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Notes -
Doesn't the service variant have a manual safety?
Yes it does, it's one of few handguns that I know of with an on/off safety switch, and it's quite annoying. One of a reasons why military people I know who are issued the M17/M18 don't actually use it, and prefer a Glock.
Yeah, ok, sure. Wait until you find out about the M9. Ironically, the M11 (a Sig hammer pistol) did not have a manual safety, just a decocker. (It was not fielded at scale.)
Also, the Glock submission competing with the P320 did have a manual thumb safety, because that was an Army requirement.
https://www.military.com/kitup/2018/01/02/glock-unveils-new-pistol-inspired-army-mhs-program.html
Yeah I've shot the M9 before as well. The Sig is definitely better but it's still not great.
The Sig safety has several problems: it is not particularly easy to hit (especially to put it on fire from safe), its action is in a non-intuitive direction relative to the safeties on most other Army weapons, and it's not actually marked which direction is safe, so guys who don't use it a lot will accidentally have it on safe/fire when they meant the opposite.
You can mock my experience if you like but I sure as hell don't know any direct action guys who use the Sig, most have a personal sidearm they use instead, and some units will have a few random Glocks or other pistols in the arms room that they use on the range to qualify.
"Direct action guys" are a tiny percentage of the U.S. military and frequently do not use standard-issue small arms because they have their own inventory.
I am pretty sure thought that they cannot simply use an actual personally owned weapon for a bunch of reasons about logistics and liability. Why would they pay out of pocket when they get large budgets for sweet custom weaponry?
Compared to the M9 safety, the ergonomics are better, but it's true the direction is different and there's no red dot. With the M9, I think it was SOP to carry safety off outside the wire. Not sure what it is for the M18, but it's pretty common in general to holster with the safety engaged and then disengage it. (The manual safety is apparently not a relevant factor for the discharges.)
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