It has been no secret the United States Army has been reviewing new weapon designs to maintain their efficiency and superiority in battle. The common prediction is sometime in the near future the troops may be switching to a 6.X millimeter rifle, but have recently accepted a new pistol, the Sig Sauer M17 (P320 in its civilian version) as a standard issue replacement for the Beretta, Glock, and a few other accepted brands of handgun.
The P320 is an exciting new fully ambidextrous weapon with a modular system which is easily able to change grip size to individual preference, caliber between most modern popular rounds, and barrel length for ease of use and overall accuracy.
The M17 received U.S. Army approval and passed military testing procedures to be included as a spec sidearm for troops armed with a pistol, and was recently followed by similar announcements from the Air Force, Navy, and Marines. The first round of Sig Sauers was issued to the 101st Airborne Division in November of 2017, and there are plans to purchase 421,000 more of the weapon between all four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. The ultimate plan is for there to be a single handgun all military forces use so training and practice can be consistent for every soldier.
Local police forces tend to follow the military, as the weapons the military uses have already been proven to be the most efficient for reliability and overall performance. It turned out the civilian P320 had a safety issue not shared by the M17, in that it could fire accidentally when dropped at a certain angle. As police chiefs around the country have pointed out, such an issue can be quite a problem as guns which are used daily do get dropped, especially when an officer is loading their other gear or conducting a job which is not focused on the weapon. In response, Sig Sauer developed a solution and conducted a voluntary recall to assure the gun would be safe to carry.
Civilian versions of the weapon are equally as efficient, and make for a great gun whether as a backup hunting weapon, use for home and personal defense, or as an extraordinarily precise target or competitive shooting.
Sig Sauer has worked around the clock to fulfill the recall obligation, and currently claims every pistol on the market is safe to use. With that said, it still might be a good idea to check with the company to assure a newly purchased P320 is not one of the few which haven’t received the upgrade. It is a great gun and worthy of consideration by anyone in the market for a new pistol.
~ Firearm Daily