I never intended it, but because of needing to be with the granddaughters this past week, I did not get to the range to check out the 365 and 320 I acquired over the past year. I did lubricate both prior to today's quals.

Well, having read here for years about what an amazing pistol the little 365 is, I must say I was still astonished. I have big hands; but with the mag extension for the pinky it fit my hand just fine. And of course, the surprising thing is: there's no sharp recoil; say what you want of the trigger, I didn't think of it twice during the short (15 rounds each pistol) quals. Now I did shoot better with the 320; I like it just fine. But the almost miraculous ability to pick up a micro-nine and shoot it well with no discomfort, no flinching, no perception of sharp recoil--wow. The Shield is pretty good, the trigger not so much (never installed the Apex trigger). Mag capacity aside, the Shield doesn't feel nearly as good as the 365 to me.

So just these two will be my CCW pistols for the next two years. I'll have the Sig red dot installed on the 320.

You should try the Shield Plus. I own multiple iterations of P365 and Shield Plus and am happy w/ both platforms (otherwise I wouldn't have bought more than one).

Seems kind of crazy they make you qualify to get your CCW

I seem to have missed that part in the Constitution...

San Diego County now has more than 25,000 CCW licensees. Sheriff has greatly improved turnover time for applications. Some counties charge exorbitant amounts for license fees, SD does not.

quote:

You should try the Shield Plus.

Why do that when I'm perfectly happy with 365? If anything, I would just buy another 365.

If they fit your hand, the P365 is a nice little gun.

Just curious, what is the course of fire, target, and time standards for the qualification course that you have to pass for your CCW permit? Qual courses for private citizens are pretty rare, so they always interest me a bit. Is the course conducted at a law enforcement facility, or is a non-government entity empowered to administer it at a public facility?

Private instructors are licensed to give the course and do the quals. In California now, 16 hours of class and range time is required for initial application, 8 hours for renewal.
Yesterday for each gun for which your getting qualified, you shoot 3 rounds strong hand, 2 rounds weak hand at 3 yards; then 5 rounds both hands at 5 yards and at 7 yards for total of 15 rounds. Rounds must land on a standard frontal profile target. There is no timed fire, you may take as much time as you want.

You can see the quals are easy; what is hard is all the questions, worse than a form 4473; fingerprints (for initial license); background check. Described yesterday by instructor as a "rectal exam". All designed to discourage people from applying.

The good part--again as explained by the instructor (with along h/o firearms training) is that LEO's know if they are alone and in trouble, it's likely if someone stands up for them and has a CCW, he's a good guy already vetted by the Sheriff's Department.

Thanks for the info. How was the classroom portion? Just typical government boilerplate CYA or was any of it actually useful? I assume they cover laws and safety...any actual shooting instruction?

Back when we had to have permits here, the background check was a thing, and the fingerprints. Initially they'd let local LE do the fingerprints for you, but eventually that morphed into having to go to a private contracted company that did them electronically. But you still had to go to the local LE office for the local portion of the background. And of course there were fees at every level (the fees gradually went away as we moved towards permitless carry). We never did have a training or qualification requirement. We also had a lifetime permit, so most people only had to do it once. I was "lucky" and got my first one six months before they implemented the lifetime, so I got to go through it all again (minus the fingerprints) when my first permit expired.

Congrats, great job. Glad your two pistols are working out for you.

The P365 fills every need I have for a pistol.

From the P365X to the "new" flux every base is covered.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Seems kind of crazy they make you qualify to get your CCW

I seem to have missed that part in the Constitution...

Think about the phrase "well regulated militia" In order to have a well-regulated militia you would need training and have to meet some sort of baseline standard.

quote:

Originally posted by MWC:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Seems kind of crazy they make you qualify to get your CCW

I seem to have missed that part in the Constitution...

Think about the phrase "well regulated militia" In order to have a well-regulated militia you would need training and have to meet some sort of baseline standard.

A well regulated militia was compromised of "we the people" and their firearms, powder, lead, support people, and other necessary supplies. No such thing as mandatory government "baseline standard" testing. Why would a new free state that won a long and bloody war against their tyrannical government create a Second Amendment in the "Bill of Rights" of the Constitution, that gave the new government authority over any militia of "we the people", makes zero sense when the well known purpose of the Second Amendment was to insure an ongoing free state by giving "we the people" the means to arms themselves for another revolt if tyranny was attempted again.

Guys, I appreciate the passion but I’m only passionate about the 365, so how about we get back to that?
Particularly in light of the FBI report posted elsewhere, unfortunately I don’t see another 320-based pistol in my future.
Too bad because the P320 X5 Legion is actually legal to buy in Ca, whereas the CZ Shadow 2 is not.

But P226’s, P229’s, P220’s are still rostered. Not to mention Gen3 Glocks. Just sayin’. As well as M&P’s but it sounds like you’re not interested in those.

I was another that converted from the Shield to a P365, an XL in my case.
The Shield is an excellent gun and in the 1.0 days a tremendous bargain. Around the low $200 range as I recall. Flawless performance and accuracy very close to the 365.
I put Magguts + 2 kits in both so the capacity is also great for the size. Comparable to much larger guns a decade before those were available.

You were always a pretty decent pistol shot, Stan. I wouldn’t think you’d have a seconds problems with it.

I like the Glock 43x a lot, but I have to agree that the Shield Plus is a pretty good choice.

Thanks, Jerry. I may have a new signature line if I may quote you

But if you read my description of "qualifying" up above, you will note it consisted of hitting the big honking frontal profile target--anywhere on the target--with 15 shots. I didn't make one ragged hole, but I did OK.

Yeah by all means.

Kentucky is you have to shoot 20 times at a target about half the size of a car hood. And hit it at least 11 times.

But we can also carry without a permit in state.

I had to qualify recently for a couple states after a move. Same big ass B27 target from like 3-15 or so yards. Literally like you said “half a car hood”. It was kind of funny because I ran a DA/SA pistol for all of it and because of how the strings of fire were I was decocking quite a bit and running the shot either DA or first shot DA like in real life. You’d have to go out of your way not to pass, even though some folks tried real hard. .

The RO looks at my fist sized target towards the end as he saw me decocking as I went to low ready or the holster and he says “You ran most of this double action!!!, God damn.” .

Well the final little instructor thing they did was draw like a palm sized target and made everybody try to put several rounds into it at like 5 yards. When I walked up to my target to run my rounds all I saw was a pin prick of the end of a sharpy and dude looks at me and smiles and says “well there’s your target”. I put like 4 into it but pulled one a little left and I knew it before it even hit as I yelled “Ahhhhh shanked it!!!” They cracked up.

The P365 is a good shooting little gun. I prefer the XL myself. I just can’t see me giving money to modern SIG. I really like the Shield as well and while the trigger is arguably quite good there was just “something” about it I didn’t like. Maybe an ever so slight hitch or “false reset” so to speak on trigger return. Nothing bad or crazy just something I almost subconsciously noticed. Great gun though overall.

The B27 is comical. The size of the Hulk. We use Q targets....or whatever is lying around the Academy and free. The NH course is far from difficult. 36 rounds, shot twice. A kneeing portion. one barricade and a magazine change. Oat to 25 yards. Now that everyone is running reddot it's a snap.

Back when I did LEOSA quals in NJ, some coming out could barely get hits at 7 yards with the anqient J frames.