Sig P320 X Compact vs X Carry

There are a lot of similarities when comparing the Sig P320 X Compact vs X Carry.

The only real differences between these guns are going to be some slight ergonomics, grip length, and slide length. We’ll cover all the differences between the two guns, as well as all the similarities. That way you’ll be able to get as much information as possible to make an informed decision. 

Size

Metrics	Sig P320 X Carry	Sig P320 X Compact
Weight No Mag(Oz)	23.7	22.5
Weight Empty Mag(Oz)	26.7	25.2
Weight With A Full Mag(Oz)	34.2	31.7
Height(top of Slide to bottom of Magazine Baseplate)(Inches)	5.41	5.10
Length (Inches)	7.38	6.97
Width of Grip(Inches)	1.23	1.23
Width of Slide(Inches)	1.06	1.06
Width Across Controls(Inches)	1.37	1.31

Sig P320 X Compact vs X Carry Concealed Carry

Both of these guns can fill similar roles. The Sig P320 X Compact is definitely small enough to be a concealed-carry gun. It is on the smaller end of what could be used for duty use. While the Sig P320 X Carry is definitely large enough for duty use. It can also work well for concealed-carry for a lot of people.

The biggest difference right off the bat is going to be capacity. The Sig P320 X Compact holds 15 rounds of ammunition. While the Sig P320 X Carry holds 17 rounds. The grip length is going to be a large factor.

The height from the top of the slide to the bottom of the magazine base plate is almost 5/16 of an inch difference. So there is a significant size difference between these two guns. And if you’re carrying at the appendix position, this is going to be a big deal for a lot of people.

I can conceal a Sig P320 X Carry fine, but I have a lot more margin for error with the smaller Sig P320 X Compact. Normally extra grip length isn’t as detrimental when carrying at three to five o’clock. But with the Sig P320 X Compact, there is enough size difference that it does play a role. The width of the grips is identical. So there isn’t going to be much difference there.

Weight

One area you will find a significant difference is going to be weight. There’s almost three ounces difference in weight. For that three ounces, you do get two extra rounds of capacity in the Sig P320 X Carry.

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I think there’s a definite advantage for the Sig P320 X Compact vs X Carry when it comes to concealed carry. That said the Sig P320 X Carry is still small enough that if you’re willing to make some compromise, you can carry the gun without issue.

I can conceal one under a t-shirt just fine. But going throughout daily life and doing things like grabbing items off of grocery shelves, bending over, getting out of the car, etc, it’s more likely to print than a smaller X Compact. I personally like to carry a gun one size smaller than what I can reasonably conceal. 

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That gives a large advantage to the X Compact over the larger X Carry.

Since the X Carry is on the upper end of what I can conceal. I’m a six-foot-tall male that has a 32-inch waist. So depending on how you’re built, the Sig P320 X Carry might be much smaller in comparison to your body, or it might be larger than mine.

Again, this is just something you have to look at from your individual situation.

Ergonomics overall

Frame

Neither of these guns has any modularity built into them. There are significant differences in the frames. They are both considered Sig X models. This is Sig’s performance line, but there are going to be some significant differences when it comes to how they feel.

The Sig P320 X Carry grip, as it comes from factories, they’re a medium-style grip. It’s much larger than the grip on the medium Sig P320 X Compact. It has a smaller circumference around the slide. So if you have smaller hands, the Sig P320 X Carry is a no-brainer. Whereas smaller hands might make it a little bit hard to reach all the controls on the Sig P320 X Carry. 

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Another major important feature is the grip length itself. Both of these guns have a fairly high bore axis. And what this means is, you have less real estate to put your hands on the grip itself. I myself can get all three support fingers on the bottom of the X Compact, as well as the X Carry, but I don’t have a lot of room on the X Compact, and I barely have much room on the X Carry.

Downsides

The downside of the X Compact is that my palm extends below the grip itself. So the right-hand corner of the grip is a little bit uncomfortable in my palm due to the grip poking it. It’s not super comfortable. If you have larger hands, I’m going to suggest going with the Sig P320 X Carry.

While if you have smaller hands, the Sig P320 X Compact is going to be a much better gun. 

It’s really that simple. I wear a medium to large size glove, and I much prefer the X Carry in terms of the grip. While somebody with medium to small size hands is going to prefer the X Compact. The guns are almost 100% proportional to each other. If that makes sense. So the X Compact is just a much better choice for somebody with smaller hands.

