I purchased a SIG 220 in 45 ACP
It has gone bang with all the ammunition I stuffed into it. This one, I think the slide is blackened stainless steel, and the slide is milled. The one problem I had is the pistol shoots way low with a 6 OC hold. SIG customer service is a bunch of pompous asses, and told me that their sights are adjusted for center hold, the dot being the point of aim and impact. Since I can't see what I am aiming at when I cover it up with the front sight, I don't use that sight picture. And I resented them telling me that real experts use center hold. SIG was going to charge me $200 if I sent the pistol back, and they decided the sights were on. So, the heck with them, I spent that money buying adjustable sights which cost about as much as their service charge. I would have preferred having fixed sights that shot to point of aim, but, SIG parts are way over priced.
I talked to a Kimber employee at one National Match, he had also worked for SIG I think. I asked him if the milled slide was an improvement, and he said yes. The stamped slide, the
breech block is pinned into the slide, and those breech blocks come loose. Making that slide from one machined part eliminated that sort of a failure. However, there is a Cult of the stamped SIG P220, which you can see at
SIGTALK, and calling their Teutonic baby ugly is a sure way to get an atomic wedgie!
Now as a self defense pistol, I prefer the SIG configuration over the "cocked and locked" and striker fired.
For the 1911, the grip and thumb safeties are sear blocking safeties. These safeties do not, and were not intended to positively block the hammer, they are sear blocking safeties only.
John Browning knew that, and addressed the problem of sear breakage causing the firearm to discharge in this 1913 patent
John Browning Patent 1,070,582
Firearm
Patented Aug 19, 1913
Heretofore pistols of this class were provided with automatic safety devices which made it impossible to fire one or several shots unless a cartridge was in the barrel, a charged magazine in the grip and all parts in the proper closed and locked condition, the hammer cocked and the grips properly grasped to hold to the pistol in the firing position. If, with the pistol thus made ready for instant use, the occasion for firing or for continued firing had passed, and it was desired to make the pistol temporarily safe for carrying, it was necessary to lower the hammer to the safety position, and special means were provided for enabling the lowering of the hammer to be performed, if necessary, by the use of only the hand holding the pistol. Experience however, has shown that the exigencies of active military service make it at times necessary that the pistol be carried for a longer or shorter time with a loaded cartridge in the barrel, a charged magazine in its seat and the with the hammer cocked, so as to still remain ready for instantly firing a maximum number of shots without requiring any initial movement, except the pulling of the trigger. At the same time, it is as necessary that the pistol can be made safe to positively prevent its accidental discharge while being so carried. For fulfilling, as nearly as possible, these necessary but contradictory requirements, and additional manually operated combined slide-lock and hammer-lock of novel construction and with additional functions has been provided on the pistol, which services to at will lock the breech-slide and firing mechanism and make the pistol positively safe against discharge though a cartridge is in the chamber and the hammer is cocked, or to at will release these parts and make the pistol ready for firing; with this added device the locking or releasing of the slide and of the hammer require only a slight pressure by the thumb of the hand grasping the grip of the pistol, without demanding such attention, care and exertion as are required for cocking the hammer or for releasing and lowering the same.
A recess is provided in the hum of the hammer into which a portion of the stud k enters when in the raised position, see Fig.4, thereby the hammer is locked independently of its support by the sear, so that even under violent blows against the expose part of the hammer, which might break the point of the sear, the hammer cannot move.
Incidentally, the safety position to John Browning was the half cock. The Army had decided before this patent to carry the 1911 with a round in the chamber, hammer down, pistol in the flap holster. So the Army did not buy or incorporate this patent into the design of their 1911's. And that Army1911 configuration is what is called today, the series 70 1911. The series 80 is the abortion that Colt crapped out after kludging up the design.
Anyway, I don't want to carry a loaded and cocked pistol which will discharge, and has discharged, when the hammer is struck with enough force to break the sear surfaces, or the sear breaks without any external blow. I talked to a Master Class Bullseye shooter about this, and he said "
Remember Frank?" Well I had shot at Frank's Bullseye Pistol match, but I really don't remember Frank. Frank was shooing 2700, and during the timed or rapid fire stage, inserted his five round magazine, chambered the round on the load command, and the sear in his pistol broke. His 1911 fired all five rounds automatically and Frank was lucky he did not have six rounds in the magazine, as the fifth round put a hole in the brim of his hat! A sixth round would have gone through his forehead.
I also don't trust striker fired pistols, as the striker is pulled back under spring tension, and if the firing slips off the sear, the pistol will fire.
The SIG P320 will fire, has fired, when dropped on the back of the slide
Been lawsuits about the SIG P320. Sometimes the SIG P320 goes bang in the holster. I wonder if it the sear slipping off when the frame gets distorted. I am sure there are those who know.
Sig Sauer P320 pistol mishaps reported 2-18-2020
https://www.southwestledger.news/news/sig-sauer-p320-pistol-mishaps-reported
New England gunmaker faces another lawsuit from police officer, ABC News report
https://www.wcvb.com/article/sig-sa...maker-another-lawsuit-texas-officer/37388774#
Sig Sauer to Settle Lawsuit Over Alleged Safety Glitch in P320 Pistol
https://www.military.com/daily-news...t-over-alleged-safety-glitch-p320-pistol.html
Sig Sauer Faces $10 Million Lawsuit over P320 Pistol After Alleged Accidental Discharge Wounds Federal Agent
https://www.military.com/daily-news...fter-alleged-accidental-discharge-wounds.html
I find it interesting, so many people carry striker fired pistols, with a round in the chamber, that they don't consider carrying cocked and locked dangerous. Well, I consider both nuts and dangerous. Which is why I like the SIG P220 mode of a round in the chamber, and first shot a long, heavy trigger pull, like my beloved double action revolvers.
This is an early version of the SIG P220 operating system
and this was a later.
a thumb decocker, no flipper or levers to play with or forget.