Latest news with #pistol
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the Army didn't finish testing the Sig Sauer P320 during the XM17 competition
That's right, the Army did not complete phase two testing during the Modular Handgun System competition before selecting the Sig Sauer P320 as the new XM17/XM18 pistol. No, it's not because the Sig performed so exceptionally or that the Glock submission failed so spectacularly that continuing the test was pointless. Rather, the Army chose to make its decision based on cost before testing concluded. First, let's lay the groundwork for how military acquisitions, specifically pistols, work. And no, it's not as simple as 'lowest bidder.' The military puts out a requirement for a piece of equipment, and manufacturers submit their products for consideration. These submissions are judged on whether or not they meet the basic requirements in the first phase of the competition. Following this initial down select, submissions that pass phase one are then competed in destructive testing to determine which is truly best. In the event of a draw, competitive bidding is then used to determine a winner. The XM17 MHS program was designed to replace the Beretta M9 pistol. In 1985, the Beretta won the XM9 competition to replace the M1911 pistol. So, how did that competition go? Eight different pistols were submitted and subjected to phase one testing. Only the Italian Beretta 92F and SIG Sauer's P226, designed and built by the Swiss-German SIG Sauer and imported by Saco Defense for the XM9 trials, passed and advanced to phase two. Through destructive testing of 35,000 rounds per pistol, the 92F and P226 performed similarly and exceeded the requirements set forth by the Army. Moreover, they outperformed the M1911 they were meant to replace. At that point, both pistols proved that they could serve the U.S. military well. Although SIG Sauer priced individual pistols lower, Beretta's overall price was lower after factoring in spare parts and magazines, and the 92F became the M9. Early models experienced slide cracks due to improper loading of military 9mm ammunition, but Beretta's design was sound. So, why did the Army want a new handgun just 30 years later? While the Beretta performed exceptionally during testing, troops had issues with it. First, the Army contracted spare magazines that did not perform well in the sandy environment of the Middle East. Second, 9mm ball ammunition lacked the stopping power to put down threats effectively. Third, the M9's size made it difficult for smaller troops to handle, and it was easy to accidentally engage the safety when racking the slide. The Army also wanted to incorporate technological advances with a new pistol. As the name states, the Modular Handgun System needed to be configurable for different troops and different missions. Among the requirements were the ability to mount a light/laser, attach a suppressor, and adjust the grip to fit various hand sizes. As the contract holder, Beretta offered the M9A3 to address some of these issues as well as upgrade existing stocks of M9s. While upgrades corrected issues with the original M16 rifle and M4 carbine, the Army was determined to acquire a new pistol and rejected Beretta. In 2015, the Army released the Request for Proposals and started testing the 12 submitted pistols the following year. After phase one testing, the SIG Sauer and Glock submissions were the only ones that made it past the down select. Phase two destructive testing began, but was stopped at 12,500 rounds, half of the 25,000-round required service life. Moreover, destructive testing called for the pistols to fire up to 35,000 rounds to test reliability. Glock protested the Army's premature selection of the Sig Sauer submission and asked that testing resume. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that 'Sig Sauer's full-sized handgun had a higher stoppage rate than Glock's handgun, and there may have been other problems with the weapon's accuracy.' The investigation also noted that the Army redacted the results of Sig's compact handgun. Sig submitted two handgun frames in three different grip sizes with a swappable trigger unit, while Glock submitted one handgun with interchangeable backstraps to meet the Army's modularity requirements. In the end, Glock's protest was denied. '[T]here is no correlating superior performance factor for Glock, as compared to Sig Sauer's, to support paying that premium. Consequently, I cannot justify paying a price premium of 37% for the Glock submission, even as a second award,' wrote Susan Poling in the GAO report. She did note the investigation uncovered 'evaluation errors' by the Army, but could not justify paying more for the Glock. The short of it is that Sig Sauer's price to the government was so low that the Army felt that it had a good enough pistol at a great price. So, testing was stopped and did not resume. Formally adopted as the full-size XM17 and compact XM18, the Sig underwent Product Verification Testing in FY17, which found that the gun could discharge when dropped. An Engineering Change Proposal by Sig Sauer corrected this with lightweight components in the trigger group mechanism. While Sig Sauer made the ECP changes to all military pistols, it was offered as a Voluntary Upgrade Program on the civilian market. The FY17 PVT also revealed issues with double-ejections, where unfired rounds were ejected from the gun, as well as a high rate of stoppages with ball ammunition. Product Verification Testing in FY18 with an upgraded configuration of the MHS resulted in reduced stoppages with ball ammunition. Interestingly, the pistols performed better with jacketed hollow-point ammunition. The PVT also showed no issues with accuracy, as addressed in the GAO report. After this, the Army concluded that the MHS 'meets or exceeds requirements for accuracy, lethality, ergonomics, and safety.' The Sig Sauer P320 was arguably awarded the MHS contract prematurely. Issues following the weapon's adoption by the Army may have been revealed during trial testing. Additionally, reports of P320s firing uncommanded have resulted in a recommendation for a Marine Corps engineering review and the disuse of the M18 by an Air Force command following the death of an airman. 