P365 and P365 XL

[Wayward Son]

My wife decided she wanted something smaller & lighter than he Glock 26 to carry so I took her shopping. I had the Glock 43 in mind and after handling it, she liked it.

Then the counter guy handed us a P365 and she REALLY liked that. Felt better in her hand, held more rounds, same price and included steel night sights which I would have had to buy extra with the 43.

So she decided she wanted it & we bought it. That was april 2018. Since then I've run over 1000 rounds through it, mostly my reloads but also 4 factory loads with multiple people shooting. No issues. At friends house, he has a little range set up out back. He also has some steel plates hung so he can plink from his back deck. I found that I could pretty reliably hit his plates at 50 yards once I figure out where to hold, not bad for a 3" pistol.

I found that I really I liked the little gun. As I've carried a Glock Model 30 since 2000 and have been considering something significantly smaller and lighter myself for some occasions, I was thinking about picking up a 2nd P365 for myself but never did. Time passed, every range trip I'd run some more ammo through it, remained impressed.

The P365 SAS came out, as well as the P365 XL and the one with the external safety. Having been a Glock carrier since 1997 I had no interest in the external safety and as I prefer a strong side holster, the SAS sights also didn't appeal to me but the 365 XL did. Problem was putting my hands on one, they sell about as fast as they come off the truck.

I finally got to handle one and really liked the feel of it in my hand. Absolute smallest/lightest was not a requirement. The XL is about 1/2" longer and 1/2" taller than the 365, 2 ounces heavier. The frame is the same width except for the grip, it's actually 1/10" thicker. A subtle but nice difference (I'm 6' tall and have XL sized USDA Grade A mitts LOL).

So I decided to buy one, managed to catch a sale where they included a 15 round mag for free with the gun.

All happy, off to the range I go. And promptly have a problem. I have 2 12 round mags and 1 15 round mag and all 3 have a number of failures to go into battery. At first this was 5+ rounds per mag but it quickly reduced to 2 or 3. I put about 300 rounds through it but still had some failures.

Of course not acceptable in a carry gun so I went to Sig's web site and contacted customer support. 3 days later they replied, said send the gun and mags in.

Sig paid FedEx 2 Day, both ways. I sent it wed evening, it was delivered to them on friday. The friday before Christmas.

The next tuesday, 12/24, I got an email notifying me of it being shipped back. It was delivered at 0700 on 12/26 so after breakfast I loaded up & off to the range we went.

The letter from the gunsmith at Sig reported having replaced the recoil spring and firing 50 rounds of 2 different factory loads without issue.

Problem fixed. My first 15 round mag did have 1 failure to go into battery, with a hand load. It never did it again, about 400 rounds with all 3 mags.

So while I wasn't real happy about having a problem with a NIB gun, I have to say I was quite pleased with how Sig handled it.

Recoil in both guns is a bit snappy but manageable (feels sharper than the Glock 26). I shoot both models pretty well but do like the feel of the XL a bit more, though if they had not come out with it I likely would have bought the 365 any way, based on my experience with my wife's.

 

[SMSgtRod]

My wife decided she wanted something smaller & lighter than he Glock 26 to carry so I took her shopping. I had the Glock 43 in mind and after handling it, she liked it.

Then the counter guy handed us a P365 and she REALLY liked that. Felt better in her hand, held more rounds, same price and included steel night sights which I would have had to buy extra with the 43.

So she decided she wanted it & we bought it. That was april 2018. Since then I've run over 1000 rounds through it, mostly my reloads but also 4 factory loads with multiple people shooting. No issues. At friends house, he has a little range set up out back. He also has some steel plates hung so he can plink from his back deck. I found that I could pretty reliably hit his plates at 50 yards once I figure out where to hold, not bad for a 3" pistol.

I found that I really I liked the little gun. As I've carried a Glock Model 30 since 2000 and have been considering something significantly smaller and lighter myself for some occasions, I was thinking about picking up a 2nd P365 for myself but never did. Time passed, every range trip I'd run some more ammo through it, remained impressed.

The P365 SAS came out, as well as the P365 XL and the one with the external safety. Having been a Glock carrier since 1997 I had no interest in the external safety and as I prefer a strong side holster, the SAS sights also didn't appeal to me but the 365 XL did. Problem was putting my hands on one, they sell about as fast as they come off the truck.

I finally got to handle one and really liked the feel of it in my hand. Absolute smallest/lightest was not a requirement. The XL is about 1/2" longer and 1/2" taller than the 365, 2 ounces heavier. The frame is the same width except for the grip, it's actually 1/10" thicker. A subtle but nice difference (I'm 6' tall and have XL sized USDA Grade A mitts LOL).

So I decided to buy one, managed to catch a sale where they included a 15 round mag for free with the gun.

All happy, off to the range I go. And promptly have a problem. I have 2 12 round mags and 1 15 round mag and all 3 have a number of failures to go into battery. At first this was 5+ rounds per mag but it quickly reduced to 2 or 3. I put about 300 rounds through it but still had some failures.

Of course not acceptable in a carry gun so I went to Sig's web site and contacted customer support. 3 days later they replied, said send the gun and mags in.

