I tend to be a bit set in my ways. I don’t know if I get more set in my ways as I get older or if I become more aware of it. When it comes to modern striker-fired handguns I have definitely been stuck on Glock. Every time a friend wants to pick my brain and ask me about a gun I keep replying with the same question:
Does it do anything a Glock won’t do?
Time and time again people try to introduce me to the new gun of the moment, and I find a lack of enthusiasm for a new solution to a problem I have long solved. It’s not for lack of trying, it’s more of an economic outlook. Is it worth investing in a new platform? A new gun,
new holster, new mags all with a significantly inflated cost, and for what gain? Will the new gun do something my old Glock won’t?
And then there are the other costs involved. Am I willing to invest the time and energy as well as the ammo to get up to speed on a new platform? I have had maybe two dozen Glocks over the years. I’ve got holsters, mags, spare parts, weapon lights, 22 conversion kits,
and most importantly 20-some odd years of trigger time and experience.
So, when someone brings me say a Springfield XD and asks my opinion, well there are two opinions there. The opinion for me and the opinion for you. The opinion for me almost always goes the same way. What will it do that my Glock won’t? Can I adapt my Glock to do
that? Can I get another Glock to do that? This doesn’t disparage the other platforms; it just speaks to my view of their usefulness to me vs what I already have.
This cycle has repeated itself over and over with no change in the outcome. Don’t get me wrong, I pick up guns here and there because I find them INTERESTING. Revolvers, historical firearms, something neat and fun, maybe a gun I used to have that I wish I hadn’t replaced, or even an exceptional deal — I’ll pick it up and add it to the safe. I just don’t replace my daily carry guns with them. After a few years of letdown after letdown, I pretty much have a bad taste in my mouth for a new striker-fired polymer-framed handgun.
Until last week when I was looking for a tricked-out concealed carry gun.
My everyday carry is a full-sized Glock 17 with a red dot and a weapon light and a 31-round spare magazine with a Pro-P pocket clip attached. I have some upcoming travel where I want a concealment handgun that I shoot very well to replace the six-shot Colt Agent in .38 Special I use for low-risk travel. Recently on a trip to Miami my brother, Gabe, showed me his Boresight Solutions modified Glock 26.
It wasn’t the first time I handled Ben’s (from Boresight Solutions) work. Ben turned a good backup gun into such a fantastic, concealed carry gun it started an itch that burned in the back of my mind and had me looking. I wanted something concealable, with a weapon-mounted light, co-witnessed iron sights, and a red dot. I also wanted the ability to carry a high-capacity reload. Mostly I had to be able to shoot it almost as well as I shoot my Glock.
I was looking for something different. Not so much a backup gun as a stand-in for my Glock. I was willing to move from the design of my carry/duty gun and trade features like capacity and shootability for concealability. But I am only willing to give up so much.
The Sig P365 XMacro
A few weeks ago, I’m passing the time in my local gun store and my buddy BJJ buddy Brett and my LGS preferred salesman and friend, Noah, show me the Sig P365 XMacro. I know, I know. I’m late to the party. The Sig P365 is hardly new, having been released in 2018, and is one of the best-selling guns in the US. Brett hands me the newest version Sig has released, the XMacro.
At first glance, the XMacro is a very elegantly designed handgun. Slim and compact, it’s the largest version of the P365, yet its size is 75-80% the size of the venerated Glock 19. Then Noah drops the bomb on me and points to the mag. I flip the mag and check the witness holes.
They are very neatly numbered; the mag is very nicely finished and then I notice the punchline. The magazine, the FLUSH FIT MAGAZINE, holds 17 rounds!
Here’s a highly concealable polymer-framed handgun with the same capacity as the Glock 17 I normally carry, yet it’s smaller than the Glock 19. Noah tells me that he carries the Sig P365 XMacro and as I handle the gun, I notice the Macro gives me a full grip. I have LARGE hands. Not
crazy large but large enough that I don’t like shooting the Glock 19. The grip is just short enough that I have to work to shoot it well.
But the XMacro? Well, the XMacro is perfect. The grip is slim and there is a noticeable difference in the distance to the trigger from the back strap, but it FEELS good. I usually hate when people say that about handguns, “It feels good.” Doesn’t matter how it feels if you can’t shoot it and choosing a gun on the feel is like choosing a racecar based on its looks. You just can’t tell without a strong education in the subject matter.
Yet the Sig P365 XMacro hits all the right buttons. Small, concealable, high capacity, good sights, cut for a red dot, a compensator so it shoots more like my EDC, and a rail for a light. And, it has a full grip for my large hands. The trigger is workable but nothing I’d brag about.
Noah shows me the Tac Ops version of the XMacro. No compensator, a longer barrel, a larger slide release, and a FANTASTIC magwell which really helps to seat the gun in the hand.
