Why I now carry the SIG Sauer P320 Compact 9mm pistol

[WebSnyper]

But bigger, never goes in as deep...

 

[Creedmoor]

LOL, I believe you and my kid are the only ones that got the joke.

 

[ditcherman]

LOL, I believe you and my kid are the only ones that got the joke.

No.
We got it.

 

[Dingleberry]

Brown chicken, brown cow?!

 

[Skip]

45acp HST makes bigger holes. So there......

A hole in air does no good though. I’ve always said: “It doesn’t matter how big the caliber is that you miss with….”

Since the advent of good 9mm hp bullets the “45 won’t shrink” argument is a moot point.
I have read lots of posts, not yours, but from others, where it was obvious their manhood relied on shooting a 45ACP.


"Pops? Dude. I was in elementary school while you were toting a 1911 and eating crayons."

Pop’s and eating crayons…..
My, my, my…..don’t be disrespectful to those older Marines that aren’t jerks…..

 

[ECS686]

Just an fyi for those that care I made contact with a former conworker who is a Federal Air Marshal. FAMs dropped the Sig 229 and 357 SIG in 2021 and now run Glock Gen 5 19 or 26 FAM choice with Speer 124 plus P

 

[ditcherman]

Just an fyi for those that care I made contact with a former conworker who is a Federal Air Marshal. FAMs dropped the Sig 229 and 357 SIG in 2021 and now run Glock Gen 5 19 or 26 FAM choice with Speer 124 plus P

Sure glad nobodies mandating me what to carry.
That’s such major change on so many levels, and if the FAM is not a gun guy he’s likely to not get proficient with the differences, and if he is I would think he’d just be mad.
I would think if anyone could carry their choice it would be those dudes. It’s not like they’re going to be able to pick up other mags in an incident on a plane.

 

[trader]

my favorite pocket gun is my p365 with a 2.5 lb trigger. to ignore the large history of drop firing of the 320, is not a gamble i'm willing to take. great gun, til the day it kills it's owner. some things "sorry" just can't fix. but i support your right to carry a cow turd if you want!

 

[ECS686]

Sure glad nobodies mandating me what to carry.
That’s such major change on so many levels, and if the FAM is not a gun guy he’s likely to not get proficient with the differences, and if he is I would think he’d just be mad.
I would think if anyone could carry their choice it would be those dudes. It’s not like they’re going to be able to pick up other mags in an incident on a plane.

We had a ton of guys transfer when they expanded the FAM program in 2002. Then if you weren’t a gun guy You became a gun guy or you washed out.

Fast forward, they (like a lot of agencies) softened their qual course. They did that change around 2019 (I believe) right before the Glock 19. I’m not saying that was the reason as like anything .gov just does stuff.

I will say whenever issued guns were changed it took me about 3 months to get use to and as proficient with the new gun as my prior firearm And we **** at least twice every month. If I was a once or twice a year shooter it would have taken longer.

What surprised me was the US Secret Service dumping Sigs for Glocks in 2018. I believe some Homeland Security folks and National Park Service and maybe Postal Inspectors are the last Federal Agencies to still run Sig.

 

[deford]

After having owned a couple of hundred handguns, I recently sold away all of my handguns (one to go) and decided to sit for a while and think about what qualities I wanted most in a handgun, and which of the pistols I have owned in the past have met my needs most readily.

At the end of that internal dialogue, I came to the conclusion that the SIG Sauer P320 Compact, chambered in 9mm, best fits my needs on a daily basis.

View attachment 319885

Here's why:

1. Ergonomics - The standard, compact, medium grip fits my hand as well as any pistol on the planet.
2. Weight - It is lightweight, which matters as the day wears on.
3. Capacity - Although I love the 1911, the ability to fire a pistol sixteen times before needing to reload is a huge benefit. Nobody ever complained they had too many rounds in a gunfight.
4. The Company - SIG Sauer has so many government contracts and so much money with which to now both fund R&D as well as handle any complaints which might arise from their customers, you don't have to worry about being left high and dry as you might with other, less successful firearm companies.
5. High Bore Axis - I LOVE the fact that the SIG Sauer P320 has a higher bore axis than many of their competitors. Although a low bore axis MIGHT impart less "flip" to the shooting experience, it also directs the recoil more directly into the shooter's hand. The SIG P320 shoots SOFT, which feels very nice by comparison to my many experiences with GLOCK, S&W, etc.
6. Military testing - Regardless of the how, why, or when, the P320 was chosen to serve after completing SOME testing by the military, which may not mean much to some as we all know the government is rarely the standard for excellence to be followed, but it does speak to the fact that the pistol is NOT a complete **** show and has completed at least some testing by the government and deemed worthy.
7. Trigger - Although dry-firing the P320 is riddled with a lackluster "thunk" sound and feel, on the range, the P320 trigger shines in my hands with a clean break, a crisp reset, and no little "dingle-safety" on its surface.
8. Modularity - Throw on the "carry" grip module, and now you have a 17+1 capacity in a "Commander" configuration. Change out the slide to a longer one, and you now have a longer sight radius with the shorter grip in that "reverse Commander" configuration. Hundreds of ways to configure the pistol to make it just the way you like it. Fortunately for me (and my wallet), the basic configuration is my favorite.

Topped with SIG Lite Night Sights, the pistol needs nothing added and nothing subtracted to serve well in an EDC role. The P320 is the "just-right porridge" in my particular tale. Nothing exciting in particular, but plenty of excitement as a complete package!

