Sig P320 problem

[Grunt67]

Has anyone seen anything or experience with the Sig P320 discharging without the trigger being pulled.

Saw on Ch, 4 News just now that there have been several instances of this happening. The guy on the news said he was getting out of his truck,

when the pistol fired hitting him in the leg, causing a serious injury. Had a scar from his knee down his lower leg, He said the bullet is still in his Fibula.

From what I've read, the safety in front of the trigger, that most have is not there due to the design.

Thoughts??

[TNman207]

I have never known a person who experienced an issue with the P320 firing on its own. I currently own a P320 and have had a few in the past that I used in my early days of USPSA completion. I have NEVER had a firing misfunction. 

[spurge]

I’ve never had a problem with the P320. My friends and I have them out all the time and none of us have had any issues. 

[krunchnik]

Listening to any news outlet is a trial in trust-mostly you can't-

There was an event that happened a few years ago with a Glock-same deal he was getting out of his vehicle and the Glock just went off-yea right-

I do not for a second believe that they will just go off for no reason at all other than gravity-yup that's what causes it alright-gravity[SARC]just in case it's not recognized-

Most all of these have been proven that something entered the trigger guard-

[chances R]

Been an ongoing issue since the pistol came out.  Several lawsuits have been successful, most dismissed.  Sig issued a recall.  Bad trigger made worse.  Now they changed owner’s manual to carry with unloaded chamber.  Several trainers forbid 320 use in class.

[Defunct Ammo]

I saw a report just today that left a woman permanently blinded in her left eye when her P320 exploded at the range.

[Grayfox54]

This one of those things that the factory says is completely untrue, yet there are reports of it still happening. I have enough doubt that I'll never own one. But then, I don't like plastic in general anyway. 

[noid]

I've had one for 5 years now with 0 issues. When they issued the recall a couple of years ago I mailed my pistol off for whatever fix they implemented. I continue to have no issues with mine.

I don't carry it day to day (I've got my P365XL for that) so maybe that's why I've not had any issues. That said, this seems to come up often enough that it makes me think there's something there.

[threeshot]

6 hours ago, chances R said:

Been an ongoing issue since the pistol came out.  Several lawsuits have been successful, most dismissed.  Sig issued a recall.  Bad trigger made worse.  Now they changed owner’s manual to carry with unloaded chamber.  Several trainers forbid 320 use in class.

Also the Marine Corps is encountering uncommanded discharges.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/military-news/sig-p320-engineering-review-recommended-in-marine-corps-report/

 

I am also reading from police firearms instructor/armorer that police agencies are starting to replace Sig 320 with Glock G45/47s , S&W M&Ps  and Walther PDPs.

And other police agencies have banned the Sig 320.

[TGO David]

12 hours ago, chances R said:

Been an ongoing issue since the pistol came out.  Several lawsuits have been successful, most dismissed.  Sig issued a recall.  Bad trigger made worse.  Now they changed owner’s manual to carry with unloaded chamber.  Several trainers forbid 320 use in class.

The recall was a drop safety issue.  They corrected that YEARS ago and anyone who still has a pre-recall gun in pre-recall state has no excuse for their gun being in that condition.

The new claims are that some of these guns somehow go off on their own.  I am very skeptical of it and never had any problems out of my P320 and it sat for months in my safe, holstered with a loaded chamber, and it never fired on its own.

We may find that there are some tolerance stacking issues that affect a small percentage of these guns, or we may find out that human beings will almost always blame something other than themselves or their garbage-tier holsters when a negligent discharge occurs.

I'm still waiting to see this problem (a.) reproduced and (b.) thoroughly analyzed.  So far it hasn't happened.

 

[TGO David]

10 hours ago, Defunct Ammo said:

I saw a report just today that left a woman permanently blinded in her left eye when her P320 exploded at the range.

That happens with Glocks also and isn't the problem anyone here is discussing.  "Kabooms" have been around for as long as bad ammo has slipped through manufacturing.

