If you want a gun that will perform, check out this piece of information—12,000 rounds without a stoppage. That’s how reliable SIG Sauer’s M18 performed during a Lot Acceptance Test.
If that number means nothing to you, consider that most Lot Acceptance Tests require a handgun to fire 5,000 rounds with up to 12 stoppages. So shooting more than twice that number of rounds and registering no mechanical problems speaks well of SIG in terms of setting a new standard for reliability.
The M18 is SIG’s compact version of the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System (MHS). Besides the output numbers, the M18 also fared well when it came to other performance standards, such as interchanging parts, checking the firing pin for indentation after firing so many rounds, and testing for consistency in trigger pull and accuracy.
The performance results for the MHS testing were confirmed in a report by the Director of Operation Testing and Evaluation Annual Report for the military.
“The results of this testing for the M18 pistol [are] truly impressive,” said Ron Cohen, president and CEO of SIG. “The M18 withstood the harsh testing and performance requirements set forth in the MHS contract and has set a new standard for reliability in service pistols.”
The M18’s full-size counterpart is the M17. Both are striker-fired, 9 mm pistols manufactured in a coyote-tan color for the military. SIG won a contract to provide 480,000 of the handguns to various branches of the military. To date, 20,000 have been delivered.
