Hello all,

I recently bought an X5 legion. I noticed I’m not getting as good groups with the X5 at 25 yards. I compared it my 229 legion single action only, and two other 320s from the range rental counter, shooting all from a rest. Every other pistol I tried yielded reasonable group at 25 yds from a rest, some a little better than others, but with the X5 there little consistency among the shots in the groups.

I called Sig and they said that they guarantee a 2 inch group at 10 yards, which doesn’t do me much good for my current use case.

I started closely inspecting the barrel hood to slide fit and there is a larger gap on the right side than the left. My P229 does not have that mismatch. Could this be the cause of my accuracy problem?

See the photos, first the X5, then for comparison, the P229:




Thanks,

Paul

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nolatone,

I doubt it, as the barrel lockup occurs between the extended portion of the hood and where it is nested into the cutout in the slide (just above and to the right of the indicated area in your pic), and between the front of the hood and the slide. The area you are indicating is not part of the lockup, and every P320 I own has that gap...it's just part of the design.

Interesting, and thanks for the info 92fstech.

Any ideas on what the issue could be? I hear people raving about the X5 Legion for competition, but I don't see how a gun that's only assured 2" at 10 yds could be touted as a competition gun.

I could send it back, but again, they will only test at 10 yds, and I don't see what good that does when I'm shooting at 25yds.

I don't have an x5, but I imagine it depends on the type of competition you're shooting whether or not that degree of accuracy would be acceptable. It's not a bullseye gun...more of a run-and-gun type platform for tactical competition.

I've never heard the 2" at 10 yards number before, but that is probably just Sig's way of providing a minimum guarantee, as my bone stock P320 carry models will shoot better than that when I'm doing my part. I'd expect the X5, with it's premium price tag and longer sight radius, to do even better. Have you had somebody else try shooting it yet? The trigger on the P320, while really good for a striker-fired gun, is pretty different from the other platforms you mention, and a fresh set of eyes and hands may be helpful in setting a benchmark before you start down the rabbit trail of troubleshooting.

when I look at the picture it looks like there is a gap between the barrel hood and the slide.
Also looks like some peening on the front of the barrel hood.
There is lots of talk on some of the other shooting forums about accuracy problems with the 320 X5.
Maybe some pictures of the barrel out of the gun.
Jcjac

quote:

Originally posted by jsjac:

There is lots of talk on some of the other shooting forums about accuracy problems with the 320 X5.

Jcjac

Most of the complaining on other Forums is about X5 LEGIONS specifically--Apparently, Sig changed something about the Barrel Lock-up when they went from the plain, ol' X5 to the X5 Legion--Wish I was smart enough to understand all that technical stuff, but that's what I get for being a Liberal Arts major...

If I remember correctly, the complaint regarding the Legions was that Sig began putting barrels with a loaded chamber indicator notch on the hoods and many people that were running optics were getting gunpowder all on the lens of the red dots.

quote:

Originally posted by paperchasin:
If I remember correctly, the complaint regarding the Legions was that Sig began putting barrels with a loaded chamber indicator notch on the hoods and many people that were running optics were getting gunpowder all on the lens of the red dots.

Yep, colloquially known as the "Masshole". It's a truly idiotic and unnecessary addition, and not limited to the Legions, unfortunately. But the gun in the OP lacks that particular "feature".

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
The trigger on the P320, while really good for a striker-fired gun, is pretty different from the other platforms you mention, and a fresh set of eyes and hands may be helpful in setting a benchmark before you start down the rabbit trail of troubleshooting.

Indeed the trigger is different, and because of that I tried two different P320s from the range rental counter, both which had heavier triggers than the X5 Legion, both shot much tighter groups at 25 yds.

Also, I had the range officer try the same group, and he also had the same trouble with the group. That was Sunday. Today I went to the shop/range where I bought the gun a week ago, and had one of their guys try the same, also with a loose group.

Today I shot (from a rest) groups of 5 rounds at 5yds, 10yds, 15yds, 20yds, and 25 yds. The 5yd and 10yd groups were reasonable, but as soon as I went out to 15yds, things went to crap.

I did the same with my P210 Target. Yes, I get that it's inherently more accurate gun, lighter trigger, etc, but at 25 yds, with the P210, I had about a 3" group (maybe 2" if I discard 1 flyer), but with the X5 Legion, only 3 out of 5 hit the paper. That cannot be a normal difference.

And I think there's no point in shipping the guy back to Sig because I can see them being able to get a 2" group at 10 yds, and they won't even try 15yds where the group turns into bird shot.

