The first incident with DPD was the armorer watching a video online and then raising a red flag over it. Since SIG wasn't answering the phone 24/7 the department then went overboard with their decision, plain and simple.
The next incident was a vendor testing for drop safety with primed cartridges. There isn't much protocol written up about how they did it. There is also a definite bias against SIG at present since the Army didn't choose Glock, and that bias shouldn't be dismissed in an age of internet politicking. It is a known fact there are organizations which have targeted various venues to suppress certain viewpoints, and there are in fact businesses which offer for a fee the ability to put posters on line to fill forums with alternate viewpoints.
This is the modern age of communications and it is currently experiencing something we haven't seen much of in the past, completely free and unfettered dissemination of information. Those who want to control it aren't happy and retaliating, others just take advantage of it until they are outed.
Let's put the P320 in a more historic perspective - how bad was/is the 1911 about discharging when it falls on the hammer? More than a few have gone off. Yet it's possibly the most popular handgun around, with fans still insisting it should never have been discontinued from service and smaller agencies in DOD still issuing customs. We recently had a sell off of warranty 1911's that were previously Marine issue and the demand was so high they weren't discounted much. It was entirely a finish problem.
It's highly arguable in some circles that any 1911 is drop safe when slammed on the hammer. Yet here we are, discussing two incidents, one of which wasn't even based on any testing at all. What we have is too intense a focus on the "Breaking News!" and a lot less overall reflection and experience.
I'll agree with SIG on this - ANY gun could go off if dropped. Some dispute that as lacking any research to prove it, others see it as simply good safe consideration. Abuse a gun and it can. Lets not forget the recent incidents documented by on site observation of cartridge rounds going of just hitting the gravel at a range, or mishandled unloading. We are dealing with contact explosives as an initiator - they are inherently dangerous by definition. So, if you want to drop your guns on hard pavement, just unload them - they won't go off with no cartridge in the chamber. All you have to do is make sure that will happen 100% of the time.
Good luck with that.
Actually, the first video that purported to demonstrate that the P320 might not be drop safe emerged on youtube some time ago. The author was largely unknown and the video was withdrawn after the Dallas PD incident went public so I do not remember the author's name (Zeilberger?). That video was widely criticized. Bruce Gray, who has been intimately involved in P320 design went on record saying that the pistol shown in the video had either been modified or the video had been faked outright.
That video showed a P320 dropped with the muzzle inclined downward, striking the frame grip and then the muzzle end of the frame and slide. In the video, the trigger moved backwards as the front of the slide struck, counter to inertia, although conceivably the inertia of the trigger bar could have caused it to move forward. I personally discounted that video and still do, and the fact that it was pulled contributes to its lack of credibility.
Then the Dallas PD memo leaked leading to much speculation about accidental discharges experienced by the DPD which never occurred. Ron Cohen made a public statement that the P320 had been extensively drop tested and that there had never been an accidental discharge of a dropped P320 in the commercial market. Some questioned his qualifier "commercial", however. Bruce Gray again went on record saying the P320 had been extensively tested, was drop safe, and that the whole DPD episode had been the result of failed communication, i.e, a lot of smoke and no fire.
But before the smoke had completely cleared, Mr Tuohy, in response to the DPD action, decided to drop test some P320s and released the results two or three days ago. To my knowledge, neither Bruce Gray nor SIG Sauer has yet to respond to these latest tests and videos.
And it turns out that there has been at least one alleged accidental discharge from a dropped P320 in the LE market. A Stamford CT police officer is suing SIG Sauer for 6 million dollars claiming that he was shot in the leg when he dropped his holstered P320 on the pavement. Stamford PD has temporarily suspended use of the P320 as a result.
http://www.ctlawtribune.com/top-sto...pped-Holstered-Pistol-Sues-Gunmaker-Sig-Sauer
On another forum, there is an allegation that a second accidental discharge of a P320 was experienced by another law enforcement officer who is a member of a department somewhere in the Midwest, but no details have been released so the validity of that allegation can't be assessed.
Those who are interested might also take a look at these videos, taken by a member of another forum:
