Planning on building a compensated 365 as my next project and trying to figure out the most cost effective way to start.

Should I buy just an FCU or buy a full pistol? Can obtain an FCU for $350. Can obtain a pistol (w/manual safety) for $500. Shipping and transfer would be the same on either, so that cost is moot.

OK, so $150 savings for just the FCU route, but when I get into needing a manual safety to finish the FCU, I'm probably in another $50+ (shipping price of small parts is a bitch).

Slide will be entirely replaced, so the FCU route would also mean all the slide parts, whereas with the complete gun I could harvest the factory slide parts and the factory manual safety.

The standalone FCU also has the "fancy" trigger in it already. That's not a priority upgrade for me, however.

So is this a "6 one way, half a dozen the other" situation, or will I save some money going the standalone FCU route?

Buy the full pistol and sell the parts you aren't going to use.

I used this method to convert a Glock to .38 Super and it only ran me $400 or so.

Well I haven't built the 365 but it will be my next build.
I did build 3- custom Sig P320's and can say you'll be spending less money if you buy the whole gun. Plus the gun is working and you can check it out before you build. Although Sig has a pretty good reputation for good parts it's always good to know you're working with good parts.

My builds have variety of aftermarket custom slides AXG modules, Wilson Combat, etc etc.. The FCU is the most expensive part (average $350)unless you are going with a custom slide ( average price $375/400)

Now as said if you aren't going to use the stock slide you can sell it but use the parts inside. Just the sale of the slide could recover $175/200 that would put you down to about $400 which the FCU almost costs.

Anyway I did the numbers many times for the P320s I built and never chose buying a FCU they are just to expensive. To make it worthwhile the FCU needs to be about $225 you can't find them for that price.

Sometimes we don't take into consideration when you order parts it will be more expensive plus all the parts you'll pay shipping/taxes for everything which add $$$ then wait for everything.

All this is what I have learned building 3 custom 320's the 365 won't be much different except the 320's have more custom options than the 365's

Anyway the 365 will be a nice gun when finished.

I did a couple similar 365 projects. I bought the standalone fcu. It definitely isn’t cheaper this way. I too paid 379 and 349 for my two. Then another 45 apiece for the safety so it’s already into the 4 bill territory. You end up with a complete slide assembly which is sellable or in my opinion worth keeping in case you build another one. I also prefer the black to the TiN although it’s fairly understated gold if you can say understated when talking about gold. Lol

If you buy a 365X you get the flat trigger already and the X slide is probably easier to sell.

OK, that's sort of what I was thinking would be the case.

I'll start from the complete gun. As said, at least I can shoot it while I wait for parts.

I just did this, but without the comp.
FCU $305
Complete slide $330
Wilson combat grip frame $80
These prices included tax and shipping so I paid approx $715 when a typical XL is $550 around here.
If/when I build a P320 I will just buy the basic pistol and change out the parts I want...much cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by whisky22:
I just did this, but without the comp.
FCU $305
Complete slide $330
Wilson combat grip frame $80
These prices included tax and shipping so I paid approx $715 when a typical XL is $550 around here.
If/when I build a P320 I will just buy the basic pistol and change out the parts I want...much cheaper.

Yep buying the whole gun will be much cheaper. I picked up a P320compact for $454 delivered no taxes, you may have to search around but their out there. The only place I saw the FCU for about what you paid was through SigSauerParts.com for $299 all silver.

Buy the gun and swap as you go. All the smaller parts are included then. There is also the matter of buying lots of small parts from various sources at $8.50 shipping each, which adds up quickly. I've spent as much as $85 just on shipping costs for an AR15.

You have the complete gun which is useful, and at some point along the road you may find one of the parts that would make it perfect actually makes it a dog - malfunctions or looks. Sometimes building a "snapshot of the day" becomes dated, too. Not too many 4 rail M4geries are built in the AR world now.

The full race custom slide with RMR, threaded barrel, mag funnel and custom grip is hotness now, in the long run fads wear out and in some cases the original stock design becomes the more appreciated classic. I'm sticking to a RH safety only for the P365 and it looks fine as is.

quote:

Originally posted by Tirod:
Buy the gun and swap as you go. All the smaller parts are included then. There is also the matter of buying lots of small parts from various sources at $8.50 shipping each, which adds up quickly. I've spent as much as $85 just on shipping costs for an AR15.

You have the complete gun which is useful, and at some point along the road you may find one of the parts that would make it perfect actually makes it a dog - malfunctions or looks. Sometimes building a "snapshot of the day" becomes dated, too. Not too many 4 rail M4geries are built in the AR world now.

The full race custom slide with RMR, threaded barrel, mag funnel and custom grip is hotness now, in the long run fads wear out and in some cases the original stock design becomes the more appreciated classic. I'm sticking to a RH safety only for the P365 and it looks fine as is.

You know you're right jumping on the band wagon may in time date what you have but you can just change it to what you like, any time you want.

Guns for me have hit all the hot buttons, when I started out they did what I was looking for them to do....then they became a necessity and now they've turned into a hobby. I don't think a day goes by without me either talking guns or doing something with my guns, well maybe a couple.

The Sig P320 platform has been the motivator for me to start building and customizing guns. I always tried to make anything I had my own by doing different thing to them but in those days you really needed a gunsmith and good ones were hard to find. But the modularity of the 320 lets me do everything myself, so guns have turned into a hobby now.

The cheapest way, buy a P365 for $500.

Buy a compensator kit from Greyguns.

$300, Sell your old barrel get at least $100 for it.

In for $700 or less.

YMMV