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US Marine Corps Adoption of M18 Underscores Success of SIG SAUER Modular Handgun System Program

NEWINGTON, N.H., (June 17, 2019) –SIG SAUER, Inc. is honored to announce that the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is set to adopt the M18, the compact variant of the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System (MHS), as their official duty pistol.

“The Marine Corps announcement to put the M18 in service with the Marines is a very exciting development for SIG SAUER, and a true testament to the success of the MHS program,” began Ron Cohen, President & CEO, SIG SAUER, Inc. “The Marine’s procurement of the M18 brings the adoption of our Modular Handgun System full circle, as this means, beginning in 2020, either the M17 or the M18 will be officially in service with every branch of the U.S. Military.”

 

The M18 is a 9mm, striker-fired pistol featuring a coyote-tan PVD coated stainless steel slide with black controls.  The pistol is equipped with SIGLITE front night sights and removable night sight rear plate, and manual safety. 

Recently, the M18 successfully completed a MHS Material Reliability Test that consisted of firing three M18 pistols to 12,000 rounds each for a total of 36,000 rounds in accordance with the MHS requirements.  Comparatively, the U.S. Army’s legacy pistol was only tested to 5,000 rounds making the test duration for the M18 pistol 2.4 times greater than that of the legacy pistol.  In this testing, the M18 experienced zero stoppages despite being allowed up to twelve stoppages.  Additionally, the M18 passed a parts interchange test, and met stringent accuracy and dispersion requirements.

“The success of the MHS program is the direct result of the indisputable performance and superior quality of the M17 and M18 pistols, and the commitment and dedication of the men and women of SIG SAUER to those that serve in the defense of freedom,” continued Cohen. “We are very proud, and humbled, to have earned the trust of every branch of the U.S. Military through their acceptance of the MHS program and adoption of the M17 and M18 pistols.”

Currently, the M17 and M18 are in service with the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.  The USMC will begin their acquisition of the M18 pistol in 2020. 

40 Responses to “US Marine Corps Adoption of M18 Underscores Success of SIG SAUER Modular Handgun System Program”

  1. Jeb says:

    It’s been said before, and confirmed within inside resources, that Sig is intent on winning every contract that comes through and replacing dated kit within all branches. They are trying very hard to hire the best in the industry within all applicable fields to make this happen. Sig is gonna keep rolling like a steam roller, baby.

    • Zach says:

      Except for the Sub-gun contract B&T got that.

      • Chuck Covington says:

        You have to ask yourself how many US and foreign law enforcement agencies are buying the B&T? None domestically and so far I haven’t heard of and foreign.

        SIG is nailing it across the board and around the world in firearms sales.

    • Bill Brandon says:

      The best thing that ever happened to SIG is Ron Cohen. The second best thing to happen to SIG is it’s employees.

      • 4077 Something says:

        I love SIG products. Their dedication sure shows.

      • Sean M says:

        That is a laughably ill informed statement. The quality of Sig USA dropped dramatically with Cohen’s arrival.

        He did the same thing he did with Kimber when he ruined them. He slashed QC and quality of parts and dumped it all into marketing.

        German Sig won’t even deal with him. His products are gimmicky shells with budget MiM internals at premium prices. He destroyed a quality product Abd now relies on the companies old excellent reputation to sell to people who don’t know any better.

        Sig USA is nothing more than a premier marketing company that excels at selling budget guns at premium prices to suckers.

        Case in point, the release of the m17 to the 101st was a defect ridden disaster.

        • Don Cohen says:

          Which one of these are you?

          a. Ron Cohen fired you.

          b. You believe everything that you read on GlockTalk.

          c. You are so emotionally invested in your pile of Glocks that you feel threatened by the mere existence of other gun companies.

          d. Both b and c.

          e. All of the above.

    • Carleton Dimwitty says:

      I think their dedication and quality shows. I have no problem with admitting that I have a SIGness and it can only be cured by buying more SIGs!

  2. TheScrutineer says:

    It’s not a success until it’s ten years old and everyone hates it.

    • COinCO says:

      Isn’t that the truth. Thus cementing how awesome the M( was and why we should have never dropped it. Then USMC SecOps returning to some custom form of the M9.

  3. Ton E says:

    I’ve heard that USMC has been running P320s with compact 15 round frames can anyone confirm?

    • Amer-Rican says:

      All branches are running the Carry grip module with the Compact slide, except for the Army which is running the longer slide of the Full on the Carry grip module.

  4. Stefan S. says:

    No it is the success of the SIG corporate credit card used to wine and dine military officials.

    • mudd says:

      1- Unlike other organs of government DOD has strict policies on acquisition officials behavior. I don’t see someone making a career ending move for a $50 steak. In fact IRS policy, to write off entertainment, requires persons be named when submitting receipts.

