Fifty Shades of FDE

For a long time, SIG seemed stuck on the P320 and P365 as far as handguns go, so the release of the P322 was a pleasant surprise. They could have just released some quasi variant of the P320 or P365 but chose to go a different route. Going all original allows them to break from an established pistols design. In my SIG P322 review, I determined that the P322 can be many things and occupies a very versatile position in the world of handguns. 

To me, it’s an excellent weapon for training. You can save some cash and train with .22 LR and have a gun that resembles and functions like a modern semi-auto handgun. The SIG P322 certainly looks and feels like a modern striker-fired handgun. It will be a fun plinker and a great way to introduce new shooters to firearms for others. To others, it might be a practical choice for the woods and dealing with pests or hunting small game. 

Everyone needs a good .22LR pistol, and the P322 offers you a thoroughly modern example at a reasonably low price. 

The P322 Under the Hood 

• Barrel Length – 4 inches
• Overall Length – 7 inches
• Height – 5.5 inches
• Width – 1.4 inches
• Weight – 17.1 ounces

The specs show that the P322 swings into the realm of compact pistols like the P320C and Glock 19. It’s not tiny, but not large either. It’s that just-right size for many of us. My hand fits nicely on the grip, and I have plenty of room. My fingers aren’t stuffed together, and I can get that excellent high grip I want on a handgun. 

The SIG P322 comes with two 20-round magazines and a magazine load-assist device. It latches onto two little attachment points and helps you pull down the spring and follower for easy loading. Without the device loading, 20 rounds into the magazine get tiresome, and the device is a great addition. 

We also got a curved trigger shoe and a flat trigger shoe. Then to round it all out, you get a thread adapter to make tossing on a can easy to do should you so choose. The gun has a Picatinny rail and is optics ready with a Shield RSMc footprint optic like the Holosun 507K. 

SIG used the tried and true straight blowback action for the P322. It makes a lot of sense for a little gun like this. The barrel remains fixed for increased accuracy, and the blowback design doesn’t have the typical downfalls for a .22LR. The weapon uses an internal SAO hammer to fire the gun. 

Tossing Lead 

SIG releasing the P322 at this time must mean they read my LiveJournal. I’ve been in the market for a more modern and traditional semi-auto .22LR. I was leaning heavily towards the FN 502 and Taurus TX22, but, for this SIG P322 review, the P322 slid in right under the wire and hit me with the features I wanted at a price point I wasn’t offended by. 

With pricing only going up, I’ve invested heavily into .22 LR and I have a pile of various brands and figured running a few different brands would be the best way to test its reliability. So I fired Winchester bulk pack, Winchester Super-X, Federal AutoMatch, CCI Mini-Mag, Remington Golden Bullet, and Aguila Super Extra hollow points. 

After a few magazines of each, the P322 proved it eats almost everything. My Remington ammo provided the most malfunctions, with six in three magazines. However, it should be noted this ammunition is pretty old and came out of the .22 LR drought we had years back. Everything else ran well without any noticeable problems beyond the occasional failure to fire. That’s relatively common with .22LR ammo. 

Ringing Steel 

For this SIG P322 review I am glad to announce that I want a gun that hits where I aim, and the SIG P322 does that well. The high visibility sights are exceptional and very easy to see and orient. SIG gives us a fully adjustable rear sight, and out of the box, mine was firing a little high. I made a minor adjustment, and bam, I was dead on. 

The gun’s accurate, and the sights are incredible, but the trigger leaves something to be desired. The pull is quite stiff, and the trigger is spongy. Luckily the pull is short, and the reset is quick as well. It’s not a great trigger, but it’s good enough. 

At 10 yards, I ran a 10-10-10 drill in 6.38 seconds with every round in the black. At 15 yards, I ran my gong rack and went from large to small on a series of gongs. The smallest being 4 inches, the middle being 6 inches, and the largest being 8 inches. I scored all three hits in under 2.5 seconds. The lack of recoil makes it easy to achieve those fast follow-up shots. 

