SIG P365 handgun with text: "King of CCW Pistols.

SIG P365: The King of Modern CCW Pistols

To call something groundbreaking has become somewhat of a tired cliché in any circle, particularly if the marketing department is involved. This groundbreaking dish soap cleans dishes better than ever before! Now how much would you pay?? However, if we reserve that term for products or technologies that truly break new ground, creating an entirely new category and inspiring a host of imitators, that narrows the field quite a bit. Certainly, Apple's 2007 iPhone qualifies as groundbreaking. The groundbreaking de Havilland Comet introduced the world to the jet airliner in 1952. Metal fans have argued for over 50 years about which was the most groundbreaking album of the genre, 1969’s eponymous Led Zeppelin or 1970’s Black Sabbath. Both certainly qualify.

In the world of firearms, the superlatives fly around the industry shows and gun media every year, as manufacturers tout this or that new model as the proverbial bee’s knees. But when SIG Sauer introduced the new 10-round, ultra-small P365 9mm pistol to the world in January 2018, it is no overstatement to say that it was truly, transformatively groundbreaking. For the 20+ million Americans that hold CCW (concealed carry weapons) permits, the P365 immediately defined an entirely new category of high-capacity, micro-compact pistols, and every handgun manufacturer sat up and took notice. Within the next few months, many companies in the concealed-carry space had announced that they were working on their own answer to the P365… which as the name implies, is a CCW pistol you can comfortably carry 365 days of the year.

Let’s look at what makes this pistol so special.

Background history and features of the SIG Sauer P365

Black semi-automatic handgun displayed at an angle on a white background.

Image: Latest optics-ready version of the standard P365, with 10-round magazine

Prior to the introduction of SIG’s P365, there had already been several attempts to create very small, thin, concealable 9mm pistols, such as:

Some of these pistols enjoyed quite a bit of success, becoming top sellers in their category for several years in some cases. The M&P 9 Shield was a huge hit in the CCW market, for example, with S&W announcing in 2019 that it had sold over 3 million examples in just the first 8 years since the model’s introduction. However, with these pistols, there was always a tradeoff of some sort. The KelTec P11, though comparatively smaller than most higher-capacity carry pistols, was still fairly thick, thanks to its traditional double-stack magazine. The Walther PPS and M&P 9 Shield were fairly nice to shoot, but the PPS was over an inch thick and had limited capacity (6 in the standard magazine), and the Shield had a fairly long grip, especially when using the extended 8-round magazine. Furthermore, the smaller, lighter, and slimmer these pistols got, the more unpleasant they were to shoot. The Diamondback DB9 and the KelTec PF9 were particularly nasty recoil-wise, to the point that many users wouldn’t want to practice with them enough to maintain basic competency.

So, when SIG Sauer launched the P365, the importance of this new pistol became immediately apparent. Handling and shooting it back-to-back with the existing small, single-stack 9mm carry pistols created an undeniable impression of just how remarkably small, yet eminently shootable the P365 was.

As a visual representation of the drastic new standard for micro-compact, higher-capacity 9mm pistols, have a look at this dimensionally correct overlay of the P365 compared to the previously hot-selling S&W M&P 9 Shield. This is just one of several helpful comparative views on dozens of pistols provided by HandgunHero.com, one of our favorite places to check out the relative sizes of different handguns.

A semi-automatic handgun with a black and silver design.

Image courtesty of: HandgunHero.com

Both pistols have 3.1” barrels, but as you can see from the overlaid images, the P365 is significantly smaller in nearly every dimension. The SIG is shorter in overall length than the M&P Shield (5.8” compared to 6.1”), shorter in height (4.3” vs. 4.6”), is essentially the same width (1” vs. 0.95”), and almost a quarter-pound lighter, at 17.8 ounces compared to the Shield’s 20.8 ounces. But perhaps the most impressive of all is the difference in vertical thickness between the top of the slide and the bottom of the trigger guard. Look at how much higher the shooter’s trigger finger and hand are on the P365 relative to the slide and barrel, compared to the M&P 9 Shield. The higher you can grip the pistol, the less leverage the firearm exerts on your hand, and the lower the felt recoil. It’s an impressive feat of engineering, by any estimation.

Remember, this is all in addition to the fact that the SIG features an innovative flush-fit 10-round magazine, and extended 12-round magazines were available at launch. You could essentially double your carry pistol’s internal ammo capacity and carry a lighter, much more compact package, all at the same time.