'SIG SAUER followed all acquisition regulations and solicitation protocols related to the competitive process,' Sig Sauer's Vice President of Marketing Jason Wright told WATM. 'The decision to select the P320 as the winner of the XM17 MHS competition prior to the conclusion of phase two testing was exclusively determined by the U.S. Army.' We Are The Mighty reached out to the Army for comment on the MHS competition and M17/M18 acquisition following these incidents and did not receive a response. Featured Weapons Sig Sauer's P320 banned by Chicago Police Department and other law enforcement agencies By Miguel Ortiz Feature SIG Sauer's legal battles and why the XM7 might not replace the M4 SIG Sauer's legal battles and why the XM7 might not replace the M4 By Miguel Ortiz Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Yahoo
Sig Sauer pistol still in wide use across military after airman's death
The Army, Navy and Marine Corps are not planning to pause use of the M18 pistol as a primary, daily service sidearm for their troops, the services told Task & Purpose, even as units in the Air Force pull the weapon from service after an airman was killed when his M18 discharged last week. The M18 pistol is produced by Sig Sauer as a military version of the company's P320, a model that has drawn lawsuits and attention in recent years after incidents where users alleged that the gun fired on its own. In military usage, a law enforcement training agency in Washington recently chronicled at least six possible unintentional discharges on or associated with military bases involving the M18 or M17, a slightly larger version of the handgun. Concerns about the handgun were heightened last week when Airman Brayden Lovan, 21, was killed when his M18 discharged at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, according to Air Force officials. The circumstances around how the weapon fired are under investigation. Lovan was a security forces airman assigned to the 90th Security Forces Squadron, a role that required him to regularly carry a sidearm. In the wake of Lovan's death, officials with Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees most units at F.E. Warren, temporarily paused use of the M18 across the command, pending an investigation for 'immediate safety concerns.' Since that announcement, several units under Air Combat Command, the service's largest major component, have also stopped using the M18, though not the entire command. The Air Combat Command pause was first reported by The War Zone. Charles Hoffman, spokesperson for the Air Force Global Strike Command's safety office, told Task & Purpose that during the pause, Air Force security forces will carry the M4 rifle. Global Strike Command has just over 27,000 active duty airmen — less than 9% of the entire active duty Air Force — but duty weapons are relatively common in its units. The command oversees all of the service's nuclear weapons and the missiles and bombers tasked with delivering them. As such, armed personnel are a constant presence on Global Strike Command installations, and the command is infamous for its intense focus on security and safety issues. 'Sig has offered and will continue to offer any and all assistance necessary to the USAF's investigation of the F.E. Warren incident,' Phil Strader, vice president of consumer affairs for Sig Sauer, told Task & Purpose in a statement. Design used in all military branches The M17, a full-size variant of the pistol, and the M18, a compact version, have been the military's standard pistols issued to active and reserve troops for most of this decade, replacing the legacy M9 used since the 1980s. The two guns share firing components and vary mainly by the length of the barrel. The Air Force announced in 2020 that all of its combat arms units would receive the M18, citing a 'more consistent trigger pull' and adjustable grips for different hand sizes. The Air Force owns close to 75% of the military's inventory of roughly 165,000 M18 pistols, according to data provided by the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and procurement documents from the Navy. Exact numbers of M17s currently in use were not immediately available. The Army and Marine Corps indicated in testing and evaluation documents that they intended to buy several hundred thousand of the handguns. A January 2017 contract announcement included a $580 million contract with Sig Sauer to replace the Army's M9 by 2027. Officials from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps told Task & Purpose that those services have no plans to pause use of the weapons. 'We have not seen any evidence that indicates design or manufacturing issues are present,' Meghan Stoltzfus, a Marine Corps spokesperson, said in a statement to Task & Purpose. She added that the M18 was 'rigorously tested' to Department of Defense standards and 'subject to extensive lot acceptance testing' with oversight by the Defense Contract Management Agency, Army and Marine Corps. Discharge issue discovered during Army testing The Department of Defense discovered unexpected discharge issues with the Sig Sauer handgun when the Army began operational testing for the M18 almost a decade ago. The service found that during drop testing with an empty primed cartridge inserted, the gun's striker struck the round's primer and caused a discharge. Army officials directed the company to correct the problem by implementing lightweight components in the trigger mechanism, according to a fiscal year 2017 operational test and evaluation report. Follow-on testing 'validated' that the change 'corrected the deficiency and the pistol no longer fired when dropped,' the report stated, adding that the new version with the changes was submitted for production. Sig Sauer conceded the early issues with the Army pistol, noting that testing 'above and beyond' national, state, global military and law enforcement standards found that 'after multiple drops, at certain angles and conditions, a potential discharge of the firearm may result when dropped.' Strader said the M17 and M18 pistols are required to be equipped with a manual thumb safety, which is an option for commercial P320s. 