22 LR pistol

[IlliniFan]

Sig P322 Initial Range Trip

I cleaned and lubricated the pistol and added a few parts and accessories before the first firing. Overall, I'm satisfied with this pistol so far and it is right at a full pound lighter than my 1911 22lr that I usually carry with me while hunting.

Parts
Armory Craft - Flat Dual Adjustable Trigger (SIG Sauer P322 Flat Dual Adjustable Trigger | armorycraft). This part reduced trigger pull from factory 4.5 lbs. to just under 4 lbs. on my pistol.

Armory Craft - Reduced Power Recoil Spring 6 lbs. (Sig Sauer P322 Reduced Power Recoil Spring - 6lbs | armorycraft). This spring is supposed to help performance when shooting low power loads and or with using a red dot. The factory recoil spring is 7.5 lbs. for reference.

Sig Sauer - Thread Protector (Barrel Thread Cap, 9mm, 0.5x28 TPI).

Accessories
Streamlight TLR-8A G (TLR-8®A G | Tactical Gun Light with Green Laser | Streamlight®)

Holosun HE507K-GR X2 (HE507K-GR X2-Holosun)

Initial Firing
I shot 120 rounds of CCI AR Tactical 40 gr. ammo in total. I was using 4 20 round magazines, all loaded to their full capacity. I had one FTF and one LPS over 120 rounds and all in the second magazine, within a few rounds. Maybe a coincidence but overall it ran great. All shots were standing, freehand. The bottom target was shot at 10 yards, center target for initial sight in on the Holosun. The top target was at 15 yards. I shot another target at 20 yards and the groups opened up a little more but I'm not a good pistol shooter and this will mainly be for dispatching critters at close range. The slide did release seemingly on its own after inserting a new magazine on two occasions...I don't think I hit anything accidentally and I've seen/read about this from other reviews.

Borescope
There have been several reports of lead buildup in Sig P322 barrels. I made a short borescope video to show the barrel after 120 rounds and then after 2 passes with a Boresnake. I don't have much experience with a borescope...I think it's all normal.

 

[P&Y]

Illinifan thanks for the review!
Just got mine, put a cheap Primary Arms rds on it.. Read good reviews and figured I'd give one a try to save some money. Everything looks and feels very good. Planning on shooting today. Now I need the trigger and spring upgrade thanks to you!

 

[Megalon]

Final observation on the Ruger Mark IV. I really like it. After a session on the range it functioned perfectly. No more failures. Must have been the break in blues. I have no complaints

 

[P&Y]

Sad to report my opinion on the Sig P322 is terrible. Huge magazine issue, one must excruciatingly load the 20 rounders to an exact alignment (think building a house of cards) even once tediously loaded properly the plastic sidewalls of the mag are not stiff enough and will bulge, causing all the loaded rounds to shift and cause malfunctions. Sig apparently is blaming operators vs fixing the issue. Don't buy one, you'll regret it!

 

[IlliniFan]

Sad to report my opinion on the Sig P322 is terrible. Huge magazine issue, one must excruciatingly load the 20 rounders to an exact alignment (think building a house of cards) even once tediously loaded properly the plastic sidewalls of the mag are not stiff enough and will bulge, causing all the loaded rounds to shift and cause malfunctions. Sig apparently is blaming operators vs fixing the issue. Don't buy one, you'll regret it!

P&Y, sorry to hear you're having issues with your P322. Curious about what ammo you're using and if you had the same types of malfunctions suppressed and unsuppressed.

Before buying my P322, I had seen several reviews about malfunctions/issues with loading the magazines, Sig's instructional video on proper loading (), and other reviews about not having issues once loading the magazines "correctly". My gun shop said my P322 was recent production. It came with 2 20 round magazines and I purchased 2 additional 20 round magazines from the same gun shop. I use the loading assist tool when loading my magazines and leave just enough pressure to where I'm still pushing down a bit to load the round into the magazine and slide it all the way back. I can load them pretty fast after I got used to it but it probably seems like a longer time to load just because it's 20 rounds. I've shot my P322 a little more since my initial range trip above and have not had any issues, even with rapid fire. I also took half loaded and fully loaded magazines and tried to shake them, shake and squeeze them, etc. to see if it would shift the loaded rounds. My magazines don't flex and the rounds don't shift no matter what I try. Maybe Sig beefed them up or made other improvements. I'm just not having the same issues that you're experiencing.

 

[hm1996]

Here is a review I did on my 22/45 LITE. This is from 2018...