      2- One can’t deny the steady stream of initiative products SIG has been putting out. They have hired the right former DOD guy to drive innovation.

    • Chester Copperpot says:

      If there were any evidence of corruption in the MHS competition, it would have surfaced by now – likely funded by the corporate credit cards of the companies that were not selected. But, alas, no evidence has been produced.

    • Zach says:

      This comment indicates a lack of understanding of the procurement process and a belief in some sort of conspiracy theory (conspiracy theories never work because someone always talks).

    • TheScrutineer says:

      This is not SIG the bride’s maid; having been passed over unfairly by a small difference in the accessory cost package offered by Beretta. This is the new SIG: butt hurt and resentful over watching the M9 take center stage for four decades, vowing never to let it happen again. They have acquired assets/companies to add the capacity to mfg. ammunition, accessories/ optics and a whole new cool looking line of rifles and handguns.

      None of this stuff comes in at the top of the line in my opinion (although the rifles and PCCs show the most promise even though SIG issued a recall to the recoil system/ BCG of the MCX). The Romeo red dots are re-branded Holosuns, the SIG magnified optics are dressing up (and priced) like high end Vortex and Night force but are, at least, a Generation or two behind them in quality. Both the 320 and the P365 were released with issues effecting safe and reliable operation. They have been cutting their competition off at the knees by bidding so low it causes uniformed officers to swoon and make unprecedented decisions that betray the purposes of their own programs. They have aggressively pursued multiple contracts in multiple areas of warfare and have used the same tactic of coming in like friggin’ O-light every time.

      The whole thing just stinks of ‘fake it till you make it’. Or like they’ve decided to just let us all beta test and then add changes to the line up over time. I’m not a fan of all this behavior. It feels like success and growth have taken a front seat to the end user and it pisses me off.

      • redbeard says:

        THIS

      • Amer-Rican says:

        Glock taught their business tactics to the gun industry over the last 34 years, and Sig paid attention.

        • Chuck Covington says:

          SIG paid attention and Glock continually fails to innovate. An interchangeable backstrap isn’t something new.

          • Bill Brandon says:

            Lack of innovation is EXACTLY why Glock lost the MHS competition. Slapping on a backstrap and pirating the Cominolli thumb safety is NOT innovation!

      • Tom says:

        Refreshing to see someone with a working brain, I almost lost hope reading some of the comments above.

      • Chuck Covington says:

        The M9 has been in the Army since 1987. When I was in OBC I was first trained on the M1911A1 then the M9 because that’s when they were transitioning over. This was more like 30 years, not 40. SIGARMS at the time was based in Herndon VA and they were the importer for it’s West German parent company SIG Arms AG. In 1983 SIGARMS entered the P226 in the JSSP XM9 trials and came in second to Beretta. It was widely acknowledged that the P226 was superior to the 92FB however Beretta underbid SIGARMS. So before crying lowest bidder or inferior quality you might want to give a nod to Beretta.

        If you did a simple Google search you’d find that EVERY gun manufacturer, at one time or another, has had recalls, issues, glitches etc. Except Glock, they’ve never had a recall, they’ve only had “upgrades”. At the time the P320 was released it met all applicable industry safety parameter standards. They upgraded the trigger group at the request of the military. SIG then voluntarily offered the upgrade to civilians who already own the P320 and they upgraded all subsequent production.

        On the SIGTALK forum there is a thread where someone compiled all of the member reported issues regarding the P365 and he did a fantastic job of aggregating all the figures. As far as the P365 issues go, the numbers are statistically low when looked at as part of total production. I personally own a P365 (and several P320s), do you? It was made in March of 2018 and it has ZERO issues after about 3,000 rounds through it. There is a range near me that has rental guns. Their 2 P365s have over 15,000 rounds (each) through them with ZERO issues. Remember, just because MAC shrieks loudly about something doesn’t necessarily make it so.

        You mention “fake it till you make it”. It’s very common in the firearms industry (and other industries) to make changes on the fly. These changes are based on continual testing, military feed back and consumer feedback, to mention a few. It’s so common in the industry you can use the California Roster of Certified Handguns as an indicator to see what guns have been dropped because of ANY changes.

        Are SIG Romeo red dots rebranded Holosuns? I don’t know but you’re the one making the claim so do you have any hard proof? All I can say is they good quality so if anyone doesn’t like them they don’t have to buy them.

        As far as their rifle scopes go I’ve got a WISKEY3 on my 716G2 DMR and I couldn’t be happier. Yes, Vortex and Nightforce are very good scopes and SIG is right up there with them. SIG sure isn’t “dressing up” anything!

