TFB Review: SIG Sauer P320 Max
The P320 Max isn’t just another flavor of P320. It was optimized to compete in the USPSA Carry Optics division. It was built with feedback from Max Michel. If you’re unfamiliar with Max Michel, he is one of the greatest practical pistol shooters of the modern era. No exaggeration. He has also won many things with the P320 including multiple World Records. I bought one several years ago, and have shot about 8 or 9 local matches with it. Here’s my review.
SIG Sauer @ TFB:
Ultimate Guide: The SIG Sauer MCX Rifle, Carbine And Pistol Platform SIG Sauer Introduce P320-M17 Ceremonial Pistols [SIG Sauer 2023] SIG Sauer MCX Spear in 6.5 Creedmoor New SIG Sauer CROSS MAGNUM Bolt-Action Rifle
Packaging and Contents
The SIG Sauer P320 Max comes in a foam-lined clamshell case. The firearm comes complete with an optic, removable magwell, 14lb, and 12lb recoil springs, (4) 21-round magazines, Allen keys, and a challenge coin.
For the price and purpose of the pistol, it would’ve been nice if SIG included a soft pistol case as well. Most people carry their firearms to the competition in a soft case, because they take up less room. The box that SIG includes with this firearm isn’t bad, but I’ve seen better bags and boxes from SIG.
The P320 Max also comes with a rubber optics cover, however, it’s too loose to use on the range.
I ended up buying a 3D-printed optics cover, and gun rug for the pistol. Those items and a holster were the only items I needed to hit my first competition with.
Design of the Pistol
The design of the slide sets it apart from most other firearms. You’ll immediately notice that there is no front sight post, and no ability to add a front sight either. If you’d like iron sights, it’s a P320 and you can buy a new slide directly from SIG. The front sight post was deliberately excluded to allow for a noncluttered sight picture.
The P320 Max comes with the excellent Romeo 3 Max optic. It is a large window red dot optic, built for competition. It has great glass quality and a nice 6-MOA red dot. It has a side-mounted battery, and both an up and down brightness adjustment button. The glass is distortion-free. The dot is easy to pick up and the brightness can be turned up to an eye-searing level. It’s a nice optic.
The slide features good serrations on all sides. The serrations in combination with the lighter recoil spring make it incredibly easy to rack, even if you have sweaty hands. I think they look good too.
This firearm features a 5” match-grade bull barrel. The barrel does not have a loaded chamber witness hole to spew gas and carbon onto the optic window. Additionally, the pistol comes with a one-piece stainless steel guide rod, and both 14 lb and 12 lb recoil springs. The recoil springs change the recoil impulse of the firearm. I use the lighter recoil spring in combination with Blazer 124 grain ammo, and it’s been reliable and pleasant to shoot.
The P320 Max uses the same tungsten-infused grip module as the P320 Legion. It has a removable metal weight insert. The entire frame is tungsten-infused as well, so it is much heavier than a standard polymer pistol frame. It has a great balance and feels solid. The extra weight of the frame soaks up recoil and brings the firearm back onto target much faster than a lightweight frame made for all-day carry. The grip module is very ergonomic. All the controls are exactly where they need to be when you need them, and out of the way when you don’t. It feels great in the hand.
The design and location of the slide stop/slide release is phenomenal. The release is small enough to be completely out of the way when shooting with a high grip and is also big enough to hit reliably when reloading. SIG nailed it. The slide stop/ release is also ambidextrous.
The magazine release button is reversible. It’s a good size and doesn’t need any kind of extension for my hands.
The takedown lever can be swapped with a “gas pedal,” which would give the shooter a thumb ledge for their support hand. I haven’t added a gas pedal to this P320 Max, but I’ve heard good things about them.
The frame features an integral magwell and a removable external magwell. Mag changes are very easy with or without the magwell installed. For USPSA Carry Optics, you’re required to remove the external magwell. The magwell is great for practicing reloads at home, if you want to protect the polymer frame from metal magazine feed lips. You can also use the external magwell in other USPSA divisions.
The firearm comes with a skeletonized flat-faced trigger. I believe it’s the same trigger included in the P320 Legion. It feels nice and breaks at a 90-degree angle. The trigger is ok out of the box. I’d consider it decent for a striker-fired pistol, but lacking compared to other competition firearms.
After shooting the firearm in a few Steel Challenge matches, I could tell the stock trigger was holding me back. I swapped in a competition trigger spring kit from Glockstore.com. The kit included an overtravel buffer, trigger return spring, and reduced power sear springs. It lightened the trigger and reduced overtravel as advertised. I still wouldn’t consider it to be as good as a 2011 trigger, but the upgrade kit was only about $30 bucks. The spring kit was a pretty challenging install, so if you go that route, be warned. The trigger pulls at around 3 lbs with the spring kit installed. Both with and without the spring kit, the reset is kind of lacking, and the wall has some creep and is squishy. I do prefer the trigger with the spring kit installed over the stock trigger for the reduced pull weight and overtravel. The spring kit and practice improved my Steel Challenge scores.
