SIG SAUER P320

Ask a customer service manager for any manufacturer or importer to name the most consistently seen problem to arrive in their service departments. It’s either a box or a plastic bag of loose parts from an owner who has disassembled their gun. Maybe they wanted to get a closer look at how it works or, worse, they wanted to make it work Below center: You will require these slave pins during disassembly/reassembly. Make them in these dimensions. 1. Depress the magazine catch and remove the magazine.

Make sure it’s empty. 2. Retract the slide and lock it back with the slide catch lever. Inspect the chamber. Make certain no ammo is present. 3. Rotate the take-down lever to a 7 o’clock position. 4. Control the slide. Depress the slide catch lever. Remove the slide assembly forward and off the frame. 5. Remove the recoil spring and guide by pressing both forward and lift out. On subcompact pistols the spring/guide assembly is never disassembled. 6.

Grasp the barrel by its lug and lift it out. "better." Quite often, the latter occurs before the gun has been fired. Whatever their reasoning, or lack thereof, they have discovered they cannot put the gun back together. (Duh?) Ask any working gunsmith the same question. Do likewise with any gunsmithing school instructor not planning a lecture or two on boxn-bagging. Gunsmiths early in their

SIG SAUER P320 (Speci ications subject to change without notice) careers are often challenged with a box or bag of parts taken from a firearm with which they are not familiar. Even with years spent pursuing the trade, established gunsmiths can still face this challenge.

Many years ago, after listening to my explanation of one of gunsmithing’s largest problems, the publisher asked if I’d take on the task of applying my 20+ years of dealing with the public with a series of articles aimed 213 Housing, Sear 214 Spring, Safety Lever 215 Safety Lever 216 Sear 217 Spring, Sear 218 Pin, Sear at resolving these unfamiliarity aspects. Rather than pass along how I would go about this, I report exclusively how factory technicians go about it.

This has all been made possible by securing cooperation from manufacturers and importers who agree with my firm rule for giving out information on the servicing of any firearm.

Stated briefly, the more a gunsmith performing the work knows about doing it correctly the 101 Slide 102 Barrel 103 Spring, Recoil 104 Recoil Spring Guide 105 Front Sight 106 Rear Sight 107 Extractor 108 Extractor Pin 109 Extractor Spring 110 Pin, Extractor Spring 111 Cap, Slide Rear 112 Spring, Striker 113 Cup, Striker Spring 114 Housing, Striker 115 Spring, Striker, Reset 116 Safety Lock 117 Spring, Safety Lock 118 Pin, Striker 119 Recoil Spring Assembly 201 Frame 202 Lever, Take down Safety 203 Pin, Trigger Stop 204 Trigger 205 Trigger Bar 206 Spring, Trigger Bar 207 Slide Catch Lever, TDSL Lock 208 Post, Spring, Slide Catch 209 Spring, Slide Catch Lever 210 Slide Catch Lever Pin 211 Pin, Safety Lever 212 Pin, Coiled Spring, M2 5×18 219 Spring, TD Safety Lever 220 Pin, Coiled Spring, M2.5×18 221 Pin, Sear Pivot, Headed 222 O Ring, Take down Lever 223 Mag Catch, Long 224 Mag Catch Spring lower the risk of litigation.

A few companies, primarily based offshore, have disagreed, remain noncooperative, and, as a result, have yet to appear here. Until they alter their position they never will. Fortunately, SIG SAUER has been along-time provider of information for their products, most recently the P290 pistol, even going beyond some steadfastly domestic producers with their support. With the article you are now reading I believe they have outdone themselves by providing me their complete Armorer’s School manual.

Before going further, a constructive criticism. The model P320 should have been called the "V"320 given its Versatility, a capability not apparent at first glance. The Full version can serve as a duty weapon, the Compact or Carry as a back up or primary for concealed carry, and Subcompact as a small carry or secondary backup.

Each of these versions have steel frames, a polymer grip shell, a removable fire control assembly, and can be easily converted with a change of slide, barrel, and magazine with no special tooling. Thanks to welcomed inputs SIG engineers received from LE and military ordnance experts, each size 320 has a crisp trigger pull combined with a quick return due to a pre-tensioned striker plus their exclusive internal safety system. There is no external safety on any 320 to get hung up or snagged when drawn.

All 320 are fully ambidextrous. Function Test You should be wearing safety glasses. Insert an empty magazine. Ensure it is locked in place by pulling downward on it. Pull the slide to the all the way to the rear. It should lock there as the follower pushes upward on the slide catch lever. Depress the magazine catch. The mag should fall freely from the grip frame, verifying a correct relationship between itself and the catch. Depress the slide catch lever. The slide should spring

forward. Prevent it from leaving the frame. Press and hold the trigger to the rear. The striker should release. Continue holding the trigger to the rear. Retract and release the slide. As you release the trigger, you’ll feel the sear re-set. Slowly retract the slide until the barrel detaches from it.

