Just like the Glock 44, the Sig P322 has been one of the longest-awaited 22LR pistols. The P322 is built on the Sig P320 platform and was created to be a trainer/introductory pistol for new shooters.
Sig P322 Features
Some of the cool things about the SIG P322 are the fact that it is almost identical to the P320 series that are chambered in 9mm and other larger calibers.
The similarity of the big brother calibers which really is what draws people to this gun as an introductory gun for their children or even a trainer gun to save money on ammo.
The 22-caliber model almost identically mirrors the four-inch model, 9mm P320, but there are some slight variations in features, and I’m going to go over those now.
Grip and Ergonomics
The grip and ergonomics of this are so similar to the P320. It has the standard grip texture that SIG offers, and it also has the same angle and master grip of the P320 series.
The P322 does give some slight variations, but overall, it’s the same polymer modular grip frame, which feels very good in the hand.
The weight is close to P320, but, of course, not exactly the same. But close enough that the gun gives you a true-to-life version of the P320.
Sights
One of the bigger differences between the P322 and the P320 is the P322 comes with fiber optic sights.
The rear sight is an adjustable fiber optic sight and is equipped with an optics-ready platform on the rear.
The front sight is also fiber optic, however, from the factory mine is missing the fiber optic rod.
The missing fiber optic rod doesn’t stop me from using the gun and it didn’t really affect my accuracy much, but I do think sight picture consistency and the lack of distraction of the hole where the fiber optic rod would go could improve from shooting with this gun.
If it had the fiber optic from the factory would’ve been nice, considering, I did look around the box and couldn’t find it.
I have reached out to SIG and hopefully, it’s just something as simple as either sending me a fiber optic rod or a new front sight to replace it and I’ll replace it.
I really don’t want to send this whole gun to SIG for a silly fiber-optic rod.
Sig did send me out a full bag of replacements with both green and red colors very quickly. Full disclosure, I just used Sig’s website for support and they had no idea I was writing a review.
Threaded Barrel
One of the really nice features of the P322 is the fact that it does come with a threaded barrel attachment.
All you have to do is unscrew the barrel cap, screw on the threaded barrel adapter and then you can easily mount a 22 suppressor.
Threaded barrels aren’t a feature that comes with every single pistol on the market, but I am starting to see it more and more and I think SIG did a good job when it comes to adding that feature.
Sig P322 Controls
The controls are very similar to the P320 and that is purposely done.
The middle of the gun has the takedown lever, ambidextrous controls on both sides with the exception of the takedown lever, and the magazine release.
I’ll dive more into each of these controls individually.
Safety
This gun does come with a thumb safety.
As of this writing, you cannot get a Sig Sauer P322 without the thumb safety, fortunately, the safety is very usable.
It sits at the back of the gun like most pistol thumb safeties.
It’s very easy to pull down, very easy to go up. The only thing that I think the safety lacks is a clear safe/fire indicator.
Like most firearms up is safe. It goes up into the slide and clearly, it’s safe, can’t pull the trigger.
Down, it’s fire ready to go. So, as long as you know that the lack of an indicator shouldn’t really bother you much.
Magazine Release
Magazine release is quite literally the P320 magazine release. It works but is a little on the small side. I won’t complain because I’m used to my Sig P320 Compact’s safety, which is the same.
Slide Stop
The slide stop is perfect for me. I have a medium size, smaller hand.
My thumb can get to it easily. I can go up, I can go down, and it works perfectly.
It’s very easy to manipulate. It is ambidextrous, so if you like to pull down on both sides of the slide stop, you can easily do that.
It does go up and catch the slide very well and it does have last round slide lock, so it will go to slide lock if it’s the last round.
As long as your magazine and everything are functioning correctly.
Trigger
The trigger is actually really interesting and maybe not for the reasons you think.
It comes with two triggers, and I don’t know of any other pistol on the market that comes with two triggers.
If you know of one, feel free to let me know what it is in the comments. I’m just not familiar with it.
The P322 comes with the flat style trigger like you would see on the X-Carry models of SIGs and it also has one that you can change out to that has the more curved hook of the standard P320 models.
So, in true trainer fashion, you can make this gun feel more like whatever it is you’re carrying to train with the 22LR.
I think that’s a really nice touch and that’s a hard thing to come by, that foresight on a 22 or trainer pistol, especially at this price point from SIG.
Range Bag
Lynx Defense has a number of range bag options that will work well for you to carry your P322 to the range.
The Prime is perfect if you just need to carry one or two pistols to the range but if you have a lot of extra great to take along you may want to grab our pistol range bag.
Aesthetics
The aesthetics of this gun are great, especially for a 22. You’re really not losing a lot from the grownup line of the P320 series.
You’re still getting the same polymer quality. You’re still getting a metal slide, all metal parts with the exception of the sights and you get solid controls.
Aesthetically it looks great. It’d be really interesting to see them do this in their Spectre series.
However, I’m not sure how the tungsten and all that would work on a 22, but it would be interesting. I think they could glam it up a little bit and people would really like that and obviously buy it.
Overall, this is a fantastic little gun. Aesthetically it’s great. Has a front rail and breakdown. Take-down is easy and it looks great with almost any suppressor.
Shooting the Sig P322
Now, first I’m just going to start with, I had some issues shooting the P322.
I’ve heard of several people having issues and unfortunately, I was one of them, but I’m going to give you the upfront of actually shooting it with no issues because I was able to fire several magazines with no issues.
But I am going to go in-depth about some problems I did have shooting.
