Tag Archives: optics-cut slide

3,222 Reasons to Like the Sig P322

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I’ve been kicking the new Sig Sauer P322 .22LR pistol around for a couple of months and so far, it has given us over 3,200 reasons to love it.

Introduced in March– on 3/22 as a matter of fact– Sig’s first rimfire pistol since the much-disliked Mosquito was swatted about a decade ago, has been flying high. A hammer-fired 20+1 shot .22 LR pistol, the P322 uses an internal stainless steel frame inside a polymer grip while the pistol’s aluminum slide contains a 4-inch barrel, which gives the blowback-action rimfire an overall length of 7 inches.

I’ve surpassed a goal of 3,222 rounds of assorted factory .22LR ammo in testing– and are still going– including a mix of bullet types and velocities.

Sticking mainly with readily-available Federal and CCI/Blazer loads, I found the P322 especially reliable by rimfire semi-auto standards.

And a blast to shoot with a can on it:

More in my column at Guns.com.

Sig returns to the rimfire market…

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Sig Sauer has made some rimfire pistols in the past including the almost universally-hated Mosquito (made 2005-2014) and a Umarex-made 1911-22 (2011-2014). However, for the better part of a decade, the company has left the .22LR pistol category to the other guys.

That changed on 3/22 (get it?) with the introduction of the new Sig Sauer P322. Stylistically splitting the difference between the P365 and P320– feeling kinda like both but not being related to either– the P322 is a standalone platform for Sig.

Made and designed in their New Hampshire factory (not in Germany by Umarex like the FN 502 or Beretta M9-22), the new Sig has a lot of things going for it like being optics and suppressor-ready right out of the box, uses 20-round flush-fit magazines, adjustable fiber-optic sights, both a flat and curved trigger shoe included in the box, and a full M1913 accessory rail– the latter something P365 owners wish they had!

Sig had me down to Orlando earlier this month to give the gun a try, and I gotta admit, after putting about 600 rounds through one at the event, and another 500 thus far in a T&E loaner, there may be something to this thing.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Beretta Goes 4th Gen on the M9

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Beretta this week announced the latest variant of its M9 pistol series with the M9A4, which includes an optics-cut slide, threaded barrel, and Vertec frame.

A variant of the company’s Model 92 line, which dates to the 1970s, the M9 designator comes from the nomenclature of the variant adopted by the U.S. Army in 1984. Now in its fourth generation as far as Beretta is concerned, this newest branch in the family tree is a full-sized gun with a red-dot optic compatible slide and dovetailed tritium night sights.

Inside the slim Vertec-series frame– with the same aggressively texturized grips as seen on the 92X– is an enhanced short reset Xtreme trigger system. Black surface controls are offset by a flat dark earth frame, barrel, and slide.

Well, it is optics and suppressor-ready as well as having an 18-shot mag, an accessory rail and improved ergos…but it is still a Beretta 92 under all that, for better or worse.

More in my column at Guns.com.