SIG Sauer P365

Probably the most frequently asked question in the club since January has been "Do you have the SIG P365 yet?"  Well, finally I can answer that we do.  It is currently sitting in the rental case so people can shoot it and decide if they want to buy one from the next shipment that comes in.

Concealed permit holders couldn't wait to get their hands on this pistol due to it's reported size and it's 10 round magazine which gave the P365 the highest capacity of any of the current micro 9mm offerings.

This is one of the second run of pistols.  The first run of pistols quickly gained a bad reputation for being unreliable.  I can happily report that this is not the case with the second run of P365s.  I have fired a customer's pistol last week and this one today.  Neither of them had any problems with feeding, extraction or ejection.  

You can tell it is the second run of pistols because it sports SIG's proprietary X-Ray night sights.

The green front illuminating sight is a welcome addition over the plain white dots sights on the first run of 365s; it offers superior visibility in both normal and low light shooting scenarios.  

A couple of other notable features you can see in the first image is the nicely undercut trigger guard and the accessory rail.  I'm sure there are itty-bitty flashlights that fill fit under the tiny frame. This is a nice segue into the fact that this pistol is very small.  Small, but surprisingly useable.

  
Here the SIG is pictured with SIG's original Micro 9 millimeter pistol, the P938.  The sizes are very comparable with the P365 being just slightly shorter in length.

In the above image the P365 sits in-between the P938 and the Glock Model G43.  Again the SIG 365 is shorter in length and surprisingly just slightly slimmer with it's double stack 10 round magazine.

Here's how the specifications of the three pistols stack up:

	SIG P365	Glock Model 43	SIG P938
Barrel Length	3.1 inches	3.39 inches	3 inches
Overall Length	5.8 inches	6.26 inches	5.9 inches
Overall Height	4.3 inches	4.25 inches	3.9 inches
Overall Width	1 inch	1.02 inches	1.1 inches
Weight	17.8 ounces	17.95 ounces	16 ounces
Capacity	10	6	6

The differences in size are minuscule to say the least.  The big difference is the magazine capacity.  How in the world did SIG make the thinnest micro 9mm with a double stack 10 round magazine?

The small size of the pistol did not pose any shooting problems for me.  The length of the grip is about as short as I would ever want on a pistol and the front of the slight magazine extension allowed me to get about half my pinkie finger on it.  Supposedly there will eventually be a 12 round magazine which may be a better fit for my hand.  The slight increase in thickness in the double stack P365 frame with its stippling that runs all the way down the front and back straps made it easier for me to hold onto than when I shoot a Glock 43.  

Recoil is a very subjective matter but the recoil I encountered was much less than I expected.  

SIG also did a nice job scaling down from the P320 model (seen on the left).  Looking at earlier photos of the of the P365 I thought the pistol looked pretty top heavy as there were no other objects in the images with which you could compare the size of the new SIG.  When I actually handled the pistol that concern faded away pretty quickly.

I shot the P365 at 5, 7 and 10 yards with no problem.  This is not a long range target pistol; this is a close quarter tool to save your bacon when it's in the fire.
The ammunition used in my two outings with the new SIG was Sellier & Beloit 115 grain FMJ ammo and Federal RTP with the same weight and bullet configuration.

This three inch target was shot with 15 rounds at 5 yards using our member's pistol.

The 6 inch target above was shot with 30 rounds at 7 yards with our new rental pistol.

I used the member's pistol on this target, shot at 30 feet with 25 rounds of ammo.

SIG Sauer looks to have hit a home run with the P365.  I have always felt that their P938 was the gold standard of 9mm pocket pistols but a lot of people just didn't want to carry a cocked and locked hammer fired pistol and a there is a whole generation of shooters who have never fired anything other than striker-fired handguns.  SIG now has a micro pistol for everyone!