Is the Sig P365 Still the Best Handgun For Concealed Carry in 2023?
That’s a big question to ask and we’ve got a long answer. The P365 premiered in 2018 and was unlike any gun we’d ever seen before. It was the size of a single stack 9mm with the capacity of a subcompact double stack. SIG designed a unique magazine that maximized the gun’s size efficiently. The P365 got it’s namesake because its a firearm you can carry every day of the year.
The P365 ships with two 10 round magazines, but upon release, a slightly extended 12 rounder was available. Shortly after, SIG released a monstrous 15 round magazine as well. The P365 came out of the box, ready to be carried. It sported night sights, came with a pinky extension and proved to be a very easy shooting gun.
Does the P365 still stand up, though? It’s been almost two years, and it’s a fair question. The gun industry is one that moves fast, and competition is stiff. Has the P365 been outdone? Is it a one-trick pony? Well, let’s talk about it.
Sig P365’s Shaky Start
The P365 premiered at SHOT to critical acclaim. The gun was absolutely genius. Its design had never been seen before, and it was a genuinely innovative gun in a stale market. Upon launch, the firearm sold like hotcakes until SIG stopped shipping them. It was immediately added to our best concealed carry gun.
SIG found out the sights they were shipping with the guns were failing to glow in the dark. Also, the initial batch of weapons had weak strikers and broke very early into their round counts. SIG wisely stopped production and offered fixes to customers who already purchased the guns.
They fixed the problems and began producing the weapons once more. This could have been disastrous, but SIG seemed to maintain their momentum, and the guns can now achieve high round counts without issues. My P365 is sitting at more than 3K rounds at this point and still ticking.
Same Sig P365, Different Models
The P365 sports the same modular frame mechanic the P320 does. The serialized portion legally considered a firearm is a chassis that can be removed and swapped between different frames, opening up the potential for one gun to easily change the size and fit into different configurations. SIG has also been quite quick to release new arrangements.
Having different configurations and options most certainly keeps a gun relevant. It also helps the gun appeal to a broader crowd. A lot of P365 owners may be happy with the first model, but some may desire something a little different.
It started with the XL model. A slightly larger gun that used a longer barrel and grip with 12 round magazines stock and could use the 15 rounders to add a little more firepower to the overall package. The XL model also brought with a flat-faced trigger and was optic ready. The optic plate used the Shield RSM/c or SIG’s new Romeo Zero micro red dot.
Following that, SIG released the SAS model. SAS stands for SIG Anti Snag, and its been a configuration they’ve done before with other guns. Anti Snag means they reduced all possible snag points to make the weapon easy to draw from deep concealment. This includes popping the sights off entirely and installing a unique sighting system. Known as the FT Bullseye tritium night sight, you get a sighting system that sits flush with the slide and is virtually only a rear sight.
However, the sight works by featuring three dots that you have to line up to accurately shoot. This ensures the gun is plenty precise at concealed carry ranges. It’s tricky to get accustomed to, but not impossible. It takes a little retraining, but at 15 yards, you can make headshots. Beyond 15 to 20 yards and things get a little harder accuracy wise. The SAS Model also made the slide lock and takedown lever flush fitting to the frame.
The SAS version is also ported to reduce muzzle rise, and this works surprisingly well. It creates some flash, but not enough to blind you. The SAS P365 has proven to be quite popular and is flying off shelves.
Next, Sig wised up to public demand and added the P365X to their lineup. The P365X uses the same frame as the P365XL but with the shorter barrel and slide of the original P365. Oh yeah, here comes the “listening to public demand” part: the Sig P365X has a red dot cutout.
In my opinion, the P365X is the best version. It offers the shorter barrel with a 12 round mag and a red dot sight. This is truly concealed carry perfection.
If you like the idea of the longer barrel then you’d probably pick the P365XL as your favorite.
Here’s a deeper analysis of the Sig P365XL vs the Sig P365.
What About the Aftermarket for the Sig P365?
The aftermarket is another reason guns succeed. The more they are supported, the more appealing they become. Glock is an excellent example of this. You can buy a base model Glock and turn it into just about anything you want. The P365 has been met by the industry wholeheartedly. Clinger Holsters had Sig P365 Holsters for sale just days after the pistol’s release.
From holsters to new triggers, sights, baseplates, magazine releases, and more, the P365 has a healthy aftermarket. Heck, you can even install your P365 into a new frame. I used an all-metal Icarus Precision ACE Grip for my P365. This completely changed how the gun handles and feels.
You have light options from Streamlight and SIG Sauer, as well as various laser options. It goes on and on. The aftermarket supports the SIG P365 rather well, and the gun’s popularity tends to help the aftermarket grow.
