Sig P322

I've been thinking about picking up a TX22 for a while, but now I think I'll go this direction. According to the videos it's:

-Made by Sig not Umarex
-Has an aluminum (not zinc) slide that rides on steel rail inserts in the frame
-Comes with a threaded barrel
-Comes optics ready
-Comes with 2x20rd mags with 25rd on the way
-Reliable with most normal .22 ammo
-Has a good trigger (with flat and curved shoes)


Seems like a strong features list for $399 MAP. I've also been wanting to try a pistol red dot for a while, and a high cap .22 that will get a ton of rounds through it seems like a particularly fun way to dip my toes in the water.

 

Any chance you might be able to take a few pictures of it with any common pistols for comparison?

 

I am definitely interested in the 322. My main concern is the slide being an alloy slide. What alloy are they using? And as others have said, is there any steel inserts where needed?

I definitely want a trainer that is optic ready out of the box and is reliable with an optic mounted. With rimfire pistols, every tenth of an ounce matters when it comes to reliability. An before anyone mentions the Taurus TX22, I don't care how they place the optic mount on the barrel.

While I love my Glock G44, there is no way to easily mount an optic and have it still run reliably. Nelson Precision has tried but their aluminum slides are too heavy and have other issues too. Again every tenth of an ounce matters. And it is not advisable to use a dovetail mount on the G44 since the slide is made of polymer.

If that is the case, then it should hold up well.

I noticed in the videos and reviews that the 322 slide uses the RMSc footprint and Sig runs their Romeo Zero redo dot on it. The Romeo Zero is 0.4 ounces and the Swampfox Sentinel is 0.6 ounces. From my own experience, the larger RMR type optics are definitely too heavy for a reciprocating rimfire slide. The Trijicon RMR weighs 1.1 ounce while others weigh 1.4 ounces and up to 1.7 ounces. Again, anything over 1 ounce is too heavy for most reciprocating rimfire slides. I went through that with my Kel-Tec PMR30 and has to go with the smaller and lighter RMSc footprint optics.

 

Can anyone who has one or handled one comment on something? The press release says it has a stainless steel frame with a polymer grip. But in the pictures it sure looks like a molded polymer lower with no evidence that a grip can be separated from the frame.

 

Correct, it can't. Phil Strader said in his official SIG video that it is NOT "modular."

 

Yes I read that but thought it pertained to it not having the removable fire control module. I really had hopes of being able to put on aftermarket grips. Guess not.

 

Bud's is already out of stock but lists it for $500, not $400.

 

Every local gun shop and box store around me has had better prices than Bud's lately.

 

For $400, YES. For $500, NO.

 

On the waiting list at Osage County Guns, but it’s $409 there. Would pay $500 if I could find one local to save shipping and transfer fees.
Lefty

 

Picked up a G44 last year as a striker trainer, and was very pleased with it. Don't really care much about capacity in a .22, as long as the gun runs all the time. The Glock meets those needs.
I'll surely handle one of these when they start showing up in abundance, and if the reports come back positively on reliability.
The TX does make an easy mount of an optic. Concerns about adding the weight of an optic to a .22 slide are well taken.
Moon

 

I've very interested in one and will probably pick one up unless I start seeing a lot of problems pop up with it. I had a Buckmark for years that shot excellent and now have a Ruger MkIV that shoots great too and they're easy to shoot. I had a G44 and frankly it wasn't nearly as accurate and the trigger, although I'm very accustomed to Glock triggers, was pretty rough as I kind of expected out of a rimfire. Hopefully the trigger on the P322 is pretty good and not overly heavy and is common with rimfires.

 

Common? Not with real rimfires like your Browning and Ruger or my Colt and High Standard.
Poor triggers in .22s seem to have come in with S&W, Ruger, Taurus, Glock etc. small bore knockoffs of plastic service pistols.
We can hope the P322 is better. I looked at a Walther PPQ .22 recently and its trigger was much better than the rest.

