2022

FOGHORN June 2022

Twobirds Flying Publications

SIG SAUER’S P365 XL Manual Safety

Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.

SIG SAUER’S P365 XL Manual
Safety
By: Sal Palma
SIG SAUER is a global firearms supplier whose
products have established a reputation for
quality, excellence in design and professional
support. This is a reputation that has been
earned over years of experience.
In July of 2019 SIG introduced the P365 XL in two
variants, without a manual safety or with a
manual safety. The P365 XL with a 12+1 capacity
and moderately larger frame size provided
conceal carry customers with a larger frame size;
therefore, more comfortable, and easier to
control under recoil. When SIG introduced the
P365 XL they hit a homerun, and the manual
safety for me was icing on the cake, a feature
that I’m intimately familiar with from military
service.
Carrying a pistol with a round in the chamber
opens the door to an accidental discharge of the
weapon; possibly harming oneself. Sadly, it has
happened way too many times, and a manual
safety, when used, mitigates the risk, especially
under stress. I fall in the category of shooter who
likes manual safeties. So having an opportunity
to review the P365 XL so equipped was a lot of
fun for me.
The P365 XL has been around long enough to
establish a well-deserved reputation, so in this
review, I’ll avoid rehashing all the well know
positives; instead, my review will be all about me
and my interaction with one of the best conceal
carry platforms on the market.
My initial range session with the “off-the-shelf”
P365 XL revealed a compact conceal carry
platform with a snappy recoil. Grip size was an
issue for me; fortunately, SIG designers created
a pistol with exchangeable grip modules. Simply
stated, the fire control group can be easily
removed and installed on a different grip
module; making it possible to customize the
pistol for things like color, grip size and texture.
A grip module is nothing more than a polymer
housing that accepts the fire control group,
which is the actual firearm.
The standard P365 XL grip is nicely textured, but
it is a bit small for my hand making the pistol
harder to control under recoil. After some
research, I learned about the Wilson Compat grip
module for the P365 XL, and that was just what
the doctor ordered.
P365 XL grip module top / Wilson Combat bottom
Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Wilson Combat’s offering is noticeably larger and
provides an excellent purchase. Wilson Combat
sells two versions of their grip module, one for
the standard P365 XL, no manual safety, another
for the manual safety model. Installing the fire
control group was a snap and just that one
change greatly improved comfort and control.
One of the
criticisms leveled
at the P365 XL is
how difficult it is
to seat a full
magazine, i.e., 12
rounds, with a
closed slide. That
difficulty stems
from its flared magazine well, a problem that can
be easily resolved by smacking the magazine
close to the floor plate toe. The issue is also
common with the Wilson Combat grip module
resolved using that technique. There’s no need
to limit your magazine loads to 11 rounds, one
good smack and you’re good to go.
A second complaint owners of the original P365
XL have expressed is the manual safety size,
most shooters that I’ve spoken to prefer an
extended safety selector. However, keep in mind
that the pistol is designed for conceal carry so
extended anything could get caught on clothing,
just my analysis.
The problem I encountered using the original
version of the pistol was the slimer SIG grip
placed my thumb so far forward that I was
operating the safety with the fleshy web
between my thumb and index finger; making it
difficult to operate the selector.
The larger Wilson Combat grip module solved
that problem as well.
My second range session was with the now
modified P365 XL to include a red dot sight. The
pistol ran flawlessly
with much improved
comfort and control.
Recoil was still snappy,
but the larger grip
module made it much
more manageable.
All my shooting was done at 15 yards. I needed
to zero the Holosun sight, which put me on
target for all subsequent shots except for the
flyer high and right.
Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
The P365 XL is not a target pistol, it’s a compact
conceal carry defensive weapon that is
extremely reliable with any 9mm ammunition I
used.
SIG did hit a homerun with the introduction of
the P365 XL, but whether you like, or dislike, a
manual safety, the pistol is without a doubt one
of the top compact conceal carry pistols on the
market. Ergonomics, magazine capacity,
reliability and its customizability make SIG’s
P365 XL a top pick for anyone in the CCW market.
-SP
Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Model Specifications:
• SKU: 365XL-9-BXR3-MS
• CALIBER: 9mm
• MAGS INCLUDED: (2) 12rd Steel Mag
• SIGHTS: Optic Ready with X-RAY3
Day/Night Sights
• THREADED BARREL NO
• PISTOL SIZE: Micro-Compact
• OVERALL LENGTH: 6.6 in [168 mm]
• OVERALL WIDTH: 1.1 in [28 mm]
• HEIGHT: 4.8 in (122 mm)
• BARREL LENGTH: 3.7 in (94 mm)
• WEIGHT: 20.7 oz (588 g)
• SIGHT RADIUS: 5.6 in (142 mm)
• ACCESSORY RAIL: Sig Rail
• TRIGGER ACTION: Striker
• TRIGGER TYPE: XSeries Straight
• GRIP TYPE: Polymer
• GRIP COLOR: Black
• BARREL MATERIAL: Carbon Steel
• FRAME FINISH: Stainless Steel
• FRAME MATERIAL: Stainless Steel
• SLIDE FINISH: Nitron
• SLIDE MATERIAL: Stainless Steel
• OPTIC READY: Yes