Shooting Experiences With SIG P320 RX Compact With OEM Romeo1 RDS

[JonInWA]

Thanks to the fortuitous largess of the NSSF and SIG-Sauer, I recently won a NSSF Gearbox from SIG-Sauer, whose largesse impressed me. Essentially, gun-wise, I got a P320 RX Compact, inherently equipped with a Romeo1 RDS, and a M400 Tread rifle, highly upgraded by SIG to include, among much other ancillary gear, their Romeo5 RDS.

Whole I'd previously had an opportunity to use a Glock Gen5 G19 MOS with a Leopold RDS, and having thoroughly gone through GJM's experiences, I was hesitant to make the leap into trying a RDS. My win enabled me to hop into the experience of RDSsing, at zero expense....works for me.

I got the P320 much quicker than I expected, even taking into account Washing state's new rules. Paperwork filled out Tuesday, approved very quickly, pistol picked up on Friday, just in time to be inspected, cleaned and lubed for Saturday's club IDPA match. For those using a P320 Compact, there is a correct (and incorrect) positioning orientation necessary for successful assembly of the RSA into the slide...essentially, the flats of the end of the RSA need to be vertically aligned with the slide at the lug attachment point on the barrel.

Notice that I didn't have time to zero....while most reviews I read of the P320RX stated that it was perfectly zeroed at the factory, the factory zero was significantly off for me-the gun shot significantly low and to the left. Some of that undoubtedly was due to my unfamiliarity with the P320's triggerpull (which I find to be a bit light and soft/mushy, totally unlike those on my Glocks and dissimilar to my HK VP40's pull {which I find to be a bit lighter and softer than the pulls on Glocks}), but essentially on the Saturday match I did a protracted reliability test more than anything else (although the gun groups magnificently). It also rained continuously throughout the entire match (like that never happens in the Seattle area in the fall....) adding to the fun, and I continuously SO'ed for the match.

Apres match, I went to a square range and re-zeroed. Being a right-hand shooter and left-eye dominant probably threw the factory zero out of viability for me, but now things to be squared away. I plan on running it again at another club IDPA match this coming Saturday (with dryer weather forecast-we'll see...)

My neophyte RDS take-aways:

1. Gun needs to be personally zeroed (duh-lesson learned); I used the second lowest dimmest dot intensity to effect a precise zero for greatest accuracy/least dot blooming; for the Saturday match, I'll start out at the second lowest "Day" intensity, and adjust according to prevailing light/weather conditions.

2. SIG provided me with my choice of holster out of their selection; I elected to go with the Mitch Rosen Express properly cut for the RDS. Nice holster, no issues or break-in issues.

3. Rain and GSR eventually provided a haze on my RDS screen, easily wiped away with a microfiber cloth; otherwise, the Romeo1's weatherproofing seems quite good.

4. I have the steel Romeo1 surround shroud inbound; whole not necessarily inherently required, I'll feel better with it installed, and more comfortable in introducing the gun into my carry/duty rotation.

5. No issues with the gun whatsoever. Slingshotting (as opposed to getting the slide into battery from slidelock via tripping the slide release) occasionally resulted in some slide hesitation to going totally into battery at the last portion of the slide run-forward, but a push at the rear of the slide expeditiously accomplished that. I'd originally lubed the rails with TW25B, but have now switched to Lucas Red "N" Tacky #2, which I've come to prefer; we'll see how it works on Saturday. Using the slide release to go from slidelock into battery seems the best practice for this gun, though. The slide stop is ambidextrous and sufficiently protrusive for ergonomic use.

6. Cartridges used so far have been SIG's own 115 gr. ball, and some assorted Sellier & Bellot 124 gr ball and American Eagle 124 gr ball, all worked fine. This weekend I'll be using the American Eagle and Sellier & Bellot 124 grainers throughout.

7. I like how the BUIS are SIG's suppressor-height tritiums; nice belt-and-suspenders approach.

8. Although the OEM medium grip shell seems to work nicely, eventually I'll likely experient with the Small Carry shell, and an XCompact shell. This gun may just be an ideal 9mm for my wife, if she likes the RDS and ergos. I like the night/limited light shooting capabilities of the RDS, particularly for a non-dedicated shooter.

