraine | P320 M18 | [87] |
United Kingdom | West Midlands Police: The P320 replaces the P229 9mm. | P320 9mm | [88] |
United States | United States Armed Forces: On 19 January 2017, the 9mm P320 was chosen to replace the Beretta M9 as the U.S. military's primary service pistol following the Modular Handgun System competition. | M17 | [15] |
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement: P320 is the default issued sidearm, though ICE officers and HSI agents may carry the SIG Sauer P365 9mm as primary sidearm instead by preference. | P320 9mm | [89] | |
National Park Service: U.S. Park Police and Law Enforcement Rangers | P320 XCarry | [90] | |
Delaware State Police | P320 | [91] | |
Hawaii Department of Public Safety | P320 | [92] | |
Massachusetts State Police: the P320 replaces the Smith & Wesson M&P .45ACP. | P320 XCarry 9mm | [93] | |
Nevada Highway Patrol | P320 9mm | [94] | |
North Dakota Highway Patrol: the P320 replaces the SIG Sauer P226 .357SIG. | P320 9mm | [95] | |
Oklahoma Highway Patrol | P320 | [96] | |
Rhode Island State Police: the P320 replaces SIG Sauer P226 in .357SIG and Berreta 96F in .40S&W | P320 9mm | [97] | |
Texas Department of Public Safety | P320 | [98] | |
Virginia State Police | P320 | [99] | |
Puerto Rico Police Bureau | P320 9mm | [100] | |
Chicago Police Department | P320 | [101] | |
Dallas Police Department | P320 | [102] | |
Tampa Police Department: the P320 replaces the Smith & Wesson M&P .40S&W. | P320 | [103] | |
Braintree, Massachusetts Police Department | P320 .45ACP | [104] | |
Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department | P320 | [105] | |
Somerville, Massachusetts Police Department | P320 | [106] | |
Pasco County Sheriff's Office | P320 | [107] | |
Ventura County, California Sheriff's Office | P320 | [108] | |
Manchester, New Hampshire Police Department | P320 | [109] | |
Concord, New Hampshire Police Department: the P320 replaces the SIG Sauer P229R .45ACP. | P320 9mm | [110] | |
Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department | P320 | [111] | |
Newington, New Hampshire Police Department | P320 | [112] | |
Lloyd Harbor, New York Police Department | P320 | [113] | |
Milwaukee Police Department, is in the process of transition to Glock Pistols from the SIG P320 due to concerns.[22] | P320 | [114] | |
Sumter, South Carolina Police Department | P320 | [115] | |
Newark, Delaware Police Department | P320 | [116] | |
Miami Beach, Florida Police Department: the P320 XCarry was chosen as the department's new duty sidearm in 2021, replacing the Smith & Wesson M&P .40S&W. | P320 XCarry 9mm | [117] | |
Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department | P320 9mm | [118] | |
Virginia Division of Capitol Police | P320 9mm | [119] | |
Ames, Iowa Police Department | P320 | [120] |
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