When the trigger is pressed 1 Extractor Spring Pin 2 Rear Sight 3 Extractor Spring 4 Extractor Pin 9 Striker Assembly 10 Barrel 11 Recoil Guide Assy 12 Recoil Spring Assy 5 Extractor 6 Slide 7 Front Sight 8 Rear Slide Cap to the rear the striker shouldn’t release. Use dummy rounds to fully load the magazine, then cycle the action until the mag is empty to check for extraction, ejection, and striker function.

Slide components A function check confirms all mechanical properties of an unloaded firearm are working properly. Or not. If there are malfunctions during the check, negotiate corrective action. If there are no failures, it may be the shooting technique of the owner at fault. I’ve found these suspicions can be rapidly squelched or affirmed by arranging alive fire test with the owner doing the trigger pulling.

I predict you will be quite surprised at how frequently a problem complained of vanishes after one of these little dramas. Any recoil operated pistol is subject to extraction and ejection problems, misfires due to short cycling, as well as poor accuracy due to a poor hold. So called "gas guns" can be more sensitive to limp wristing and their recoil must be met with resistance in order to function properly. The same can said of a gas operated rifle or shotgun not held tightly to the shoulder.

With long guns, the pain experienced by a recoiling butt stock slamming back into a shoulder due a poor hold provides instant notice to the gun bearer. This being stated, apply your best diplomatic talents when suggesting problems being blamed on a firearm are brought on by the shooter, particularly if the individual owning the gun resembles an NFL linebacker or is a woman with a short fuse and a black belt in a martial art. Slide disassembly American Gunsmith Reader Services 1.

Striker Assembly 1 Striker Pin 2 Striker Reset Spring 3 Striker Housing 4 Striker Cup (2) Maintenance Shop items you’ll need include a bench block, hammer, 1/16" 3/32", and 7/32" punches, a cup-tipped starter and finish punches, a 3/32" roll pin punch, bench mat, and slave pins you’ll need to make to take down and reassemble the pistol.

With everything standing by, become familiar with the parts lists and diagrams. 1 Take down Lever 2 Take down Safety Lever 3 Slide Catch Lever Pin 4 Trigger Stop Pin 5 Trigger Stop Pin Frame 6 Slide Catch Lever spring 7 Spring, Slide Catch Lever 8 Slide Catch Lever 5 Safety Lock Spring 6 Safety Lock 7 Striker Spring Before we disassemble, let’s discuss how the trigger system works. When the trigger is pulled it contacts the trigger bar, releasing the sear.

This releases the energized striker pin to detonate the cartridge primer. The resulting blow back drives the slide and barrel to the rear. The barrel lug cams down against the slide catch lever allowing the bar- Grip Frame Module 9 Trigger Bar 10 Safety Lever Pin 11 Trigger 12 Sear Housing Roll Pin 13 Sear Housing Assembly 14 Sear Pivot Pin 15 Trigger Bar Spring 1. Secure the assembly between padded vise jaws with its nose end upward. 2.

Insert a 7/32" punch from the bottom of the assembly to control the striker spring as you press down on the striker cups. 3. Relieve all tension on the striker spring and remove it from the pin. 4. Pull the pin to the rear and free of the striker housing. 5. Remove the striker reset spring from the left side of the housing. Tweezers help. 6.

Remove the safety lock and safety lock spring from the right side of the housing. rel to unlock from the slide which continues to the rear to extract/ eject the spent case and simultaneously compress the recoil spring. The spring reacts to push the slide forward, strip off and chamber around from the magazine, and the barrel lug cams against the slide catch lever to lock itself and the slide back into battery. With that understood, complete field stripping with your safety glasses on a positive-it’s empty pistol.

With that done, take a gander at the slide components and prepare for slide disassembly. Use a 1/16" punch to push the extractor spring pin (1) inward. To remove the rear slide cap (8) push it off downward. With draw the striker assembly (9) to the rear and lift the extractor (5) from the right side of the ejection port. This allows you to remove the extractor spring pin and spring (3) rearward as a unit.

Any component or subassembly of the P320 needing service beyond the armorer level, such as part replacement, is destined to receive it at depot (factory) level. The striker assembly you removed is among them. The restriction of any subassembly housing the object that ignites a primer is a growing practice with major manufacturers and importers. It’s beginning to ease a bit but no firearm exhibited at the SHOT or NRA Shows includes said subassembly.

