Range Report: SIG P320 X-Carry, Part 3

221 Rounds (1228 Total)
In the last report, the SIG Sauer P320 X-Carry had received its 1,000-round cleaning and the SIG Romeo1 red-dot sight was removed for the duration of the test. To date, neither the gun nor the sight have had any issues of any kind, both have been performing excellently—the red-dot removal was based on my preference for the X-Carry’s X-Ray iron sights, not any fault or flaw of the Romeo1. 

For this range session it was back to basics—you can never practice the fundamentals enough: presentation, sight picture, recoil management, target transitions. There are tons of drills and targets available online to help develop these skills, and more advanced challenges designed for faster shots, strong-/weak-hand-only shooting, reloading, etc. If you are interested in structuring your range time or trying something new, I suggest you surf the net for a few minutes and find a few activities recommended by some of the big-name, nationally recognized tactical instructors—there are plenty of good, high-profile instructors out there, and many have YouTube videos or blog articles detailing their favorite drills and skill checks.

All told I fired 221 rounds of SIG Sauer ammunition—150 rounds of 124-gr. FMJ and 71 of 124-gr. V-Crown JHPs. As is becoming the routine, there were no issues of any kind with the gun, and it was great to get back behind the X-Carry’s bright green front sight.

One quirk of the X-Carry I should have mentioned earlier, though, involves the retracted slide failing to return fully forward with weak or partial releases. What I mean is, if the slide is fully or partially retracted to the rear, it needs a clean release in order to slam forward and return to the “in battery” position. If, say, I try and ride the slide forward or fail to release cleanly when racking the slide in a “slingshot” style, the slide may hang up about 1/16” out of battery, and result in light primer strikes and the gun failing to fire.

According to my sources at SIG, this has to do with how tightly the X-Series guns are fit—particularly the barrel and slide fit—and is completely normal in these pistols. In fact, SIG chose to tighten the fit specifically to enhance accuracy among X-Series P320s—and they are accurate. The gun I’ve been testing hung up very easily at the beginning of testing, and even now, more than 1,000 rounds in, it will still hang up if I intentionally short-stroke the slide. I’ve never had an issue during firing, though, probably because I always use the slide-release lever and let the slide slam forward freely. I suggest those who choose a SIG P320 X-series pistol learn to do the same.

296 Rounds (1524 Total)
Mixed bag day! With these extended tests, I always like to have a day where I shoot a wide variety of ammunition, ensuring a good mix of brands, bullet weights and bullet profiles. For the SIG P320 X-Carry, the mixed bag included:

All up, the X-Carry fed and fired 296 rounds from six manufacturers and ranging in weight from the 65-gr. ARX poly/copper projectile to 147-gr. personal defense bullets. It has been pretty impressive to see this gun function through more than 1,500 rounds without a hitch, and this range session, with the highly varied ammunition diet, was probably the most demonstrative of this gun’s reliability.

I don’t think it’s too early to start predicting the SIG X-Carry is going to go the distance without a malfunction. The Smith & Wesson M&P9 M2.0 Compact did it, it surpassed 2,000 rounds easily, and is still running perfectly. Now, the X-Carry, too, is knocking on the door without even a hiccup along the way.

These guns are spoiling me, that’s for sure, and it’s a good sign for consumers—there are definitely some quality, highly-reliable polymer-frame semi-automatics on the market right now.

Additional Reading:
Range Report: SIG P320 X-Carry—2,000 Rounds  
Range Report: SIG P320 X-Carry—Part 2  
Range Report: SIG P320 X-Carry—Part 1   
NRA Gun Gear: SIG Sauer P320 X-Carry  
NRA Gun Gear: SIG X-Carry—Mounting an RDS  
SHOT Show 2018: SIG Sauer P320 X-Carry Pistol