Smith and Wesson Sigma series

Kaos

I was currently looking into a semi auto from Smith and Wesson Sigma series. Not sure the exact model but its a 40S&W. Was all for buying it but someone told me to stay away from the sigma series because they are not put together as smith and wessons steel frame autos. For you people who know or own a gun from the sigma series, do you like it? Ever had any problems? Quality?

dads-freehold

greetings, i have had three sigmas , a 9v ,a 40c, and a 40f. all had feed problems at one juncture or another and the compact broke two firing pins because of the droping the hammer to field strip. on the plus side they are light carry, and fairly accurate out of the box, eazily concealed, cheap hyper mags. i don't have one now, but have thought of getting one in 357 sig, but i would not recomend any for primary carry, back up yes, primary weapon sould be a ruger p-series in 9mm or 40 cal. two other considerations are a star 30m in 9mm or the astra a100 in 9mm or 40 cal. because of rugged reliablity ,wieght, price and out of the box accuracy. respt submitted dads-freehold

if your going to be a savage, be a headhunter

ccasey612

I was looking at a sigma last week and I was thinking of bying one to carry because it was light like a glock but a whole lot cheaper. The guy at the store said he would sell it to me as but not if I was going to carry it. He said no one should put a life on that gun. It was a 9mm and he said if I just wanted to shoot something at the range that would be good but not to carry.

If you will blame gun makers for every shooting then blame car maker for every car accident.

mkirkland

I have a Sigma series .380. Shoots great never had a problem with it. I think the reason most people aren't happy with them is I think they are made of Zinc and second after S&W folded under Government pressure a lot of people quit supporting them. I think they have done an about face on the government thing after all of the bad press. I think they are great guns, but the pro's on this board probably have more facts pro and con than I do, so listen to what they have to say and make an educated decision.

Alpine

I have a 40 cal Sigma, I carry it for personal protection. Never had a problem with it, and I have poured a couple of thousand rounds through it. Never a feed problem, never a problem period. I have a couple of friends that carry the 40 Sigma on duty, and they also have had no problems with theirs.

Go figure.

"If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."

ATF

I just checked the S&W site they do not mfg. a .357 Sig in the Sigma.They made a few in the past .I have two,but they are no longer made.




ATF

Edited by - ATF on 09/25/2002 00:51:33

Edited by - ATF on 09/25/2002 00:52:38

offeror

Somebody said here recently, "Make a pretty Glock." Well, it's been tried -- the Sigma, the Walther 99, Springfield XD -- nobody seems to appreciate a "prettier Glock." Guess the real thing will have to do.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Prokote

This is an old thread, here is my 2bits.... The Sigma sw9ve is great from my experiences!!! Now I'm sure you negitive Sigma shooters have had problams. I guess I got lucky. Shucks I did'nt clean it often after shootimg either. Maybe that was the key? Like the 'ol ravens/jennings that seem to lose functionabilty afer the first one or two feild strips. I've gone through 2+K rounds thru it NEVER a misfeed. I used CCI speer gold dot. It's not a tac-driver, however at 0' to 40' target is mortaly wounded. I suck with Hand Guns maybe thats it also? She fires fine, OK follow-ups, sights pretty fast. God Bless The United States of America![:D]

Shoot straight!

punchie

Might as well throw in my 2 cents. The Sigma line as originally made was by the accounting dept. not engr or R&D. "Ok production, we need a pistol with these features at this price" Well, the easy way was to let somebody else do the design work and then cut every corner of manf. process to make it as cheap as possible.

This they did well for making a 'price leader'. Unfortunatly, they forgot to get Glock's permission and lost the patent infringement suit in court(might have been settled out of court, but they still lost). It was also designed for a life expectancy of 5,000 rounds to keep costs down thinking this to be adequate for 95% of the expected buyers. Quality control issues were very common on the first generation Sigmas.

Now for the good news. The current generation of Sigmas is a MUCH improved pistol. Most all of the originals quality problems have been corrected and it is now an entirely adequate pistol. The stygma of the originals still persists though.

Smith&Wesson stands behind their products 100%. I have even seen them replace one of the first gen Sigma POS with a brand new current gun. If possible beg, borrow or rent one for your own shooting evaluation. Looks like my 2cents changed into a nickle so I hope this helped.

AN ARMED SOCIETY IS A POLITE SOCIETY

bambihunter

I love S&W... That said, I had an older Sigma that I got shortly after my Glock. I still have the Glock and the Sigma got sold within a year or two after buying it, for the reasons already stated.
I think parts will get harder to get for the early models, but I could be WAY off base.

It doesn't matter what you shoot, just shoot it well...

Teamblue

I work part time for a federal law enforcement agency on a "contract" basis and am a full time LEO. One day I was shooting a qualification course for the Fed. agency and was next to one of the agents on the firing line. He was firing a Smith Sigma .40 full size and kept getting misfires with Winchester Ranger SXT LEO-only ammunition. This is very good and reliable ammo. We examined the primers and they showed marks. I put these same rounds into my Glock 27 I was qualifying with and every one went off the first time.

After seeing this and hearing stories about the subpar quality and performance of the Smith Sigma series, I would NEVER use a Sigma as a carry weapon where I may have to use it to defened my life or that of someone else. My Glocks, both issued and personal, have never failed to fire even one time. I depend on a Glock pistol every day to perform the first time every time. My life can depend on the performance of my sidearm. Literally.

Justice through Valor 1*

Nighthawk

I guess I got lucky I have a Sigma SW40V and have never had a problem with it.The .40 S&W isnt the most accurate cartridge,but I have 6 or 7 .40s includeing 2 Glocks and the Sigma shoots as well as any other I own.Ive shot alot of cheap ammo in mine without a clitch.I was kind of surprised to see the negative post on the Sigma.

Rugster


Toujours Pret

tr fox

I bought a S&W Sigma 40 cal in 1993 along with 3 high capacity mags to beat the "Gun ban" law. I fired 50 round through it and it worked fine. In 1998 in order to qualify to start carrying the Sigma for my job I went to the K.C. Mo Police range and under supervised fireing the gun malfunctioned 3 times during 50 rounds. The trigger "disconnected" aand the gun would not fire. Long story short, I shipped the gun back to S&W the same day and now due to a trade and a little money I carry a S&W model 4046 40 cal which is double action only and is all stainless with a visible hammer. My personal opinion is that S&W blew it on the Sigma and even if it is now a great gun it in my mind has such a terrible reputation I will never again depend on one to save my life. In fact the experience I had with the sigma has caused me to vow to never depend on another handgun with a polymer frame and no visible hammer.

if they don't want us to have guns for self defense, what do they want us to have?

idsman75

I've never owned or fired a SIGMA but everyone that I know who has owned one doesn't own one anymore. Every complaint I have heard stemmed from one of the earlier runs of the SIGMA series. Most folks that have purchased them recently seem to be satisfied. The SIGMA series isn't the only gun that had problems in its first inception. Let's not forget the Kel-Tec P-11. There were some issues with their earlier runs but have become great economical carry pieces in the opinions of most who own them.

Prokote

A New Sigma whether it be 9mm or 40sw is still much better than any kel-tek, certainly it's worth the extra $35-$60. I recently purchased a SW40VE Sigma at $215.00 seller paid shiping. Excellent condition I'm happy that was a deal! It cleaned up great, funtions perfectly. The VE models are great from my own experience.

Shoot straight!