[TGO David]

9 hours ago, Grayfox54 said:

This one of those things that the factory says is completely untrue, yet there are reports of it still happening. I have enough doubt that I'll never own one. But then, I don't like plastic in general anyway. 

I mean... sure.  I guess.   

 

[deerslayer]

There are a couple videos where guys repeatedly demonstrate the failure of the firing pin/drop safety in a controlled setting.  Obviously, accidental/negligent discharges won’t happen with a gun sitting in a safe; there is some sort of movement/vibration/jostling associated with the alleged uncommanded discharges.  Maybe it’s human error or maybe some 320s are mechanically flawed just enough to fire when the stars line up just right.  Between the iffy drop safety and the rash of kBs with 320s, I don’t want one.   

[Grayfox54]

41 minutes ago, TGO David said:

I mean... sure.  I guess.   

 

Guilty as charged. 

[TGO David]

1 hour ago, Grayfox54 said:

Guilty as charged. 

I'm right there with you on a lot of other things.   

 

[TGO David]

1 hour ago, deerslayer said:

There are a couple videos where guys repeatedly demonstrate the failure of the firing pin/drop safety in a controlled setting.  Obviously, accidental/negligent discharges won’t happen with a gun sitting in a safe; there is some sort of movement/vibration/jostling associated with the alleged uncommanded discharges.  Maybe it’s human error or maybe some 320s are mechanically flawed just enough to fire when the stars line up just right.  Between the iffy drop safety and the rash of kBs with 320s, I don’t want one.   

We have the technology to test things to failure.  You can use robots, fixtures, and other automation to simulate a wide variety of conditions in a repeatable fashion for thousands of repetitions all under the watchful eye of cameras. 

Sooner or later, someone has to offer up one of these "faulty" P320s and subject it to the full battery of the scientific method.  Once that happens, we'll have the answers we all seek.  Until then, we've got nothing more than armchair engineers throwing shade at the P320 and 99% of them are doing it because controversy translates to monetization on social media.

 

 

[deerslayer]

41 minutes ago, TGO David said:

Sooner or later, someone has to offer up one of these "faulty" P320s and subject it to the full battery of the scientific method. 

I wonder if Sig has ever pursued that. 

[TGO David]

5 minutes ago, deerslayer said:

I wonder if Sig has ever pursued that. 

I wonder as well, but there is a contingent of people on social media who believe that Sig has obtained all of these supposed faulty guns as part of their out of court settlements and then buried them deep within the same warehouse that the Ark of the Covenant was wheeled into at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I always doubt those conspiracy theories because people don't keep secrets well enough to make them viable, but... if big dollar corporate lawyers are involved, maybe?

 

[Defunct Ammo]

12 hours ago, TGO David said:

That happens with Glocks also and isn't the problem anyone here is discussing.  "Kabooms" have been around for as long as bad ammo has slipped through manufacturing.

I figured just as much. But with everything going on as of late I thought it was worth noting.

[ironheartz05]

My father had a ND with his p320 recently 

[Whisper]

3 hours ago, ironheartz05 said:

My father had a ND with his p320 recently 

Any more details on this?  Was it an ND, which would entirely be his fault, or was it one of the "uncommanded discharges" that are getting so much attention?

Thanks,

Whisper

[Erich]

Last month’s thread on the P320 self discharge-a-palooza

https://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/140056-sig-p320-carry-range-only-or-sell/#comments

The video posted of the cops gun going off was the first I’’d seen, so there is that. But like David said…more data and reproducible results that don’t involve some guy jamming  picks into a frame are needed.

I’d take theMilitary cases witha grain of salt. You don’t have to try hard to find multiple reports of ND’s with our military’s previous sidearms. Maybe Beretta is much better at coverup than Sig?  Or something about 18yo’s and guns? 

