#Problem

It’s a blunder so bad it makes you look twice: On the new sculpture dedicated to Russia’s most famous small arms designer, there is an unintentional homage to a weapon of Russia’s hated adversaries during the Great Patriotic War. Behind the tasteful statue unveiled last Tuesday of Mikhail “Mikhtim” Kalashnikov cradling his invention like a fine instrument, there lies a sculpture panel dedicated to his inventions themselves – and, by accident, the Nazi Sturmgewehr of World War II. While the majority of the panel is filled with models of Kalashnikov’s inventions and derivatives, nestled in the backdrop of the representation of the AKS-74U compact assault rifle is a slab depicting an exploded view of the MKb42(H),, a World War II German assault rifle which helped serve as the inspiration for the program Kalashnikov’s rifle was designed to satisfy.

Several models of rifles from manufacturer SIG Sauer are now being recalled, the company announced in a release Friday. The issue stemmed from a problem in the heat treatment of the hammer of SIG’s two-staged trigger used in the SIG716 DMR, SIG516 Carbon Fiber, and SIGM400 Predator models. SIG’s release claimed that over time, this flawed heat treatment could cause a malfunction “creating a significant safety hazard”. Therefore, SIG is issuing a mandatory recall on these models, so that their trigger assemblies can be replaced, free of charge. According to the release, no law enforcement guns are affected by the recall.

The SIG Sauer P320 – scion of the Army’s new M17 MHS pistol – is the only handgun out of eleven different weapons to fail a comprehensive test released today by Omaha Outdoors. The testing protocol involved dropping the handguns at different angles with a primed case in the chamber (no bullet or propellant). None of the ten other handguns – which included four Glocks, two H&Ks, two S&Ws and a 1911 – tested after the P320 fired when dropped. The video released by Omaha Outdoors describing the tests is embedded below:

SIG Sauer – recent winner of the US Army’s Modular Handgun System competition – is being sued by an officer from the Stamford, Connecticut Police Department Special Response Team over an incident he claims was the result of a defect in their P320 handgun. In the suit, the officer alleges that he dropped the pistol – still in its holster – while he was loading equipment into the back of his vehicle, which caused it to discharge a bullet into his leg. From the Connecticut Law Tribune:

It might be time to take a second look at your favorite .22 caliber AR-15 trainer rifle: Bearing Arms is reporting that organizers of the Appleseed Project marksmanship program have banned outright the use of Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 due to problems experienced in multiple instances with multiple rifles at Appleseed events. The full release will be replicated below, but in short some of the rifles appear to be having problems with their fire control groups, which can cause the weapons to fire repeatedly without the trigger being pressed, and cause them to fire when not in battery. This latter malfunction has apparently caused one injury and should be taken very seriously. The release from the Appleseed Project is below: