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I Bought A Sig P322 Pistol -Range Report Post #15

massgun

massgun

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I posted back in March that I would buy a P322 when I could find one at my LGS. Despite the issues that have been brought up in reviews and UTube, I was in my LGS yesterday and they actually had them in stock so I got to check it out and decided to purchase. The price on the tag was $455, so I told the guy I have been looking for one but thought MSRP was $399. He told me he'd go check and came back and said I could have it at $399, so I bought it.

Since that thread in March, I haven't seen any range reports or other threads specifically about the P322. I intend to do a range report as soon as I can (hopefully next week). I would like to hear from anyone else who has one what their experience has been.

My search for a new . 22 pistol began over a year ago and I was first interested in the Taurus TX22, but didn’t really want a Taurus. Next the FN502 came along but it had some issues and I found out it was made by Umarex, so I didn't really want that. Finally the Sig was introduced, made in USA, optics ready, threaded barrel, 20 rnd mags (25 rnd now available) so I decided that was the one for me.

Hopefully I won't have any of the issues that have been noted so far, but if I do, I would think Sig would make it right and anyway, it's a plinker/range gun, not a carry gun.
 
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I have not shot that pistol "yet" but I am a 22LR aficionado! (I love my 22LR's)

Since I have read about "lead build up issues".

I would highly recommend staying away from Thunderbolt .22LR's

Every .22LR that I have shot that gets excessive lead build up; gets extreme lead build up from Thunderbolt's.
 
Been looking for a new .22 range toy for a few months since I sold my MK III. Looking forward to your range report. Can I ask where you bought it?
 
Freddy B said:
Been looking for a new .22 range toy for a few months since I sold my MK III. Looking forward to your range report. Can I ask where you bought it?
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I could tell you, but it wouldn't help you, I moved South in 2015. When you decide what you want, if I were still in MA, I would contact all the guys at "the mill" first. Online would be my last choice. If I were you and wanted to check one out and couldn't find one locally, I would go to NH to the Sig store. Is it actually on the approved for MA list?
 
northframingham said:
View attachment 673664



I'd highly recommend the Ruger MKIV -22/45-Lite! I love mine!
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I actually bought one just before the Sig p322 was announced and I do like it very much. Have not yet got around to mounting a red dot, but will at some point. When the Sig was announced, it just sounded like it had everything anyone would want in a lightweight plinker and I decided I would get one when they were available to me.
 
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northframingham said:
I have not shot that pistol "yet" but I am a 22LR aficionado! (I love my 22LR's)

Since I have read about "lead build up issues".

I would highly recommend staying away from Thunderbolt .22LR's

Every .22LR that I have shot that gets excessive lead build up; gets extreme lead build up from Thunderbolt's.
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This is always good advice.
 
Knob Creek said:
I picked one for $425. Nice gun. I put a Red Dot on it. I expect Tandemkross will have a bevy of upgrades for it soon. My Ruger 22/45 is still the best for Steel Challenge.
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I recently got a special pricey leupold dpp mount plate for mine - it is an awesome gun.
Tandem cross trigger kit is indeed a must and it makes this 22/45 truly a pleasure to shoot.
Not sure if anything else is needed that much though, of upgrades.

Huh, except of grips, of course.

4D4D3261-D176-4CE6-A2F3-1F84F694F754.jpeg
Pinty went off it by now, course. :)

FBC7BA32-7967-4D08-876C-414A0DB51060.jpeg
 
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Today was a beautiful day, so off I went to the range to check out my SIG P322. I had checked it out visually before leaving for the range and everything looked good. I did just do a field strip and get the shipping lube cleaned off and dabbed a little CLP on the rails and ran a couple dry patches down the bore.

I brought 3 different cartridges to try, CCI Std 40gr LRN 200 rounds; CCI MiniMag 40gr Copper Plated RN 100 rounds; Federal Value Pack 36 gr Copper Plated HP 140 rounds fired in the above order. The CCI Std were from a brick dated 2010 from 4 seasons, don't know why they were still hanging around. [laugh]
I did not do any accuracy testing this trip, I wanted to mainly test the gun's reliability and also it is not really billed or intended as a target gun, I was shooting at steel plates.

First order of business was loading the magazines (2 - 20 round mags included), I used the loading assist tool supplied and took great care to load them as several videos show. They are a staggered mag design and you need to ensure the rounds are staggered properly, it is easy to see through the window in the mag if the cartridges are properly loaded. For no particular reason, I only loaded 15 rounds in the first 2 mags.

Moment of truth, 1st mag inserted , 4 shots go off and then a jam (stovepipe), I think, oh boy, here we go. Cleared the stovepipe and proceeded to put the rest of the mag on the plates without incident. Second mag got all 15 rounds off without incident. I then loaded the mags to capacity (20 rounds) and proceeded to run through the next 170 rounds without incident. I was varying from slow, deliberate shots to shooting as fast as I could get hits on the plates and finally a couple of mags just shooting at the berm as fast as I could pull the trigger, all without a hitch.

I continued to load and fire the next 240 rounds at varying speeds with no issues. I have at least 3 other different types of ammo to try next trip and I also plan to not clean the pistol until it starts to fail (or I just can't stand to see it so filthy)

My thoughts from this first range trip are that my pistol seems to work as intended, I only had one hitch in 440 rounds. I have smallish hands and the grip fit me very well, it is a bit larger around than my P365 and long enough to give most people a full grip with no pinky hang. I will at some point put a red dot on it, but will run it for a while with the irons which I also think are pretty good (fiber front and rear). My pistol did not show any signs of leading as some videos have shown, so, hopefully, I have a good one!

My only negative (and not really that bad) is the extra care required in making sure the mags are loaded properly. A solution is to buy some 25 round mags (either available now or soon) and load up at your leisure at home, I plan to do this.

Next range trip I'll try the rest of the types of ammo I have and probably update in this thread.
 
northframingham said:
Whether you get the RUGER (which I recommend OR the S&W Victory. They both are a lot nicer with The Tandemkross trigger and other parts.
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best thing about ruger is the reliability and it cycles on pretty much anything you feed it with, any weight and type.
as in stock form - trigger is the only one obvious thing to be improved, as a stock one is just too heavy. all the rest is optional.
 
massgun said:
My only negative (and not really that bad) is the extra care required in making sure the mags are loaded properly. A solution is to buy some 25 round mags (either available now or soon) and load up at your leisure at home, I plan to do this.
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You can’t really consider this a negative until you experience it for yourself. Next range trip, you need to load up some mags “carelessly” and see how they work.

I’m a fan of the TX22, and have a pair of them that I like a LOT. But, the TX22 with a red dot is not a true Carry Optics type pistol.
I consider the P322 with a red dot to be a true rimfire Carry Optics type pistol. Now that Sig has 10 round mags available, I plan to get a pair of these pistols and will have one with iron sights and one with a Holosun red dot.
 
Cuz said:
You can’t really consider this a negative until you experience it for yourself. Next range trip, you need to load up some mags “carelessly” and see how they work.

I’m a fan of the TX22, and have a pair of them that I like a LOT. But, the TX22 with a red dot is not a true Carry Optics type pistol.
I consider the P322 with a red dot to be a true rimfire Carry Optics type pistol. Now that Sig has 10 round mags available, I plan to get a pair of these pistols and will have one with iron sights and one with a Holosun red dot.
Click to expand...
I plan to do that on the next range trip and mix the ammo in the magazines as well. This first trip I wanted to try to take care with the mag loading to see if there would still be problems as some of the reviews stated. I plan to get a red dot at some point so please post here or start your own thread when you get your setup and have a chance to evaluate it, I will be interested in the choice of red dot as I do not have any mounted on a pistol yet.
 
The red dot I’ll use is the Holosun HS407K. I like the bigger dot size, and it mounts without a plate. If I can identify a red dot wit a bigger window that fits the RMSc footprint of the Sig before the Black Friday sales start then that’s what I would probably get.
I’m sure I’ll buy a red dot and holster next month when the Black Friday sales start. I doubt I’ll have the patience to wait that long to get at least one P322.
 

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