The heart of the P365 is indeed this new magazine design that uses a longer, more gradual taper to the feed lips than most previous higher-capacity magazines. The top three or four rounds in the magazine are essentially stacked atop one another, and then as the column of cartridges continues toward the bottom portion of the magazine, they move outward into a kind of stack-and-a-half configuration. At around 0.8” wide, it’s not nearly as thick as a traditional double-stack 9mm magazine, but especially along the top third of the magazine, which is comparatively narrow. This is the portion of the magazine that has to fit near the trigger mechanism, the slide controls, and the fire control parts. So, keeping the top third of the magazine slimmer allowed SIG to keep the entire pistol slimmer, with an overall width of just 1” at its widest point, as noted above. And it is this leap in magazine and pistol design that resulted in a 10+1 capacity CCW pistol that’s legitimately smaller than some previous 6+1 capacity carry guns. Current MSRP for the base model P365 is a very reasonable $499.

Competitors to the P365 that follow its design concept

It’s really no wonder why the P365 has become America’s #1-selling micro-compact pistol… and why so many other gun manufacturers have since developed their own similar firearms in order to grab their share of a very hot market. These include:

As you can see, the P365 made significant waves in the concealed-carry handgun market, creating a whole new category and forcing many other manufacturers to innovate in similar ways in order to stay competitive.

Additional features of the P365

The compact size and groundbreaking capacity of the P365 wouldn’t mean very much if the pistol wasn’t reliable, accurate, and nice to shoot. As far as reliability, there were some initial teething problems, as you might expect with a completely new pistol design. During the first year or so, some SIG P365 customers complained of trigger malfunctions, return-to-battery problems, and broken firing pin/striker tips. All of these were addressed by SIG via individual customer service call tags and in rolling updates, and today we’ve found the P365 to be extremely reliable. Furthermore, SIG Sauer has since launched their impressive Infinite Guarantee on all of the company’s firearms, optics, and suppressors. Basically, anything you buy from SIG is guaranteed forever, without any receipts, warranty cards, or cost to you. And it’s fully transferable to the next owner. SIG says, Our promise: We guarantee that your new SIG SAUER firearm, optic, or suppressor was originally manufactured free of defects in material, workmanship, electrical, optical, and mechanical function. In the event it becomes damaged from defect in any way we will repair your SIG SAUER product, at no charge to you. If we cannot repair your product, we will replace it or, if we cannot replace it, we will provide you with a replacement of equal value.

The P365 has a very nice trigger for an ultra-small semi-auto, which can sometimes play havoc with fire control dimensions and create triggers that are sub-par compared to larger guns. The P365’s standard trigger is curved, but most of the other P365 variants (see below) use a flat-faced trigger that many of today’s shooters prefer. The take up is relatively smooth and light, and the striker releases with a pretty clean snap, with minimal trigger overtravel. Like many of today’s striker-fired pistols, the more you shoot it, the better the trigger gets. The trigger pull weights of most of the P365 variants we’ve tried ranged from around 4.5 to 5.75 lbs, which is right in the sweet spot for a good defensive trigger. If you’re concerned about the lack of a Glock-style trigger safety lever, you can opt for the P365 models with an ambidextrous thumb safety.

Another advanced feature of the P365 is that the entire fire control group is modular, meaning it can quickly and relatively easily be swapped into different sizes and styles of grip housings. The trigger housing and all related components are contained within a steel chassis, which is legally considered the firearm, and is marked with the serial number. For customers in more restrictive jurisdictions where each handgun purchase is a hassle, a chassis-type system offers a lot of benefits. SIG (and now several aftermarket companies) offers replacement grip modules in various sizes, colors, and configurations for a reasonable price, and you can also combine these with any of the longer-slide upper assemblies SIG has come out with since the first introduction of the platform. You can mix and match barrel/slide length, optics configuration, grip length, and capacity until you have your ideal pistol for any CCW situation—all with one firearm, and one serial number.

The P365’s shooting characteristics are surprisingly good for such a small pocket rocket. While other super-lightweight 9mm pistols have proven unpleasant or even punishing, as noted above, the P365 doesn’t feel too sharp or uncomfortable to shoot for most experienced users. It’s a tad heavier than some of the ultralight single-stack 9mms, which certainly helps with felt recoil, but also the optimized shape of the well-textured grip, and the previously noted short distance between the shooting hand and the bore axis, mean that nearly all shooters can learn to shoot the P365 quickly and effectively without feeling too beat-up by the experience.

The first release of the P365 didn’t include the option for mounting a micro red dot pistol optic, but all current versions of the pistol come either optics ready or with the appropriate slide milling as an option, which is a very good thing.

Unlike some micro-compacts, the SIG also includes an accessory rail incorporated into the dust cover, should you wish to mount a small tactical light or laser.

SIG also equips the P365 with the company’s excellent XRay3 day/night visible 3-dot sights, with subtle, non-highlighted tritium vials installed in the black/serrated rear sight, and a day-glow green outlined tritium vial in the front. The sight picture is very effective and usable for nearly all shooters, in bright sunlight or near darkness. These are among our favorite pistol sights across all brands.

