The SD9 and SD40 are Smith & Wesson’s most recent polymer pistols. Their price places them squarely between the Sigma and M&P, which would be around $420 on the street.
The Sigma pistols are excellent guns for the money, but a few things have always been lacking. First off is the dreadful trigger pull, which is a long and uneven. They have plastic sights which are prone to breakage during adjustment, and the accessory rail is of proprietary design.
The SD pistols seem to address these issues. In fact, it appears that this model is simply an improved Sigma in many respects. What follows is a brief comparison.
Trigger pull on the specimen I tested was just over 8lbs. I found it to be smooth and predictable. It lacks the clean break of the M&P trigger, but as a strict DAO system, it works quite well.
The sights are metal, with a two-dot setup on the rear and a Trijicon night sight on the front. Like everything else these days, the SD has forward cocking serrations and an industry-standard Picatinny rail. The extractor appears to be more substantial on the SD.
I was immediately struck by numerous similarities between this gun and the Sigma, so I took both apart for comparison. As you can see, the slides are virtually identical on the inside:
In fact, they appear to be interchangeable, though I must stress that I have not fired either gun like this. Nor can I recommend it. Here is the Sigma slide on the SD frame:
Despite the SD’s lighter trigger, the mechanism appears identical to the Sigma. Only the shape of the sear and ejector appear to be different. The Sigma is on the right, the SD on the left:
With the exception of the baseplate shape, magazines also appear to be the same:
If it shoots well, this could really corner a large part of the private security and civilian self-defense market.
One thought on “S&W SD Series”
“If it shoots well, this could really corner a large part of the private security and civilian self-defense market.”
I don’t know about that. Truthfully, the market is saturated with offerings that are known, reliable quantities right out of the box. What does this pistol have to offer that would make someone switch from what they are used to?
Ruger probably beats it on cost, Glock/Sig/Springfield automatics have better reputations than Smith and Wesson’s autos… the way I see it, they might make inroads on the law enforcement side, but their stolen-from-Glock Sigma didn’t have much to recommend it and this is, as you said, just an evolution of that.
It’ll probably do OK, but I don’t see it as a world-beater, and I doubt it will have much of an impact on the market.