Noah offered me a good price and I took him up on it and walked out with the XMacro. Now let me be specific. This is a very lightly used Sig Sauer P365 XMacro with a 3.1-inch barrel and slide integral compensator. It is missing the box but has two magazines. A quick fingertip check of the inside of the compensator shows no carbon so I’m not sure it has even been shot. It’s cut for a red dot and I ask Noah to order a magwell, a red dot, spare mags, and the longer slide release for mine.
Getting Used to the Sig P365 XMacro
Over the next two weeks, I go through the XMacro, learning about the modular grips and the fire control unit. I borrow Gunsmith Ed’s Sig P365 SAS (the smallest of the 365 line) for comparison. I swap parts between the SAS and the XMacro just to see — and when they say modular, they mean it. You could take the SAS which is a TINY deep concealment handgun and swap parts out to make it an XMacro. The SAS will even take the XMacro slide. The fire control unit is the serialized part so you can make a small, tiny gun into the XMacro or vice versa similar to the P320 platform but the 365 and 320 are not compatible.
Range trip number one was just me taking a few minutes to shoot the XMacro at SWAT training. I just send a few rounds down range to check recoil and grip. I quickly identify that I have to adjust how much trigger finger I use on the Macro vs a Glock. The smaller dimensions of the XMacro mean I have to make an adjustment to a learned, trained, biomarker. I simply move my trigger finger from placing the pad of the finger centered on the trigger (on a Glock) to placing the crease of the inside of the first joint on the right edge of the trigger (on the Sig). It
will take a little work so I do it every time without conscious thought. I also want to look into some minor trigger adjustments.
I took the opportunity to hand the gun off to a few of my SWAT team members whose jobs vary from full-time police instructors to narcotics investigators who do plainclothes and undercover work to patrol officers. Their impressions were much the same as mine. The comp does a good job of keeping the gun flat under recoil, the trigger is workable, the capacity vs size is impressive, and the gun is extremely impressive not just for a small gun but especially so for a small gun.
To work on the trigger issues, I ordered an Armory Craft spring kit. Using a YouTube tutorial I installed it at my kitchen table. The tutorial was well done and the experience of taking apart the Sig really helped me to better understand the modularity of the 365 platform. All in all, it took a pound or two off the trigger weight and really did a great job of making a more positive trigger reset. Definitely worth the $20 and 30-minute investment.
I also learned that the sights on the XMacro are a design where you cover the spot you want to hit with the front sight. I much prefer the top center of the front sight as the exact aiming point. That won’t matter much when I drop a red dot onto the Sig. I’ll also swap to some lower third co-witness sights.
The second range trip was a bit more telling.
I hit the range with my brother from another, Chris, and his actual brother Stacey. Chris is a Deputy Sheriff who works patrol in South Georgia, He’s got 20-plus years of experience and like me, he has a gun addiction. He’s one of the people I blame for getting me into law enforcement. Chris and I have been close friends since high school. His brother, Stacey, is retired from teaching CQB and such in the military. Let’s just say that between the two of them, they can figure out which end of the gun goes bang.
We were working over some guns and techniques and drills on the range when Stacey breaks out the gun he bought for his daughter to learn to shoot. Surprise, surprise, it’s a Sig Sauer P365 XMacro identical to the one I bought. In the next hour on the range, I got to help Stacey’s Daughter, Madison, go from taking her first shot from a gun to dropping a full magazine into the center of the target at seven yards — which is not bad for a 12-year-old girl.
I still have a way to go to get the XMacro exactly how I want it for concealed carry. I want to find a few more magazines including some LONG high-capacity magazines. I’ll decide on a weapon-mounted light, mount up the red dot of choice, find a holster that works with both the
accessories of choice on the gun and with my wardrobe, and most of all put some more serious trigger time in. Including some of the harder training drills I run with my full-sized Glock. I’ll also shoot a qualification and list the gun in my work file so I can carry it on duty.
Less than a month in on the XMacro and I’ve found it will conceal better than my Glocks while at first glance it will easily do 90% of the work I can do with my Glock. I’m not swapping out for most work carry, particularly open carry. I’m not swapping to the Sig for training or for SWAT callouts. However, I am looking forward to off-duty carrying a smaller gun with almost the same capability.
I’m also looking forward to a smaller gun that the women in my life who have smaller hands can operate as easily as I can. Everyone is ranting and raving about the capacity of the XMacro, yet the most impressive feature is a grip that works for a ham-fisted fellow like me and for a lady with small hands like my wife or a 12-year-old girl. All in the same gun that gets high praise from SWAT team shooters, firearm instructors, Narcotics investigators who work undercover, and new shooters alike.
Sig is changing the game. Not just through higher capacity in smaller guns but through ergonomics that are better for a variety of hand sizes and shooters than anything I’ve come across. Add to the package the true modularity of the system and Sig P365 XMacro is something unmatched in the market.