My Thoughts and Opinions
When you look at the total package, the P320 Max has a lower cost than many of the other competition pistols that you might compare it to. It comes with a pre-mounted optic, and four magazines right out of the box. If you were to look at the MSRP for a Romeo3Max optic by itself, it would be $599 from SIG. A comparable optic like the Trijicon SRO would be around the same price. SIG includes (4) 21-round magazines with the pistol. Each magazine sold separately would cost about $49 if you bought them from SIG. If you were to buy a bare-bones pistol, you’d probably still need to buy magazines, extended base plates, optics, and optics plates to shoot in the Carry Optics division.
I don’t think I can really call the P320 Max a budget-orientated competition firearm. After all, it did cost as much as my first car. I will say that the package is competitively priced against similar firearms in the category, when you add in everything else you would need to buy.
The P320 Max has been reliable in my experience. The pistol has never had a misfeed, light primer strike, or any hiccup. The optic has been great, although the battery did die before the advertised battery life. I will say there’s no telling when the battery was first installed though. A new battery got it up and running again without issues.
Performance is one of those things that is kind of hard to define for everyone. Everyone’s hands aren’t the same size and we’ve all had different shooting experiences. Some may pick up a firearm and perform better with it versus another platform. Some may try out a gun, and it just isn’t for them. I can tell you that in my experience, the pistol has performed very well for me.
As far as speed, I’ve shot this pistol in about 8 matches. A few of those have been Steel Challenge matches. The great thing about Steel Challenge is, most of the time the stages are the same. I shot this pistol back to back with an iron-sighted Taurus TX22 in a Steel Challenge match. The Taurus TX22 is a .22LR polymer rimfire pistol, with basically no recoil. I was consistently faster with the P320 Max, even though it shot a larger cartridge. I later shot a Steel Challenge match with an optic-equipped Glock 19, right after a 1,000-round training course with the Glock. I still shot better with the P320 Max.
The combination of a large optic window, and good firearm balance just really lends the firearm to perform well at speed. I think the longer bull barrel helps you stretch out and land those longer-distance shots as well.
There are a few downsides to the platform. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
The bore axis is high on the pistol. No matter how ergonomic the frame is, and how much it weighs, it’s still going to have a different recoil impulse than a firearm with a low bore axis. The recoil impulse to me feels like a rocking impulse. I’m not saying it’s sharp or stiff, it just rocks and settles back into place. This has only been a problem for me on targets that are far away and require a double tap. If you get proficient with it, you can time your cadence to be spot on. The recoil is still much, much softer than any lightweight polymer frame firearm meant for carry.
The fire control unit is a serialized component, so there’s not a ton you can do to upgrade the trigger. I’ve tried another aftermarket trigger kit for the platform, and it performed ok, but the trigger still wasn’t as good as I would like it to be. I would be ecstatic if I could drop in a Timney trigger, but unfortunately, I don’t think that’s ever going to be an option. You just kind of have to work around the P320 trigger system that’s in place. I will admit I haven’t tried all the P320 triggers. I’ve seen some glowing reviews of other P320 trigger systems online. The SIG Armorer trigger kit looks promising.
The tolerances on my firearm are pretty loose. The slide can be jiggled around on the slide rails. When I dry-fire the pistol and pull the trigger, the red dot drops because the slide shifts ever so slightly in the grip module. The slide racks very smoothly, and cycles well. I’m just pointing it out because I know some people compare slide fitment to more expensive firearms. You may not get a super tight-fitting P320 Max.
Those things are the only things I can complain about on the platform. I don’t think the P320 Max would hold someone back in the competition world if they’re dedicated to the platform and shoot regularly. People have won championships with both better and worse guns.
One of the great things about the P320 Max platform is it’s modular. If someone were to buy a P320 Max and upgrade to a different competition pistol in the future, they could use the optic from the P320 Max for it. They could also buy a new slide with iron sights, and have a pretty good home defense platform. There’s a huge benefit to using a firearm for home defense that you’ve shot 1,000s of rounds through under the pressure of a timer.
If you’re not into competition shooting, it’s still a pretty cool handgun. There’s a fun factor in shooting a derivative of the modern US military handgun. It’s also a great handgun for red dot training because there’s no option to default back to iron sights. It’s also great for people with limited grip strength, or that might be recoil sensitive. It’s very easy to rack, and the low recoil makes it a lot of fun to shoot at the range.
Conclusion
The P320 Max is a great pistol to consider for competitive shooting. It comes with just about everything you would need right out of the gate. The added weight of the tungsten-infused frame helps control recoil. The included optic is one of the best on the market for competitive shooting. The gun is ergonomic and easy handling. It’s not the be-all and end-all competition firearm of all time. There are better firearms on the market like the SIG Sauer P226 X-Five, at a considerably higher cost. All in all, the P320 Max has served me well, and I’ve enjoyed the firearm. The P320 Max is a good competition pistol, and if you have the skills, it will take you to the podium.
SIG Sauer P320 Max
You can read more about the SIG Sauer P320-Max on SIG’s website here: SIG P320 Max Michel competition pistol
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The inexpensive P320 spring kit sold by Glock Store is located here: Competition Spring Kit for Sig P320s | Best Glock Accessories | GlockStore.com
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