I’m going to hope there are no breakages in the striker assembly on your bench, however, if it has become badly fouled it could neutralize its built-in mechanical safety features. Seven parts make up the striker assembly. Each should emerge from a detailed cleaning to-

1. Move the trigger bar (9) out of and below the sear housing (13). Press down on the coil of the trigger bar spring (15) and unhook its looped end. 2. Lift the rear of the trigger bar clear of the sear housing, rotate it upward and forward to remove bar and trigger (11) from the module. 3. Drift out the slide catch lever pin (3) right to left and lift the slide catch lever (8) clear of the module. 4. Remove the slide catch lever spring (6) and post (7) from the lever. 5.

Use the 1/16" pin punch to drift out the trigger stop pin (4) right to left. 6. The take down safety lever (2) is removed by pulling its back end out of the sear housing and rotating the lever down and out of the module. 6 Safety Lever Pin 7 Sear Housing 8 Safety Lever Pivot Pin 9 Take down Lever Spring 1 Safety Lever 2 Sear 3 Sear Spring (2) 4 Safety Lever Spring 5 Sear Housing Roll Pin tally free of any crud capable of obstructing proper assembly function.

Quality solvent applied skillfully with an old toothbrush assures that will be the result. 1. Drive out the sear housing roll pin (5) with a 3/32" roll pin punch. 2. Use slave pin A to push out the safety lever pin (8) right to left. The slave stays in the housing. 3. Slave pin Bpushes out the sear pivot pin (6) and remains in the housing to keep A company. 4. The housing with both slave pins is removed as a unit. Details on the striker assembly.

As the slide is retracted, the lug at the rear of the striker pin (1) is captured by the sear. The safety lock (6) maintains the capture and the striker spring (7) is now energized. When the trigger is pulled the safety lever in the frame raises the safety lock and disengages the sear. The striker pin is released to impact and ignite the primer. Sound pretty important?

In combination with that safety lever in the frame, covered later, the striker assembly eliminates the need for or presence of any button or lever to protrude from the pistol. As soccer fans might say, hang ups are nil. Sear Housing Detailed disassembly of the striker assembly makes complete cleaning possible. Any damaged parts must be factory replaced. A complete replacement assembly or sear housing can be secured from SIG by calling On to the grip frame module.

Look straight down on the grip frame with its right side to your right. Remove the module from the grip frame by pressing inward on the right end of the take down lever with the finger of one hand and simultaneously turn the lever counter clockwise with your free fingers. Withdraw the lever from the

When the take down safety lever (B) moves to the rear during the initial stages of a trigger pull, the trigger bar (A) moves forward. This causes the rear of the bar to contact the safety lever and move it upward. Simultaneously, raising the safety lever also raises the safety lock (C), disengaging it from blocking the sear. When the slide is retracted in the loading process the reaction is to raise the safety lock into firm contact, block the sear, and prevent the striker from getting anywhere near a primer.

To remove the sear housing, secure those two slave pins I suggested you make. Fearing you might have cast my suggestion aside (it wouldn’t be the first time or, maybe, your pet mongoose ate it) please do so before continuing. If there is any evidence the housing is just short of oozing dirt you may be able to flush it clean. At least clean enough to function as a home decent enough for the sear system within to work. Cleaning rules to live by here.

No carburetor or brake cleaner and steer clear of any petroleum-based solvent unless SIG tells you the one you have in mind won’t harm or degrade safe operation of the pistol. Use plain compressed grip frame. Push the module forward, lift it up and off the grip frame. The grip frame module diagrams show detailed disassembly sans sear housing, another depot-level assembly. air to blow dry all internals. A hair dryer would be OK but never a gun hot enough to strip paint.

An insider’s guide to the P320’s mechanical safeties. What I like most about these is they’re designed truly "in" and don’t need to be turned "on." All P320 pistols have three: The striker safety, the take down safety lever, and the take down lever. The best way to understand what each of these internal mechanical safeties do is take a walk through how they work together, as diagrammed here. Finally, keep involved with the owner. It’s always a good idea and it’s good for business.

To encourage your making a practice of it, blunt any owner’s thought you’re practicing any hustle talents, all the while convincing said owner you are the local wiz at keeping the pistol tip top. SIG’s factory-approved maintenance schedule directs the operator to clean and lubricate annually when in storage, monthly when carried on duty, and after firing or exposure to water, dirt, etc. A function check is performed after every reassembly.

An armorer or gunsmith should inspect annually for proper operator maintenance and perform a detailed disassembly and inspection every three years or 5,000 rounds. SIG’s Troubleshooting Chart will help if any problems arise. Now, as your faithful and obedient Technical Editor sinks slowly in the Western sky, take my advice: If you have any doubts of parts availability to properly service a P320, call SIG before you run up a bunch of hours trying to out-Sherlock Mr. Holmes.

And about that Western sky thing, remember class, the sun also rises. AG Left: Troubleshooting Chart