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Old 07-31-2018, 02:17 PM   #1
rman
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Default A new mini 9mm handgun

Today I shot the Sig P365. It's a relative newcomer to the concealed carry roundup. This is an interesting little gun. It is the size of a single-stack 9mm, but the magazine holds 10 rounds + 1 in the chamber.

Comparison*
Specs Glock 43 Glock 26 Sig P365 M&P Shield Ruger LC9S
Length 6.26 6.42 5.80 6.10 6.00
Height 4.25 4.17 4.30 4.60 4.50
Width 1.06 1.30 1.00 0.99 0.90
Weight 17.99 19.72 17.80 18.30 17.20
Barrel Lg. 3.39 3.43 3.10 3.10 3.12
Capacity 6+1 10+1 10+1 7+1 7.1 7+1

*Information taken from manufacturers web sites. Sorry the table didn't convert too well.

As you can see, the P365 compares nicely with some of the most common single stacks and the double stack Glock G26. Apparently the magic is in the magazine. Sig engineers designed the magazine and then designed the gun to fit it. Before anyone takes exception to the capacity numbers, I realize that most, if not all of these companies have higher capacity magazines available. The numbers match the mags that are standard size for their respective guns. Sig also markets a 12 round magazine. I got 2 10 round mags with the gun and an additional 12 round mag that the dealer threw in free. One 10 rounder has a flat floor plate. The other 10 rounder has a pinky extension floorplate. The 12 rounder has a molded sleeve that matches the contour of the grip.

The side is stainless steel with Sig's proprietary black finish. It has forward and rear slide serrations. The forward ones I can take or leave. I never do a press check with forward serrations because I think it puts your hand in a precarious position and I think it is more difficult than using the rear ones. The barrel has a witness hole that allows the shooter to confirm if a loaded round is in the chamber. This little gun has great sights. They are large enough to be picked up easily, but small enough to work well for concealment. It comes equiped with what Sig calls X-Ray3 night sights. Most night sights aren't that great in the daylight. These work well for me. The rear sight has 2 very small tritium dots that are easily visible at night. They don't really show up much in daylight, so it is like having a plain black rear sight. The front sight has a small tritium dot also, but it is surrounded by a large, bright green circular dot that is easy to pick up in any light. The rear sight is drift adjustable for windage and the front surface is vertical. This allows you to hook the sight on your belt or a barrier in the event you are wounded and can only use one hand to chamber a round.

The trigger is curved and all surfaces are smooth. It does not have a hinged trigger like a S&W, nor does it have the little blade dingus in the face of the trigger like a Glock. There is some free travel, a little creep and then it breaks clean with a little over-travel. Mine measures 6.5 pounds, but it doesn't feel that heavy. The reset is fairly short and it resets with an audible click. All things considered, it's not a bad trigger for a small carry gun.

This is a polymer-framed striker-fired pistol. The grip is small, both in length and girth. If you have medium-sized hands like me, it works out great. Hickok45 shot it with his gigantic paws and seemed to get along fine with it. There are no changeable grip modules, but most of these deep concealment guns don't have them. The grip frame has a fairly aggresive texture that provides a good grip on the gun. The magazine release is in the usual spot. Pressing it allows the mazine to fall free. Because the grip is tiny, you do have to adjust your grip a little to allow the mag to fall. It is not ambidextrous, but can be switched to the right side. The slide release is on the left side only.

Take down is pretty standard. Make sure the weapon is unloaded, lock the slide back, press down on the take-down lever and pull the slide forward off of the frame. It is not necessary to pull the trigger first. The recoil rod is steel and contains a captured recoil spring. Pull it out, remove the barrel and you are ready to clean it. Reassembly was tricky the first time. The lever has to be vertical, but it pops back partly to the horizontal position when you remove the slide. This puzzled me for a bit because I could not move the lever back to vertical. I accidentally found that you have to press up on the slide release first. Then the take-down lever will go vertical and the slide will go right back where it belongs. It's not a problem, but you do have to be aware or you will be frustrated. Before I fired the gun, I field stripped it and gave it a good cleaning. I also removed the striker assembly and it appears to be the latest configuration. It bears the number 08 instead of 07 like the older ones. It also has more radius at the front than the originals. The "Born on date" is 7/9/18.

