TacticalGear4Life is supported by its wonderful audience. When you make a purchase through our links below, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The Canadian Armed Forces has used the Browning Hi-power 9mm since it was adopted in 1944. They have proven that old dogs can learn new tricks as the CAF has finally replaced the Browning with the beautiful SIG P320 designated by the Armed Forces as the C22.
Don’t get me wrong, I love 1911’s. They are iconic guns that I would run any day of the week, and the Hi-powers had their moment of glory, but change must happen, and we must all move on.
The C22 ushers in a new era of close combat fighting drills to the CAF. It inspires a whole new level of cool-headed determination and aggression amongst the combat arms soldiers getting to use it.
This 17-round, polymer-based, striker-fired beauty is a welcomed addition to any arsenal.
SPECS
Calibre: 9 x 19mm
Magazine Size: 17
Sights: SIGLITE Front / Night Sight Rear Plate
Threaded Barrel: No
Pistol Size: Full Size
Overall Length: 8.0 in (203 mm)
Overall Width: 8.0 in (203 mm)
Height: 5.5 in (139 mm)
Barrel Length: 4.7 in
Weight: 29.6 oz (833 g)
Trigger Type: Standard Curved
Trigger Action: Striker
Accessory Rail: M1913
Barrel Material: Carbon Steel
Manual Safety: No
Optic Ready: Yes
PROS
- INTERCHANGEABLE GRIP SIZE
- REMOVABLE FRAME ASSEMBLY
- GREAT ERGONOMICS
- EASY TARGET ACQUISITION
- SMOOTH TRIGGER ACTION
- OPTICS READY
CONS
- NO MANUAL SAFETY
- WILL NOT FIRE IF THE SLIDE IS PRESSED BACK EVEN THE SLIGHTEST
- TAKEDOWN LEVER CAN BE HARD TO USE
PRICE
CHECK LATEST PRICE ON CABELAS
CHECK LATEST PRICE @ LOCAL DEALER
OVERALL
The CAF’s new SIG P320, or C22, as it’s been designated, was a blast to play with. The ergonomics are excellent, making it an easy gun to fire without your hands or wrists getting tired or sore from poor positioning.
The 5 lb trigger pull is smooth with easy-to-handle recoil, allowing you to fire at high rates and maintain decent accuracy. The hand guard sits comfortably in the web of your hand and provides excellent protection from potential slide bite.
The sites on the C22 are clear and concise, allowing for easy and quick target acquisition from a holster draw and re-acquisition after each shot.
The interchangeable grip sizes and the self-contained trigger group or frame assembly, as SIG calls it, make the C22 a highly versatile gun, great for frontline soldiers.
The C22 is accurate, easy to use, easy to maintain, comfortable to shoot, and highly customizable. It is a considerable upgrade from the Browning Hi-power.
FIRST IMPRESSION
When I picked it up, I first noticed how comfortable it felt in my hand. Having spent many years shooting the Glock 17, I found the ergonomics of the C22 great.
It fits snugly in the web of your hand and has comfortable finger placement. The handguard on the back offers a very secure feeling while holding the gun.
I noticed as well that the P320 feels top-heavy. This makes sense as it has a polymer handle, a steel slide, and a reasonably high bore axis, making the majority of the weight further from your hand.
I dry-fired it a few times before going up to the line, and the slide was very smooth. The slide serrations are nice, well placed and really help you to pull the slide back, but it moves smoothly regardless.
The rear night light sites and the front SIGLite sights look great and are easy to line up your sight picture with.
My first contact with the P320 was very exciting, and it felt great.
FIELD FIRSTS
On the line, we did some accuracy, speed shooting, site acquisition, and CQB drills.
During all these, the C22 fired great, with no stoppages for me or anyone else on the line. The recoil was very manageable, and with enough practice, I am sure anyone could overcome what little it has.
It was very accurate, and I was able to keyhole my rounds with no problem from 10 feet. The sites also made target acquisition easy as we practiced adjusting targets between shots.
In the end, I was very satisfied with the C22. It felt great, it was easy shoot and handle, very accurate, and a lot of fun.
SIG SAUR P320 (C22) BREAKDOWN
HAND GRIP
The SIG P320 is a modular pistol with an interchangeable slide, handle, and frame assembly (trigger group). This is a very handy design as one “gun” can fit many people, all you need is the interchangble handle.
SIG makes small, medium, and large-sized handles for the P320. Upon initial purchase, the P320 comes with a medium handle attached.
Now, surprisingly, even though I wear L-XL gloves, the grip that feels the best in my hand is the small grip. When I first got my pistol it had a medium grip on it, it is also what I used when I fired it for the first time. But when I switched to the small grip, it just felt nicer and more firm in my hand.
I also really liked the grip stipling. Some reviews online say they would like the stipling to extend higher on the grip, but I honestly didn’t mind. Ultimately, I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to my shooting.
The bottom of the grip also has a super helpful little cut-out that is meant to help if the mag and mag well get real dirty with, say, dirt and mud. The cut-out allows you to grip the magazine and pull it out.
SAFETY
Unlike the American military version of the SIG P320 and the civilian version of the P320, the Canadian military version has no manual safety. Although you can see a little intent where it would be, the only external safety this gun has is your finger.
SIGHTS
The SIG P320 has a night sight on the rear and a SIG SIGLITE front site.
I found these sites great for quick target acquisition. The front site is easy to find quickly through the rear posts, allowing you to put lead down range on target accurately.
The rear sites have also been narrowed. This lets you see your target around the sites, giving you a better site picture and, again, lets you get on target quicker.