        Has SIG been “cutting the competition off at the knees”? Hell yes! That’s called doing business competitively. Over the last 10 years CEO Ron Cohen has taken the company from seriously facing extinction to becoming a juggernaut. Large law enforcement agencies have the ability to do extensive T&E and smaller agencies look to the results of the larger ones as well as to the military. If SIG were putting out an inferior product the sales wouldn’t be there even with a low price.

        • Sean M says:

          Good Lord this dude drank the kool aide.

          You claiming yours or some random on a fanboy site hasn’t had issues does not somehow negate the massive release issues that most of Cohen’s Sig USA releases have had, or the fact that the firearm internals are Indian made MiM budget parts, that the 365 was in a gen 2-3 within 6 months of release and the #1 aftermarket part is a new striker, or the fact that the company slow rolled the fix of the 320 drop issue to the civilian market (they be about it from army testers, and didn’t admit there was a problem until YouTube called them out on it)

          yeah, every company has issues, but Sig is basically the same quality as Taurus right now in scale and frequency with their issues. With prettier packaging. Thoouuggghhh at least Taurus is honest about what they are.

      • Sean M says:

        100% this.

        Not only did they under bid when they started losing the trials, but they were also less than honest about the ammunition costs.

        Not only that, costs to fix the massive issues the M17 has had since release is most likely going to push the project to over the initial bid costs. So much so that the DLA is actually flirting with canceling the contract.

        Like I said earlier, Cohen led Sig USA is a marketing company that excels at selling budget products at premier pricing, all while beta testing on its consumer.

        Among the most dishonest firearm companies out there today

    • Chuck Covington says:

      Seriously!!?? WTF kind of uninformed statement is this?? You sir know absolutely NOTHING about the government procurement process. This MAY have been the way things were done two decades or so ago but definitely not now.

      Every little expense, expenditure, trinket, gift and tchotchke has to be accounted for and justified. Pretty much anything more than a challenge coin or motivational patch can’t be accepted anymore.

      I have a brother who retired from the Nav as an 0-6 and he is now in a senior position at Naval Supply Systems Command. He recently attended a meeting with a vendor in Las Angeles. He could NOT accept as much as a lunch from the vendor! They even offered to write him a receipt if he wanted to pay them. He said no because he had to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

      So please pull your head out of your narrow minded ass.

    • Bill Brandon says:

      You’re either totally ignorant, a conspiracy theorist or a rather bad troll.

      I’m a former military officer and a retired federal law enforcement officer. As a fed LE I was a senior firearms instructor for my agency. As part of my responsibilities I was in charge of testing, recommending and purchasing new firearms and related equipment.

      I have been to the SHOT show numerous times in an official capacity and I’ve dealt with SIG, and other manufacturers, on each of my trips. Every single time I’ve been with a representative from SIG I experienced nothing but the utmost professionalism and courtesy.

      SIG wins contracts because they manufacture a superior product that is unquestionably best in design and manufacture. The US military and law enforcement agencies recognize this fact and chose to award SIG contract after contract. SIG is an American company (yes, they are) and they want our first responders and defenders to have the best equipment. It’s not SIGs fault that other manufactures lose bids because they place profit over protection.

      • Stephen says:

        except the MPX is not the most superior sub gun, if you are saying this you obviously haven’t played with a B&T. Cause B&T makes a nicer product hands down, and the SIG QC is questionable at best these days perhaps cause they want to do everything!!!! companies that tend to do it all don’t do any one thing the best… And SIG doesn’t make anything more superior than everyone else bud. Its like saying that a SIG can is number one, like their cans suck compared to the entire industry’s offerings. You get the point.

    • Carleton Dimwitty says:

      Hey, Stefan, you’re absolutely right and SIG did it to me too. I was at the last SHOT show when they gave me a drink koozie, a couple of popsockets and enough pens to choke a whale. Do you think I should have held out for a pad of post-it notes before I bought that Rattler?

  5. Joe says:

    Now if Sig would sale a civilian version of the M18 that would be great. Especially since most of the other services are going with the M18 vice the larger M17.

  6. Ed says:

    I’m sorry, but I think wearing an eight-point shooting, especially with over-head ear Pro, looks so Tool, Fleet-shoe, etc……

    Make sure those “boots are bloused TOO!”

    • Will says:

      Agreed, Kevlar or Boonie cover during live fire. Eight Point in this case looks silly.

    • Vince says:

      You guys are making fashion commentary when we’re talking about a pistol?

      • Ed says:

        Yeah, who are you, the commentary police???

        Haven’t you ever heard the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words?

  7. 4077 Something says:

    I love it! This totally reinforces my decision to get a P320 for EDC. Great going SIG!

  8. Chuck Covington says:

    It looks like SIG has a solid history with the US military.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCNv-6pNIIo