Good evening guys. I haven't done any kind of long term review in several years. With that said, I wanted to take a little while this evening while it's too hot and humid to get out and do much and take a few pictures and share a few thoughts with a gun that's been my daily carry for the better part of a year and a half now.
It's the little SigP365. While a nice little micro compact, it's been a very good gun so far but I also wanted to let you see a few things that I did to improve it over how it came out of the box.
For starters, it came with two 10 round magazines. Which quickly got changed to 12's. The only big shortcoming to the sig stuff is their price. Even the +2 floorplates cost more than they really should. I'll say it out loud and openly admit it.
But, having 13 rounds of hefty 124 gr gold dots that I've loaded and fired over the chrono at 1090 fps average from the little 3 inch barrel, while a handful, is still amazing. Especially considering about 1/3 of that barrel length is the chamber itself. So, the BE86 powder is certainly performing as advertised.
Since the gun is my daily carry, I wanted one with a mechanical thumb safety since I don't inherently trust striker fired guns the way many other guys do. It's just a deep rooted fear that I have never been able to shake while carrying with a round in the chamber that it's going to discharge.
Since my pistol didn't have the safety, I was able to purchase the components from one of sig's authorized dealers and I installed the safety myself despite that sig won't sell the parts themselves. Even on the original style that didn't come with a safety, it's the same trigger assembly and no modifications are required. The safety parts are literally drop in. The only thing you have to modify is the plastic grip itself to make a small channel for the lever
Some folks purchase a different grip housing that has the small square channel to accommodate the selector built in already, but after looking very closely at the grip that I had, there was a small outline of where the square channel was supposed to be. So, I just used a very small file and within a few minutes, the channel was there.
I also used a very small drill bit and made a slight indention on the slide itself and used a drop of red paint to make the FIRE indicator dot. That was more for dummy proofing it for myself so I would know at a glance whether the safety was engaged or not. I put the dot on both sides of the slide.
I also opted to get the newest version of the striker assembly since I recently noticed a few of the primer hits were not very deep so I figured having a new striker and new spring would only help it. I have never had a light strike with the gun in all the rounds I have fired through it, but in fairness, some of the primer strikes looked really good and others, were really anemic.
I have only tested the gun since I recently changed the striker assembly to ensure that it's still reliable, but I haven't put a lot of rounds through it to check the depth of the firing pin strikes. The ones that I looked at were OK, but that wasn't a ton of rounds either. Plus, being loaded constantly, maybe the spring was just starting to weaken over time?
Another thing I had looked for was primer dimpling. As one would expect, there was none and this round has been chambered for months at a time.
While I really should clean the gun and there's a lot of dirt and stuff on it, I included this picture of the slide wear. It's reasonable. I don't always carry in the holster. And for the most part, half the time I have owned it has just simply slid down into my front pants pocket. It doesn't print very much in bibs.
No pictures of the night sights but they're still bright. The gun was made in '19 I think so it should still have at least another decade or so before seeing any significant dimming.
While not anything related to any sort of review, I did stiple the plastic grip a little more. Here you can see the area underneath of where my trigger finger would be.
And another spot on the front of the trigger guard. I really believe that sig should change both the angle of the trigger guard to make a finger groove so your support hand can better hold onto it. Especially since it's such a small pistol anyway, and even moreso with hot defensive loads can be a bit of a handful. And that is why I used a round file and reprofiled the front of the trigger guard. I also stipled it some too.
It may not look it in the photo, but I didn't go as deep as it appears for the finger groove. It's mostly just enough to be able to handle it a little better.
In short, the gun has been very reliable. Is a handy pocket gun. Has better than average capacity for a "micro"size handgun. Night sights are a plus. I gave almost $475 for this, but with the safety and extra mag and few replacement parts, I have more in it than a new one would cost. So, if you're wanting one with a safety lever, skip over modding it yourself and just get one from the factory with a safety. But, it's been a good gun for me for sure.
Oh, one thing I was going to touch on before I finish. Accuracy.
For it to be a 3" barrel (remember, 1.25" of that is the chamber) it's very near what I consider to be a "snub nose".
But at 25 yards, I shoot this little gun much more accurately than a do a little J frame smith in 32acp and 38 special. So, take it for what it's worth. If you can aim the gun at 25 yards, you can hit with it. That seems to be my comfort zone with handguns. I can shoot farther, but I wouldn't really want to in a shootout with rounds whizzing around in all directions.