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Texture

The texture on these two guns is identical. They both have a light sandpaper feel that works quite well. And I don’t have any complaints about the system. It’s comfortable to carry as well as providing you enough aggressiveness when shooting the gun. 

Slide

Again, the slide setups are pretty much identical. The serrations are 100% identical and there isn’t much difference in manipulating the slides. 

I do find it a little easier to manipulate the slide on the Sig P320 X Carry from the front, just because of the longer slide and barrel. It helps keep my hand a little further back from the muzzle than I can get with a Sig P320 X Compact. But at the end of the day, if you have smaller hands, you’re not going to have any issue with the Sig P320 X Compact.

Sights

Stock

Both of these guns come with pretty good Siglite night sights. The Siglite night sights have a tritium front sight that has a green ring that stands out quite well during the daylight. And then they have a two-dot Tritium rear that is blacked out for daylight use.

During the night, you’re going to see a traditional three-dot night light picture. The sight picture itself is fairly clean, but it’s not what I would call crisp. These aren’t my favorite sights, but they’re one of the better sights that come on a factory gun.

Now, the downside of both of these guns is the rear sight is mounted to an optics mounting plate. This means if you want to run a red dot on the gun, that you’re going to have to remove the rear sight. So you can not have backup iron sights mounted to the gun. Now, the downside of this system is there aren’t any aftermarket replacement sights that I am aware of for either of these guns. 

So while you can replace the front sight with any standard Sig cut front sight, there aren’t any options for the rear sight. Which is frankly, the sight that can be most improved in my opinion.

If you’re not a person who likes to change your factory guns to your preferred sights, then this isn’t a big deal. Plus you have a great set of sights out of the box. But if you’re really nit-picky about the sights on your carry gun, then this might be a deal-breaker.

Red Dot Optics

Mounting a red dot optic to either of these guns is obviously the same process. But one thing you will have to check and be aware of is what sight cut you have on the gun itself. Sig has made a number of running changes to these lines of guns.

So you can’t be sure whether your gun is cut for a Leupold Deltapoint Pro, a Sig Romeo, or some modification of all that. I’ve heard all kinds of rumors about the dots that will fit on the Sig P320 X series. So the best thing to do is figure out your serial number and call Sig before purchasing the dot you want to carry. 

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You just want to ensure that you don’t have some oddball gun they released from the factory that won’t work with the red dot you just purchased. There are companies making adapter kits that allow you to mount different dots to the gun. Those adapter kits will still be designed to work with a certain footprint. So you’ll want to verify with Sig what footprint your exact gun has on it.

Controls

Loaded chamber indicator

There is no active loaded chamber indicator on the Sig P320 X Carry. In theory, you can definitely feel the ejector as it pushes out slightly when you chamber around. But there is no purpose-built design loaded chamber indicator like there is on the Sig P320 X Compact. 

There’s one on the X Compact that indexes into the barrel hood, and it pops up when there’s a load a round in the chamber. In my opinion, this is not a great feature. As it adds more mechanical complexity to the gun. So it could be another failure point. At the same time, it’s not a deal-breaker. It’s just something I feel you should be aware of.

Trigger 

The trigger on these two guns is obviously identical. They both are Sig’s flat X series trigger. Now the trigger pulls themselves are nothing special when you compare them to the standard Sig P320s, you’re going to feel a little bit of light take-up, you’re going to hit a wall, and then you’re going to feel creep as it goes into a rolling brake. 

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They’re perfectly good triggers, but they’re not what you would expect on the guns being that these are Sig performance products. You would just expect a little more refinement. They’re easy to shoot.

Personally, I like them when shooting. Although I don’t care for them as much when I’m fondling them at the gun store counter, they’re good, solid triggers. They’re just nothing special like you would hope for.

Slide Lock

The slide locks on these guns are again identical. The slide lock is actually slightly smaller on the Sig P320 X Compact, at least from the bottom dimension. But that dimension really doesn’t matter when it comes to using it. Both of these guns are slightly uncomfortable to use the slide lock when dropping it. 

Unless you’re doing 250 reload cycles a day, it’s not going to draw blood or anything. So, calluses will always fix that problem. There is a tie on the Sig P320 X-Compact versus X-Carry, as I don’t see any noticeable difference between the two guns.

