SIG P320

[tombogan03884]

God, it has been 50 years....thanks, Jumbo   

It's been so long that some AR's qualify as Curio's and Relics .

[Big Frank]

In basic training 1979-80 I saw a couple of M16A1s that could be curios & relics. One was a Harrington & Richardson. If I'm not mistaken that one was marked AR-15 instead of M16A1 and also the color of the lower receiver was different from any other AR-15/M16 I ever saw. The other one was marked HYDRA-MATIC DIV. G.M. CORP. I don't recall what model number was stamped on that one but believe it was M16A1. I think both were made during the Vietnam war. I can only recall seeing one of each of those.

[les snyder]

I went through USAF basic in Feb 1970... for "dry fire" we disassembled Armalite AR15s (Costa Mesa IIRC) that rattled pretty badly... for live fire I think we had Colt M16s... after that the Air Force was smart enough to not let us play with firearms... until I made SSgt and was assigned to the sabotage alert team

[tombogan03884]

When I was in the Guard, (89-91) We had an Arma Lite AR-15 . It caught my eye because it had commercial, not "US government" markings.

[alfsauve]

I went through USAF basic in Feb 1970... for "dry fire" we disassembled Armalite AR15s (Costa Mesa IIRC) that rattled pretty badly... for live fire I think we had Colt M16s... after that the Air Force was smart enough to not let us play with firearms... until I made SSgt and was assigned to the sabotage alert team

If you were at Lackland then you and I probably used the same weapons.  Actually for classroom, you may have been using my live fire gun, as I was there in '68.  My firing line TI used spent shells as ear plugs in those days.   The only other time I got to shoot was when I was TDY somewhere and got bored.   I wonder over to the base's shooting range and make friends with the trainers.
 

[Sponsor]

[les snyder]

Alf... I don't think anyone other than Security Police shot at my first duty station... Hakata, Japan... when I got to Clark (Philippines), every time the power went out during the night, the local Aboriginal Negritos would steal the copper ground cables on the FLR-9 antenna, and our DF capabilities were compromised... so the "sabotage alert team" was tasked with trying to stop the theft...trying to catch Negritos in tall elephant grass is not easy.... my simple solution was for my boss and I to meet with the Barrio Chieftan and pay a ransom for the dozen or so radials that I had to have up... marked them with an "X"... ransom was 1/2 kilo of rice per radial... I should have been a diplomat

[alfsauve]

My one and only permanent duty was Charleston, but I spent half my life TDY.  Clark was a good stop over.   Never did I stay on base, always stayed in Clarkview.  I loved how the hotel rooms had a lizzard for insect control.     

At Charleston the firing range back stop was deemed unsafe, so anyone needing to qualify went to some other base.   Needless to say they only paid for AP's to do that.  I got plenty of range time at Kadena, Torrejon and Edwards, though. 

At basic we did a "field mess" the same day we did the shooting range.   So the next time I had KP I volunteered to work the field mess.   I was a little late returning that day as I somehow made my way back to the firing range and got a little more time in.  My TI, an old Army Air Corp guy, didn't know whether to be pissed or proud seeing as how everyone else qual'd on M16's only and I come in about sundown with an M14 and 1911 qual.   Of course they were easy courses of fire back then.

[les snyder]

Alf... I broke my glasses two days before leaving for Lackland... went through basic looking through my forefinger curled over my thumb to make a small hole... to step down the field of view and allowed my eye to focus... I got the marksmanship ribbon mainly because my target was next to a large pole that I could see... shot the center of the blurr , but the AR sights did allow me a better focus when looking through them ..

only TDY to Joint Sobe Processing Center, Tori Station, north of Kadena, Okinawa, and Ramsun Station, down the road from Udorn, RTAFB... made leave in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Taipei after the end of the air war

[tombogan03884]

Alf... I don't think anyone other than Security Police shot at my first duty station... Hakata, Japan... when I got to Clark (Philippines), every time the power went out during the night, the local Aboriginal Negritos would steal the copper ground cables on the FLR-9 antenna, and our DF capabilities were compromised... so the "sabotage alert team" was tasked with trying to stop the theft...trying to catch Negritos in tall elephant grass is not easy.... my simple solution was for my boss and I to meet with the Barrio Chieftan and pay a ransom for the dozen or so radials that I had to have up... marked them with an "X"... ransom was 1/2 kilo of rice per radial... I should have been a diplomat

Before some snowflake stumbles in and has a conniption I'll point out that "Negrito's" isn't racist.
They are a tribal group like Moro's.
Although, in an era when "blackboard" and "niggardly" are considered racist there's no guarantees.

[alfsauve]

And now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

Got the small grip in today.  ADMISSION:  In my excitement to get a small grip I order the wrong one.  I got a  grip for the .45 model which is different from the 9mm ones.   I knew I had done this right afterwards, but my plan is to add a .45 P320 down the road, so I didn't cancel it.   These are simple plastic castings, why are they so hard to find certain models?  (small in 9mm size)

Here's my beef with Sig on there grips (besides the lack of availability).

There are few if any markings so that you can tell what you're looking at.  Why can't they mark them plainly?  Below are some pictures of the old grip, a Carry length, large diameter for 9mm, the newer .45 Compact grip.

The original looks like it was made in 2/17, while the .45 was made in 6/15.  Maybe the .45s aren't selling so well?  The replacement does say "Compact Small", but there's no indication whether it's for 9mm or .45.  And while the new seems to have something resembling a part number, the original one has nada.   Except of course for the "recyclable" symbol.  Nice to know

And just so you'll know the trigger assembly as well as the 9mm slide assembly fit and function fine on the .45 grip.  The difference is in the magazine well.  The .45 magazines are slightly larger in circumference.   So while you could load and shoot single shot, you can't use the .45 grip with a 9mm mag. (or visa versa)

Still like the P320 though.  These are just minor nits.

REPLACEMENT GRIP



ORIGINAL GRIP




INTERIOR w/ DATE STAMP - NEW ONE ON TOP
AND THE RECYCLE SYMBOL