Here's our rainy-day-on-the-range-introduction to the Sig Sauer P320 9mm full size with Sig Sauer's Robby Johnson.
The pistol shot as well as you'd expect any Sig pistol to shoot. Based on the snap-together design, I was expecting the modular pistol to feel like a rattly toy. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The gun felt as tight as if the slide and frame were hand fit. The trigger felt great; not gritty or long. It was positive with smooth takeup and crisp letoff. The medium grip is rounded and fills the palm and the grip texture is positive without being aggressive. The P320 takes P250 mags as well as P250 grips, and fits P250 holsters, so there is already accessory and support right out of the gate. The gun comes stock with night sights, front cocking serrations, a Picatinny rail, two mags and a decent holster for around $600 retail.
Speaking as an unabashed Glock guy; I really, really like this pistol.
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The only hiccup I had with the pistol while shooting this video was with the slide lock. It didn't want to lock back on an empty mag. I'm willing to bet big money that I caused the malfunction by riding the slide release lever. Sig went with an extended lever design out of the gate instead of making it an accessory option. The lever extends backward a good way and anyone used to shooting a Glock, as I am, will naturally ride it. Sig is already working on a replacement lever that will still offer the ease of use of an extended lever, but it will extend forward. This should help guys that like a close/high thumb grip. nextpage
Related to the slide lock, the other issue I saw was a 'slam-load.' When a mag is driven home, the slide releases on its own. This is arguably a nice feature for some, but it's not the way the pistol was designed to operate. I've seen this happen on fresh-off-the-line pistols from other manufacturers before and expect it's an issue of spring weight and catch geometry.
Since this video was produced in April, I've put a few hundred rounds through my own production P320. A few hundred rounds is enough to give some initial impressions, but not a full-on review that includes reliability, durability, ammunition sensitivity, carry comfort and other important facets that provide the basis for a credible assessment.
That said, I can confirm the slide lock lever issues Robby and I experienced on the range still exist in the production pistol. I can reproduce the 'slam-load' from slide-lock every time by slamming the mag home as I would in a normal slide-lock reload. I've seen images of a new slide lock lever design that addresses the position of the thumb pad, but it's not clear if it prevents slam-loading.
Without going into a full review, I would like to address the bore height of the P320 since I've seen folks talking about it. The height-over-bore wailers will tell you this pistol, like nearly all Sigs, would handle recoil better, be more accurate, taste better and prevent cavities if the bore were lower.
Maybe. But, the mass and balance of the pistol seem to work in concert on the P320 to make this a non-issue. The gun is immensely controllable. While shooting a dot torture style drill, I was able to put 5 rounds through a hole roughly the size of a quarter in under 3 seconds. Granted, this was only shooting from 5 yards, but we're not talking about accuracy. This tells me the pistol helped me absorb recoil and return to target easily and quickly.
Speaking of mass, I was struck by the weight of the P320. With an empty mag it weighs 817 grams. I don't have a Glock 17 handy to compare it to, but my Glock 34 gen4 with empty mag is 760 grams. So, it's a bit on the heavy side. On the plus side, the weight helps control recoil; but it does make my pants sag. I can live with that tradeoff.
We'll have a comprehensive review of the P320 when we get at least 1500 rounds through it. In the meantime, look for updates on the pistol as I put it through it's paces.