"I picked it up Friday and gave it a quick cleaning and some light lubrication. Saturday afternoon I hit the range with a brick of Mini Mag hollow points. Stapled up a five-spot target at 25 yards, settled in at the bench, and squeezed off five rounds. Squeezed off might not be the right term... the trigger feels as if you were pulling a brick over a gravel road by a string tied to one end. Gritty, creepy, and heavy describe the trigger. The group was 4" low and 2" right. Here is where I rediscovered just how dumb a gun designer can be. I glanced at the windage screw, the slotted screw. I expected that, normal. The elevation screw is a 1/16" Allen head. I didn't expect that. Of course, I didn't have a 1/16" Allen in my range bag or the tool kit in my truck. Packed everything up and drove to the nearest store, a rural feed & hardware store, and found a set of Allen wrenches that included the one I needed but didn't have. I never would have guessed Ruger would put two completely different type of adjustment screws in the rear sight. What's the sense of that? Making sight adjustments requires two completely different tools... dumb.

Back at the range for a redo. Now I can bear down and get through the trigger for another group and manage a surprising 1.25" group. Four shots within .75" with a flyer slightly out. The LITE will shoot but you really have to focus hard on trigger control to realize its potential. I made adjustments to the sights to center the group, however the group doesn't move. More adjustment but no movement of the groups. The sight isn't responding to the clicks turned. I finger the sight blade pushing it around and mashing the thing up/down and now the sight moves - a lot. Shooting more groups and more adjusting and guiding the blade with finger pressure I finally got dialed dead nuts on at 25 yards. That rear sight doesn't fill me with confidence. Hopefully, it will hold its adjustments.

As for accuracy, I shot around fifteen of those five-shot groups on paper and can tell you this particular pistol never fired a group over 2". Obviously I don't need to look for a load it likes! Once I settled in with the trigger if I do my part I'll manage four shots around 1" and usually have a called flyer that widens things a bit. That flyer is a direct result of the poor trigger pull. However, the accuracy of the LITE was a very pleasant surprise. It makes you work to get it, but accuracy is in there.

I had one stovepipe malfunction in the first 50 rounds. Other than this one stovepipe early on there were no other malfunctions. After I got sighted in I started running some drills with a shot timer and plinking out to 100 yards on an 8" steel plate. After about 350 rounds I noticed the front sight was loose. That caused me to also look over that balky rear sight and I noticed the little set screw that helps anchor it in the dovetail was backed out. I tightened both ends of the sights up and they shot loose again before I finished my 500 rounds. A minor irritation is the sharp-edged slide stop/release that hangs out just a bit too far from the frame. Maybe it's just me, but my left thumb lays over the top of that with my grip style and gets rubbed pretty well by the sharp edge. I also prevent the slide from holding after the last shot fired with my grip. That might not happen if the slide stop didn't protrude so far from the frame.

Sunday I cleaned the gun up and noticed it's quite a bit slicker and smoother. The trigger still has creep and weight but the gritty feel is gone. Lock Tite will fix the screws that want to back out in the sights. The gun feels good, and looks sharp with the black frame and Diamond Gray upper (which looks light blue to my eye), it is surprisingly accurate and seems to run the Mini Mags just fine. That rear sight might get swapped out and some trigger work is most likely going to happen. Ruger should have included filler screws in case someone wants to take the rail off. Might get a set of Stoner G10 thin grips with a little blue/black color in them. Need to find a good holster. And stock up on Mini Mag hollow points"

I have a very early model 22/45 Target model (which I haven't shot nearly as much as it deserves). Never shot it for a group, as I'm not nearly the pistol shot that Gary is. Accuracy was much better than I can shoot it; would love to see what it is capable of in the hands of an accomplished pistolero. The trigger was a mite heavy, but did not experience the gravel or notice excessive creep in mine.

The sight had slotted elevation/windage adjusting screws. Maybe different sight than on Gary's pistol or maybe his was made on a Monday in a union shop.

Since the one piece frame is different, I didn't notice sharp edges on the slide release. I suspect that this is due to the fact that since it was recessed in the frame to the point it is a bit hard to release with right thumb, as one grows accustom to with the 1911's. Sounds like they just tried to correct that problem and over corrected in the new frames.

Thanks for the very detailed review, Gary. Glad you were able to work out the issues. Can't imagine using an allen screw on your sight. Whodathunk it!

 

[P&Y]

Illini fan, thank you for the info. Glad to hear you guy yours ironed out! I have used CCI mini mag, subsonic, quiet - semi-auto along with some Remington goldens, all suppressed.
I figured out the loading trick but mine will shift easily.

Hoping an aftermarket company will make a more rigid mag that isn't finicky on how it's loaded, gladly settle for a 10 rounder. I saw first hand how they responded to their drop fire issues so not holding my breath on them addressing this.