Bought me a Sigma

[cd228]

hmm, a guy went to the gun store with a clear set of requirements and decision points, found a pistol that met them at the price he was willing to pay. I'd call that wining.

Congrats on the purchase and range session! Have fun.

 

[colt_saa]

I have probably owned a Sigma for 30 years now. They do exactly what they were designed to do.

Funny thing is I took a quick look in the safe and I actually own 6 of them right now.

Two of them are the seldom seen 357SIGmas. I admit to being a huge fan of the 357 SIG cartridge and that's what prompted me to buy these two

One of my Sigmas is an unusual factory prototype produced in Titanium. I have no idea why the Factory would do this since the cost of Titanium would skyrocket the price of the firearm. But there is only one SW40Ti known to exist. This unusual variation is mentioned on page 402 of the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson 4th edition (pg. 474 5th Edition)

The Sigmas began with the PAB serial number prefix and the first pistols were produced under product code 120021 and labeled as low serial number. My example of this product code was the 50th Sigma produced and is mentioned by serial number in the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson on page 399

I sometimes get a kick out of people who think that Glock sued Smith and Wesson over the gun design. Or that Glock has an entire wing of the building paid for by Smith and Wesson. The lawsuit was simply over the patent of the trigger design, nothing more. While the settlement is confidential I'm highly doubtful it was substantial

I will disagree with bobsguns, there are many Smith and Wesson Masterpieces that are no longer in production. In regards to semi auto pistols some of the ones that come to mind right away are the Model 52, the Model 845, and even the Model 3566 Limited. However I will agree that I do not think the 4506 is a Masterpiece. It is a nice semi auto just not a Masterpiece

 

[BC38]

I have one I picked up near new in box for a couple of hundred bucks a few years ago.
Not a target gun, not a great trigger, but boringly reliable.
I figured if they're close enough to a Glock for them to lose a patent suit, for half the price they couldn't be all bad.
They aren't.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

My SIGMA SW40VE was my 1st S&W semi-automatic purchase & my 1st in that caliber, but not my 1st S&W (nor the last in 40 S&W)...

Over the decades it has proven to be very accurate and 100% reliable with many different 40 S&W loads, both factory and reloads ranging from mild to (semi-)WILD. A bit of trigger improvement was easy and most appreciated.

Over the years it has been joined by other S&W semis-: three M&Ps, a Model 3913 & a Model 22a.

For under $15 per year it has been a fine investment that never asked for anything except a good cleaning. I have over the years acquired spare parts to totally rebuild both frame and slide, but it is still running great on the original recoil guide rod assembly.

Cheers!

 

[growr]

mine is as described by others....boringly reliable and for me quite accurate, but then again it is a .40 SW. AND is now my main carry gun!

Randy

 

[spricks]

I also have the same gun that I bought with a laser back in 2009.
It still runs flawless and feels perfect in the hand. I shoot it often
and don't regret the purchase.

 

[besshoudini]

I have one in 40 it is not a bad gun. I have 15 round mag now in MA we have to get 10 round mag if you want to carry it, do they make 10 round mag for it,

 

[colt_saa]

I have one in 40 it is not a bad gun. I have 15 round mag now in MA we have to get 10 round mag if you want to carry it, do they make 10 round mag for it,

Not only are they currently available from the factory, they're also on sale right now


Click for Factory SIGMA mag on sale

 

[bobsguns]

If Smith would fire all the bean counters and remake the 4506, and the 629-4 on CNC machinery, tighten up the tolerances and sell those guns for $1400, I’d be in line to buy them.

Smith is a publicly traded company. Board members serve at the vote of the stockholders. Stockholders want a return on their money. When they don't get one, they want to know why not & who else CAN deliver for them?

Sadly, bean counters & lawyers are here to stay in the gun business. Nor will they ever leave.

 

[CajunBass]

I've owned a couple three of them over the years. Like a lot of guns, they sort of come and go as first they, then something else catches my eye, but I always thought they were good guns. Nothing special either way, sort of a Model 10 of the semi-auto world. I had one in all black. The "Allied Forces" model I think they called it. I wish I still had that one, apparently they're sort of scarce. I don't think I ever saw another one.

I do remember they did feel great in my hand. About as good a feeling gun as I've ever handled. The triggers weren't awful. I certainly didn't think they were any worse than a Glock's trigger. I shot them about as well as I shoot any gun, which I admit might not be saying much, but I was satisfied with them. When I decided it was time to move onto something else, I never had any trouble selling them. Never lost a lot of money on one either.

Who knows. I might buy another one, one of these days.

 

[BC38]

I've owned a couple three of them over the years. Like a lot of guns, they sort of come and go as first they, then something else catches my eye, but I always thought they were good guns. Nothing special either way, sort of a Model 10 of the semi-auto world. I had one in all black. The "Allied Forces" model I think they called it. I wish I still had that one, apparently they're sort of scarce. I don't think I ever saw another one.

I do remember they did feel great in my hand. About as good a feeling gun as I've ever handled. The triggers weren't awful. I certainly didn't think they were any worse than a Glock's trigger. I shot them about as well as I shoot any gun, which I admit might not be saying much, but I was satisfied with them. When I decided it was time to move onto something else, I never had any trouble selling them. Never lost a lot of money on one either.

