SIGMA History
Gentlemen, If I might. I was one of the first LEO's in my area to welcome the S&W SIGMA. I was thrilled that S&W, a long time, trusted American weapon manufacture decided to challenge almighty Glock in the LE world. S&W wanted to regain lost market share. If your old enough to remember, at one time in these United States, the ONLY weapon most LEO's carried was a S&W revolver in several different models. I still have my issue model 65-5 and shoot it very well. In the early to mid 90's, the "Wonder" LE weapon was the Glock 17. Glock knocked a home run as American Police scrambled to upgrade to automatic pistols. The trigger on the Glock auto was very similar to a double action revolver and the transition was easy for the LEO. S&W went from King of the Hill to "Who?" almost overnight. Smith decided to fight fire with fire and bring out their version of a polymer LE pistol. And Smith actually spent a very large sum of money(approx. $1,000,000 A lot, back then!) and time researching what makes a hand filling, comfortable grip on a pistol. End result was the SIGMA. As I learned years later, Smith was in financial strain and the "Bean Counters" forced the R&D department to release the weapon before it was ready. So while I was absolutely thrilled to use a modern, polymer LE pistol manufactured in the good 'ol USA, the end results were less than good. No sooner than the pistol was introduced, S&W announced upgrade parts. I took the S&W armorers course around that time and was trained as a Sigma armorer. I was shown how to adjust the weapon when it didn't work right. And a lot of them were not working right. And, try as we might, Armorers could not make them run right. I know because I tried and tried with no luck. Pistols were getting returned to S&W, left and right. Several US LE agencies had jumped on the SIGMA band wagon wanting an American made, polymer auto pistol and hey, it was S&W, what could go wrong? Constant operating problems that S&W had a hard time tuning out of the SIGMA, that's what could go wrong. Result? SIGMA's were now considered to be ill conceived junk, and LE departments were not happy with the overall reliability of the pistol. With Police budgets tight, a lot of departments were now stuck with a pistol that didn't work. A large amount of people using the SIGMA started talking about what kind of junk and jam-a-matic it was. And then Glock sued S&W for patent infringement. Glock said the SIGMA was a direct copy(BTW, It's not. It is similar but it's not a copy). S&W settled out of court with Glock and everyone thought that was the end of the SIGMA. S&W let the weapon languish for a short time as they re-engineered the whole weapon. End result after a time was the SW9VE. Now S&W had a good, strong, reliable polymer weapon that felt great in the hand. Problem now was a very bad reputation that S&W has been trying to live down for years. Original SIGMAs had a 4-5 lb trigger pull, a la Glock(but with a different "stack". More revolver like, for LEO's). New 9VE's have 10+lb trigger and I do not know if that is because of the Lawsuit with Glock, or, as I have heard, Mass State law on handguns. I have heard both. While S&W has stated that their most popular handgun is a SIGMA, based on sales, observe the fact that S&W has now announced a new pistol, the SD9 and 40. Close observation illustrates that the SD is a newly redesigned, reworked SIGMA. The SIGMA is easy to produce and takes no hand fitting just like Glocks. But the reputation of SIGMAs will not die(I love 'em and recommend them. You ought to hear the crap I hear about SIGMAs all the time. It's become an Urban Legend around the Gunstores!) and I believe S&W has decided to try get away from the SIGMA poison by bringing out the SD. From what I have seen of the SD, it should be a winner. And 1 other interesting note for people to contemplate on(and then I'll shut up. Sorry, I am a SIGMA fan). If the SIGMA was such a bad weapon in general, why does S&W sell the bejeezuz out of them, price not withstanding. Because they work and work very well, period.
BTW, because of past problems and reputation, S&W will warranty and replace any of the older model SIGMAs that have problems. And that was a lot of them. 16 years after the SIGMAs introduction and problems, S&W will still make a old model SIGMA right with repair or replacement, regardless of who owns it. Newer models, as well, if needed. My kinda Company. S&W, I love 'em.
My apologies for the lengthy post, but a lot do not know the history of the SIGMA. I do. I was there. (With respects to Elmer Keith, RIP)
Ofc.JL
