The Glock Killer

Last month I shared my first looks at the new SIG Sauer P320. By way of review, it’s a fine pistol created with Swiss precision, German engineering, and good ol’ American innovation and ingenuity. It’s a modular handgun where the slide rides on all-metal rails in a solid stainless steel frame. The serialized unit lets you change everything from size to caliber to grip at will. That’s a neat concept, but in reality nothing to write home to Mom about, unless you want to dismantle one pistol to build another.

I have several hundred rounds through the P320 now, and I like it. I have the P320C, which is the Carry model. It’s a Compact, equivalent to the GLOCK 19. You get a 15 round magazine, just like the GLOCK 19, but it’s steel, like all SIG mags. It’s a great shooter, with the accuracy I expect from a SIG, but this one is only a few bucks more than a GLOCK (unlike my other SIG handguns, which were near the $1,000 mark).

I’ve heard that John Browning designed the 1911 with an angle between the barrel and the grip that happens to be the angle that most people’s fist is at when they throw a punch. That sounds pretty macho. I don’t know much about throwing punches, , but I do know that everyone on the planet seems to be divided into two groups: those who like to shoot the GLOCK and those who don’t.

SIG Sauer is marketing the P320 as more ergonomic than the GLOCK. In their marketing video they claim to follow the great ergonomic angle as Browning’s 1911. That’s the voice-over. Here’ the still.

I own a few 1911 Kimbers. I’m an Army vet, issued an M1911A1 pistol as a young and swanky lieutenant a very long time ago. I like shooting the 1911. According to SIG, it’s no surprise that I like shooting the SIG P320, which has the same grip angle as the Colt 1911.

I took my favorite Kimber out of the biometric safe in the bedroom, unloaded the GLOCK 19 from the hidden safe in the hallway and laid them beside the new SIG P320C. The GLOCK grip is steeper than both the SIG and Kimber.

The P320 is VERY comfortable in my hand. The shooting seems effortless. I do not find myself aiming low and having to adjust. But then, we’re professionals, right? 🙂

The second major marketing point SIG has is that the P320 is safer than the GLOCK because you can disassemble the handgun without pulling the trigger. I’m not qualified to discuss this point, since I cleared my GLOCK backwards many, many years ago and scared myself to death when the handgun fired in my garage. Practicing safe pistol handling saved the life of the poor lad who was cleaning his GLOCK with me. 🙁

The SIG trigger is crisp, measuring about 6 pounds on my gauge. Not unlike Hickok45 on YouTube, it hurt my trigger finger after a while, but I found that if I was careful about finger pad placement, it was fine. Right. I’m a wimp.

The gun comes with steel SIG night sights (another ding against GLOCK with its plastic sights.) I found they needed a slight push to the left, but your mileage (and aiming) may vary.

Bottom line? This handgun feels great in the hand, shoots great at the range, looks good on the desk and is easy on the wallet. It’s made in America and in every point you can think of (and some that no one would think of) it’s “better” than GLOCK.

So is the SIG P320C better than the GLOCK 19? Do you think that angling the cuts on the slide make it easier to rack the slide? Do you think that having a pentagonal shaped mag release button is cooler than a square one? Yep, me neither.

Both the GLOCK and now, after 30 years, the SIG, are polymer-framed striker-fired handguns with unquestioned reliability and accuracy right out of the box. Go buy a gun. I’ll see you at the range.