9. Magazines are made in italy, presumably by MecGar; they're very nicely made and finished. Eventually Check-Mate will be providing me with some of their contract M17/M18 magazines for me to T&E.

I'm still very much in the initial RDS/P320 learning curve, but I'm optimistic. As my P320 is an October 2019 production piece, it'll be interesting to see if all the P320 bugs have been successfully ironed out. As many of you know, I've been vicariously skeptical of the P320 and SIG vis-a-vis it; this will give me some real empirical experience on it (sample size of one and all that).

Best, Jon

[JonInWA]

Well, properly zeroing made a world of a difference (shocker, I know). Yesterday, I shot one of my better matches of the year with the now more synched-in gun (arguably the gun was just fine, the operator just needed to be more synched in). Cartridges used throughout were American Eagle and Sellier & Bellot 124 gr ball-accuracy and functionality with both was excellent.

The temperature was a bit on the cool side, but almost no precipitation throughout the match. I find myself getting more confident both with the P320 and the Romeo1 RDS, to the point of carrying it on duty today. Absolutely zero hiccups throughout the match. Headshots acquired and accomplished with little drama. My RDS shroud is due in hopefully this week, although the OEM setup is performing nicely; the shroud will potentially give me a bit more reassurance for duty carry RDS protection vis-a-vis knocks and jostling.

While I originally equivocated between the Compact and Full-Size P320 RX, I'm quite pleased with the Compact, especially since the RDS makes increased slide length for increased sight length irrelevant. The Compact really handles quite nicely, and for my carry cartridges of choice (primarily Federal Premium LE Bonded +P 135 grain and standard-pressure Gold Dot 124 gr), I'm not particularly seeing the need for the slight velocity increase to be gained by going with the longer variant).

All in all, I'm pleased with my foray into the RDS arena; later this week I plan on zeroing the M400 Tread rifle with the Romeo5 RDS. All things being acceptable, I plan on continuing to run the P320 Compact RX for the foreseeable future for concealed carry, duty and IDPA. I have to admit that to date I'm much more impressed with the P320 then I expected to be.

And guys, as I expressed to GJM, I realize that this thread may be a bit bush-league for more experienced RDS users, but thought it might be worthwhile to submit and discuss from the standpoint of a p-f shooter experiencing RDS in-depth for the first time.

Best, Jon

[cornstalker]

For those using a P320 Compact, there is a correct (and incorrect) positioning orientation necessary for successful assembly of the RSA into the slide...essentially, the flats of the end of the RSA need to be vertically aligned with the slide at the lug attachment point on the barrel.

I have only run into that on P320 subcompacts and Xcompacts so far. I have two older p320c's and neither of them have the flats on the lug end of the RSA. I wonder if there is a newer design out.

[JonInWA]

Could be, as mne's an October 2019 production piece, and the manual specifically talks about the differences in RSA end configurations between the full-size and compact variant RSAs.

I believe that SIG also modified the configuration of the take-down lever and slide stop/release levers subsequent to what was initially provided (making the former flatter and less protrusive, and the latter more shaped and slightly more protrusive).

I believe that there may have been some ongoing product improvements implemented in the Romeo1 as well, but haven't come across any specifics yet.

Best, Jon

[Tom Duffy]

Kind of a hypothetical. How do you think your VP40 with a red dot would compare to your 320 in a match environment?

[JonInWA]

Kind of a hypothetical. How do you think your VP40 with a red dot would compare to your 320 in a match environment?

My thought at this point is that adding a RDS could be an ideal pairing given the VP40's superb ergonomics, but I really don't have sufficient time on the P320 Compact RX to give a fair comparison between the two, yet.

My gut reaction would be to say the VP, but keep in mind that it took a certain amount of empirical experience on it to get it set up ideally for me, and I want to give the P320 the same amount of experience and grace.

Part of what makes the P320 Compact RX such a great value is that you're in one fell swoop getting what appears to be an excellent gun and very nice RDS-with the VP, you're looking at some not insignificant gunsmithing to facilitate the RDS installation, and then the acquisition of the RDS. At this point, given the status of the .40 cartridge and .40 platform sales in general, I doubt that HK is going to invest much more in such refinements to the VP40-but I can easily see them doing it for the VP9/VP9B.

