Sig Sauer manufactures some of the best weapons on the market in my opinion. I'm still loving my P238 .380, it packs a hell of a punch for it's compact size. During my testing of this weapon I noticed something that absolutely blew my mind.
As you know, when firing most semi-automatic handguns the slide will lock once the magazine has been emptied. Standard procedure at that point is to eject the empty mag, drive a new mag home and grab the back of the slide, pulling it back, in order to chamber a round from the fresh mag. This process takes only a second, maybe two, if you've trained for it. Well, ladies and gentlemen, have I got something interesting for you. There I was, testing out my new P238, having a ball when I emptied the mag. So, I eject the spent mag, take my freshly loaded mag, drive it home and.....the freakin slide lock released and chambered a round!!! Holy Hell!!! Do you have any idea how cool that is? Needless to say my husband and I were in awe. I've never seen a handgun do that before. After the initial shock wore off we decided to do some tests. Was this caused somehow by the FMJ rounds I was using. The answer is no. We found this to be a constant result not affected by the type of round in the mag. Even tried it with an empty mag...yep, got the same results.
Now, like I said. This is by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen on a handgun. Even my husband, who has trained rigorously on reloading, admitted that such a feature could save a few precious seconds (or more depending on your skill and comfort level) and possibly save a life.
I needed a bit more info so I called Sig Sauer customer service. When I explained to the gent why I was calling he gave a knowing chuckle and said that it's actually not an intentional function. I could tell this was not the first time this guy had heard of this. So I asked him if they had had a large amount of complaints on this. He said that they had some calls, but no complaints. Everyone that has had the chance to use this weapon and experience this little quirk loves it! Now, there haven't been any reported instances of slide locking failures so Sig's going with the flow at this point.
When we look back at history we see that so many of greatest triumphs have happened unintentionally. Could Sig have stumbled onto something accidentally that may change the future of handgun production? Could this be the next big breakthrough that gives our law enforcement and military personnel a few precious seconds that may save their life or the life of someone else? Only time will tell.
For now, Sig's the only weapon I will have on my side.