 

I put a couple hundred through my 322 this afternoon. I brought my TX22 along as well. I used Federal bulk and a some Aguila Super Extra. My 322 needs more rounds through it to decide whether its a keeper or not. It functioned fine, and love the magwell and simplicity of the design.

My TX22 recently came back from repair, the slide had snapped at the front where the recoil spring sits. Taurus replaced it under warranty thankfully. I just shoot the thing really well, and it is one of my favorite guns. But, there's no optic option unless you get the competition upper (which I have) but I'd rather have an optic on the standard model.

To make matters worse I had been shooting a friends' Bul Armory 2011 race gun prior to the .22s and am so used to 2011 triggers that switching to a completely new gun in the Sig probably didn't help me much.

I think with more use the Sig trigger will get better. I managed to get the rounds in the mag jumbled up and had two stoppages which were my fault. The reset of the 322 was quite spongy when I first got it, but seems to have cleaned up a bit. I may try the other trigger shoe to see if I find any differences in shooting.

So far so good with the Sig though. It seems of good quality, the action is smooth as glass. Gonna try some other ammo in it and see what happens.

 

Looking forwards to this… in some future time. (I live in Mass; the ‘Oh good it’s 10 rounds’ country.) My friends and I very much enjoy our SR22s from Ruger; very few issues on a regular basis. I’d love to pick up an M&P22, for its ‘truer trainer size’… especially since my primary ‘duty size’ sidearm is the M&P 9… but Ma compliace has done its job in frustrating us. (I appreciate, but don’t want personally, the Ruger Mark series as well as the S&W Victory series. I’d much prefer a more ‘ordinary’ autoloader, for its ‘trainer’ capabilities.) Sig has shown us Commonwealth folks some attention in the past; hope they throw us a reduced-cap mag for this one as well.

(Soon, please, Mr Sig?)

 

Finally got a P322 a few weeks ago and took out out last week to put a couple hundred rounds through it. I was pretty bummed at first because I could not get through half a mag without a jam, just terrible. Realized pretty quick that the problems were entirely with the mags, you have to be super careful to make sure all of the rounds are aligned correctly because it's really easy to get a few settled wrong, a bit nose down and throw off the rest of the mag.

Once I started focusing on very, very carefully loading the mags, the jams stopped, but it's kind of a pain and I've never had any firearm be so sensitive to how you load the mags (assuming you aren't doing something plainly wrong). Maybe things will smooth out with use, or maybe it doesn't like golden bullets, time will tell. As for the pistol itself, I like it and it's pretty easy to shoot well, definitely going to have to get a red dot for it to try out.

 

With a 20-round magazine I was kinda thinking it would be pretty sensitive to the cartridges not being perfectly aligned, and that it'd be kind of easy for them to be misaligned as well.

 

Rim lock wasn't the issue, the magazine doesn't seem to have enough tension to force the cartridges into the correct feeding angle.

 

While this is a true statement. Glock as gotten past it with their G44 magazines by using a semi double stack. Only the rims are offset while the bullets stay more inline. And Kel-Tec has figured it out with their quad stack CMR/PRM 30 and CP33 magazines. My OEM G44 and ProMag G44 mags have been 100% reliable for me. The CMR/PMR 30 and CP33 magazines have also been 100% reliable for me. Yes you do have to take a little more care on how you load these magazines.

 

I should probably do a follow up review of my P322. Sample of one, but it's serial is just over 300 and the thing runs, and runs, and runs. Best guess is over 4k rounds through it now, wearing a RomeoZero 3 MOA dot and it's been a reliable and fun .22 to own. Yes, care needs to be taken loading the mags. I myself and a gal pal both goofed loading the mags and had issues, but it's an easy fix. I ran a box of CCI semi-auto quiets through it without an issue, good enough for me.

FWIW, I still think the TX22 (especially competition) is a better target gun, the trigger is just better and Id' prefer a mini red dot to a micro, but I love both of them.