Edited yesterday at 12:43 PM by Erich

[deerslayer]

23 hours ago, TGO David said:

That happens with Glocks also and isn't the problem anyone here is discussing.  "Kabooms" have been around for as long as bad ammo has slipped through manufacturing.

 

10 hours ago, Defunct Ammo said:

I figured just as much. But with everything going on as of late I thought it was worth noting.

I don't hear much about Glocks kBing any more.  Older Glocks with roomier chambers and poly rifling were the usual suspects, especially .40 guns, ESPECIALLY if lead bullets were being used.  I don't know why a gun would blow up with good ammo unless it fired out of battery.  320s mysteriously blowing up has been a little too common lately.  I saw one self-destruct with factory ammo.  The factory can make bad ammo too, but I think it's a lot less likely.  I wonder if out-of-battery is possible with a 320. 

 

ETA:

I didn't know 320 case support was this lacking.  I usually roll my eyes when I hear "not fully supported" but there is quite a bit of brass exposed as Ben Stoeger shows below.  It's also interesting that he mentions firing out of battery.  He is probably exposed to more 320s than most Sig employees. 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:08 PM by deerslayer

[Whisper]

43 minutes ago, deerslayer said:

I don't hear much about Glocks kBing any more.  Older Glocks with roomier chambers and poly rifling were the usual suspects, especially .40 guns, ESPECIALLY if lead bullets were being used.  I don't know why a gun would blow up with good ammo unless it fired out of battery.  320s mysteriously blowing up has been a little too common lately.  I saw one self-destruct with factory ammo.  The factory can make bad ammo too, but I think it's a lot less likely.  I wonder if out-of-battery is possible with a 320. 

Agreed.  I personally witnessed this happen twice at matches I was shooting in the 1990s.  Both times with .40 Glocks firing lead bullets.

I know several people who shoot P320s and say they're totally satisfactory, but the number of Kbooms and "uncommanded discharges" with these guns is concerning.  I'd like to believe that whatever is causing the problem is confined to the 9mm version of the P320, and doesn't affect the .45 and 10mm versions, which have a different (larger) FCU.  But I'm not sure of that....

Cheers,

Whisper

[larry1096]

On 5/16/2025 at 8:25 AM, TGO David said:

The recall was a drop safety issue.  They corrected that YEARS ago and anyone who still has a pre-recall gun in pre-recall state has no excuse for their gun being in that condition.

The new claims are that some of these guns somehow go off on their own.  I am very skeptical of it and never had any problems out of my P320 and it sat for months in my safe, holstered with a loaded chamber, and it never fired on its own.

We may find that there are some tolerance stacking issues that affect a small percentage of these guns, or we may find out that human beings will almost always blame something other than themselves or their garbage-tier holsters when a negligent discharge occurs.

I'm still waiting to see this problem (a.) reproduced and (b.) thoroughly analyzed.  So far it hasn't happened.

 

And that's part of my issue with Sig, to be honest-there's no such thing as a 'pre-recall' or 'post-recall' P320, because Sig NEVER did a recall. They did a 'voluntary upgrade', which means any used Sig you encounter could potentially not be updated, and therefore not drop-safe.

As far as 'my Sig has 5,000 rounds and has been fine', folks are missing the laws of really big numbers here. Sig has sold, by their own account, about three and a half MILLION P320's of all configurations. During that production run, parts suppliers have changed, machine processes have changed, QC inspectors have changed. If this is some stack-up of error or tolerance stacking issue, the iterations that would need to be tested are potentially in the thousands. If only one run of sears were out of spec, and were caught by all but one QC inspector, there could still be thousands of guns in the wild with an unsafe condition.

 

And I'll admit; ever since Sig told me I'd pay shipping both ways for a disconnector that crumbled in under 500 rounds on my $1,200 Nightmare Carry, I have some serious doubts about their commitment to quality. Combine that with the machining on the inside of that pistol, and I genuinely wonder what they would actually let out the door with their logo on it. 

 

Larry