Sig paid FedEx 2 Day, both ways. I sent it wed evening, it was delivered to them on friday. The friday before Christmas.

The next tuesday, 12/24, I got an email notifying me of it being shipped back. It was delivered at 0700 on 12/26 so after breakfast I loaded up & off to the range we went.

The letter from the gunsmith at Sig reported having replaced the recoil spring and firing 50 rounds of 2 different factory loads without issue.

Problem fixed. My first 15 round mag did have 1 failure to go into battery, with a hand load. It never did it again, about 400 rounds with all 3 mags.

So while I wasn't real happy about having a problem with a NIB gun, I have to say I was quite pleased with how Sig handled it.

Recoil in both guns is a bit snappy but manageable (feels sharper than the Glock 26). I shoot both models pretty well but do like the feel of the XL a bit more, though if they had not come out with it I likely would have bought the 365 any way, based on my experience with my wife's.

That's called customer service..... I have had excellent service like that from Taurus, Ruger and SCCY. Also RCBS, Hornady and Lyman. When a company performs like that we are not afraid to make further purchases from them.
Thank you for the report.

 

[Epeeist]

I am a long time Sig used, and while I do rag them about beta testing new products on loyal customers, in the instances I have had a problem they always fix it correctly and quickly. I also agree with you on the 365! I bought one just after Shot show last year and carried it with over 3000 rounds through it. Finally replaced it with the XL this year and that one is on 1200 plus. Great little guns, and I finally got the Romeo for my XL, so I am liking it even more. Can't wait to compare them head to head against the Hellcat.

 

[Wayward Son]

The 365 was unusual in that when she decided she wanted it, I didn't know anything about the gun. We bought it any way and then I started looking into it. Usually I don't buy a gun that I don't already know a fair bit about.

One issue was broken firing pins, and people believe that firing pin drag marks on the primers indicate the cause. Sig doesn't agree with that, they also claim that while some have broken it's a very tiny percentage that have been returned for this or any reason. Possibly it was a manufacturing issue that's been resolved, don't know. I saw pics/video of some pretty bad ones that went across the primer, some even into the brass. These were fired in her P365:



A little drag but not enough to cause me any concern. The P365 XL has no sign of drag, just nice round dents.

A more serious issue reported by one guy -so far I only know of that one gun- was for it to stop shooting. He was a bit over 700 rounds in. That problem turned out to be caused by a tiny spring in the slide breaking. One observable symptom was a bunch of tiny dents in the rear of the magazine. he has a video on youtube on this.

One of her mags has about 3 of these & then they stopped, the 2nd included mag got none though I shot both equally for about 700 rounds.

If this failure happens, turning the gun upside down will let it shoot, but upright the trigger is dead.

Since I'm now over 1000 rounds and not seeing any increase in these marks on the magazines -including 2 new 15 rounders that got shot a fair bit the lat 2 range trips and have no marks- I'm starting to consider this to not be an issue with this gun but will continue to observe as it gets shot.

 

[Wayward Son]

Hellcat observations:

I have not shot one yet. While I was deciding what to buy the Hellcat came out with great reviews. Problem was I couldn't put my hands on one, they were selling out as fast as they could be inventoried.

The day I went to buy the P365 XL, they had 1 Hellcat in stock so I did get to handle it. It's approximately the smae dimensions as the P365, minor differences. But in that size it holds 12+1 vs 10+1 for the P365. The sights are very visible but not night sights. This may not be a deal breaker, personal preference. I give the Hellcat the advantage in capacity, the P365 for included steel night sights.

It's a very impressive little pistol, I'm sure I'd be quite happy carrying one. I liked the feel of the P365 and P365 XL grips a little better. The Hellcat grip feels more square/blocky to me, more like a skinny Glock. It's not bad, just a little different than the Sig and I liked the feel of the Sig a little better.


The fact that we already owned a P365 and the 12 round mags from the P365 XL will work in the P365 was a plus for me. The same is true of 15 round mags but with a gotcha:

They come with 2 base plates. One is for use with the P365, it's taller. The shorter on is for use with the P365 XL and its taller grip.

The mag configured with the short one will work in both guns, though there will be a gap from the top of it to the bottom of the frame in the P365. If it's configured with the tall one, it will only work in the P365 as the taller cap will prevent it from being fully seated in the P365 XL.

The 10 round mags will not work in the XL, they're too short to engage.

So I ended up picking the P365 XL over the Hellcat for myself, for some rather minor, purely subjective reasons.

 

[Annihilator]

I haven’t had much experience with Sig since I had my P220 in .45acp years ago, I do like the look of the P365.

 

[jmcd]

Always been a Sig fan. The only issue I have ever had was the recall on the P320. Sent it out and had it back in my hands in 7 days. I do feel they (Sig) are experiencing growing pains with all of the new government contracts, the P320, and P365. Was not happy to hear the issues with the P365. With the amount of competition out there now, they can't be dropping the ball like that or people will just go elswhere. I have been lucky with my P365. I have the one with the external safety. Haven't experienced anything negative with it yet. I have about 800 rounds through it. For something so small, it is extremely accurate for me. It's certainly one I carry.

 

[Wayward Son]

Bought a We The People IWB holster for it, came in today