The Army recently announced that the Sig Sauer P320 would be the replacement for its M9 service pistol. It’s a good choice. The previous service gun was the Beretta M9 9mm, which did not rank well in handling, accuracy, and maintainability. 26 percent of soldiers surveyed reported that their weapon jammed while shooting at the enemy. 46 percent were reported as not having confidence in their pistol’s reliability.
The caliber of the new P320 is yet to be decided. But, one of the goals of the replacement program was a more potent round than a 9mm. One of the reasons the P320 was selected was because it is modular and customizeable, with interchangeable grips, multiple sizes and calibers that can be 9mm, .357 Sig and .40 SW. Current plans call for the Army to purchase more than 280,000 handguns, according to Program Executive Office Soldier officials. The Army also plans to buy approximately 7,000 sub-compact versions of the handgun. Soldiers should start getting the new handgun this year.
We saw the P320 X-Five at the 2017 SHOT Show. Sig has released X5s for use in competitions before, but that was not a good choice for concealed carry because it was a big gun. The P320 X-Five is a 5-inch gun designed that can be used for competitive shooters as well as people who want the power for concealed carry. It’s a full-size 9 mm with a polymer-frame double-action gun based on the P320. But it has been upgraded with a more in-line trigger. It has fully adjustable sights and is configured to accept recoil tamers.
The new P320 X-series guns are vailable in three models — the X-Five, X-Carry and X-VTAC.
Photos from sigsauer.com. P320 X-VTAC from Sig Sauer’s Instagram
