When we learned that Dallas Police Department had removed the Sig Sauer P320 from the approved list due to a drop safety concern, the news had been accompanied by the video above that shows another P320 drop test failure. Unfortunately, the video was removed from YouTube before we were able to post it with the information that was gathered from both Sig and Dallas Police as to the reason behind the P320 being pulled off the street.

Thankfully someone emailed me a copy of the video that was removed from YouTube so that we can share it with you. I have uploaded it to my personal channel, but if anyone knows where the video originated from, please email me at tfbpatrick@gmail.com so I can share their upload and get more information about the test.

I can’t speculate as to the condition of the pistol in the video other than it appears to be stock from the little we can see in the video. Now it is entirely possible that it has been modified internally but with the video Omaha Outdoors released today showing the P320 failing their own drop test it may well still bear stock internals.

It appears that a primed GECO 9mm case was placed into the chamber of the full-size P320 and then a magazine that has some number of rounds is inserted into the mag well, we do not know exactly how many were in the magazine though. The person conducting the test then holds the pistol at their eye height and drops it with the pistol pointed at the ground in a 45-degree direction. On what the video lists as the third drop, the trigger appears to move rearward and the pistol discharges.

Even though multiple sources have deemed the Sig Sauer P320 safe the existence of two separate videos showing the P320 filing drop tests calls that into question.There is always the possibility that both videos were faked in some manner, but my curiosity is at an all time high. I want to know what is going on just as much as all of you.

In a quest for answers, some P320 owners on social media have even taken the drop testing into their own hands and have shared their result.

TFB asks that you DO NOT attempt to perform your own drop testing in the interest of safety. 

These people that performed their own drop test are reporting that they have seen similar results to the Omaha Outdoors video with varying degrees of success. Some reporting a 100% failure rate with their pistols and others reporting it only occurring about half the time. Since the P320 trigger varies from gun to gun, it may well depend on your particular example as to if you will see a failure if the pistol is dropped in the manner outlined in the Omaha Outdoors. We can’t really say for certain at this point.

Does this mean that the P320 hasn’t been drop tested in this manner yet? Not as far as we can tell.

In a comment thread found in a Facebook group called Primary & Secondary about Dallas Police Department pulling the P320 from the approved list, the Omaha Outdoors video was posted and was discussed at length. In that conversation, one of the members of the group posted the testing protocol for the ANSI.SAAMI Z299.5 testing as well as the TOP protocol outlined by the U.S. Army Developmental Test Command. I have posted those below for you to take a closer look at or you can read the test protocols in their entirety at the links above.

We know that the P320 has been drop tested by a number of agencies and testing authorities such as SAAMI and the DoD. One could assume that the P320 has been subjected to both test protocols and has passed, so why are we seeing failures now? I wish that we could answer that but unfortunately, we just don’t know right now.

Am I ready to say that the P320 is unsafe? No. I will be unloading mine and putting it in the safe until I know more about what failures caused both the Omaha Outdoors pistols and the one in the video above to fire when dropped. The last thing I need is to have a P320 fall out of my briefcase and shoot my junk clean off.

As we said earlier today in the post about the P320 discharging when Omaha Outdoors dropped it, we will update you as soon as we learn more from Sig Sauer in regards to the P320.