SIG Sauer P322 TACPAC .22 LR Pistol: The Best .22 LR Do-All Pistol?

RIMFIRE IS CHEAP, FUN, AND AWESOME

The semi-auto .22 LR gun from SIG Sauer, the P322! Is it a training gun? A competition gun? Maybe just a gun so fun you’re compelled to shoot it?

I would say that it is all of the above. So, let's dig into the details.

SPECS AND FEATURES

• CALIBER: 22LR
• MAGS INCLUDED: (3) 20rd Mag
• SIGHTS: Fiber Optic Front / Adjustable Rear
• RX FOOTPRINT: Compact (Shield RMS-c)
• THREADED BARREL: Yes
• PISTOL SIZE: Compact
• OVERALL LENGTH: 7 in [178mm]
• OVERALL WIDTH: 1.4 in [36mm]
• HEIGHT: 5.5 in [140 mm]
• BARREL LENGTH: 4
• WEIGHT: 17.1 oz [484g]
• SIGHT RADIUS: 6 in [152mm]
• ACCESSORY RAIL: M1913
• TRIGGER ACTION: SAO
• TRIGGER TYPE: Flat / Curved (both included)
• GRIP MODULE: Compact Polymer
• GRIP COLOR: Coyote Tan
• BARREL MATERIAL: Carbon Steel
• FRAME MATERIAL: Stainless Steel / Polymer
• SLIDEFINISH: Coyote Tan
• SLIDE MATERIAL: Alloy
• MANUAL SAFETY: Yes
• OPTIC READY: Yes

GRIP SIZE

You might expect the P322 to use a grip from SIG’s very popular P320 or P365, but you’d be wrong. Instead, SIG designed the P322 from the ground up and it is pistol all its own.

That said, if you’re looking for what it feels like the grip is almost exactly the same as the P365 XMACRO. The P322 came first, so maybe it’s fairer to say the P365 XMACRO feels like a P322, but the result is the same. They aren’t 1:1 copies of each other, but they are very similar.

This also puts the P322 in a kind of middle ground where it doesn’t feel like a normal P365, but it also doesn’t feel like a P320. It feels great in my hand, but it isn’t a perfect copy.

ON THE RANGE

I ran a range of ammo through the P322, including CCI Mini-Mag, Aguila Subsonic, and Federal Personal Defense Punch .22.

For the first 60 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag, I had about a 10-percent failure rate with rounds not feeding into the gun. After about the 100th round, I never had a failure to feed again—though I had one failure to fire through 250 rounds. I had a good primer dent on that cartridge, so I put it back in the mag and sent it again. On that second try, it went bang.

Most .22 LR ammo is a little finicky, so this was likely just the ammo.

The 50 rounds of Aguila Subsonic worked perfectly, surprising since the subsonic rounds have a lot less energy and are typically expected to be used with a suppressor.

Federal Punch also ran 100 rounds flawlessly.

All told, the first 60 rounds had some trouble, but then it was 450 rounds of smooth shooting except for the one bad round of CCI. That’s pretty impressive for a .22 LR pistol.

The P322 shoots basically like how you would expect. Soft recoil because it is .22 LR, easy to load magazines, and the grip feels great. In my hands, it feels almost exactly like a stock P365 XMACRO does, but lighter and less recoil.

Fist-size mag dumps were standard at 10 yards, and headshots were pretty easy out to 25 yards. I have no doubt this gun would do just fine in a Steel Challenge match.

WHAT IS IT FOR

Other than just being a ton of fun on the range, the P322 makes for a great training pistol or for a Steel Challenge pistol. 

I had the Romeo X mounted on my P322 because I like red dots, but the included iron sights are adjustable and easy to use. Great for target shooting or a mild action sport like Steel Challenge. The TACPAC makes that even easier with the included holster.

With the red dot, I found it to be a great training pistol. The No. 1 thing you need to train when using a dot is your dot presentation. If you can’t get your dot in front of your eyeball every time, the dot doesn’t do you much good. A lot of this is based on pure feel, or if you want to get technical, your proprioception. 

A dot on the P322 is perfect for training that. Drawing from a holster, shooting one-handed, shooting with my weak hand, etc. 

I can shoot .22 LR for about 7 cents per round, but 9mm costs me about 26 cents. 250 rounds for a decent training session costs about $17 with .22 LR, but about $65 for 9mm. That is a huge cost saving and really pays for the gun after not very long at all. For me, for what I shoot, it will take about 10 training sessions for the savings in ammo to pay for the P322. That’s a great deal in my book.

MSRP for the TACPAC is $500, but you can find it for a lot less online if you look around.

LOOSE ROUNDS

This is my first semi-auto .22 LR pistol, and I’m loving it. Even when I have no plans on shooting it that day, I still take it with me to the range and, half the time I end up putting at least a mag through it.

It runs, it works, and the TACPAC is a solid value with the extra mags, tool, and holster.

All in all, I have zero complaints. I just love this little guy.

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