At 25 yards, I landed easy shots on the six and 8-inch gong, but the four proved problematic. It’s tough to see beyond the sights, but a red dot will fix that. So my first addition to this gun will be a red dot, likely a Holosun 407K. 

The SIG P322 In Hand 

The P322 feels excellent in hand and provides a solid experience ergonomically. The grip is right size-wise and has the same texture on the P365. The magazine release is a bit triangle like the P320 and reversible. The manual safety and slide lock/release gives right and lefties a choice when it comes time to go bang. 

This is one of the few times my big thumbs don’t pin down the slide lock is with the P322. The slide locks back, placed a little further forward to accommodate the safety. That safety mounts to the frame and is easily activated or deactivated by the thumb. 

Firing the thing is an absolute joy. It doesn’t move. Recoil is nil as you’d expect, and it’s so much fun to shoot. After 50 rounds of 9mm, you’ll feel fatigued. After 500 rounds of 22LR, you’ll still feel fresh. Keeping it on target is super easy, making it a solid first gun or trainer for a new shooter. 

Drills like the failure to stop, box drill, and even the El Pres are easy. The two magazines mean you can practice those reloads, and I did just that. The SIG P322 has a built-in magwell that makes those mag swaps speedy. 

The .22 LR For All 

It is clear to see from my SIG P322 review that this gun gives the world a .22 LR pistol that everyone can use. It’s great for plinking, training, instructing, or competing in steel challenges. The little gun can do it all. In terms of holsters, SIG has one, but it also fits the Phalanx Defense Stealth Operator, so you have an affordable and available option. 

I think SIG has a real winner with the P322. It’s reliable, accurate, ergonomic, and a fair bit of fun. For 400 bucks, it’s a lot of gun.

About the Author:

Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor. is the world’s Okayest firearm instructor, and a simplicisist when it comes to talking about himself in the 3rd person. Hit him up on Instagram, @travis.l.pike, with story ideas.

Aaaargh, what be the best AR dry firing tool of the seven seas? The Mantis X Blackbeard answers the call!

Mantis Tech has been sailing through the industry headlines with their innovative dry-firing devices, and for good reason. Ammo shortages and price hikes have made the already important practice of at-home training with your defensive firearm all the more vital. Filling the void has been the Mantis X series. These devices directly attach to your firearm and offer precise shooting accuracy and technique diagnostics. 

Honing in on your shots is the first important step for developing yourself as a competitive shooter. What about consistent follow-up shot training? For obvious reasons, this presents a technical barrier. The natural mechanics of your typical AR platform prevents you from doing so without physically resetting the trigger each time. At which point, you might as well be using a bolt gun. 

That’s where the Mantis Blackbeard comes in. The Blackbeard uses a unique design that allows the user to conduct realistic and consistent dry firing sessions.

Following Up on Your Shots

If there’s one thing gun owners like, it’s simplicity. Luckily, the Mantis X Blackbeard is idiot-proof, being as simple to install as it is to operate. The system is a dedicated AR-15 dry firing solution. It replaces your bolt carrier group and charging handle with a solid, drop-in electronic device that emits a laser at the end of the barrel. The red color indicates that the device is a non-ballistic, dry firing tool. This can be seen easily from the ejection port side.

You can make adjustments using the included Allen key to give yourself some semblance of a zero. Make sure to get as close to your sighting system as possible. Keep in mind there is no such thing as an exact zero to your reticle or sights from a laser bore alone due to the fact you’re matching up a laser from the barrel end and not actual ballistic trajectory from a live round. 

The Battery Pack

The separate magazine is a rechargeable battery pack, allowing 100,000 shots per full charge. So you can safely “mag” dump to your heart’s content. With every pull of the trigger, the device’s piston will automatically reset it. The product comes in four different variations: red laser, green laser (what I use since I was feeling festive), infrared laser, or no laser. The visible lasers are great for general use as you’ll clearly indicate shot placement with just your naked eyes. The no laser model is fine for those looking only to get the trigger reset function. The infrared is for the Gucci operator Bois with NODs (jealous). 