I'm a big fan of Sig, but their attitude about this particular gun and this issue SUCKS. If people are complaining about accuracy from their race gun, they should be making more of an effort to sort this out.

So, in my case, it may be fixable, but it's not fixable by Sig, at least not with their current attitude.

The P320 does seem sensitive to cartridge overall length, bullet weight, etc. I've done a number of ladders building different loads, and some are considerably more accurate than others in the P320. It's fed just about everything, but I do see differences. Not as large as what are being described, but it might be the difference in a 1.5" group vs. a 3" group, from the bench.

The P320 legion uses a "pretensioned" barrel. You might notice the that the slide doesn't appear full forward, or moves forward slightly as you press the trigger. It may appear to have a slight loose or misfit with the hood in relation to the slide, unless the slide is pressed forward. Both features common to the pretensioned barrel.

If this problem is endemic through each shooter and repeatable, it's clear there's a problem. I wonder if the correct barrel is in the pistol.

With the firearm empty and in battery, if you place a pencil down the barrel and attempt to move the barrel around in the slide, can you move it? There shouldn't be any play or movement of the barrel, either from the muzzle, or anywhere in the barrel using the pencil, or by pressing down on the barrel hood, relative to the slide.

If the firearm isn't delivering satisfactory performance, I'd look at sending it back to Sig.

It sounds like you've done your due diligence, and the gun has come up short, even compared to run-of-the-mill P320s. I'm in agreement with guppy at this point...it's time to make your case to Sig and get them to look at the gun. I'd call them and try explaining it the way you did in your last post here...you've got me sold, maybe you can sell them too.

quote:

Originally posted by nolatone:
Today I shot (from a rest) groups of 5 rounds at 5yds, 10yds, 15yds, 20yds, and 25 yds. The 5yd and 10yd groups were reasonable, but as soon as I went out to 15yds, things went to crap...

Just a thought here, check your front sight for looseness that allows it to wander side to side. I had a similar experience to yours, but with a German Mastershop X6 gun, that was pinpointed to the loose front sight.

This is a well known issue with USPSA shooters. There are different solutions.

1) get an X5 slide (not Legion) and groups will shrink in half. You can use your the Legion barrel. Osage often has X5 slides.

2) use 124 grain ammo which tends to shoot better in the Legions.

3) get a GGI modern classic upper.

4) use a 4.7 inch Pro slide.

Check to make sure the Allen screws holding the rear sight plate are tight. They were loose on my 320X Full and my X5 Legion .

They guarantee 2" accuracy at 10 yards? That equates to 10" at 50 yards. Don't expect to see any of these in NRA Action Pistol stock gun class.

You know, not owning a Legion, I'd forgotten that Sig put that idiotic plate-mounted adjustable rear-sight on those. I jumped straight to barrel mechanics and lockup, but could it be as simple as a wandering rear sight? It would be easy enough to test...properly mount a red dot to it and see if the accuracy issues go away.

Here is my fix for my 9mm 320 X5 Legion. I bought my wife a CZ Shadow 2, and just ordered a CZ TSO for her, then I get the hand-me-down Shadow 2. :-)

While I like the Legion overall, the CZ is much more accurate.

Incidentally, my Legion does NOT have that gap.

The X5 Legion has dovetail front sight and optic plate mounted rear, and all feel secure.

I’m not feeling any play in the barrel either.

I checked the inside of the barrel with my borescope, and it has quite a lot of “marring”, like when you scrub a pot in a porcelain sink and the edges of the pot mark up the sink and you have to scrub it with comet to clean it off.

None of my other barrels have that, have any of you seen that and could that be a factor?

Thinking I’ll give the barrel a good cleaning and see what that does.

quote:

Originally posted by dgshooter:
They guarantee 2" accuracy at 10 yards? That equates to 10" at 50 yards. Don't expect to see any of these in NRA Action Pistol stock gun class.

Sure doesn’t seem like a good look.

quote:

Originally posted by Reedman:
Here is my fix for my 9mm 320 X5 Legion. I bought my wife a CZ Shadow 2, and just ordered a CZ TSO for her, then I get the hand-me-down Shadow 2. :-)

While I like the Legion overall, the CZ is much more accurate.

Incidentally, my Legion does NOT have that gap.

Just got a call from my local FFL and the Dan Wesson Pointman 9 I bought off of gun broker is in.

Shooting that is just going to piss me off even more about the X5L