Which is a bit of a shame, because of the ergonomics of the VP40, combined with it's increased slide weight and RSA set-up which really does a nice job in taming the .40.

Best, Jon

[JonInWA]

As a correlated aside, last week I very easily zeroed the Romeo5 RDS that SIG provided for the M400 Tread AR15 that was part of my NSSF Gearbox win. Nice basic AR (and SIG very heavily upgraded mine from the get-go with the bulk of the Tread options, so I just needed to get a couple of additional components to get it to where I want it to be). The Romeo5 seems to be a nice basic rifle RDS; we'll see how it holds up and what my take is on it after some more use, but I'm pretty pleased with it for now. When my Magpul BUIS arrive from a friend, I'll have another opportunity to both install the Romeo5 on the riser SIG provides with the Romeo5 kit to achieve a better BUIS view; I also have the protective shroud kit for the P320's Romeo1 inbound, which'll make me a bit more comfortable to use it for EDC/duty.

Best, Jon

[cornstalker]

Could be, as mne's an October 2019 production piece, and the manual specifically talks about the differences in RSA end configurations between the full-size and compact variant RSAs.

Best, Jon

I ordered a spare RSA and the new part has the flats on the lug end. Definitely different than both of my existing ones. I wonder if the change has anything to do with the cases where the end of the RSA breaks/falls off.

[JonInWA]

Yesterday I shot my third IDPA match with the P320 RX Compact, and I've got to say, I'm slowly coming around towards the Romeo1/P320 combination. For the second time/second match in a row with it, my match scores were significantly better than they had been with iron-sighted pistols. While I still don't have the superb index and total confidence in the P320 RX than I do in my Beretta 92D, HK P30L LEM V1.5 or HK VP40 (or my Ruger P89), facts are facts: In similar matches/distances/terrain/weather, I am incontrovertibly scoring better-particularly in terms of speed; the accuracy is good, but not quite on par with the others-yet.

The SIG shroud for the Romeo1 is inbound; while it's installation will require a re-zero, and will obscure a good portion of the co-witnessing tritium BUIS, it'll give me a bit more confidence in the P320 RX Romeo's durability for EDC/duty.

Ergos on the P320 are decent-I wish the slide release was a bit more ergonomically present and protrusive, it works fine. Reloads are accomplished speedily and with no drama. and the gun's OEM frame stippling is quite good, facilitating an excellent grip-in that aspect, it's at least as good as my HK P30L's grip. Grip feel in hand is good-not quite as perfect (and comfortable) as the HK's, but quite good-and the results speak for themselves.

Ammunition used was Sellier & Bellot's excellent 124 gr ball, dual magazine pouch was Bianchi's Accumold, and the holster was the proprietary SIG-Sauer Mitch Rosen Express leather OWB.

Essentially, the P320 RX Compact strikes me as being SIG's equivalent to the Glock G19 Gen5 MOS.

I'm much more impressed with it to date than I expected to be.

Best, Jon

[JonInWA]

SIG shroud installed-exceptionally easy Romeo1 removal, marriage with shroud, and re-installation. As expected, re-zeroing was required, as the shroud resulted in it shooting low with previous zero; re-zeroing easily accomplished in 5 minutes. The shroud fits nicely, has enough material strength and stand-off distance from the Romeo1's screen/screen housing to give me a bit of peace of mind for duty/EDC carry. The shroud does not interfere with holstering in appropriate holsters (holsters designed for the Romeo1 from the onset) and does not inordinately bulk up the profile.

The Romeo1 Pro comes with the shroud as part of it's organic package. While the Romeo1 has a magnesium housing, the Romeo1 Pro has an aluminum one. The shroud that comes with the Romeo1 Pro is advertised as being steel, and the one that I have for the Romeo1 is purportedly aluminum, but I don't have a magnet handy to check; I find it hard to believe that SIG would make a shroud out of two seperate materials for essentially the same RDS housing profile, but who knows.

Best, Jon