Surplus 101st Airborne M17: Differences Between Army and Civilian SIGs
Forgotten Weapons
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22m
Today we are looking at one of the surplus US Army M17 pistols that SGI put on the commercial market about 3 years ago. These were some of the very first M17s issued to Army units, and they were turned back in to SIG and replace in late 2019. The obvious difference between these and their replacements was the change from tan to black controls. Apparently those tan controls worn more quickly than the black, and the Army opted to change to black. Whether there were any internal modifications made after the first few thousand guns were issued us open to speculation. It would not be surprising to me if there were (this sort of thing almost always happens when a new design is first put into mass circulation), but neither SIG nor the Army has said anything to that effect.
Beyond the control colors, the Army-issued M17s have several differences from the civilian-sale P320s and M17 commemorative editions. Specifically, the Army guns have:
- Heavier slides
- Heavier recoil springs (they are intended for a long service life of all +P ammunition)
- Two extra recoil lug holes in the red dot mounting plate
- Unified rear sight and red dot cover plate
- Different slide and barrel markings
The availability of genuine surplussed Army firearms is really a rarity these days. The value of these M17s has already increased 3-4x from when they were originally released, and I have no doubt they will continue to climb.
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