SW380

Buckeye63

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Found two of theses today at a LGS ..one carried alot..one as new..interesting firearms....anyone here with any experience with them ?
 
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I came across one at my LGS a few years back, anib and paid like $175 for it! Only had it to the range once and reliability was less than stellar. If memory serves me correct it had a great deal of trouble even getting through a mag full without a stoppage. In the guns defense though, I have never gone back with a variety of ammo to see if I could find something it liked.
Tiny sights and light weight made it as challenge to shoot. But as a back up gun it would probably be alright if you could find ammo it liked. It still sits in the back of my safe and maybe someday I will take the time to see if I can find something to make it shoot.
 
The LGS ..really have the guns overpriced...way overpriced...seems like they have everything that way...though..
 
The LGS ..really have the guns overpriced...way overpriced...seems like they have everything that way...though..

Its crazy how the prices can vary from shop to shop...

I know that S&W has the SDVE series MSRP set at $389 on their website. But a disclaimer that the dealer sets actual pricing...

A couple of shops near my house have about a $50 range in pricing... One shop wants $400 for the SDVE, and another one wants $350....
 
-I bought mine about 7 weeks ago. Price was $329.99. Paid $351.44 out the door. A couple weeks after I got mine, another gun shop ran a sale on them for $299.99 plus tax. The deals are out there if you look for them...

L8R,
Matt
 
Yes, I own one of those, it is a Baby Sigma in .380. If you notice they are not made to take to the range every week. You have to drive out the Rear Takedown Pin to break them down. It has no magazine release on the gun itself, you have to squeeze the Magazine Catch on the bottom of the magazine. There are no levers and the sights in recessed in a rail that runs along the top. It was made to carry concealed with nothing to snag on your clothing.

It is very light and is no fun to shoot. About 50 rounds and you are ready to give the hand a rest. Mine never jammed and I still carry it when nothing else will work, like yesterday at the dentist.

Mine is still in pretty good shape with only a couple of dings in the rear of the slide when I dropped it on the asphalt parking lot at a motel. I was testing the drop safety and it passed the test. :D :D :rolleyes:

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I have owned two of these (one was unfortunately stolen out of my car) and have never had any problems - load it with Hydra-Shoks, put in your pocket and go.

The SW9M 9mm version, however, was a piece of junk - mine was plagued with light primer strikes. It was sent back to S&W never to be seen again. They sent me a SW9VE as a warranty replacement which was nice but hardly a pocket pistol.
 
all that matters is if it goes bang when you pull trigger everytime. its designed as a BUG
 
I've had one since shortly after it came out, so its been quite a few years. I'd been on a quest for years for the perfect pocket pistol but never found anything that filled the bill. When the Sigma380 came out it looked perfect for CCW duty and it was! It was surprisingly accurate for self defense pocket pistol. It had an issue where the last round would experience a feeding jam. I carried it anyway because it was a great CCW.

In the last couple years I sent it to Smith to fix the mag issue. Both mags came back with a different mag base and stronger mag spring. Last round feeds now. :)

The Sigma 380 got dissed pretty hard usually by people who don't carry every day or all day. Its designed for a specific purpose and bullseye target shooting with thousands of rounds per year is not one of its purposes.
 
Great point

Great point Jaysq

If there are any novice persons on here they might not think about the ease of break down and cleaning.
 
Even though I was armed, I still got robbed...:D :D

That caused me to spit out my morning coffee, but being robbed at the dentist for years caused me to appreciate that comment..

And that thing is just F U G L Y...period.

I think I'd rather have an LCP 380...that can be shot here and there..
 
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Another feature of the Sigma 380 that was misunderstood is the gap between the slide and frame. That was done on purpose for functioning because pocket carry creates a lot of lint. Seems counter-intuitive like the gap would allow more lint into the action but it doesn't work out that way in real life. Even ankle carry can stuff a baby Glock full of lint or organic gunk.

I've never had my Sigma 380 apart in the 20-25 years I've had it. Once or twice a year I blast the gap area with compressed air. Really haven't seen a reason to tear it apart like I have with other models of handguns.
 
What kind of warranty does S&W have on these? I just bought a used one and it seems plagued with problems- FTE's , last round not feeding, and mag having trouble staying put while firing-
 
What kind of warranty does S&W have on these? I just bought a used one and it seems plagued with problems- FTE's , last round not feeding, and mag having trouble staying put while firing-

I had issues with last round not feeding with the original mags. When I sent it in years later (2-3 yrs ago) it came back with obviously re-designed mags. No longer any issue with last round feed and the mag release tabs were really re-designed, very robust!!

All I did was print off the repair form from the S&W website, fill it out and send it via their instructions. As far as how good the warranty is....well, if Bubba has been "gunsmithing" on it you could be in bad shape. If it hasn't been "modified" they'll probably cover it. In my case everything was factory original so no problem.

FWIW I have occasional, random fail-to-feed. No rhyme or reason. Pretty sure its ammo related because for practice I only use whatever is available instead of high priced Corbon, etc. I could polish (not grind) the ramp that'd likely help.
 
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