sig sauer p322 22lr. 20+1 capacity. $399

Everyone is raving about Sig's new P322 in 22LR! It was completely designed and built at their New Hampshire facility and comes loaded with premium features: aluminum slide on a polymer frame, two 20-round magazines (plus a mag loader), fiber optic iron-sights, a threaded barrel with 1/2x28 adapter, a robust hammer-fire mechanism, interchangeable trigger shoes and an optic-ready removable rear sight plate so you can easily add a ROMEOZero red dot optic without the use of adapter plates. Ambidextrous controls ice the cake and make it ideally suited for north and south paws alike. Though some will balk at the manual safety, in an increasingly litigating world you never know when that might save your butt. Personally I like safeties.

Though the P322 is a handsome bugger, I'm of the school that thinks 22LR pistols should be scaled to the diminutive size of the round to make them truly useful as ultra-discreet carry weapons - think Ruger Bearcat, the Rossi Princess, the Budischowski TP 70, the Walther TPH, the Beretta 21A and a handful of other gems of engineering. If I was going to carry a polymer pistol of this P322 size, it would be a 45ACP - so when I see full size 22LR pistols like this I only think of long afternoons of inexpensive shooting fun at the range, not EDC. Folks say full size 22LR pistols make excellent trainers for their centerfire counterparts but I can't entirely agree: I think we should train with what we carry, period. But I'm also not one to sniff at the potency of the 22LR. I've shot it all my life and seen it's capabilities in the field. It's a dastardly little round that's all too often derided by the caliber snobs. When I hear someone at the range pooh pooh the 22LR as inadequate for self defense I jokingly tell them go stand over there with an apple on their head - of course nervous laughter always ensues. 22LR should never be mistaken for or regarded as having BB potency, it's a deadly and amply proven cartridge. My only reservation with it for self defense is issues with reliability in semi-autos chambered for it...but by all accounts the new P322 from Sig has that in spades so this may truly be a game changer!

The golden mean for 22LR semi-autos is to produce revolver-dependability in a high capacity pistol utilizing easy load magazines that feed 100% of the time. If Sig has genuinely done that then the P322 is a premium candidate for EDC. Check it out on their WEBSITE. MSRP (or, Minimum Advertised Price) is $399 but expect higher in this binge market.