YMMV!

Thanks for your time!

Vanguard.45

Right on! I carry a P320 Compact too and I love it like it's my kid. It's my first handgun and it probably won't be my last, but I can see it staying my favorite for life. All this stuff stuck out to me when I was researching and I couldn't find any proof that the misfires weren't an operator issue. As someone who's told semi-often that I made a poor choice, this is a very validating read. Cheers!

 

[Vanguard.45]

Right on! I carry a P320 Compact too and I love it like it's my kid. It's my first handgun and it probably won't be my last, but I can see it staying my favorite for life. All this stuff stuck out to me when I was researching and I couldn't find any proof that the misfires weren't an operator issue. As someone who's told semi-often that I made a poor choice, this is a very validating read. Cheers!

Great choice! Like I said, I have owned hundreds, and the P320 Compact is as good as any for EDC and CCW. Enjoy!

 

[ECS686]

While I love my Sig 226 I did have to laugh as it seems the Military is the only one that got a deal on Sig polymer pricing!

 

[Creedmoor]

my favorite pocket gun is my p365 with a 2.5 lb trigger. to ignore the large history of drop firing of the 320, is not a gamble i'm willing to take. great gun, til the day it kills it's owner. some things "sorry" just can't fix. but i support your right to carry a cow turd if you want!

Says the guy that carries a pistol with a 2.5 lb trigger.....

 

[ditcherman]

And we **** at least twice every month.

Is that like a whole agency thing? The government does have some strange policies but that’s pushing the limits seems to me.




Ok seriously, good info and interesting reading.

 

[92FSTech]

Says the guy that carries a pistol with a 2.5 lb trigger.....

It always cracks me up when people who carry the P365 talk crap about the P320. While they are not the same gun and don't share parts, the mechanical operating principles are identical. Both guns employ a chassis-style fire control unit and have a fully pre-tensioned striker and a trigger (without a "dingus") that functions by lowering the sear to release the striker. Sig basically just took the P320 concept and re-designed it to fit in a smaller package to make the P365.

While I love my Sig 226 I did have to laugh as it seems the Military is the only one that got a deal on Sig polymer pricing!

There is definitely truth to this. The basic "Nitron" guns were pretty cheap, but it seems like those have pretty much disappeared in recent years in favor of all the fancy variants..."X-Whatever", "AXG", "Legion", "Pro" etc. I keep waiting for a basic compact 10mm to be released instead of the "carry comp" or whatever they're calling it, but I'm not holding my breath that it's gonna happen.

Marketing genius on the part of Sig, as they're charging double or more for what is essentially the same gun with some minor variations, a different grip module, and maybe an optic cut. Not good at all for the price conscious consumer, though.

 

[Basher]

It always cracks me up when people who carry the P365 talk crap about the P320. While they are not the same gun and don't share parts, the mechanical operating principles are identical. Both guns employ a chassis-style fire control unit and have a fully pre-tensioned striker and a trigger (without a "dingus") that functions by lowering the sear to release the striker. Sig basically just took the P320 concept and re-designed it to fit in a smaller package to make the P365.

Yes and no. To my understanding, the safety on the P320 blocks the trigger bar from moving to the rear, whereas the safety on the P365 actually blocks the sear. Thus the P365 is actually a safer design IMO since one of the original issues with the 320 was it discharging when the trigger bar moved during drops/impacts. I could be mistaken, however.

 

[92FSTech]

Yes and no. To my understanding, the safety on the P320 blocks the trigger bar from moving to the rear, whereas the safety on the P365 actually blocks the sear. Thus the P365 is actually a safer design IMO since one of the original issues with the 320 was it discharging when the trigger bar moved during drops/impacts. I could be mistaken, however.

It appears you are absolutely correct!



None of mine have manual safeties, nor did they cover the manual safety in either of my armorer's courses back in 2020 (beyond a cursory description of how to install one in the P320, but they didn't have any guns equipped with it for us to actually work on). If we're talking manual safety equipped models, I'd say that's a definite design advantage for the P365. It still doesn't give me warm fuzzies about putting one in my pocket, though.

 

[Basher]

It appears you are absolutely correct!



None of mine have manual safeties, nor did they cover the manual safety in either of my armorer's courses back in 2020 (beyond a cursory description of how to install one in the P320, but they didn't have any guns equipped with it for us to actually work on). If we're talking manual safety equipped models, I'd say that's a definite design advantage for the P365. It still doesn't give me warm fuzzies about putting one in my pocket, though.

I’d be comfortable carrying a P365 AIWB, but I’m still not sold on carrying the P320 AIWB even with the safety once I learned that. Are the chances super tiny that I’d have a problem? Sure. But if I lost that bet, the price for it would probably be my life, soo…

 

[MindfulMan]

Sure glad nobodies mandating me what to carry.
That’s such major change on so many levels, and if the FAM is not a gun guy he’s likely to not get proficient with the differences, and if he is I would think he’d just be mad.
I would think if anyone could carry their choice it would be those dudes. It’s not like they’re going to be able to pick up other mags in an incident on a plane.

I agree, DM. I certainly wouldn't switch my P229 in 357SIG for a G****. Hell no !

 

[Creedmoor]

I agree, DM. I certainly wouldn't switch my P229 in 357SIG for a G****. Hell no !

I wouldn't trade my Sig Mosquito 22 for a G****