I don't know why, but I actually want to own a Smith & Wesson Model SW9F. Yes, you read that right. I want the original SIGMA!
So, what poorly designed flop of a gun do you secretly want and why?
For me, it is because I came of age as a shooter in the late '90s and grew up in a house of Beretta 92FS Italian Stallions, GLOCK perfection, and S&W Pre-Lock Revolver goodness.
A gun like the SIGMA never would have been allowed in our stable. Yet I have a dirty taboo lust for one, a deviant craving for such a wretched piece of plastic, made during the sinful days when S&W was owned by Tomkins PLC and the the Klinton Administration said we simple plebs couldn't own magazines greater than 10 rounds.
Why do I want one? Mostly because it is a relic of that bygone era. A time before the internet is what it is today. Before streaming services and YouTube reviewers. It is from a time when Shotgun News was like the Christmas season Toys R US catalog and reviews only came in two forms.
Gun rag publications and word of mouth at the local stop 'n rob gun shop where the counter monkeys and hanger-ons would say that as Vietnam era CIA Green Beret Navy SEAL, they tested the SIGMA on a super secret mission to Afghanistan to assassinate Leonid Brezhnev before the gun was made public.
This was to be S&W's answer to GLOCK and it utterly failed and I like having odd ball pieces in the collection. I like having guns that tried to make it but failed. Especially the odd balls from the '70s, '80s, and '90s.
But not the cheaply built guns. I'm not talking about guns like a Ring of Fire Saturday Night Special. I mean stuff from legit manufacturers that had commercial flops. The gun version of the Ford Edsel. Guns like the SIGMA or the Colt 2000 and Series 90 Double Eagle. Rifles like the HAC-7 or the Leader T2.
I have a fascination with those guns. All the "could have beens" but for bad marketing, bad input from lawyers, or just not good enough to be first place.
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