Ok, so enough with the boring details. On with the shooting part. I bought 2 boxes of 124 gr fmj reloads from the range. I'm kind of leary about shooting other people's reloads, but I know these guys and I've shot 900 rounds of it in other guns with no issues. There were a couple of surprises for me. First, it is a pleasant little gun to shoot. Some of these mini 9mm's are kind of snappy and unpleasant to shoot. This one is comfortable to shoot and could be a range toy if you so desired. It points naturally and shoots just a little low of POA at 7 yards. The trigger feels much better when shooting, than when dry firing. My first group of 50 rounds were fired pretty deliberately. Not bad, but looser than I like. The second 50 round group was fired 5 rounds at a time in pretty rapid succession. That group was tighter. I think I was trying to be too precise on the first target and I was a little apprensive because I was firing a new gun.

These guns have reportedly had a lot of issues:
Broken strikers
Trigger springs that drag on and scratch the magazines
Inoperative triggers
Extreme drag marks on fired primers
Slide not locking open on last round

My experience was not without incident, but honestly I'd guess all the issues I had were self-induced except for one. I had no failures to fire or eject. I had one failure to return to battery. I looked at the round and it appeared to me that the bullet was seated out too far compared to the rest. I had the range owner take a look and he agreed, as did one of their employees. I won't blame that one on the gun. I had 3 incidents in which the slide didn't lock back on the last round. Each time it was the same magazine. It's easy to get your thumb on top of the slide release on these little guns. That could have been the case, but I suspect I have a funky magazine. The other 2 functioned perfectly. In general the shooting session was uneventful and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had no problem with the trigger spring scratching my magazines. Obviously I didn't experience a broken striker or an inoperative trigger. I did notice drag marks on the primers, but I don't consider them extreme. Most of the compact striker-fired guns I've owned/shot have made drag marks as or more severe than this one does. I know this was no torture test and it will be some time before I decide if it is reliable enough to carry concealed. I do know that finding out will be fun because it's a great little gun to shoot.
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Last edited by rman; 07-31-2018 at 06:07 PM.
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:38 PM   #2
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Keep us updated on this one! I think Sig will iron things out and these will sell like hotcakes!
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Old 08-01-2018, 09:21 AM   #3
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Good report rman. If you had a Alabama Holster for it, you would be set. Sounds like Sig is getting things ironed out.
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Old 08-01-2018, 03:27 PM   #4
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Thanks Teddy and glock. If these things prove to be reliable, they won't be able to build them fast enough - they're just that good to carry and shoot. Who can argue with a double stack that is the size of, or smaller than a single stack?
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Old 08-07-2018, 11:21 AM   #5
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I took the P365 to the range again this morning. I shot 100 rounds of factory Remington 115 gr FMJ ammo thru it today. No problems - functioned perfectly - except for failing to lock back on the last round. This time it occurred with 2 of the magazines. I'm pretty sure I'm letting my thumb interfere with the slide release. I may have to alter my grip to shoot this little guy. I shoot groups as good with it as I do the Ruger 1911, HK VP9 and the S&W 2.0 Compact 4". This is a tiny little gun - smaller than the Shield and Glock 43 single stacks. It's an amazing little package. More rounds to follow.
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Old 08-07-2018, 12:18 PM   #6
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Thanks for the update! Glad it is working well for you! It will be interesting to hear your reports as the round count grows!
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Old 08-10-2018, 08:09 PM   #7
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I stopped at the range long enough to shoot 50 more rounds thru the little Sig this afternoon. I was shooting Remington 115 gr FMJ factory ammo. This was a 50 round group @ 7 yards. I swear this thing shoots as good or better than my large 9mm range guns. Function was 100%.
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Old 08-12-2018, 09:48 AM   #8
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You shoot that thing pretty well rman.
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Old 08-12-2018, 02:32 PM   #9
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Thanks Teddy! It's an easy gun to shoot well.
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Old 08-12-2018, 08:37 PM   #10
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Rman, size wise it's even better than our Glock G26's. You might have me lookin'! Now if we could only get 7 yard groups like that I would run out and get a pair! That magazine engineering is amazing. Great job Sig!
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