My wife has decided she wants to purchase a pistol for hiking and riding horse in the backcountry of Montana. She has narrowed everything down to a 10mm, preferring a Sig Sauer. There's two options, the 220 SAO (safety to carry loaded for bear, while horse back), or 320. She's shot a 320 in 10 and had no problem with it. The biggest question still remaining...how different in the handle between the 220 and 320? Anyone held both of them to compare? She picked up a 226 at the LGS and liked it immediately. Is the 220 a similar grip shape as this?

Smaller hands like the single stack I carried the P220 in 45 for years I liked it. I now carry a S/W Shield in 45 I think they just came out with a 10MM compact, thin with or without a safety textured grip that feels great when shooting. No 320 experience sorry.

If had a choice between a 220 or my shield I’d take the shield for comfort and the performance is the same.

I have owned and carried a P320 Sig 9mm for many years. It fits me nicely; however, a woman may find another grip more fitting to their hands.

She shot her dad's 320 without any issues. She preferred that handle to a Ruger 1911 in 10mm.

I have both the 320 in 9mm and 220 in 10mm, I prefer the 10mm but it's not a light pistol especially after you stuff it with 200 grain rounds.

an 1/8th inch in grip difference can make one gun feel right for you and one gun not feel right.

best if she can shoot both or go with the one she knows works , if she likes her dads 320 in 10mm and shoots it well that might be the answer

if possible shoot them all and then decide this is why rental ranges are worth the money if they have every one you want to shoot

run a mag in each and take notes after shooting each one

bring her riding gloves with , one gun works without gloves but won't work with gloves , you want to find the one that works with and without gloves.

Have her pull up and point at a object to see how the zeros in for her without aiming with the sights, under stress everything you have learned goes out the window so it becomes point and shoot so being as spot on automatically will make a difference.

One hand drill no aiming is another life saver up close just try shooting from the hip without practice and see where you hit in front of you.

No safety is a good thing under stress one less thought to get in the way, with the right holster one that covers the whole trigger as that is your safety the complete rig goes on and off and the gun remains in the holster unless you have a good reason to un holster it.

I don’t like double stack guns I have smaller hands if I pull up to aim the gun favors the left of center aiming point when gripping.

why favor single stack ?
that just means less capacity
I understand if it is a concern for smaller hands but women can have xl hands also not sure his wife does but my wife is 6 foot and wears a large or xl glove

I am 6' 2" and wear a XL or XXl glove

I say whatever fits the only reason I can see for single stack is if double doesn't fit the hand and single does

there are times a double is just hardly wider that a single they just take more out of the frame width. or run skinnier grips.

Because 17 shots and you don’t hit anything is not as good as 2 in the chest.

You see 2 guys on opposite side of a car fire multiple shots and nobody gets hit would be a good example of that poor fit under stress = missing.

I have a square palm and short fingers so a single usually fits my hand a bit better. The women I let shoot some of my pistolas almost always end up favoring the singles.

If you can hit what your shooting at, you don't need that many rounds Pete!

I'm wondering how much buck you'll get with the 320 being a polymer frame? The 220 has a stainless steel frame and it handles hot loads quite well.

I haven’t held the 220 but I love my 320

Striker fire vrs. Hammer, polymer frame vrs. Steel fame.

Here's my P220.

Is there any advantage to the squared trigger guard on the Sig? Astetically, it doesn't do a thing for me. I've been battling the impulse to pick up a 226.

The P220 is a heavy pistol which is a help in shooting hot 10 mm loads as it reduces recoil and decreases split times between shots, I don't know if the lower bore axis of the P320 offsets this or not. I really like the P220 and the main reason that I don't own one is that it is SAO and Sig saw fit to not offer it with an ambi safety and as I am left handed that is a deal killer.

I carried a traditional P220 in 45 A.C.P. for years as an issued duty weapon and had zero problems with it. At one time I put 6500 rounds through one dedicated to training only and did not clean or lube it for the entire time just to see how long it would go before it started having stoppages and at 6500 rounds I gave up and cleaned and lubed it. The only P320 I have shot was a 9mm and it was very accurate and though I didn't shoot it a lot it had no failures in the couple hundred rounds that I put through it.

Posco the squared trigger guard is to accommodate a grip style that was used when the Sig P series was developed where the first finger of the support hand was placed around the front of the trigger guard to help control recoil.

With all that said, the proper choice is the one that fits her the best, the grip on the P220 is thinner and slightly wider than the P226.

I take from your comment about the safety that she is uncomfortable carrying the P320 loaded, to me that would be a deal killer for that model as if she needs a defensive handgun she will need it right then and it is a huge gamble to assume she will have time to chamber a round or will have both hands free to do so.