The SIG P320 has a rear removable site plate that lets you attach a red dot site. Although created with SIGs Romeo red dot site in mind, it does fit an array of aftermarket red dot sites so that you can put on your favourite one.
TRIGGER
SIG Saur gave the P320 a 5 lb trigger pull. This is much nicer than the Brownings, which come in around a whopping 9 lbs. Being used to shooting Glock which has a 5.5 lb trigger pull I much prefer the SIG over the browning.
The trigger has smooth take-up and a solid wall, letting you know when you’re about to sling lead. It has a noticeable reset point with an audible click, giving the shooter a heads-up that it’s ready to fire again.
The pull and release are very smooth throughout the whole motion. This really makes the P320 a gem to shoot.
SLIDE LOCK / TAKEDOWN LEVER / MAG CATCH
SIG did an excellent job on the P320 with button or lever placement. The three buttons are all easily accessible without having to strain your hands to access them.
This means regardless of the size of your hands, you can hit the slide catch to keep on shooting or the mag catch to swap out your magazines easily.
The mag catch button is very smooth; as soon as you depress it, the magazine falls into your hand. At the same time, it holds the magazine very securely, so there is no worry of the magazine coming out on its own.
As well-placed as the takedown lever is, it is one of the few aspects of the P320 I was not a huge fan of. I found the takedown lever quite hard to spin to take it out so that you could take apart the gun.
Now, that being said, I might get used to it and get better at using it the more time I spend using the C22.
LOADED CHAMBER INDICATOR (LCI) / VISUAL INDICATOR
SIG Saur gave the P320 two handy and functional safety features to know whether the gun is hot. In the picture below you can see a little metal square, this is the loaded chamber indicator or LCI.
When the gun has been readied, and there is a round in the chamber, that little metal square pokes up above the slide.
If you need to confirm the state of your weapon, you can gently run your hand or a finger over the top of the slide and feel if the LCI is sticking up.
This is so functional because it works whether it is in the middle of the day or night. It is an excellent safety system because light doesn’t matter; you can always find out the state of your gun.
As well, on the side of the P320, there is a small gap between the slide and the barrel. This is a visual indicator; you can see the round in the chamber through the little open slit SIG put there. Now, this only works during the day, but the LCI and this together are outstanding safety checks for the state of your gun.
TAKE DOWN
DISASSEMBLY / REASSEMBLY / CLEANING
The Modular design of the SIG P320 is one of the aspects that makes this gun great for American and Canadian militaries. As we usually function in highly dirty places, we need to have the ability to clean our weapons well.
The P320, when completely broken down, is only 6 pieces, none of them very small. This eliminates the chance of pieces being lost in the field.
SIG made the frame assembly (trigger group) all one piece, allowing you to swap it into any other P320 frame. It also makes the disassembly and reassembly extremely easy as, again, there are no small pieces; you remove it as a single piece.
Now, a drawback is, however, if the frame assembly does get extremely dirty, there is no way to take it apart. You’re left with simply spraying it with water, digging around in it with a Q-tip, or dumping lube on it.
FUNCTIONALITY
As I have mentioned throughout, SIG has designed the P320 to be highly functional.
The whole gun is extremely ergonomic and feels solid and comfortable in the hand. You won’t tire from shooting or squeezing the gun grip for hours.
The modular design and lack of small parts allow for easy disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly. The modular design allows the P320 to be customized to whoever is using it without getting a whole new gun. The handle can be swapped out to the correct size of the user’s hand.
SIG’s rear night site and front SIGLite make target acquisition quick and easy. This intern makes the learning curve for new shooters easy to get over and next to nothing for experienced shooters.
Overall, the SIG P320 is a highly functional handgun and excellent for people to pick up, customize to fit them, and then start slinging lead.
ACCURACY & RELIABILITY
During the entire afternoon, with 10 to 20 C22s running for hours on end, there were next to no stoppages. It fired accurately nearly every single time.
Different ammo might affect this; some ammo is just made poorly and causes guns to jam often. However, Some guns are made so well that they can chew through any ammo with no problem.
We spent our time firing from ranges of 1 meter up to 20 meters, and the competent and skilled shooters were hitting the target with no problem every time.
I have watched reviews of the P320 on YouTube, and guys are hitting consistently from distances of up to 50 meters and making it look as easy.
Being a skilled shooter obviously makes a huge difference, but the C22 is a highly accurate handgun, and even new shooters can pick it up and make that steel plate sing.
ERGONOMICS
Not to beat a dead horse, but to reiterate once more, the SIG Saur P320 is ergonomically a very well-designed gun. It fits comfortably into your hand, feels comfortable in your hand, and the catches are good distances where you don’t have to strain to use them.
CONCERNS AND CRITICISMS
The main concern I have heard about with the P320 is the accidental firing when the gun is dropped. There’s no need to worry about that; it has been fixed. SIG recalled the P320 and fixed the issue.
The other concern I’ve heard is that the bore axis is too high on the P320. In the end, this comes down to a more personal issue.
The bore axis on the Glock 17 is much lower than on the P320, yet I didn’t have any problem adjusting to using it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, the new C22 was a considerable upgrade for the military. The old Browning Hi-power was severely outdated and needed to go.
The P320 is a beauty to handle and shoot. It ergonomically feels very good in your hand. The modular design makes it highly functional, whether in a military context or just your at-home self-defence weapon.
Its sites allow for easy target acquisition and increased accuracy. The little amount of felt recoil means anyone can learn to fire the P320 and, with some training, can be decently proficient.
It is a weapon that will benefit the armed forces for years to come.