As noted, the original pistol came with 10-round flush-fit magazines, and you could opt to purchase extended, 12-round magazines with extended magazine sleeves (which effectively extends the grip). Today, you can also opt for 15, and 17, and 21-round magazines, assuming you use the appropriate magazine sleeve/basepad for the grip module you select.

Expanded line of P365 models and sizes

As you might expect from a company like SIG Sauer with seemingly a million different product lines, they first made the P365 ultra-small, and then they started going in the other direction and making it bigger in several new SKUs. This might seem counterintuitive in a market where diminutive size and concealability are seemingly the ultimate end goal, but it’s also important to be able to shoot your carry gun effectively, and some shooters wanted a bit more to hold onto.

P365XL

A modern handgun with a reflex sight on top.

Enter the P365XL model, launched in 2019. The XL (as the name implies) is a larger version of the original P365, with flush-fitting 12-round magazines, a longer grip frame/module, a longer barrel (3.7” vs. 3.1”), and a longer slide to match. The P365XL was also the first of the series to get an optics-mounting plate and the now nearly ubiquitous flat-faced trigger. Several XL Comp variants, with ported slides and 3.1” barrels, were later added.

P365X

Black semi-automatic handgun with a reflex sight attached.

2021’s P365X includes all the upgrades of the P365XL, including the longer, 12-round sized grip module, but with the original length slide and barrel of the first P365. For many customers, this is the Goldilocks size for the P365 platform, with a slightly longer grip allowing a full 3 fingers to gain purchase, but with the super-short barrel and slide combo to keep the length stubby and easy to hide.

P365-XMACRO

Black semi-automatic pistol on a white background.

For 2022 SIG further grew the P365 line, literally, with the larger P365-XMACRO variant. As SIG says, MACRO means more. The XMACRO variant gets an even longer grip that accommodates a flush-fit 17-round magazine (as well as extended 21-rounders), a longer dust cover featuring a full picatinny accessory rail, and either a non-ported 3.7” barrel and XL-length slide, or the similar Comp variants with a ported slide and 3.1” barrel. SIG now also offers an AXG Legion version of this pistol, featuring an aluminum alloy grip module with replaceable grip panels.

You may be shaking your head and wondering why SIG went through all of the trouble to make the P365 so small, but then has made it progressively bigger, but remember that all the other P365 variants still benefit from all the new shrunk-down technology used on the original. The upshot is that you get more capacity and concealability in a significantly smaller, narrower package compared to legacy pistols of similar capacity. If you want an example, have a look at HandgunHero.com’s overlay of the P365-XMACRO versus what is usually considered a compact handgun, the Glock 19. The XMACRO is a full ¾” shorter, a quarter of an inch narrower, and holds 2 more rounds in its magazine. It’s 2 ounces lighter than the Glock, as well. These are not insignificant differences, especially when you conceal-carry your handgun all day.

The concept may seem strange, but it’s working. Many of SIG’s competitors in this space have also since released XL-type versions of their own micro-compacts.

P365 FUSE

Black semi-automatic handgun with green reflex sight.

So now, with 2024’s P365 FUSE, we’re back to where we started, with a full-size, high-capacity pistol. The barrel is 4.3” long, and the slide measures 6 ⅞” in length. Except things are not quite as they used to be. Because SIG still uses the narrower magazine and chassis technology developed for the original P365, the FUSE is still just an inch wide through the grip. You can select from either a flush-fit 17-round magazine or the included 21-round mags, and there’s also a removable magwell. The slide has aggressive front serrations and a fiber-optic front sight, and the XMACRO-length grip frame is laser stippled in an attractive, aggressively grippy pattern. Since it’s slim and lightweight, it’s still usable as a carry gun if you’re committed (and have a good concealed carry holster rig), but can also be suitable for competition, duty, home defense, or just recreational shooting.

We’re not sure what SIG’s next move will be with the P365. When you have the top-selling carry gun in America for several years running, it’s hard to top yourself. And when you literally create an entirely new category of firearm that takes the industry by storm, you could be forgiven if you just sat back and rested on your laurels. But somehow, we don’t think SIG is going to do that, and we’re excited to see what they come up with next.

Keep your firearms secure in a Liberty Safe

If you own firearms, it’s important to keep them locked up when they’re not in your direct control. One of the best ways to do that is in a handgun vault or gun safe from Liberty. You can browse through our interactive online catalog to see all the available styles, sizes, colors, and configurations, or you can click on the dealer locator and find a showroom near you to check them out in person. Liberty Safe products are proudly made in the USA.

*Made in the U.S.A. from U.S. and Global Parts.

Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter and stay up to date!

Image