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There's significant context behind some of these theories, the main one is that SIG USA is widely believed to be gaming/bribing/conning the US military procurement tests.
Some readers here may remember the release of SIG USA's replacement for the M-16, which was "adopted by the US Army" before being quietly skuttled at the cost of several hundred million dollars. Keen readers may recall that I called all that long before it happened based on nothing but the claimed weight and chamber pressures. It was such an obvious lie that any expert in the field should have been able to spot it immediately. Is that because I'm smarter than the entire Ordnance Corps, or because I'm not being paid to lie?
Some things to keep in mind. SIG USA is not Sig Sauer, it's a spun-off triple-shell corporation built out of the old Sigarms importer. But now they manufacture, and they don't manufacture anything by Sig Sauer. They just license the logo so people will think this start-up gun company that somehow got a military contract in its first ten years is actually a bespoke european manufacturer.
Now, everything OP says about people being unable to reliably recreate the discharge is true. But equally true is some of the more damning stories, some with video evidence, that show 320s going off with apparently no input. The one that killed an airman recently wasn't even being worn at the time, it was in the holster, sitting on a table some feet from any people. There was also recently a case in the state police of my state had one go off, they sent it to the FBI labs, which were able to recreate the discharge, but not reliably.
https://www.survivalworld.com/second-amendment/fbi-report-alleges-sig-p320-can-fire-without-pulling-the-trigger/
Maybe a 20% chance doesn't sound conclusive, and to be fair it isn't. But you can buy other guns that are just as good as the P320 that don't have a one in five chance of putting a round in your leg if the gun jostles just right in the holster.
In the case of the M-16, Forgotten Weapons has a great show on that, basically the corrupt Ordnance Corps tried to sabotage the first major run of M-16s, and they did. But they still couldn't get the shitpile M-14 back, so they reverted the design to the one Stoner told them to use, chrome-lined the barrels and the gun was fine ever after.
The thread I think you should consider is not the conspiracy theory, which was temporarily correct, but the deep corruption of military procurement, and the sort of dirty tricks that go on there.
Is this the FBI report where they cut the slide prior to testing, or a newer test? I'm unable to read the PDF in the article well on mobile.
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Are you talking about the M7 replacing the M4? Because that is being fielded now.
https://www.twz.com/land/sig-sauers-m7-rifle-gets-official-army-seal-of-approval-despite-controversy
Is it a great idea? Probably not at scale, for the same reasons that 5.56 is easier to employ than 7.62 for the average troop--a lighter rifle with 50% more ammo. The Army should have fielded the AR10 over the M14 in terms of modernity/ergonomics, but the AR15/M16 with the lighter round sure is nice. Classic assault rifle vs. battle rifle tradeoffs argument.
I think for the M4/5.56 replacement they should have stuck with something with at least an easy 25-round mag, like 6.8 SPC or 6mm ARC.
The .277 Fury is legitimately a cool round though.
https://old.reddit.com/r/army/comments/1csuwkh/a_three_day_review_of_the_m7_spear/ https://old.reddit.com/r/army/comments/1cry8oq/a_review_of_the_277_fury_training_and_combat/
It's not, but there's a sucker born in the MIC every minute.
And your article says the Army announced a plan to think about maybe at some point asking a guy about ordering a hundred thousand M7s. That's not "fielded" in any way shape or form. My guess is even that won't happen, but if it does there's a kickback.
https://www.army.mil/article/285678/project_manager_soldier_lethality_announces_type_classification_approval_for_next_generation_squad_weapons_ngsw
It's a limited amount thus far, yes, but at least one operational unit has them in hand. Perhaps the Army will back out of its planned purchase of 100k+ of them, but there's no indication of that presently.
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