SIG has released grip modules, slides, and other features that allow you to change your P365 around. Part of the gun’s staying power is people’s ability to modify, carry, and enjoy it.
Does the Sig P365 Have Competition?
I might as well mention the gun’s competition. It is really starting to stack up.
Many gun companies are swarming this new category that Sig created. Sig calls this new category a “High-Capacity Micro-Compact”.
A gun company can claim their product is in whatever category they want. This is the understood rule though: it’s a gun that’s the size of a single stack with a double stack magazine and a short barrel.
Single stack guns are typically one inch or less in width rather than a more typical 1&1/2 inch width of a double stack. A double stack magazine should carry 10 or more rounds rather than the 6 or 7 that a traditional single stack mag would carry.
Here’s a list of competitors: Glock 43X MOS, Hellcat OSP, Ruger Max-9, Taurus GX4, S&W Shield Plus, and Kimber R7. All of these guns are an inch or less in width and carry 10 or more rounds. Don’t you just love today’s technology!
The first gun to truly challenge the P365 was the Springfield Hellcat. In fact, there’s a great Sig P365 vs Springfield Hellcat article on our Gun Blog.
The Glock 43X and 48 offer the same capacity but are just a bit larger than the P365.
You can also find great articles on Sig P365XL vs the Glock 43X or the Sig P365 vs the Glock 43 on our Gun Blog.
The Hellcat is made by HS out of Croatia and imported by Springfield. The Hellcat offers 11 to 13 rounds in the same size package as the P365. This 11 round magazine edges out the P365 by a single round. The Hellcat does come ready to carry with an excellent set of night sights, two magazines, and an optional pinky extension.
The Springfield Hellcat also comes in an optic’s ready model. Sig now offers optics options in the P365X and the P365XL models. Shorter guns get more benefit from mini red dots because their sight radius doesn’t matter with a mini red dot. I would say the smaller, optics ready Hellcat is a brilliant idea and it’s nice that Sig followed suit with the P365X. Now you can have your cake and eat it too. You get a small gun with large capacity and a red dot!
Who’s Issuing the Sig P365?
When police or military forces adopt a gun, you can see it’s lifespan increase significantly. The P365 isn’t going to be approved by any military anytime soon, but police forces have taken a look at it. As the law enforcement market is going back to 9mm, the P365 is getting some attention.
While it’s too small for use as a duty gun, it has been approved as a backup gun by two police departments. Sumter Police in South Carolina was the first to adopt the P365 as a backup gun. Following the South Carolina adoption, we saw the Indiana State Police choose the P365 as their backup gun of choice.
The P365 will likely see an excellent career as a backup gun in the hands of many more police officers. The P320 is quickly becoming a favorite, and this helps open the doors for the smaller P365. As more police forces adopt it, you’ll see more and more attention given to it by casual shooters.
Casual Shooters and Mass Appeal
Most people reading this blog are likely more informed than your average casual shooter. We may be pickier and more knowledgeable, but the majority of shooters are not. You see, the casual concealed carrier rules the market. The P365 most certainly appeals to them.
Weight and size are one reason why. Add on the features, the capacity, and the price, and you’ve captured the casual shooting market. Factor in the reputable and somewhat legendary name SIG and you’ll attract more of it. People have heard of SIG, and their guns are popular in military and police forces.
On top of that, the P365 has won numerous awards. Shooting Illustrated, an NRA publication, has named it the Handgun of the Year. The SAS model was named Best New Handgun at the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers-Professional Outdoor Media Association’s awards. The P365 also won handgun of the year from Guns and Ammo magazine.
If someone were googling and searching for a small gun that’s proven popular, the P365 would prove to be a very popular gun. It has instant mass appeal to new shooters. If a casual shooter went as far as to go to a gun range and rent a gun, the P365 would be on the shelf due to its popularity.
It’s also a soft shooting gun that’s easy to rack, accurate, and has a great trigger. All features any shooter could appreciate. My friend owns a gun store and says the P365 sells itself. People like the way it feels, it’s capacity and its size. He can hardly keep them on the shelves. I mean it was in John Wick 3 guys, it’s popular.
The Sig P365 In 2023: Still the Best Concealed Carry Handgun
The P365 is most certainly a blockbuster pistol. That has brought competition to bear.
That competition still needs to prove itself against the P365’s King status. They’ll also need to get holsters, accessories, magazines, and excellent logistics to compete. The competitors still need to build public trust too. Sig has a multi-year head start on them.
That takes time, effort, and a lot of marketing. The P365 was so successful so fast because it was the first gun of its type. Another company won’t have that same opportunity that SIG had. They have to fight their way uphill.
