Goin’ Hot with Sig Air Guns

Torrential summer rains slowed down my backyard testing of the new Sig air guns, but I finally got a break long enough to set up a back stop for the project.

I have a six-foot wood fence between my neighbor’s yard and mine. I was pretty sure the fence was thick enough to stop the alloy .177 caliber pellets, but I didn’t want to risk an irate neighbor or damaging the fence, so I made a pretty stout backstop to shoot into.

That consisted of a discarded 28- by 48-inch plywood shelf covered by a remnant of indoor/outdoor carpet to discourage ricochets.

I loaded the P320 replica with 30 pellets and set up a Sig quad spinner target stand. Then I backed up ten long steps, lined up the three-dot sights and let fly.

I quickly discovered two things. First, at a distance of 30 feet, it takes a steadier hand than mine to hit the fairly small targets consistently, especially in rapid fire. Second, a CO₂ pellet gun launching projectiles at more than 400 feet per second is not quiet.

The noise is nowhere near the level to require hearing protection, but it is far from silent. Also, the pistol is plenty accurate, but I need to polish my marksmanship skills a who’ bunch before these little swingers cease to be a challenge.

Up next, was the Sig MPX CO₂ pellet subgun.

This air rifle follows the general pattern of an AR-15 with similar controls including the ambidextrous safety, charging handle, and magazine catch, etc. The 30-round magazine roughly resembles a pistol-caliber AR-15 magazine and inserts AR-15 fashion into a magazine well in front of the AR-15-style pistol grip and trigger guard. With the AR-15-style safety engaged, you cock the air-gun by pulling and releasing the AR-15-type charging handle.

All of these controls being similar to an AR-15, the Sig MPX makes a good backyard training tool for close quarters drill.

An eight-inch-long CO₂ cylinder that screws into the rear of the receiver powers the MPX. It is concealed inside a hollow AR-15-style buttstock, and brings the MPX’s total weight to a fairly heavy 7-1/2 pounds.

After I adjusted the red dot sight’s windage and elevation to point of impact, it was easy to keep the little swingers swinging. At more than 600 fps, the MPX was noticeably louder than the P320, but not so much as to require hearing protection.

Given the substantial noise involved, you might want to ease your neighbors’ minds and let them know what you’re doing. Who knows, they might want join you for some friendly competition.

Story by Stan Skinner