Back in the early 2000’s when I first started seriously shooting, it was with the S&W M&P platform.  I picked it because it was about the only system that offered a good .22LR training pistol- the M&P 22.  I was young and ammo was expensive so I wanted to be able to do meaning training with a .22LR caliber firearm that approximated the centerfire shooting experience as closely as possible.  S&W didn’t manufacture the firearm – it was made by Umarex (Walther).  It was a great and reliable little .22LR firearm that was reasonably close to the 9mm counterpart – I bought two of them and put thousands rounds through them.  S&W later tried to make their own in-house version and called it the M&P 22 Compact.  It was less refined and didn’t really correspond to any existing M&P Model the way the Umarex manufactured model did.  Fast-forward to March of 2022 and SIG Sauer would debut its own .22LR training platform – the SIG P322.  Interestingly, SIG Did not set out with the intention of making the P322 a .22LR clone of an existing centerfire platform (like the disastrous Glock 44).  Instead, they started from scratch using a dedicated rimfire design which allowed them to build things like:

• Higher capacity magazines
• A true blowback action (No locking lugs no nonsense).
• An internal hammer system (not striker fired).
• An optics ready slide, threaded barrel, adapter, and modular trigger shoe – stock, straight out of the box.

This review will cover my real-world experience over the last 12 months (~2000 fired), including everything from reliability and accuracy to quirks, upgrades, and how this little rimfire pistol has worked its way into my regular range rotation.

Overview: Why I Bought It

I picked up the SIG P322 for a mix of reasons:

SIG promised a lot with this pistol. Suppressor-ready barrel, fiber optic sights, optics-ready slide, and easy takedown. It felt like a no-brainer if it ran well. And mostly, it has.  Many people have unrealistic expectations of rimfire ammo and firearms – I tryto temper my expectations.

Initial Impressions

Right out of the box, I was impressed with the build quality. For a polymer-framed rimfire pistol, the P322 feels substantial. It’s lightweight, but not toy-like. The controls—safety, slide release, mag release—are ambidextrous and actually usable. Even the trigger, which has a flat-face shoe by default (and a curved one included), felt better than I expected from a rimfire pistol.  After 20000 rounds, the trigger has smoothed out a bit to about a 3 lb. pull weight on the flat faced trigger:

The fiber optic sights were bright, well-aligned – I shot for a few months with the fiber optic sites exclusively and was really impressed.   For me, where the P322 really shines is the ability to transition to a red dot optic just like on many of SIGs centerfire pistols.  I put a SIG Romeo-X Compact on the P322 and haven’t looked back.

The 20-round magazines were a huge plus. SIG includes two mags in the box, which isn’t always standard these days, so props to them there.  For giggles, I did pick up one of the factory 25-round magazines.  You pay about 25% more for five extra rounds of capacity ($29.99 versus $39.99 MSRP on each).  I greatly prefer the flush fitting 20-round magazines, which is more than enough capacity for my purposes.

The 25-round magazine extends below the bottom of the grip.

Reliability: Better Than Expected

Here’s where most rimfire pistols rise or fall.  In my experience with semiautomatic .22 LR firearms, there are two cardinal rules for optimal reliability:

• Use high velocity (at least 1200 ft/s muzzle velocity) .22LR ammo.
• clean the firearm after every use.

I generally shoot between 200 and 500 rounds per session with this pistol and I don’t see more than one malfunction per session using quality ammunition (Eley, CCI, etc.).  That’s as good or better as anyone can expect for me mass produced, semi automatic rimfire pistol, which was a pleasant surprise.

Accuracy: More Than Good Enough

This gun isn’t a match pistol, and it doesn’t pretend to be. But it’s accurate enough to ring steel at 25 yards all day, and it holds tight groups at 10–15 yards with the right ammo.

With iron sights, I was able to consistently get 1.5–2 inch groups off-hand at 10 yards. With a red dot, I tightened that up just a bit. It’s a fast shooter—excellent for speed drills, and a good trainer for target transitions.

The trigger is… decent. It has some take-up and a slightly mushy break, but it’s predictable. Reset is quick and audible, which helps with fast follow-ups. I’ve shot better triggers, but for a polymer .22 at this price point?  It punches above its weight.   SIG does offer a competition version of this firearm with an improved trigger.  The trigger on the P322COMP isn’t lighter, but it feels better.  When I train I typically do so on a standard six plate steel plate rack.  Starting from a low ready position, I can easily maintain a time in the low three second range which is pretty sporty.  I wouldn’t have any concerns about using this pistol in a Steel Challenge match.

Controls and Ergonomics: SIG Did a Lot Right

The P322 feels like a scaled-down P320 with some extra flair. The grip texture is grippy without being aggressive, and it fills the hand nicely. I have average-sized hands, and I never struggled with grip or control.

Ambidextrous controls are fully functional—not an afterthought. The safety is positive and usable for training, even though I don’t typically use it at the range.

The mag release is responsive, and mags drop free with no issue. The magazines themselves are easy to load with the thumb tabs. They’re polymer, but they’ve held up to over a year of use with no cracking or spring issues.

It’s not exactly a P320 Or a P365 but the P322 provides a remarkably beneficial training experience with meaningful live fire repetitions for owners of either or both platforms – at a dramatically reduced cost of ammuntion.  After 20 years of training with the S&W M&P 22, I now find myself shooting the P322 in every training session on the range.