S&W SIGMA .40 REVIEW

[lhowland.40]

So I know there's a bunch of reviews out there for the Smith & Wesson Sigma series pistols but I wanted to put mine out there. I bought this gun a few months back, not long after my 21st birthday. I knew for a long time as soon as I turned 21 I would be buying my first pistol and get my concealed carry license. I didn't really know what I wanted, I knew I would like anything from a Glock to Sig Sauer, Ruger. I was at a local shop with a buddy of mine while he was picking up a mossberg 500 cruiser, I was asking about some of the prices of the pistols to figure out what I would be looking at when I decided to make my purchase. He gave me what I thought was a unbeatable price of 250 for the S&W Sigma .40, although I did not plan on buying anything that day I couldn't resist. It came with 2 14rd mags and a lock. I was pretty excited when I took it home. That soon faded I started looking online at other peoples reviews and felt I had might had made a mistake. Everything I was reading was saying,that it was a piece of a crap and that it was just a wannabe glock. As I and probaly the majority of you know also glock did sue S&W for this gun, If you field strip my S&W .40 against a Glock 23 also .40 it is near identicle. So in a way it is a glock replica... So going to the range was a little nerve wrecking the first time I didnt know what to expect out of my 250 dollar investment. My first shot I was a little suprised.... I liked it. Although not my first time shooting a hand gun, I had previously only fired revolvers and rifles, so I instantly loved the feel of a semi auto pistol. After a few clips my spread was getting better and I was enjoying myself. After a few more times of going to the range and working on my stance and grip I felt I was getting pretty good. It had seemed I inspired another friend of mine to want to start carrying also. He purchased a Glock 23 .40 cal. He paid 520 for it. Came just about the same as my Sigma but 13rd clips instead of 14. I was pretty excited as was he to shoot the glock for the first time. I thought I was gonna find out what I had been missing out on. After a few rounds through it I honestly couldnt find much of a difference. We wan't back forth between both putting a couple hundred rounds through each. I still felt the same. I did notice the glock felt slightly smoother and I liked the polymer clips on the glock opposed to the S&W metal ones but besides that the day proved to be a slight ego boost for me. Although my friend loved his glock he agreed that for price I had gotten a steal. So to wrap it up my opinion is that this gun is underated and hated upon for issues that it may have had in the past. The new ones are a great gun for the price, not saying by any means there the best out because I am partial to Walther p99 but it is a great deal, and great gun for me for my everyday carry. Since I have gotten it I put about 500 rds through it no isssue's what so ever no jam ever. Of course I clean it after every range use to avoid issues but as should anyone. So don't let the negativity out there stray you away if you happen to find a good price on this gun.
Thanks for reading.

[nycems22]

Welcome to the club- a Sigma 40 was my first handgun, and I still carry it to this day. I trust the gun completely, only had 1 FTF and 1 FTE and that was on the first mag shot. Several hundred rounds later, never another failure. Has shot every ammo fed to it without a hiccup. The long heavy trigger was never an issue. My daughter learned to shoot with it when she was 10. She put all of her first shots on a 12" target at 25'.

[kel ruger man]

friend of mine has one and after a few thousand rounds, no issues and it shoots great. good gun for the money

[cruzans]

Thanks for posting. I've always considered one, seems like a great buy. The largest complaint I have heard is about the trigger. Glad you enjoyed it, and for the money, what a steal!
Oh yeah, get ready for a rash of sh&* about calling the magazine a "clip" - lol.

[schr8er2000]

Thanks for posting. I've always considered one, seems like a great buy. The largest complaint I have heard is about the trigger. Glad you enjoyed it, and for the money, what a steal!
Oh yeah, get ready for a rash of sh&* about calling the magazine a "clip" - lol.

and its a LICENSE TO CARRY A FIREARM... not a concealed carry permit... Just saying... no big deal to me but others will start hitting ya for it....

