Today is 3/22/22 and it’s no coincidence or accident that SIG Sauer is announcing their newest pistol, the SIG P322. It’s not a P320 or a P365 but it’s obvious, as soon as you see it, that it shares the same family lineage as those two popular pistols. The P322 is a .22 LR semi-auto pistol that holds 21 rounds and is out of the box ready for optics.
The P322 was conceived, designed, engineered, and manufactured in New Hampshire, USA by SIG. Everything on it is there for a reason. This pistol wasn’t rushed to market or a last-minute project. It’s been engineered for reliability and tested to ensure success.
SIG claims that they tested it with every type of 22 ammo they could find and they claim it will run all of it. In fact, they claim that in testing it went 1,000 rounds with zero stoppages. They have test models with as many as 24,000 rounds on them. They clean every 250 rounds when testing.
The P322 can be dry-fired with no damage to the gun or the firing pin. SIG also tested this with 5,000 dry fires. Either way, you have the go-ahead from SIG to dry fire it.
Both the P320 and P365 are striker-fired. The P322 is hammer-fired with an internal, completely enclosed hammer. SIG engineers felt this would create a more reliable platform for rimfire.
The barrel is fixed to the frame and doesn’t move. The action is single action only (SAO) and straight blowback.
One of the most interesting features is that the chamber is fluted. As far as I know, that’s a first on a rimfire. Supposedly, it helps with extraction.
The barrel is 4 inches long and comes with an adapter with ½-28 threads so that you can run a muzzle brake or a suppressor right out of the box. The slide won’t come off with the thread adapter on and you need to put the thread protector back on when you remove the thread adapter or the spring assembly and bushing will come out or off.
The trigger can be changed in the field without tools from a flat face to a more traditional curved one. I prefer the flat but I did change them to see how hard it was. It’s not difficult but it took me a few minutes of fiddling with it to figure it out.
The grip is polymer but the frame itself is stainless steel. The slide is aluminum and has attractive cuts both in the front and rear.
The grip has excellent texture and shape and points very naturally. It should fit almost any size hands. It features an integrated magwell.
The sights are both green fiber optic, and the rear sight adjusts. The elevation is on the side and the windage is on the top. Both adjust with an allen wrench that comes in the box with the P322.
The rear sight also can be removed and replaced with a red dot. The footprint fits micro red dots like the Romeo Zero or the Holosun HE407K. 22’s are finicky and I was curious if it would still run with the added weight of a red dot so I added a Romeo Zero. No issues.
There is a 1913 Picatinny rail for mounting lights and lasers.
The P322 is fully-ambi. There is a manual safety that can be activated on either side of the pistol and the slide release can be locked back or released on either side as well. The mag release comes set on the left side for right-handed shooters but can be swapped to the right side for lefties.
The P322 also ships with two 20-round magazines and a magazine loader. SIG claims they will be coming out with a 25-round extended magazine shortly. Either way, 20 rounds is pretty impressive. The rounds stack in almost what you would call a double-stack fashion. As long as you don’t screw up the mag loading, the gun runs as reliably as I’ve ever seen a rimfire run.
At the time I’m writing this I have well over 1,500 rounds through the P322. I haven’t cleaned it or oiled it. I can’t stop shooting it. I’m addicted. My favorite configuration is with a Romeo Zero red dot, a suppressor, and a flashlight. Check out the video for some interesting shooting in the near dark.
For the video testing, I shot at least 20 rounds of every brand and type of .22 LR ammo I could get my hands on. For as hard as it is to get the ammo, you should be impressed. I have way more rounds off camera with no malfunctions.
Malfunctions:
I loaded a mag wrong and had the ammo nosedive and not feed into the magazine. The guy helping me film loaded a mag wrong and you can see the ammo nosedive in the magazine on the video. I’ve had two misfires, one with American Eagle and one with CCI Quiet 710 fps ammo. The misfires were a rimfire problem and not the gun’s fault at all. Also, the CCI Quiet doesn’t run. It’s only going 710 fps and I didn’t expect it to cycle. In my experience, the Quiet doesn’t run in anything except bolt actions but it is insanely quiet. Maybe I’ll try it again after the gun finishes breaking in. Otherwise, the P322 runs like a sewing machine. While it’s unfortunate that how you load the magazine is so important, it’s a small price to pay for the 20-round capacity. There’s more on the video about how to load the magazine (check out the picture above for a correctly loaded and incorrectly loaded magazine).
As far as accuracy, I tested at ten yards, standing, supported with a tripod, and with iron sights. Most of the groups strung vertically which obviously means the trigger puller needs more practice shooting groups.
I put the red dot on and shot groups at 12 yards and they shrunk to tiny little amazing-looking groups. I guess my eyes are getting older.
I also shot a BCC zone target at 70 yards, some 8-inch rounds at 50 and 35 yards with relative ease— considering that I was aiming through my phone screen. Check out the video!!!
I love that the features on the P322 are similar to all of the centerfire pistols I regularly shoot including 1911s. Unlike the SIG P322, some of the other .22 pistols don’t have realistic safeties, mag releases, or slides. The P322 is affordable, fun, and an excellent platform to practice or train on. All things considered, the SIG P322 may very well be the best 22 pistol on the market.
SIG is shipping P322’s to dealers today.
MAP or minimum advertised price is just $399.
Click HERE to visit SIG and learn more about the SIG P322
Nice review.
Did I see Federal Premium .22 Punch in that ammo pic? Some people say it keeps jamming their P322. Other people fire them off like anything else. Is it ALL in how you load the magazine or is Federal Punch a little more finicky? I’m interested in knowing absolutely, because it is the ONLY defensive round made in .22lr. And I’ve seen ballistic videos of it… impressive stuff!
I had no issues with it. All the malfunctions I’ve ever seen in the P322 were from magazines not being loaded correctly.
I’ve been shooting my P322 with a Holosun 407 and Hydra suppressor. The review is pretty spot on. So long as you load the magazines correctly it works well. You have to retract the follower one round at a time and make sure the rim of the round is in front of the previous round. That’s okay with me since you’re getting double stacked 20 rounds. My old Ruger Mark II loading is fool proof, and it eats anything. The sig performs well, considering one has to pay attention to loading, and I also have the red dot and suppressor added in. All-in-all it’s a sweet setup and performs well.
Good review but not one word about trigger pull……..
I’ll keep my old Hi Standard, thank you.
Too bad they didn’t test this pistol with some ‘good’ ammo like Lapua OSP, Eley Match Pistol, RWS Match, etc.
Time will tell, we all remember the last .22lr pistol Sig dumped on the public.
I think SIG has cured me of buying their .22 pistols. I had to just about give the mosquito I bought away to get rid of the frustration. No thank you.
What? More vaporware? All these wonderful rimfire pistols with no stock anywhere to be found.
I have 3-22 auto pistols that eat every brand of ammo out there. The TX22 Taurus which is one of my favorites, the SR22 Ruger, an the S&W Victory. By far the worst is a 22/45 lite. Jamomatic…. If I didn’t already have the Taurus. I would pick the Sig up.
I hope the slide is not made out of Zamak. Also, maybe Sig should exchange a P322 for free to whoever sends them their Mosquito.
Here here!!! They can have the seven different mags I tried as well. I’ll pay the shipping…
The Sig 322 looks great . I bought a Glock 44 and the Glock 44 kept jamming and miss firing . Look forward to the 322 .
A nice looking, affordable, and functional shooter.