Long Live the King of Concealed Carry
I don’t think the SIG P365 will be unseated as the best concealed carry gun (or best selling gun) for quite some time. I think it will remain the king and the competition will have to fight hard to unseat the SIG P365. For now, the P365 remains the champ of concealed carry guns. SIG did a great job designing the weapon and was fast to fix the small issues they ran into. The gun will be around for a long time, folks.
For now, all we can say is long live the king.
Also See our Sig P365 Holsters & Sig P365 XL Holsters.
sig-p365 is really very good option for concealed carry.
SIG has stated publicly and it’s been repeated online that only 15 pistols of the first 1,100 were returned for Customer Service. Knowing the highly exaggerated expectations of the modern consumer, there were likely fewer functional issues than have been exaggerated online. Much the same with Ruger’s initial introduction of the LCP – which wasn’t flawless, as someone ND’s their TV set in their bedroom fiddling with the trigger. So, all the existing guns out in the wild were recalled, including mine. SIG has responded just as appropriately for the early models and moved to the Gen 2 which addressed it. Pistols are being retested by bloggers with an excess of 3,000 rounds thru them and there are still no major issues.
Goes to wait to buy a new gun – which I didn’t do with Ruger, and which I did do when I bought a P938. I have waited, again, and now the 2Gen P365’s are proving well made. Beta testing brand new designs isn’t all that, and dates back to passing up Ford models with their odd year introductions. We all knew to get the even year production and it proved correct when I bought a 1966 Mustang. My wife’s ’65, not so much.
It’s stated in the article that the P365 uses the “same” trigger module as the P320. Is that meant to convey it is drop in functionally identical? Or more generally, the same style? Curious minds want to know, do we now start saving up for P320 grips, slides, mags, etc so that we can change out from one kit to another? Just like AR’s, you can swap parts and they still run, can this be done or is there a bit of “poetic license” in the statement?
Just in the case it interests someone, Taurus entered the competition with the Taurus GX4. Same size of the P365 and 11+1.
AND half the price.
I really like many of the weapons produced by Springfield Armory, but when they sold out the 2nd Amendment and tried to eliminate their competition in Illinois, I decided that I would never support them again. I have a S&W 686 with a 3″ barrel, but when I am not wearing my cc leather vest (which is often in Florida) I find it too cumbersome to carry. I am seriously leaning towards getting the P365. To each their own…carry on!
Sig ergo and quality are second to non! If you put the Hogue grip with the Pearce pinky extension on it you don’t want to put the gun down it feels that good in your hand! Night sites are awesome..if you have any issues with this gun you are just nit picking! Trigger is as good as you will need in a CC weapon..it’s not an every day range gun where you need a walther quality trigger out of the box so that argument is null and void! This is the king of micro’s red dot or not! Also the XL with red dot is $679, try to get your hell cat for within 250 dollars of that set up the same way..good luck!! Keep you cat, I’ll take my sig any day!!
I am a retired Police Officer and I have been carrying concealed firearms for 38 years now. All I can say is the Sig P365 is the best CCW gun I have ever had. i have tried them all, Glocks, Kel Tek, Rugers, S +W, Walther, Beretta and some other crap brands. The P365 is the Holy Grail gun for me. l like to carry deep cover and this gun is perfect. Inside the pants of under a shirt it is comfortable and very reliable. I just wish this gun was available 25 years ago!
I honestly like Sig products more in all aspects. It’s hard for me to think a Springfield would be better being a American. Just using that product seems like your promoting gun control and against the 2nd amendment. Just my 2 cents in the fight.
Overall good summary of the P365’s virtues. But you left out the part about SIG’s arrogance during its early teething days and their continuing to deny some remaining problems like the poorly-designed curved trigger pinching where it pushes the finger straight up into the sharp-edged grip/housing. While more annoying when dry-fire practicing—which should be a regular part of one’s training and practice—it could have been corrected with a better curved trigger design, ala the S&W J-frame’s shape which catches and stops the top of the finger from being pushed up into the frame, and also rounding off and softening the razor-sharp front edge at the top, front of the trigger opening. The straight replacement trigger made it less of an issue but you will have to pay for it, and they still won’t acknowledge the problem, even though they install the straight trigger on the XL.
Also, knocking Springfield’s products and quality was totally inappropriate and without merit, lacking supporting evidence and considering that their firearms are among the best and most reliable in the world, including their new Hellcat’s successful market entry.
And finally, while it is certainly nice to have the aftermarket embrace the P365 the way it has, and being this article is posted on the Clinger blog, why doesn’t Clinger offer a single holster for the P365 with any of the attached light, and/or laser options so praised for being out there and even being shown in one of the photos with the article? In what brand holster do you carry your 365 with the TLR-6 attached? Or, if they do offer them, where is it found because there are no drop down choices other than Rt or Lt handed when considering ordering a holster?