[freddy g]

I have the SW9VE 9mm version of your pistol, my friend has a glock 19 and it too is very similar to my SW in every way (sw trigger pull is a little harder) this gun is not my favorite gun but when i go archery hunting it is the pistol i take with me every time, it holds 16 + 1 rounds and it has never i mean never FTE or FTF no matter what cheap ass ammo i use,wolf steel case,reloads,wal-mart winchester white box bulk,it eats them all! when ever i teach a new shooter to shoot, this is the gun i let them shoot,it is very reliable,save and easy for a new shooter to handle, I never CC with it as it is kinda big compared to the subcompacts i carry, but i would bet with any ammo if i pull the trigger 16 times it will go bang 16 times . don't listen to the internet trolls that bash the S&W sigma line,most of them have never fired one. good luck with your new sigma and enjoy.

[QuackXP]

Welcome to the club- a Sigma 40 was my first handgun, and I still carry it to this day. I trust the gun completely, only had 1 FTF and 1 FTE and that was on the first mag shot. Several hundred rounds later, never another failure. Has shot every ammo fed to it without a hiccup. The long heavy trigger was never an issue. My daughter learned to shoot with it when she was 10. She put all of her first shots on a 12" target at 25'.

At $250 that is a good price. I have seen them sold close to the $400 mark with $300 being average.

I had a SW9VE. I can count one one hand the number of failures it had. All where during the first 500 rounds and half of those where from intentional limp wristing. Other than that it went bang every time I pulled the trigger.

I ended up later getting a S&W M&P 40 as I wanted something with a standard rail, excellent holster compatibility, and a better trigger. I kept the Sigma for a while but sold it to buy a TLR-2s for my M&P.

I cant really recommend the Sigma unless its a excellent deal or it's for someone on a budget.

[Lycanthrope]

Popping a couple springs out will help the trigger some.


Lycandoasearchherethrope

[lhowland.40]

Thanks for all the replys and feedback guys. Glad to have joined the community and I will also make sure I refer to my magazine to its proper name lol

[QuackXP]

Well... here is my story. I am a retired LEO and my former dept. was in the market for new hand guns. They needed to replace about 50 guns up front and another 50 soon after. As is often the case, money was an issue and the S&W rep. made them a good offer on the Sigma .40S&W. These guns had just come on the market and were sold as "glock clones" and with the S&W name behind them, it "seemed" like a no-brainer.

Almost from the start after having officers "attempt" to qualify with them, these guns were jamming big time! We weren't using cheap range ammo either; we only fired the same Federal rounds we carried. Jam after jam after Jam. Many of the Sigmas were sent back because they jammed up so bad no one could do anything with them, including our armorer.

I, on the other hand, just happen to have a gun that didn't jam... for a while anyway. For budgetary reasons, we had to keep these "guns" for a few years and eventually replaced all of them with the Glock 22/23.

I shot my gun for about two years with no problems. Then, out of the blue, it started to jam, and jam, and jam, just as the others had done. It was around the time we switched to the Glock, so I didn't have to contend with it. (And before someone makes a comment about the gun not being cleaned well and thus the jams... I am a fanatic about my weapons being clean. This gun was always properly cleaned and cared for.)

Now this was when these guns first came out and I understand S&W made some changes, etc. I'd still cough up the extra money and buy a Glock. I have owned and shot them for years and have never ever ever had a problem... EVER! That says a lot to me especially when your life may well depend on it.

Also, I know S&W is a firearms company with a long and reputable past. I also know of many many folks who will tell you the stuff they are putting out now is in no way comparable to the S&W's from years gone by.

The current, second generation Sigma (VE) have a better track record for reliability. But S&W basically gave up on them as a duity weapon at this point and is marketing the M&P line to Military & Police, hence the name.

The Sigma line is marketed as a low cost basic and reliable self defense firearm. I'm really wondering how long they are going to run with it though as the SD line is now being marketed heavily for the self/home defense role. Dry fire it has a better trigger than the Sigma but not as good as the M&P. It also has a standard rail vs a proprietary one. To be honest I think both the Sigma and SD lines are a bit overpriced. If you find a killer deal on them great, but there seem to be more deals out there on the M&P line and its not that big of a jump from either the Sigma or the SD line.

If you have a hard cap of $300 then the Sigma is great.

I'm not sure about the SD pricing as its so close to the M&P I cant see not spending the extra $100.

I think S&W should cut prices on the SD, get rid of the silly forward serrations
and get rid of the Sigma all together.