There is almost as much disinformation about the 1076 as there is about the Miami Shootout.

I came in the Bureau in 1991 and was in one of the first classes to go through after the 1076 was recalled. We were issued Sig 226s off of the DEA's existing contract. Sigs were the issue handgun (both 226s and 228s) until Glock won the contract in the mid 90s.

The 1076 was very popular with street agents. Guys that had them could keep them for quite awhile after they stopped being issued. I was qualifying an Agent on his until 2005, when the FTU demanded its return and threatened his pay if he didn't send it in.

The FBI-lite ammo was all that was ever issued. There was never a problem with guys not being able to qualify with full power 10mm since it was never issued. The FTU tested a bunch of different bullet weights and velocities and settled on the 180/950 because it did everything they wanted it to do in the tests. That was all that was ever issued. Later, the bullet weight was bumped to 190 grains. That ammo is what I carry in my MP5/10.

I never heard anyone complain about the gun being too heavy or too hard to conceal.

From what I recall, the problems with the 1076 started with an incident where a guy on a bank robbery arrest found his 1076 was locked up solid afterwards - no shots were fired, but he couldn't retract the slide.

I've qualified lots of guys on their 1076s - I never saw one malfunction on the range. Guys that had them generally outshot everybody else. The guns were scarily accurate. I had an FBI 1076 that I bought when they were offered to agents for $300 - it worked fine with anything I fed it, from 10mm Silvertips to .40 S&W ammo. Yep, .40s worked just fine, though I've since heard its not a great idea.

There are others here with more experience with all of the drama surrounding the issue and recall of the Bureau's last Smith and Wesson. I hope they chime in. But I can state that in my experience the 1076 was a great gun, and most had to be pried from the fingers of Agents who dearly loved them.