Glock's Worst Nightmare: Sig Sauer's P320 Is One Dangerous Gun

Charlie Gao

Security,

Let the debate begin.

When a variant of the SIG Sauer P320 was adopted by the U.S. Army over the Glock as the M17, it was the first win for SIG in the handgun market in a long time. Across the world, versions of their P226 pistol were being replaced by Glocks. The British Army, Navy SEALs, and various police agencies have all replaced “second gen” SIGs like the P226 and P229 with Glocks.

But could the P320 reverse this trend?

In many ways, the P320 is SIG’s answer to the Glock, with a few differences. Both pistols feature primarily polymer construction of the grip, a striker-based firing mechanism, and tilting barrel actions. The capacity of the full size pistols and compact pistols are identical at seventeen and fifteen rounds of 9x19mm, respectively.

But the P320 has some key differences that may make it more appealing to current SIG users. The P320’s original trigger shape is practically identical to that on legacy SIG pistols, featuring significant space behind the trigger resulting in a longer take up. It also lacks the trigger safety on the Glock, but it retains other safeties inside the pistol. This results in a smoother trigger face, which may be an ergonomic quirk that endears it to current SIG users.

The decision to omit the trigger safety is not without detractors. The P320 was known to discharge if dropped on the striker plate at a certain angle. Some have suggested that this could have been aggravated by the lack of a trigger safety, as most other “Glock-alike” pistols have a trigger safety like the Glock.