Bought a Sigma: What's All the Fuss About?

[doc540]

Hey, for $250 is there a better "truck gun" to be had?

17 rounds of 9mm w/o speedloaders or moonclips.

And I bought it because it was supposed to have a heavy trigger, well, and because it was cheap.

Can you imagine how hard things would get squeezed if the zombies were on my door handle and I was trying to get the loud end of a pistol pointed in the right direction?

[Bart]

Not a bad choice for a truck gun. Like a $100 cruffler rifle.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

I'll bite.

What's a "cruffler rifle"?

[Kawabuggy]

I found my Sigma to be VERY accurate straight out of the box. If you decide you like the gun, and want to fix the trigger-it's an easy thing to do. I've got mine down to between 4 & 6 lbs. Have not checked it with a gauge to be certain.

Parts are available from Midway, and run less than $15 with shipping.

[Skiprr]

I'll bite.

What's a "cruffler rifle"?

Type 03 Federal Firearms License is known as the Curios and Relics Federal Firearms License. Abbreviated, this becomes C&R FFL, or CRFFL. Now, CRFFL, if you were to try to pronounce it, would come out something like "cruffle." Hence, the holders of these licenses have taken to referring to themselves as CRFFLers, or CRUFFLERS.

[mr.72]

I like my Sigma a lot, and it's dead-nuts reliable & accurate.

In fact I wouldn't mind having 10 of these things.

The biggest thing impacting the trigger pull is the striker spring. S&W warns against changing this to a lighter spring for fear of light strikes. Given that my Kahr has a much lighter trigger pull and also occasional light strikes, I can believe it. For a defensive gun I see no reason to fool with it.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Skiprr:
Thanks for the definition. Bart mentioned "a $100 cruffler rifle".

That would indicate to me a gun that's not worth much.

If you had that kind of Federal license, do the firearms have to be
over 100 years old? Do you need that license because the firearms
are so old that they don't use regular ammo, like black powder guns?

mr72:
Is your Sigma a 9mm or a .40?

[mr.72]

mine's a 9mm. and it looks like for the time being I am going to have to start carrying it since the Kahr's headed back to the factory.

[tfrazier]

I bought a Sigma .40 for my wife a little over a year ago because she insisted she liked the way the grip fit her hands (this is a woman who thought my old 92f brick was a perfect fit for her tiny hands, and she was dead-on accurate with it). I told her she wasn't going to like the trigger, but she wanted it anyway. Price had a lot to do with it. I kept dragging her over to the $800 + guns and she kept going back to the Sigma with it's $265 tag and the cute little "tactical" flash light valued at 20 bucks that came with it. I finally relented.

We went to the range the following week. She didn't like it and went back to the 92f.

A month later I bought my Kimber. She took my PX4Storm .40 and gave the Sigma to her brother for his birthday, who had never shot a semi-auto handgun before. He loves it (because he's not got any experience with anything else to compare it with).

Everybody's happy...except me, because I want everything in my house to shoot .45 ACP so I don't have to buy another set of reloading dies.

For the money I guess the Sigma's okay, and way better than a FIE (are they even still in business? Back in Greenville every other robbery we worked was committed with an FIE) or some other piece of cheap junk. But I wouldn't pay a dime more than $200 for one new in the box.

[MegaWatt]

I have a Sigma 9mm that I had to send back to S&W twice for repairs. It's brand new I was having several mis-fires. The firing pin hits the primer but it appeared to be off center. Out of a magazine of 16 I'd have three or four that would not go off. I could put them back in the mag and they would fire. It happened with three kinds of factory ammo as well as reloads. The first time I sent it to S & W, I got it back in less than a week and the letter they sent with the gun said they changed the striker. I thought WOW, those S&W guys are on the ball! But when I fired it the problem was still there. I sent it back again with a longer, more detailed letter and told them they had to fire it several times, not just once or twice. This time they had it over two weeks. I finally got it back last week with a note saying they replaced the barrel this time and after firing it about 50 times with zero misfires I would say they got it fixed.

It's a good gun and Smith & Wesson stood behind their name and fixed it.

[garcia946]

I have a 9mm also , sent it in once and its one of my favorites. Shoots good , accurate.
Dont get me wrong at first I cussed up a storm about it, but S&W , fixed it made it right. They did lighten up the trigger for me. And now I can say I`m happy with that lil gun.

[randomizzer]

I am happy with my Sigma 9mm, shot about a 100 rounds through it, sent it back to S&W for the trigger work and it shoots nice now. Scored me a perfect score on my CHL test, I think ony 2 shots got outside the 8 ring. I have been dry firing it a lot and practicing trigger control, the trigger is much smoother, still a long pull but I think practicing will only make me a better shooter.

[Skiprr]

If you had that kind of Federal license, do the firearms have to be over 100 years old? Do you need that license because the firearms are so old that they don't use regular ammo, like black powder guns?

The Box O' Truth has a pretty succinct explanation of a C&R license:

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/crlicense.htm

Generally speaking, any non-auto military firearm in use prior to 1946 can qualify as a "cruffler." So Bart's comment about a $100 cruffler could mean a used, mil-surp WWII rifle.

[Mike1951]

Skiprr:
Thanks for the definition. Bart mentioned "a $100 cruffler rifle".

That would indicate to me a gun that's not worth much.

If you had that kind of Federal license, do the firearms have to be
over 100 years old? Do you need that license because the firearms
are so old that they don't use regular ammo, like black powder guns?

Hi, my name is Mike, and I'm a cruffler.

C&R firearms are by definition, over 50 years old or any firearm so proclaimed by BATFE. CZ-52's (7.62X25) and CZ-82's are examples.

Firearms pre-1898 are antiques and no license is required.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Thank you Skiprr and Mike1951.

I have been schooled.