U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- If you own or carry an Honor Guard pistol from Honor Defense, it might be time to rotate it back into your gun safe. Patrick R. over at the Firearm Rack has done the shooting community a huge service by bringing to light the drop fire issues that the Honor Guard is susceptible too.

Honor Defense's Honor Guard pistol is a single stack 9mm handgun, that is based on Sig Sauer's P320.

The most striking similarity between Sig's P320 and the Honor Guard is that they will both fire if dropped on a negative 30-degree angle. Impact to the back of the gun will cause the striker to hit the primer and ignite the cartridge. Unfortunately, that is where the similarities seem to end.

Where Sig has taken the route of getting out in front of the issue by offering voluntary upgrades to P320s, Honor Defense has yet to comment on the safety issues in their pistols.

Quick history: after reviewing the Honor Guard for another website, Patrick R. discovered the drop fire issue and contacted Honor Defense. The long and short is Honor Defense told Patrick he was, “looking for ways to make the gun fail.” Taking that information Patrick decided to conduct a scientific test that is accepted throughout the firearms industry and is practiced by law enforcement agencies, such as the Indiana State Police Forensic Firearms Identification Unit. This is the test he settled on:

As part of this method, an examiner should perform an “Impact” test on the firearm utilizing a primed cartridge case. An “Impact” test should consist of the of the following steps:

6.8.2.1. Ensure that the firearm is unloaded.

6.8.2.2. Load a primed cartridge case into the chamber of the firearm.

6.8.2.3. Holding the muzzle away, strike the firearm forcibly with a rubber mallet on the top, bottom, right side, left side, back of the firearm.

6.8.2.4. The examiner should strike these areas a minimum of ten (10) times per side.

6.8.2.5. The examiner should repeat these strikes while the firearm is in various operating stages i.e.; single-action, double action, safety on, safety off, and any other possible combinations as such.

Disclaimer: Do not try this at home.

In order to test the drop fire issue beyond simply dropping the gun from 4ft – 6ft in the air, Patrick submitted the Honor Guard to the “Impact Test”. The Honor Guard failed both tests, repeatedly.

Honor Guard was made aware of the testing results but to the best of our knowledge have yet to address the issue.

About Duncan Johnson:

Duncan is a firm believer in the Second Amendment and that “shall not be infringed”, means exactly that. A life-long firearms enthusiast and a graduate of George Mason University, now competing regularly in 3 gun competitions, Duncan is always looking to improve his shooting skills. Duncan is a regular contributor to AmmoLand and assists in the everyday gun-news publishing as an assistant editor.