SIG Sauer announced this week the release of the P320-M18, the commercial variant of the M18 pistol recently chosen as the official sidearm of the U.S. Marine Corps.
SIG secured the coveted Modular Handgun Contract from the U.S. Army in 2017, which included a full-sized 9mm handgun (the M17) as well as a more compact version (the M18). The company has shipped over 100,000 sidearms to the U.S. military, and now they’re making the M18 commercially available.
“The P320-based M17 and M18 are among the most tested handguns in history and the pair has been proven to be unmatched in both accuracy and reliability,” said Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer, and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales. “We are very proud that with the P320-M18, civilians can now own the same innovation and versatility that has made either the M17 and M18 the handgun of choice for all branches of the U.S. Military.”
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The P320-M18 is virtually identical to the military version and features a 3.9” barrel, compact slide, and what SIG calls a “carry length grip module.” The grip is coyote-tan, and the slide is coyote PVD finished. It also includes an ambidextrous slide release and ambidextrous manual safety.
It ships with one steel 17-round magazine and two steel 21-round magazines to most states, and three steel 10-round magazines to states with magazine capacity restrictions.
Like the M17, the M18 is optics-ready and comes with a slide that accepts a SIG ROMEO1Pro Optic or a Leupold Deltapoint Pro. It also features night sights on the front and rear.
The serial number uses an exclusive “M18-XXXXXX” designation.
The majority of the Army’s 195,000 MHS handguns will still be the full-sized M17 model, according to Task & Purpose. But the Air Force and Navy plan to purchase 130,000 and 60,000 M18 handguns, respectively, and the Marine Corps went all-in on the M18 and made it their official sidearm.
Specs
- Caliber: 9mm
- Overall Length: 7.2”
- Overall Width: 1.6”
- Weight (incl. magazine): 28.1 oz
- Overall Height: 5.5”
- Barrel Length: 3.9”
- Sight Radius: 5.8”
For more information visit SIGSauer.com.
I don’t see a hammer prtuding out the back of the slide. Is this double action only, or is it like the S&W 4006?
The Sig 320/M18 is a striker fired gun.
I purchase a Sig P290 in Nov 2017 brand new at the gum show and I fired it once and the weapon malfunction with the trigger or some thing that it is dangerous of a discharge. I haven’t fire it since, did Sig Sauer had a recall? and where do I send it to have it fix Sig Sauer?
Mac
The U.S. Military needs to ditch the M17 and go with the M18, zero difference in real world performance and in this case, slightly smaller is better. Also, optical sights should be issued with the weapon as standard, not an add-on. Just plain iron back-up sights would be needed as the tritium could be a problem for NV users and a little money could be saved. Not a fan of the current iron sights and the large “ears” to protect it.
If I had my way, the the M18A1 would delete the stupid, easy to accidentally engage “safety” levers and the slide would be modified to accept a Aimpoint ACRO type mount, which seems to be superior to the current type of mounting system. The “anti-tamper” measures in the trigger group are just dumb and provide needless complication and are absent from the civilian and police weapons, too much military over thinking.
Lastly, (and it may exist) is M18A2 version with a threaded barrel, suppressor and suppressor slide lock with suppressor should be developed.
Suppressor ammo should be available for those that need it and should function 100% in all weapons. The controlled expansion (hollow point) ammo should be the standard ball load with a real AP round that has the same ballistics but able to defeat at least Level IIIa armor at pistol distances should be common as well.
I disagree on most of what you said.