The package includes the Blackbeard laser device, the magazine battery pack, instructions, and a charging cable in a sleek case.

Zeroing in on Your Training with the Mantis X Blackbeard

So what does the Mantis X Blackbeard actually add to your training routine? As mentioned before, my fellow AR shooters will be delighted to know their trigger will now automatically reset at every pull. Gone are the days of awkwardly breaking your shooting form to rack the charging handle just to make another shot happen. Instead, the user is able to make rapid follow-up shots without any alterations to their technique. This prevents the development of certain training scars. Additionally, no changes are made to the trigger weight, so your pristine Geissele gets to perform in all of its glory.

I had a blast endlessly dumping into my makeshift targets and doing my usual routine throughout my testing. It cannot be overstated the importance of being able to pull the trigger multiple times without interruption. Suddenly, the practice of dynamic drills and advanced methods is possible. One of my favorite drills is the Failure to Stop. In this drill, the shooter is tasked with placing two shots to the target’s chest and one to the head in quick, accurate succession. This is simply not feasible in a dry fire setting without the Blackbeard auto-resetting trigger system.  

Another subtle but equally important feature is the responsiveness of the trigger reset itself. For those worried about possibly “outrunning” the Blackbeard’s trigger reset speed, fear not. I may not be the Flash, but I did my damnedest to make this thing choke up on me with my trigger finger alone and experienced no issues.

Indicating Accuracy

Of course, there’s no use in having a shooting tool that has no indicator of accuracy. The laser emitter feature is essential for at least serving as a reference point for your shot placements. Other than simply tracking your overall groupings, the laser really shined when I began conducting on-the-move target transition shooting and simulated CQB drills. Call it LARPing, but doing my usual room-clearing drills felt cooler than ever before! I, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to test this alongside the Laser Academy system. However, something tells me I’d spend even more time violently invading my room than usual if I did. 

As far as reliability goes, the Blackbeard keeps on truckin’. You may have heard of earlier models failing after a few hundred shots or having tolerance issues. I experienced none of the above after thousands of shots. Mantis has made it clear these errors have been fixed with later generations.

Some Holes Need Plugging

Products are rarely perfect out of the box and the Mantis X Blackbeard is no exception. I will get the obvious out of the way and confirm that you will not be able to perform your standard reloads using this device. Core mechanical weapons manipulations such as racking the charging handle, inserting standard magazines (excluding the Blackbeard magazine battery), or flipping up the dust cover are impossible. Nothing on the device reciprocates outwardly, and the presence of the device in the chamber prevents any magazine from being fully seated. If you want to practice reloads within shooting drills or malfunction clearing, you’ll need to do so with your base BCG and charging handle.

The second issue I personally encountered was the Blackbeard’s inability to integrate with the Mantis X dry fire software. As it is advertised, the Blackbeard should be compatible with any of the current generation models of the Mantis X Shooting Performance System by using the universal magazine adhesive mount. Unfortunately, despite going through the X3 and X10 models, the most I could get were two or three shots to register in the dry firing diagnostic software. Upon speaking to multiple reps from Mantis, I was told the next generation of the Blackbeard will come integrated with a software feature. Hopefully, solving this problem altogether. However, I do believe I could have a defective model and am in talks with their customer support team to solve the issue.

The Mantis X Blackbeard Verdict

On the whole, the Mantis X Blackbeard is a fantastic addition to any AR owner’s training arsenal. The ability to have a safe trigger reset in combination with a laser emitter elevates the at-home, dry fire training experience. The hiccups I did encounter are not in any way disastrous. Fortunately, Mantis Tech is already improving upon the original design. It’s a pricey tool but think of this device as not just another accessory but as an investment for yourself.

About the Author: Eric is a writer, everyman-level, critic, gamer, martial artist, firearms enthusiast, social media marketer, and desultory, half-assed comedian. When he’s not cranking out good ole fashioned gun content, he’s likely playing one or more of the latest FPS games du jour. That or teaching friends not to shoot themselves in the foot and wishing he had better time management skills. Follow him on Instagram at @ground_floor_korean.