'With that said, regarding the lawsuits around this platform, no one, including our engineers and the plaintiff's experts, have been able to replicate or prove a P320 can be fired by any method besides a trigger pull,' Strader said. Lawsuits and law enforcement inquiries The civilian version of the M18, the P320, has seen issues pop up in recent years, some of which have led to multi-million dollar lawsuits and decisions by local police departments to stop using the pistol. In November 2024, a Philadelphia jury awarded an Army veteran $11 million after his holstered Sig Sauer pistol went off while he was going down the stairs and caused a serious leg injury. In June, Sig Sauer filed a lawsuit in Washington asking a state judge to reverse the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission's decision to ban police recruits from carrying the P320. The commission's working group of local law enforcement, training staff, and firearms instructors released a report in February on their decision to temporarily ban its use by police recruits. Top Stories This Week Culture Top Air Force enlisted leader apologizes for uniform slip-up Top Air Force enlisted leader apologizes for uniform slip-up By Jeff Schogol Culture An Army pilot and mechanic switched units for a week. Here's how that went. An Army pilot and mechanic switched units for a week. Here's how that went. By Patty Nieberg News Air Force Global Strike Command suspends use of M18 pistol after airman's death Air Force Global Strike Command suspends use of M18 pistol after airman's death By Jeff Schogol In their report, the Washington commission cited six incidents since 2021 with 'uncommanded' discharges involving the M17 and M18. The M18 incidents were: In 2023, a Japanese security guard at Camp Foster, Okinawa, 'rested their right hand lightly on the rotating cover of a weapon holster' when their M18 discharged. Also in 2023, at Camp Pendleton, California, an officer in the armory stopped at a clearing barrel to empty their M18. The officer pulled the pistol out of the holster while it was on safe and removed the magazine. A round discharged from the M18 into the clearing barrel. The officer was 'sure that they never touched the trigger of the M18,' and had 'ample weapons handling training,' according to the report. In 2022, a service member was preparing for his shift at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, when his M18 discharged at his home. He was taken to the hospital for a penetrating gunshot wound with the bullet still 'lodged in his knee,' according to the incident report. With the M17, previous incidents included: A military police soldier at Fort Eustis, Virginia, in 2023 injured his foot after his pistol 'inadvertently discharged' after making contact with another officer's gun holster. The gun of an Army civilian attending a law enforcement course in 2020 at Leesville Police Range in Louisiana discharged while he drew the pistol from his holster. A service member attempting to holster his pistol in 2021 fired a round through his foot at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Sig Sauer announced in 2020 it would offer free P320 upgrades that 'improve its safety, reliability and overall performance.' The changes reduced the weight of the gun's trigger, sear, and striker and added a mechanical disconnector, according to Sig Sauer's website on the program. The company states that 'minimal reported drop-related P320 incidents have occurred' in U.S. commercial and law enforcement markets in situations 'that appear to be outside of normal testing protocols.'
Malay Mail
04-06-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
‘Datuk Seri' arrested for allegedly assaulting woman with pistol grip in George Town
GEORGE TOWN, June 4 — A local man with the title Datuk Seri has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a 28-year-old female sales assistant with a pistol grip during an incident on Jalan Kelawei. According to Buletin TV3 (TV3), the 41-year-old suspect was detained after surrendering himself at the Northeast District Police Headquarters (IPD) yesterday. North-east district police chief, Assistant Commissioner Abdul Rozak Muhammad told TV3 that the incident, which occurred around 2.20am the day before, is believed to have stemmed from a misunderstanding between the suspect and the victim. 'The victim sustained serious injuries to the nose and eye after being struck by the suspect with an object resembling a pistol grip. Police have seized a pistol, a magazine, and a firearm licence book along with some bullets. 'The case is being investigated under Section 326 of the Penal Code and Section 34 of the Arms Act 1960,' he was quoted as saying. TV3 reported that the incident occurred while the victim and two friends were en route to Tanjung Tokong. The car she was driving veered into the middle lane, but the victim continued driving as usual. She then realised that her car was being followed by a black Mercedes-Benz before it blocked her path in front of a petrol station on Jalan Kelawei. The suspect then allegedly inserted a shiny gold-coloured pistol into the victim's mouth, struck her twice on the left cheek with the pistol grip, and repeatedly punched her in the face with his hands, causing a broken nose and bruising around her left eye. The victim later received treatment at Penang General Hospital (HPP) before lodging a police report. The suspect was also alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.
