At the time of this writing, SIG Sauer’s line of P320 pistols included 22 variants ranging from compact-carry to long-slide competition models. One of the most distinctive is the P320 XCarry Legion, reviewed here, because it offers a blend of competition and tactical features and includes a threaded barrel for attaching a muzzle compensator or sound suppressor.
The XCarry Legion is single-action and chambered in 9 mm Luger. SIG classifies it as “carry size,” meaning its grip is the same height and holds the same magazine as a full-size model, but it comes with a compact-length slide. Everyday carry, however, isn’t exactly what comes to mind, given this pistol’s 8.1" length and unloaded weight of 40.5 ozs.—heavier than a full-size, steel-frame M1911. The tungsten-infused polymer grip module adds weight and is intended for competition shooters who lean toward heavier pistols that absorb more recoil. Those who prefer something lighter can shave off 11 ozs. by switching the fire control unit (FCU) of this pistol into a compact grip. The stainless-steel FCU is the serialized component, and interchangeable grip modules are sold online.
The slide has a gray PVD finish, and the 4.6" threaded barrel extends 0.88" forward of it. The X-series grip, distinguished by an extended-beavertail backstrap and wide-radius undercut trigger guard, enhances shooter comfort and improves draw speed from a holster by consistently guiding the hand onto the correct position on the grip. The frame’s texturing is functional, though not aggressive, while the front of the trigger guard is slightly angled and partially serrated for the shooter with long fingers who prefers to wrap the support-hand index finger around the guard. The dustcover has a three-slot Picatinny accessory rail.
The magazine release is reversible to suit left-handed shooters. Bilateral slide-catch levers protrude from the frame just enough to allow manipulation even when wearing lightweight gloves, but our testers with shorter thumbs felt the catch could be extended slightly rearward for easier access.
Our evaluators found the XCarry Legion’s trigger was conducive to fine marksmanship, particularly when shooting one-handed, where maintaining a proper sight picture throughout the trigger stroke can be difficult. The wide, flat-face trigger releases the striker when it reaches a 90-degree angle to the bore, a subtle aspect of trigger geometry that lessens the tendency to cam the muzzle downward or press the trigger sideways instead of straight to the rear. Legion triggers are skeletonized and have a reduced weight of pull compared to other P320 triggers. Using a Lyman digital scale, our trigger broke at 4 lbs., 8 ozs., after 0.35" of travel; there was no overtravel.
Three 17-round Legion-series magazines with checkered aluminum basepads are supplied. A flared, aluminum magazine-well extension helps both competitive shooters reload on the move and tactical users to reload in darkness. The extension accepts only Legion magazines, but it is easily removed. Though this appendage works as intended, the magazines seat nearly flush with the extension, so some shooters preferred an optional extended 21-round magazine to ensure the magazine locks in place on the first attempt. The magazines have only three witness holes, which precludes a precise capacity check, and their location on the right side of the magazine makes visual inspection awkward when holding the pistol in the right hand. However, SIG plans to transition to new magazines with numbered witness holes for each round located on the spine.
The steel, open-style sights include a fully adjustable rear and a dovetail-mounted front, each with green tritium inserts that glow in darkness. The front insert is surrounded by a bright green ring that draws the shooter’s attention to it in daylight. The rear sight’s inserts are more subtle, sitting on each side of the notch in the sight blade amidst fine horizontal serrations intended to reduce glare from sunlight. The rear sight plate can be removed to install an optical sight of the SIG Romeo1Pro footprint. The sights are high enough to allow a 1.38"-diameter suppressor to be mounted without completely obstructing the sight picture and have prominent leading edges that enable the slide to be racked by catching the sight on a hard surface if one hand is incapacitated.
The XCarry Legion was tested for precision from a sandbag rest at 25 yards using three loads, which yielded an overall five-shot mean group size of 2.42". Reliability was nearly perfect, with one misfire due to a light primer strike occurring during the 200-round test.
The XCarry Legion uses a barrel that was re-designed after an earlier threaded-barreled P320 pistol experienced cycling problems with some suppressors. To test how well the new barrel worked, we fired 100 shots through the SIG SRD-9 and MODX-9, Gemtech Lunar-9, Dead Air Odessa and AAC TiRant-9 suppressors. Functioning problems from suppressor-pistol incompatibility typically arise immediately, so firing 20 rounds per suppressor is usually sufficient to gauge reliability for recreational use.
No functional problems arose, except for one stoppage and sluggish cycling on the first two shots using the SRD-9, which was the heaviest silencer tested. SIG’s new magazines may also improve overall function because they have extended feed lips that make the cartridge’s forward movement into the chamber more consistent.
Overall, we found the SIG Sauer P320 XCarry Legion to be well-suited to fill the holsters of military and law-enforcement tactical teams, suppressor aficionados and—with only a muzzle compensator added—action-pistol competitors.
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