Sigma for On Duty Police Carry

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jtpur

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I love my Sigma.. Shoots great. It is the first 9mm I have owned. I am retired now and always carried a Model 19-3........When my Department finally allowed semi auto's I was working a desk and had no reason to go out an buy a new gun, so I just stayed with revolvers. I was wondering if any of you current LEO's carry the Sigma on duty and if so what are your experiences with its durability?
 
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I seriously doubt anyone carries a Sigma as a duty weapon, unless they are something like a Town Marshall in a small town and have to buy thier own. When I take my Sigma to the range, all the LEOs just about laugh me off the range. They usually feel so sorry for me, they let me shoot thier Glocks. Although, I have to admit I do see a difference, it really isn't that great. My gun goes bang when I pull the trigger and the bullet hits pretty close to the POA. I wouldn't argue with them about thier guns, but I do hate to hear them bash the M&P for no good reason, other than they don't own one. My Sigma is dependable, but I do have a minor malfunction occasionally. Not bad enough to cause a bunch of concern, but I'm not sure I'd stake my life on it. It's strange, because I have around 1200 rounds through her and the problems are a random few that I can't seem to duplicate. I figure operator error is probably the cause, but I can't seem to duplicate that either. Started off with a few light strikes when the gun was new that seemed to work itself out, but I experienced a couple of FTE stove pipes out of about 300 rounds the last time I went to the range. Couldn't find any reason, other than possibly limp wristing, so I cleaned her up good and plan to try again. Fortunately, they were easy enough to clear that I think I could do it under pressure. I do keep mine loaded on my night stand. Just wish I had a little more confidence in it. I'm considering trading it off for an M&P.
 
I knew a deputy who carried a SW40VE on duty, they were issued Beretta 9mm's but had the option of carrying a bigger caliber if they bought their own gun. He did take a lot of crap from some of the guys, but just blew them off and told them he couldn't care less what they thought. I went to a few qualifiers with him over the span of 2-3 years; he always qualified without issue, no malfunctions, no surprises. Eventually his department mandated they carry Glock 22's and his SW40VE went away.

I don't carry my SW9E on duty or use it for any SD/HD purpose, but I would not be afraid to do so.
 
There were many pd's using them at one time. Don't know about any more though.
 
Yup free gun, why NOT love it. I had a mod22. pos. Got me a nice 669 Smittie to go with my 40ve and yes I carried the ve and believe me nobody laughed..btw still do..
 
Why anyone would laugh about a gun that fires every time you pull the trigger is beyond me. At least it's not Lorcin.
 
When I was in law enforcement, revolvers ruled. More recently, I worked for an armored car company, and a guy who worked part-time for us also worked full-time for a local suburban P.D. and he carried the .40F. I got to shoot it once, and while the trigger pull was heavy, it went "bang" every time, and I was able to shoot it reasonably accurately. While I can't swear to what other guys on that department carried, my co-worker did mention others that had the same gun as he did, so there were at least a couple in this area...
 
Not sure if is current now but back in 2003 and 2004 the Tennessee
State Park officers all carried S&W 40VE's. Several of the officers that
I chatted with from time to time while camping liked the Sigma very
much and had no compaints.
 
Our department had blocks for the special ops team which they got rid of when the whole departmen went to Sig 239's.
 
Interesting comments. I asked the question because when I was still on active duty I happened to mention to one of our range officers how much I liked the S&W line and he said, it was no longer true they were making plastic guns that were crap. I did not realize it then but he must have been talking about the Sigmas. What is interesting is that in 20 plus years of service, I always used my trusty Mod 19. I qualified a min of twice a year and I had in all that time one light strike with some crapy reloads we used to save money. It went bang the second time I pulled the trigger. But in all those years guys had lots of misfires with a variety of semi auto pistols, S&W, Beretta, and whatever else they authorized. Until this forum I never knew the animosity exhibited to the Sigma. I think if I were still on duty, I would have no problem or worry about it being my duty weapon.
 
