S&W Sigma.

[BowStreetRunner]

thats it, lets put this debate to rest!
the richest of us will buy 20 sigmas and shoot them till they die and then we can have statistical evidence of their quality!
i am definitely not the richest so someone else will have to do it!
BSR

 

[Jason Demond]

It depends who you ask.

I have 2 Sigma’s a 9VE and a 40VE. I have fired over nine thousand rounds in each of the guns with out much of a problem. I have used the 40VE for CCW; I also picked up a few hicaps for it. The trigger was a little gritty, but it’s ok now. The Sigma seems to carry around a bad rep. I think it's because of the bugs in the first generation of Sigma’s and from the people who think Glocks are the next best thing to sliced bread. I know that Glock took S&W to court over the design of the Sigma and S&W lost. I know one guy that told me my gun was a piece of crap, I asked him if he ever shot one and he told me no. He never even handled one before, he was only going by what someone told him.



The trigger spring on the 40VE broke at the 9000 round mark, it's back in action now though.

 

[DigMe]

Never had a Glock fail right out of the box like I have heard Sigmas do!!!!!

Never had a Ruger screw up either.

Funny, my new Springfield 1911-A1 sent rounds down range right out of the box!!

denfoote,

Your argument would hold merit had I said "ALL denfoote's guns are hit and miss."

The fact that you've never had problems with those guns is pointless here. Fact is there are plenty of people that HAVE had problems with guns from all those manufacturers as well as many other highly respected manufacturers (Kimber, Springfield, Sig, HK, etc...). That is truth. It happens.

brad cook

 

[Abominable No-Man]

Six of one, half-dozen of the other.....

I've had a couple of Sigmas in the past. Both of them worked pretty good-
no FTF's, FTE's, ate pretty much anything I put in the mag. Got rid of both of them, although in hindsight I wish I hadn't, or at least kept one.

Anyway, Sigmas seem to have a bad rep, maybe from the first generation of them, although one of mine was a 1st Gen, and it worked great.

They feel and point a WHOLE lot better than the Glocks (and no, I don't work for S&W....). Glocks feel weird and have a sucky trigger- Sigmas feel really good and have a sucky trigger. Both work, take your pick.

ANM

 

[mrapathy2000]

get a steyr they are bit smaller, much better quality. trigger is nice on steyr and it has safety and lock built in so no damage from external lock. sigma trigger is bit funky.

if you can get the sigma below $250 then it might be worth it as long as its not a old used gun. check the slide to frame fit if its poor get something else. another advantage of steyr better frame to slide fit. steyr is availible in 9mm,40S&W,357sig medium sized frame. availible in subcompact .40S&W and 9mm though 9mm subcompacts are rare and pricey. rest of them are $300-$400 which beats $600 price they started out with in 1999.

 

[denfoote]

Brad,
Actually, I did have problems with a gun!! A Hi-Point 9mm Compact. It was so bad that it is now buried somewhere in the vast Sonoran desert!! About 4' down!!

 

[duncan]

Your friend must just want to have problems with his "first" gun - eh?

Should you ever get a Sigma?

Hell no.

WHY?

I must admit and confess. I owned one of the second generation, new and improved Sigma 40SW V series guns years ago. I really liked the grip and its erogonomics. SW got it right on the ergonomics.

But it experienced mutliple FTE, FTE, FTLB, FTS. Broken firing pin, messed up factory magazines, and it would not reliably feed FMJ. Forget JHP and that is after the SW certified gunsmith polished the feed ramp for me and completely "rebuilding" it per the factory.

They had five others in the shop too. From different manufacture dates.

Junk.

I used to be an investigator for Boeing in Seattle. More than 200 uniformed security officer had multiple versions of the Sigma line. And their armorers could not keep up with the repairs. Many officers could not qualify on the range due to the high level of failures. SW rebuilt and upgraded all of them twice and they still are big problems.

Is 200 plus bad Sigmas that are given light shooting duty but still jamming and failing to efect or slide not locking back or bad firing pins, enough evidence for you.

I saw them at the range "trying" to qualify with those pathetic guns. Even the range employees were laughing.

If you want the fugly gun with probably the WORST reliability reputation on the Net, tell your "friend" to buy it.

Why just not buy a used Glock, Sig, HK USP, Springfield XD, CZ, BHP, EAA Witness, and so on. Lots of great feedback on these guns.

I think your friend needs to save up his money and not make the mistake I made years ago. They gave me my money back and I bought a Glock.

If money is tight, the EAA Witness polymer line is a good value and they are good guns.

 

[duncan]

BTW - I shoot regularly at the Seattle Police Range and over the years, I've NEVER seen any city, county, state, or federal LEA that issued Sigma's to their officers.

Maybe they have two contracts with some poor rural 5-cop agencies but you won't see LAPD, NYPD Boston, Las Vegas, or the Dallas police packing them.

Funny many agencies still pack the SW revolvers. Wonder why? Because they make the finest revolvers. I have several.

But as to autoloaders, I can recommend the SW 3919. That is a fine gun. And the 10mm 1006 and 1076 are great too. But stay away from the . . .

STIGMA!

You'll get more rib shots than Evander Holerfield!

 

[BeLikeTrey]

5 yrs and counting

The sigma sw9f was my first pistol. Originally, I bought it for the wrong reasons. Capacity Capacity Capacity Capacity! The sights aren't too good on it, shoots low. But those can be changed. As I understand, the sigma sometimes tosses the front sight on the 40 cal. Last but not least, reloaded rounds tend to get lodged in the chamber (works fine on all factory loads though). possibly reloader error.

Now the good news, 17+1 is nice to have. people sell the high caps all day long at 50$ a pop. It shoots very reliably with the factory loads I have put in it. Pachmyer slip on grips make it even more ergonimical. The only failures I have had are when limp wristing it or with reloads. I trust it to carry if that helps.

The pistol is going to have it's supporters and it's detractors. This sounds alot like the numerous M16 discussions. And will end the same. You do what you feel is best. For the money the pistol is sound IMHO. As with
ANY weapon there are pluses and minuses.

If it helps you... A large police agency here, used to carry them. The front sight was the only complaint from them.