Brought my 380/365 which I purchased Monday to the range today for a bit of a shakedown session.

Please indulge me if I give you a bit of background. I recently turned 77 YO and I’ve been an avid shooter since the 1970s. I have fired many, many pthousands of rounds in my lifetime. Lately, arthritis has made carrying and shooting a gun a bit more difficult. Smaller guns in 380 ACP seem to work well for me and I have adopted that as a solution.

Now for the range trip: My gun fully loaded weighs 18.70 ozs, and by fully loaded I mean 10 rounds. I found that I could not load the chamber and then insert a loaded 10 round mag into the gun…….. it just would not go. One round chambered and 9 rounds in the mag worked fine. So, the gun definitely is not 10+1 capacity.
I fired a combination of 50 rounds factory hardball, 30 rounds home brewed hardball, and 30 rounds Critical Defense FTX (my carry ammo); so in all 110 rounds. I am happy to report not a single hiccup.

If you already have fired a 365 you will be familiar with the Sig’s trigger. A bit of creep then a clean break and a short reset. My Lyman trigger weight measure recorded a 5 round average of 5.1 lbs.
All rounds were fired at 10 yards and accuracy wasn’t my primary goal; I was more interested in overall performance. The gun shot to point of aim and despite my 7 month layoff (for personal reasons) I still managed to keep all rounds in the black.

Recoil was extremely mild. Not quite as mild as a .22 but close. No sore hand for sure!

For carry I generally pocket carry and the 365 feels good in the front pocket of my cargo pants but occasionally I carry IWB in a Milt Sparks SummerSpecial II.

SO far, I am quite satisfied with my choice and happily my arthritis in my hands and forearm hasn’t been worsened from my shooting session.

That's interesting about the recoil. I have watched a couple youtube videos and they were shooting the 9mm and 380 back to back and couldn't tell the difference. Do you know what ammo you were shooting?

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
That's interesting about the recoil. I have watched a couple youtube videos and they were shooting the 9mm and 380 back to back and couldn't tell the difference. Do you know what ammo you were shooting?

I shot ww white Box, Hornady Critical Defense, and 100 gr. Xtreme Plated over TiteGroup powder.

Interesting report on the recoil. I have multiple physical issues and the recoil on the 365 9mm was too harsh for me. I am hoping that the 380 version will be significantly reduced. Please keep us informed on future range trips with it.

Thanks and congratulations on the new
addition to your family.

My suggestion would be find a gun shop/range that would rent one and try it for yourself.

My own experience is that the difference in recoil is significant.

I had a brief experience with a friend’s P365-380 today and I decided to compare it with mine in 9mm. He had some sort of 90 grain FMJ ammunition for his and I brought along Winchester M1152, 115 grain FMJ “Active Duty” load. The latter is hotter than most common 9mm training ammo loads, but it’s not as powerful as something like the 124 grain +P Gold Dot that’s my carry ammunition in my 9mm P365.

I fired five rounds with my 9mm P365 and then five rounds with my friend’s 380. The recoil and muzzle flip with the 9mm ammunition were significantly greater even in that limited test. In addition it was much easier to cycle the 380’s slide manually. So in both, less recoil and slide manipulation, the 380 was better for me with my arthritic hands.

I can think of only a couple of reasons why a reviewer would say that the recoil of the two guns would be about the same. Either he was shooting a very mild 9mm training load or perhaps the reviewer was a young, strong, and experienced shooter and not affected very much by the differences. My guess would be that the 9mm ammunition being used in that review was at the mild end of the spectrum. I can’t find any velocity tests for the 365-380 yet, but from similar guns the premium 380 ammunition available today seems to do pretty well in gelatin and velocity tests. If felt recoil were the only reason to rely on the 380 version, why not just use wimpy 9mm stuff?

Well, one reason would be that most light 9mm is loaded with full metal jacket bullets and is intended for training and practice. If you want a reliably-expanding 9mm hollow point load, you’ll probably have to put up with higher velocities than something in 380 that (hopefully) have bullets designed for its lower velocities. And although perhaps not a deal-killer, I’ll point out that the only defective 9mm ammunition I’ve run across has been in the lower priced lines.

But there is more. For those like me with old hands that aren’t as strong as they were 40 years ago, the significantly easier it is to rack slide of the P365-380 can be a more-than-nice benefit as well. As a final point, the 380 pistol weighs less than the 9mm. According to SIG’s specs, the 380 weighs 15.7 ounces with 10-round magazine, and my 9mm version with Wilson Combat grip module weighs 20.35 ounces.* I would be curious to know if SIG’s claim is correct because when handling the guns the difference didn’t seem to be that much, but …. In any event it’s not enough to matter to me, but it’s something that might be a small benefit to some.

If it were ever possible in the future to have a less powerful recoil spring in my 9mm P365 while shooting lower powered, but effective defensive loads, then I might never need to worry about switching from that gun as I grow even older. That’s unlikely, though, so my future may include its less powerful brother.

* Added: I just remembered that I also have the Wilson Combat weights in the grip of my gun. That would obviously account for some of the difference. Even with the extra weight, the difference in felt recoil was very noticeable.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigfreund,

Good review of your range trip sigfreund. Thank you. I was able to rack the 9mm and 380 365's today at the gun show and the 380 felt signficantly easier to rack

The listed weight for the 365/380 is correct. My unloaded gun weighs 15.64 oz. With magazine. Loaded with 10 rounds of Hornady XTP It weighs
18.2 oz. I pocket carry using an Uncle Mikes pocket holster and my pants no longer fall down on me.

I also find I can grip the gun in my strong hand and rack the slide with my weak hand which is something I couldn’t do with the 9mm. It’s not easy as my sig 238 but easy-er.

Finally, I’m not the police and I’m not trying to capture anyone; I consider a hand gun at best a “get off me weapon” and certainly a 380 has the power for that. I personally know a guy who took 6 slugs from a 45 and lived to tell about it. So, I don’t believe I need to carry a bazooka.

UPDATE

FOR those who asked about the recoil difference with the 365 380 ACP here is a little tidbit.
Today I brought both my Glock 42 (380) and my 365 380 to the range to do a side by side and I was actually surprised what I found judging the recoil of each. Both guns shot my own reload of 100gr.plated bullet over a charge of Unique powder, and without question, the 365 was much lighter with its recoil pulse. I didn’t think I would feel much difference but was surprised to feel the results.

I wish I could say which had better accuracy but I shot the Glock first; that pretty much obliterated the bullseye with three of the 5 rounds, The next 5 rounds i shot the Sig and although it was good it Opened up the center hole a bit. All rounds were fired @ 10 yards with two hand hold resting on a shooting bench. I switched off guns every 5 rounds.

Hope this helps anyone who is thinking of making the purchase. I can only summarize by saying I’ve owned many guns in my years and traded off many Guns; the Sig 365/380 has become my favorite in short order. The only gun that comes close is my Sig 238. Love that gun too!!