Shooting the SIG P322 is very smooth. The sight picture is great, with very little recoil, and I had no issues firing rapidly when I wasn’t having feeding issues.
I know that sounds silly to say, but all of my issues were related to feeding. I did not have any other kind of malfunctions or trigger issues, no control issues. All of my issues were feeding.
So, when the gunshot, I loved it. It was great and I wouldn’t be able to say enough good things about it. However, it’s time to talk about the issues and get those out of the way.
Sig P322 Feeding Issues
First and foremost, I want to say that I tried three different kinds of ammunition from two different brands.
It’s not just the ammo, I ruled that out. I wanted to make sure I was thorough enough that it wasn’t the ammo because I didn’t want to put it on this gun.
Truth be told, I wanted this gun to blow my socks off because it’s a great-looking gun. It’s cool. I love 22s and I just really wanted it to be one of the best 22LR pistols.
Magazine loading was very easy, but I did notice that the magazine when I first loaded it before I ever shot it was doing some funky stuff where it was pointing the tip of the round downward in the magazine and I couldn’t figure out what was going on there and I really wanted to see how it would shoot if that would somehow fix via the feed ramp.
When I first looked into the gun, I noticed how small the feed ramp was which I thought was interesting but still wanted to see how it played out.
Well, first things first, rack the slide, and let it go forward. First round, chambered perfectly, with no problems.
Pull the trigger, and smooth shooting, fun, not a lot of noise and not even a lot of smoke.
It was great. But immediately upon ejection, the next round failed to enter it went up the feed ramp and just jammed right into the barrel. It was not a lot of fun.
The next problem I had was the slide lock back it was like the bullet was pointed too far down into the magazine and it wouldn’t push it onto the feed ramp and load the gun.
Then, I had several more where the bullet just wouldn’t go into the hole.
It wouldn’t go into the barrel, felt like Happy Gilmore sitting there with a golf ball saying, “Don’t you want to go to your home?”
I had a several more, and I even had a couple of pinched casings.
And so, there was a couple where the tip somehow ended up pointed directly to the sky, just atrocious feeding issues.
Now, that ammo was the federal… Not sure the exact kind, it’s relatively old and that’s why I was like, “Okay, maybe it’s the ammo.” Granted every other 22, I have a pistol, or rifle didn’t matter. Shot fine with that ammo.
So, I was like, “All right, well, we’ll give the benefit of the doubt. It’s old.
Let me try something different,” but that was federal ammo. Not sure the exact brand, but it wasn’t American Eagle because that is one that I ended up trying.
The American Eagle 38 Grain is the one that ended up working the best. But the next ammo I tried was Aguila and its import. All right, hit or miss, but it is new. It’s brand new. I just ordered a whole case of it.
So, I put the Aguila in several rounds cycled perfectly, and I was like, okay, maybe it was the ammo.
Well, the next thing you know, it did the same thing so is clearly not the ammo, at least, not between these two.
Now, finally, I went back and opened a brand-new brick of American Eagle 38 grain.
All of this was jacketed hollow point, loaded that up and I noticed the bullets seemed to be… These were all 22 long rifle, not 22 long, not 22 shorts.
They were all 22 long rifle, but it did seem like the nose had a little bit more rounding and wasn’t quite as pointed as the other two rounds.
That worked flawlessly. That I had no problems with. It worked perfectly, with no issues, and I shot several mags through it just to verify that it was in fact working well.
Not the first issue with the magazine. Loading, chambering didn’t matter. Shot great. So, best I can say is that at the minimum it is very finicky with ammo.
However, I still think we have somewhat of a feeding problem here because two out of three of these ammos didn’t want to play nice, and that’s not really a good ratio.
I’m really hoping that I can talk to a couple more people that I know have a P322 and get this resolved and maybe figure out what’s going on here.
But overall, shooting the gun was great, but the feeding issues do remain.
Sig P322 Ammo
Ammo can be tricky with the Sig P322 so pick carefully. If you can get a more rounded bullet you will be much better off. Here are some options for 22LR.
Final Thoughts on the Sig P322 Review
My final thoughts on the SIG P322 is I like the gun. I want the gun to be awesome. I want to pull this thing out and shoot it three times a week.
However, I think I need to diagnose some issues here. I’m going to dig further into it and as soon as I do, and if I’m able to totally eliminate the feeding issues and I figure out what’s going on. I, of course, will update this review.
I don’t like to leave my review stagnant, especially when I’m critical of something and that something was fixed. I don’t want to leave that out there.
It’ll still remain in this because it was part of the initial review, but it will be amended to say what fixed it.
Overall, it’s hard for me to totally recommend the P322. It’s definitely not a personal protection gun. I get a lot of flack in the comments on 22LR articles about carrying them for personal protection.
By all means, you do what you want, but that is not a good idea, especially on a gun with documented feeding issues.
You can Google it and you’re going to see that many people have problems with the P322 feeding.
I’m not in a unique situation. This gun may end up back at SIG. I hope not. I hope it’s something we can remedy.
I really think that this gun has a whole lot of potential and I’m really counting on SIG to come through on my front sight fix and then the feeding issues, and then I will probably be shooting this thing at least once or twice a week because it is that much fun.
I’ll also update it with some shooting videos and also report back on shooting it suppressed. But before I do that, I do want to fix my feeding issues since this is not something I see with my other Sig’s like the P320 X-Compact and the Sig P365XL.
FAQ’s
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about the Sig P322 trainer pistol.
