I am intrigued by the P365 Fuse and after reading a bunch of reviews full of pros and cons I thought I'd take a trip to the range to see for myself. Shot 50 rounds through a rental at the Sig Experience Center in Epping.

First, the gun felt great in my hand. Very pointable and easy to shoot. The SIG medium grip fits me well, so I was worried that the Fuse would feel too narrow. Wasn't the case at all. I have to say, the laser-engraved grips felt fantastic. After this trip I was eager to give SIG my money and get laser-engraved grip modules on my M17 and M18. Alas, they are not currently made with a MS cutout. One caveat--the narrowness combined with my normal grip had me resting my thumb right on the slide catch lever. This pressure kept the slide from locking back after the mag was empty. This may be a concern to you, for me it was not. 5/5 on ergonomics.

The recoil on the Fuse was well within the realm of controllability. It had a little more snap than a P320, and a little less snap than the P365XL (and significantly less snap than a base P365). 4/5

Sights were horrible. Thin front post, basic betty iron cutout notch on the rear, lots of space between them. C'mon Sig, you can do way better here. At <10yds it is easy to stay on the paper plate, but definitely gets trickier past 10yds. Shoots accurately when you're lined up, just should be easier to quickly do so. I am significantly more accurate with less effort with any of my other Sigs (including my P365 XL). Again, for close-in self defense I would not worry, but for any fun target shooting it was more of a challenge. I like seeing a 2-3inch cluster on the target, not a 5-6 inch cluster with slower setup. 2/5.

I put about 50 rds downrange over 5-10 minutes. I've seen a lot of reviews about the slide heating up to "too hot" territory after usage. Made me wonder if I could take the Fuse through a shooting class without burning my hands. After my brief experience this seems to be a massively overblown concern. But does the slide get hot? Yes and no, literally. After shooting 50rds relatively quickly, I grabbed the front of the slide to rack the slide back. It was much warmer than I'd have expected. I can see how it would be pretty dang hot after 100-150 rds. So how did I solve this problem? I grabbed the rear of the slide. Practically cool to the touch, same as I've felt when I do the same range exercises with my P320. IMHO, the heat issue is a nothingburger. Grab the not-hot part instead of the hot part. But then again, that doesn't get you clicks or views on YouTube. 4/5

Overall, great gun, but not nearly enough to have me get rid of my P320/M17 guns and shift fully into the P365 platform. I love my P365 XL for cc, but for a full-size hip gun the slim form factor (which I loved) did not overcome the challenges in rapid sight acquisition and alignment leading to not-bad-but-worse-than-usual accuracy for me. If you like pistol red dot sights, you may have a different conclusion.

4/5 Overall. Worth checking out to see how it works for you.

Thanks for the detailed writeup. I had a basic P365 early on, but it was too small for my hands and I ended up passing it on. The Fuse is the first one that has really interested me, but like you I just haven't seen enough benefit to migrate from the P320s that I already have.

I didn't realize the sights were different...I'll have to take a closer look at that the next time I see one of those in a shop. Although these days I think the majority of people looking for that type of gun in that form factor are probably going to mount a dot anyway...I definitely would if I was to get one.

I'm with you on the tacticool front-slide grab thing, too. I just don't understand the need to grab the gun up there by the muzzle, and I think all the holster shredding front (and now top!) serrations that companies are putting on slides are ridiculous. Even with an optic mounted, I've never had a problem manipulating the slide from the rear. If anything it makes it easier.

They do make XRAY3 sights available for the FUSE; was thinking of trying a pair myself. Having said that, give the existing sights more than 50 rounds - you may find that you're unused to them rather than that they don't work.

I had the same initial reaction to the FUSE grip OP did, and wish SIG would mold some to accomodate the 365 thumb safety. The MACRO grip pod fits, though, and strikes me as being very comfortable without being terribly bulky. I like the 320s, but don't have any qualms about keeping a combined FUSE upper half and MACRO lower half (with manual safety) on hand.

I have the L/E version and the Standard model, both with manual safety. The L/E comes with the standard night sights and the other has the light gathering plastic bar.
For me they are like having a commander size 1911 with 17 rounds of 9MM.
Really enjoy shooting them and agree that the slide does get hot but is not an issue. I originally felt the plastic front sight would be fragile, but did not have a problem.
The fuse has quickly become my favorite gun to shoot.
gaf