Who knows. I might buy another one, one of these days.

FWIW, I was perusing one of my favorite used guns websites just a couple of days ago and came across 3 or 4 of them. Prices in ranged from $290-$430 with most examples right around $300-$325.

So it looks like they're not really appreciating (most plastic fantastics don't) but they're still holding their value.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Colby got it right. Cheap gun that goes bang reliably. Nothing more. And nothing more expected by me.

Of course I could have bought a better, more costly gun, but chose what I did intentionally. Now I can shoot 9mm when I like, which I could not do before my purchase. That's ALL I wanted to accomplish.

This is exactly why several of my pistols, most at least, I buy as foreign police trade-ins. I've never got a bad one, and paying an extra $20-30 for "best of 10" has proven good for me. Last year for 2 sons-in-law I bought a .40 cal which was spotless (the S&W) ,so I got me one. I always check those out first, if caliber shopping. The G22 for the other one was like brand new.
Just a suggestion. I'm frugal with this type of "buying for trial use".

 

[BourbonCowboy]

This is the gun I wanted for years to use as a truck gun. I had ideas of getting the SD40VE and a conversion barrel with a few 9mm mags and having a dual-caliber truck gun. That would've been fun.

But after reading on the forum that this couldn't be done reliably, I gave up the idea and ended up getting a M&P40 police trade-in.

But I still wish I could've made it work with the SD platform. I just like the way they fit my hand.

 

[Echo40]

The SW40VE was my very first double-stack semiautomatic pistol and my first pistol chambered in .40 S&W.

I bought it back in October of 2019 for $199 after I happened upon it while purchasing ammo at my LGS. It served as my primary carry gun until 2023 when I scored an M&P40c for $269.

Nevertheless, I love my SW40VE, in fact it is sitting right beside me as I type, and I still carry it occasionally when I just want to grab something and go in a hurry since I keep it beside my chair at all times.

 

[Cemoto]

.
This first gen .380 has been in my safe for a very long time. Was my ankle carry for quite a few years.

.

 

[Echo40]

.
This first gen .380 has been in my safe for a very long time. Was my ankle carry for quite a few years.

.

There's an interesting thing I've heard about those SW380M Models, apparently S&W is so ashamed of them that if you contact them about one in regards to repairs or replacement parts, they'll offer you a trade-in on a brand new M&P Pistol, just to get it off the market.

 

[Taj]

You can say what you want about the old Sigma but they were a very tough pistol and always went bang. I worked there when that pistol came out and we were told we had to sell it into the LE market. When Glock was still having catastrophic failures with .40 S&W caliber pistols, one of our sales guys was proving how tough the Sigma was a s part of his sales demo. John would take and drive a .40 caliber bullet into the bore of one of his sample guns, chamber a live round behind it, and shoot the gun. He never had a catastrophic failure and most of the time it wouldn't even bulge the barrel. I watched him do it with the same pistol 3 times during one demo before the barrel finally bulged but it wasn't even significant enough to disable the pistol. S&W always did a great job of heat treating their barrel and they were through heat treated not just case treated like Glock does with he Tenifer process.

 

[charlie sherrill]

You guys wanting a cheap truck gun? There are a lot of S&W M&P and Glock police trade ins out there right now for under $300.00 in various calibers. They may not be as pretty as a new one but they are certainly reliable. I had a guy call me yesterday with a Sigma 9 mm and a S&W model 12 2". He said he wanted $150 for each one. I told him I would take both. He agreed until I told him I was going to run both serial numbers before I gave him the money. He then told me his wife sold them both while we were on the phone. I told him not to call me back.

 

[Dirtman]

I thought my purchase of one of these might provoke a little controversy. Interesting that most of it is negative, eventhough I made it clear what my decision making process was.

What did I want? A cheap 9mm pistol that was functionally reliable.

I have no concerns about the trigger or less than great accuracy. If it shoots minute of white paper plate at say, 15 yards, that's good enough for me.

The only thing that would aggravate me would be if the gun doesn't shoot and eject reliably. I expect it will.

I'll report my results when I get a chance to hit the range.

I had a SW9VE Sigma that I sold to my son in law cheap (family discount) and he carried it for years. That little pistol never misfired the whole time I had it and my SIL has had no problems with it. The one thing I have not seen in all the critiques here is how good the pistol felt in the hand. I wish all my pistols felt so good. The only reason I got rid of it was because of the trigger. It sucked but he didn't mind.

 

[Brian Parrish]

Post #22
I learned about the lawsuit from you today. I have never heard the truth about this before now. I love "gun people", I AM a gun people, but truth is we gun people repeat stupid myths like as if they was fact!

Post #37
I learned from you today about the comparative strength of the Sigma to the early Glock. That salesman was totally committed! Cracked frames?! That is all you ever hear.

[WARNING! OFF-TOPIC STATEMENT FOLLOWS.]
The stupidest gun myth ever told was that the M1 Carbine would not shoot through the quilted jackets of North Korean attackers. Before you listen to anything that some nincompoop on the internet has to say, just check first to see how stupid he is.

Great thread!
Kind Regards,
BrianD