So, that are my intimate thoughts of the gun after owned and carried it a while. I kinda hate doing reviews on a new gun and I personally prefer reviews after they've been used and scuffed up to get a more honest opinion of how they do long term.
It's the little SigP365. While a nice little micro compact, it's been a very good gun so far but I also wanted to let you see a few things that I did to improve it over how it came out of the box.
For starters, it came with two 10 round magazines. Which quickly got changed to 12's. The only big shortcoming to the sig stuff is their price. Even the +2 floorplates cost more than they really should. I'll say it out loud and openly admit it.
But, having 13 rounds of hefty 124 gr gold dots that I've loaded and fired over the chrono at 1090 fps average from the little 3 inch barrel, while a handful, is still amazing. Especially considering about 1/3 of that barrel length is the chamber itself. So, the BE86 powder is certainly performing as advertised.
Since the gun is my daily carry, I wanted one with a mechanical thumb safety since I don't inherently trust striker fired guns the way many other guys do. It's just a deep rooted fear that I have never been able to shake while carrying with a round in the chamber that it's going to discharge.
Since my pistol didn't have the safety, I was able to purchase the components from one of sig's authorized dealers and I installed the safety myself despite that sig won't sell the parts themselves. Even on the original style that didn't come with a safety, it's the same trigger assembly and no modifications are required. The safety parts are literally drop in. The only thing you have to modify is the plastic grip itself to make a small channel for the lever
Some folks purchase a different grip housing that has the small square channel to accommodate the selector built in already, but after looking very closely at the grip that I had, there was a small outline of where the square channel was supposed to be. So, I just used a very small file and within a few minutes, the channel was there.
I also used a very small drill bit and made a slight indention on the slide itself and used a drop of red paint to make the FIRE indicator dot. That was more for dummy proofing it for myself so I would know at a glance whether the safety was engaged or not. I put the dot on both sides of the slide.
I also opted to get the newest version of the striker assembly since I recently noticed a few of the primer hits were not very deep so I figured having a new striker and new spring would only help it. I have never had a light strike with the gun in all the rounds I have fired through it, but in fairness, some of the primer strikes looked really good and others, were really anemic.
I have only tested the gun since I recently changed the striker assembly to ensure that it's still reliable, but I haven't put a lot of rounds through it to check the depth of the firing pin strikes. The ones that I looked at were OK, but that wasn't a ton of rounds either. Plus, being loaded constantly, maybe the spring was just starting to weaken over time?
Another thing I had looked for was primer dimpling. As one would expect, there was none and this round has been chambered for months at a time.
While I really should clean the gun and there's a lot of dirt and stuff on it, I included this picture of the slide wear. It's reasonable. I don't always carry in the holster. And for the most part, half the time I have owned it has just simply slid down into my front pants pocket. It doesn't print very much in bibs.
No pictures of the night sights but they're still bright. The gun was made in '19 I think so it should still have at least another decade or so before seeing any significant dimming.
While not anything related to any sort of review, I did stiple the plastic grip a little more. Here you can see the area underneath of where my trigger finger would be.
And another spot on the front of the trigger guard. I really believe that sig should change both the angle of the trigger guard to make a finger groove so your support hand can better hold onto it. Especially since it's such a small pistol anyway, and even moreso with hot defensive loads can be a bit of a handful. And that is why I used a round file and reprofiled the front of the trigger guard. I also stipled it some too.
It may not look it in the photo, but I didn't go as deep as it appears for the finger groove. It's mostly just enough to be able to handle it a little better.
In short, the gun has been very reliable. Is a handy pocket gun. Has better than average capacity for a "micro"size handgun. Night sights are a plus. I gave almost $475 for this, but with the safety and extra mag and few replacement parts, I have more in it than a new one would cost. So, if you're wanting one with a safety lever, skip over modding it yourself and just get one from the factory with a safety. But, it's been a good gun for me for sure.
Oh, one thing I was going to touch on before I finish. Accuracy.
For it to be a 3" barrel (remember, 1.25" of that is the chamber) it's very near what I consider to be a "snub nose".
But at 25 yards, I shoot this little gun much more accurately than a do a little J frame smith in 32acp and 38 special. So, take it for what it's worth. If you can aim the gun at 25 yards, you can hit with it. That seems to be my comfort zone with handguns. I can shoot farther, but I wouldn't really want to in a shootout with rounds whizzing around in all directions.
So, that are my intimate thoughts of the gun after owned and carried it a while. I kinda hate doing reviews on a new gun and I personally prefer reviews after they've been used and scuffed up to get a more honest opinion of how they do long term.
