Inside SIG's P385: built from scratch to shoot soft

SIG says its new P385 started as a blank sheet of paper, and nearly every feature the company points to is aimed at one thing: less felt recoil. Shawn Ryan spent a range day at SIG Academy shooting it alongside two other new pistols, and by the end he was calling it his new carry gun.

The short version

In the video, a SIG product specialist named Preston walks Ryan through three launches. First is the 211, SIG's take on the 2011, now offered with an aluminum frame and polymer grip module that SIG says cuts roughly half a pound compared with the steel-frame GTO. Second is the P226X built with Agency Arms, with custom texturing, five-axis machining and a trigger that adjusts for reach.

The centerpiece is the P385, which SIG describes as a whole family rather than one gun. Preston explains that SIG combined several recoil-reducing features instead of looking for one fix, and that the grip went through about 40 printed prototypes with the Academy's instructors. Ryan shoots the variants side by side, then gets a grip lesson from an Academy instructor on pressure and counter-pressure.

Key points

• Compensators: The P385 comes in two compensated versions, one with a slide-integrated comp and one with SIG's Mach 3D compensator.
• Recoil dampener: A small rubber piece absorbs the shock when the slide bottoms out, according to SIG.
• Reactive grip: SIG says the texture feels smooth under light contact and locks in as grip pressure increases.
• Trigger safety: The trigger blade has a flush safety block instead of an exposed tab.
• Mag strap: A swappable magwell-backstrap piece in small, medium and large also allows a compact model with 15-round flush magazines, against 17 rounds on the full size, which uses P320 magazines.
• Optics: RMR and Delta Point Pro footprints mount directly without plates.

Bottom line

This is SIG's own pitch for the P385, delivered on its home range, so treat the claims as the maker's until independent testing catches up. For carriers weighing a full-capacity duty-size pistol against a P365-class gun, it lays out what SIG changed and why.

Source: Shawn Ryan Show