The Springfield XDs and XDe both have grip and/or manual safeties whereas Springfield did not include at least a grip safety on the Hellcat. Besides the XDs and XDe are both larger more in line with, say, H&K’s P30SK. I shot both the Hellcat and P365 before deciding on the P365. The Hellcat is decidedly snappier than the Sig, and without a safety the gun becomes just another “Glock” spinoff. I absolutely like the Hellcat’s sights better, but I went with the P365MS because I won’t carry any pistol without a safety on it, especially a striker fired gun. The accidental discharge statistics are too great to ignore. I know many will disagree but with practice (and I practice a lot) taking a safety off is second nature. I will admit that if the Hellcat had a grip safety I may have gone with that gun.
thank you sig for pushing the development…
I love ,love ,LOVE..my Hellcat!
I wonder how much SIG paid for this or is this just sucking up to the big boys. This is splitting hairs. It is more up to individual taste. SIG had problems when they came out. I have a 1000 rounds through my Hellcat and zero problems of any kind. Both fine guns.
I carry my P365 every day. It’s all I need. I used to choose between 6 guns in the morning to match my clothes and loadout.
Now I only have 3: P938, P365, and P365XL. (I also have the 15 round mag option)
The 2 Sigs replaced the P320sc, P320c, P320RX, P320 full size, Glock 43.
I love the reduction in my morning selection with the same capabilities.
I respect Sig for raising the bar but Glock passed them real quick with the Glock 43X and Glock 48.
10+1 in a sweeeeet shooting Glock beats whatever Sig can dream up anyday. My Glock goes bang every time and I trust it to go bang every time. I had a Sig P250 once. It did not go bang every time. nuff said.
The P365 was the pistol that got my wife to carry. She couldn’t shoot the LCP very well that I got her. She didn’t feel comfortable with the cocked and locked nature of the P238 I got her.
She likes the small size of the p365 with the flush mag. But more importantly, she can SHOOT IT WELL.
The way I see it, this is the best handgun on the market.
The Sig P365 changed the way I conceal carry. I carry everyday now. I don’t have to try as hard to conceal now either. I used to carry a Sig P320 Subcompact with 12 rounds.
Now I carry the P365 with a 12 round mag and one in the pipe with a 15 round mag in reserve.
That’s 28 rounds in a pistol that I can shoot extremely well. I can keep a 4 inch grouping at 7 yards with rapid fire.
I feel very well prepared with this pistol.
However, I can wear clothes that wouldn’t conceal the P320 Subcompact well enough when I’m carry the P365.
Bottom line? I love it and don’t care what anyone else comes out with.
I don’t need more than 28 rounds. I don’t need more accuracy.
I don’t see anyone catching Sig. They were the first to market with the pistol that everyone else was too lazy to envision. They were out long enough to work out all the kinks before anyone else could get something to market.
Sig P365XL FTW.
Johnny, I highly disagree with your “Croatia” comment. I’ve had XD pistols for years and have NEVER had a “quality problem”. In fact my XDs Mod.2 has had zero malfunctions and my Glock 43 has had a few of them. We’re supposed to trust the Austrian’s and we’re supposed to trust Sig but nothing good can come from Croatia?
I recall Sig having many issues with their P365 when it was first released!!! I have heard NOTHING about quality problems from the Hellcat!
By the way, I’ve had the Hellcat for a while and it’s had zero malfunctions.
Sig P365 XL is true quality. I don’t think the Croations will ever match Sig’s quality.
I’ll take the P365XL anyday!!!
I’ve always love XD pistols. My main gripe was the weight. They were always heavier than they should be. Sure, it helped with recoil but it hurt with concealed carry.
I’ve already started carrying the Hellcat with a Shield Red Dot. This thing is awesome.
At the range, my buddy and me had a competition with his P365XL. He had the same Shield Red Dot that I did. It’s the RMSc.
Anyway, we both agreed that the Hellcat’s trigger was better. He’s a Sig guy and hated to admit that. That being said, we both were pretty even on both pistols. We swapped them back and forth a few times.
Both pistols were pretty much dead even for accuracy, recoil control, and reliability. At least in our opinion. We’re not even close to expert handgunners.
They both look to be evenly priced too. They’re almost exactly the same size and weight too. I will say that the 13th round went into the Hellcat easier than the 12th round went into the P365XL. The mag was hard to fully seat in the Sig when the last round is loaded.
Anyway grab whichever one feels best to you. They are both perfect CCW guns.