The people that had problems were the ones that were not good shooters. They were too busy complaining about the trigger and dropping shots low to learn to shoot properly. I heard scary statistics when I took my carry class about the percentage of officers who were having to take qualification tests 3 and 4 times and still barely pass. The class was taught by a swat officer and he said if it weren't for the requirement of the number of officers they had to have that they would have far less simply because people can't shoot or were taught improper shooting techniques and they were having to retrain them. He raved about the sigma and said the Sigma makes better shooters. "If you can shoot a sigma well, you can shoot anything well". I qualified 100% with my sigma and went back a month later and shot my new M&P 40c and only got 98%. He teased me and asked me what happened. I was consistently shooting left (I always do) but the cold and the raining had me shaking so bad I couldn't feel my finger tips.
 
Thanks for posting this thread. The Model 19 never let you down, and neither will the sigma!

What really gets under the skin of the internet cowboys, is the fact that the sigma does everything that their foreign made guns do, for much less money.

It drives them crazy! That's one reason they go all out to put the sigma down. Another, is the fact that they can't shoot the gun. Remember, on the internet, anything over 4 lbs is no good.

The sigma is designed as a defense gun and has a hefty but smooth DAO pull. Knowing that you are an expert on the 19, the sigma will be a piece of cake for you. I grew up on the beloved Model 10, so I know what I'm saying.;)

Lee
 
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It's been my experience that the Sigma suffers the same sort of treatment as the Hi-Point. I've owned both and liked both.

Bashers = People who never handled the weapon, "My brother's, Sister's, Cousin's, Mother's, Uncle's neighbor had one and it was crap"

Lovers = People who actually have the weapon and know what they are talking about.
 
The current VE does get unfairly bashed quite often, especially by internet commandos. It suffers from the poor reputation of the previous generation Sigmas, which is my experience, was deserved. The last department I worked for in Virginia, before I made the move back to North Carolina, had the 40F as a duty weapon for several years. It was eventually dropped in favor of the Glock 22 because of many and serious reliability issues with the 40F. It wasn't dropped because officers couldn't shoot it, it was dropped because it didn't work. I was a firearms instructor when I worked in VA also. In that capacity I got to see a lot of agencies with a lot of different guns. Several of the agencies I instructed for also had the 40F. I never saw an issued gun more unreliable than the Sigma 40F.

My department currently mandates the Beretta 96FS. I don't have the option of carrying my 9VE on duty, but I wouldn't hesitate to count on it for home defense if need be.

The Sigma still has, and pobably always will have, a bad reputation in LE circles. It may not be fair anymore, but its a reputation that was earned by the previous Sigma series.
 
My father-n-law as a Glock 17 and I can put a 10 shot group the size of a quarter. Funny thing is, I can do the same with my Sigma. Every time I pull the trigger it goes bang. EVERYTIME! period..
 
.357 mag said:
Funny thing is, I can do the same with my Sigma. Every time I pull the trigger it goes bang. EVERYTIME! period..
Click to expand...

Take it from my friend, .357 mag. His sigma has gone bang over twelve thousand times in a row without a hiccup!;)

My 4 month old baby is at eleven hundred and five, and counting!:)

Lee
 
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I m really happy to see so many respondents to this little post, and want to thank each of you who has chimed in. Unfortunately, once something gets a bad rap it seems to stay that way. I fly too and I cant tell you the number of myths surrounding aircraft because in an early phase someone crashed and blamed it on the plane when it was the pilot....on occasion planes suffer problems and long after they are fixed the stigma is still there...so shall we say the Stigma of the Sigma. I'm glad I was ignorant when I bought mine or perhaps I never would have bought it...I just kinda figured if S&W made it, then it was good, and you know I think I was correct....
 
If I paid $600 for my gun, and you paid $300 for yours, if I don't say mine is great and yours is crappy, I'd look stupid for paying too much.
 
I know one person that carries a 40VE with a trigger job. He loves it and I shot it, after shooting it I was happy that I got the 9mm and not the .40, it when bang every time I shot it just like my 9VE.
 
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