Magazine Release

Again, the magazine releases on these two guns are identical. Magazine releases are switchable to the other sides. If you’re a left-handed shooter, you can just switch them around and use them the same as a right-handed shooter would you use them from the factory. If you have smaller hands, it’s going to be easier to access the magazine release on the Sig P320 X Compact vs X Carry. And one thing I will say is with my larger hands, it feels a little bit sharp on the front edge of the magazine release on the Sig P320 X Compact. 

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I think that reason is just that my hand hits the magazine release at a different angle due to the smaller grip. I don’t have this problem on the X Carry, but I do if I break my grip so it hits similar to the Sig P320 X Compact. So, that’s something you may want to be aware of. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but it’s something you can check out at the gun store when you’re fondling these guns.

Magazine Well Sig P320 X Compact vs X Carry

The magazine well on both of these guns is also identical. They have a nice slight flare, and these are the second-best magazine wells to the Glock Gen 5 series. They’re absolutely excellent and better than every other striker-fired polymer frame gun on the market. With the one exception of the Glock as mentioned earlier.

Quality

Both these guns are obviously equal build quality. They’re the same guns, essentially the frames on these are a little bit cheap, but that’s really my only complaint when it comes to quality. 

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Aftermarket

You’re going to see a few more aftermarket options for the X Carry, Just because there are more of those guns out there. You’re going to have a variety of aftermarket options for both. Though technically, the X Carry frames will fit on the Sig P320 X Compact, the frame will extend past the slide.

That said, there are companies like Parker Mountain Machine that make mini comps that will fit in that extra space. So you have a ton of aftermarket options for both guns.

Aesthetics 

Aesthetically I do prefer the Sig P320 X Compact to the X Carry. It just seems like a more proportional gun, but at the end of the day, it’s really going to come down to opinion and they’re both fairly proportional. And you can look at the pictures and decide which one you think looks better. 

Shooting

Shooting these guns, there’s no question. The Sig P320 X Carry is a more comfortable gun to shoot if you have larger hands. And the Sig P320 X Compact is a more comfortable gun to shoot if you have smaller hands. I really think what hand size you have is going to determine which gun you’ll purchase.

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You don’t notice much of a recoil difference between the two, despite the extra 0.3 inches on the X Carry. I really don’t see a difference between the two guns. The biggest difference is going to come down to the grip length. I get a little bit better grip on the Sig P320 X Carry. 

So it shoots a little bit better for me. And in my opinion, the Sig P320 X Compact is probably one of the best guns out there if you have smaller hands. It’s going to be easier to reach the controls for most people than a Glock 19. Which is probably the only other gun in its class, besides the Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 Compact. 

I still think the Sig P320 X Compact is going to be easier to reach controls than either of those guns. At the end of the day, neither gun is definitively better than the other. They’re just better for certain purposes. If you’re looking for a smaller carry gun, get the Sig P320 X Compact, but if you’re looking for something that’s larger and easier to shoot if you have larger hands, then get the X Carry.

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Price/Value

The X Carry has been discontinued so you’ll have to find it on the secondary market or build a clone which is a Compact/Carry Length slide with a Sig Flat Trigger Shoe, Siglite sights, and X Carry frame. A Sig P320 X Compact sells for $620 normally and has an MSRP of $679. 

If you’re not concerned about the ability to add an optic then you get buy a base model Sig P320 Carry or Compact and have about the same amount of money as you’d have in the Sig P320 X Compact but if you want an optic ready model you’ll have to buy the Sig P320 RXP and add a X frame and flat trigger but you’ll have back iron sights which is an advantage of the X Compact and original X Carry.

You’re going to pay more to build an X Carry but if you have larger hands it may be worth it. That said if you don’t need the flat trigger shoe then it won’t be an issue.

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Related Articles

• Sig P320 X Compact Review
• Sig P320 X Carry Review
• M&P 2.0 vs Glock 19
• SIG P320 X Carry vs HK VP9
• SIG P320 vs Glock 17

Pros/Cons

Sig P320 X Carry Pros

• Ergonomics for large hands

P320 X Compact Pros

• Ergonomics for small hands
• Cost

Sig P320 X Carry Cons

• Cost

P320 X Compact Cons

• Ergonomics for large hands