Just ordered a p365, which red dot you do guys like on them?

[TheGDog]

Just ordered a p365, which red dot you do guys like on them?

The Plan is two-fold :

1) - To present a lightweight setup to my wife who has difficulties sometimes with hand-strength and action manipulation struggles at times, thing of it is... I'm trying to encourage her begin carrying when she goes out on these group meetup hikes by herself, not that I have misgivings about the group members at all, we've hosted them at events our home and everything. But they've run into weirdos out on the trail at times. And there's always possibility of Cat or Bear. She operates my P238 fine, but I don't like the idea of just .380acp for woods where cat and bear are present. Have a S&W M60 3" .38spl+P she's Ok with, but it's sights are too small for rapid deployment under stress, for older eyes. So because of all this, the thought was search for a micro-9 to up the energy levels a little bit, but needs nice chunky night sights, and she's gotta be able to decently run the action on it though, so we'll see about that part. Even if she doesn't take a shining to it. I won't mind cause their pretty sweet though.

2) - Potentially have it as an option to use, when wanting to shed even more weight for certain steep locations.


SIDE-QUESTION: Other than potential for failure in the field (battery dying, unit failure, glass breaks, whatever)... is there any other reason why a person should, or should not, go with using an optic on their sidearm when out in the field?

Ya know, those kinda things you can only learn from actually carrying one out there, for a good amount of time? Just trying to pick the brains of those of you that have gone before me this route, so I can hopefully avoid money not well-spent is all, Thx. -G

 

[ElPollo]

P365s kick. No way around it. My wife and daughter don’t like mine at all, even with range ammo. The small grip also provides less real estate for your off hand which makes them harder to control. I don’t mean to be negative about the gun. I love mine, but it’s not for new shooters or people coming to the gun with grip issues or fundamentals that need work. Now, the 380 version of the P355 would probably be great for your wife. High capacity and much more controllable and accurate than the P-238. Women and young people generally don’t need a gun with more ass, they need a gun that is more controllable, easier to shoot accurately, but is still small enough to carry. If you’re worried about people, cats, or bears, it’s better to hit them in the right place with a 380 than the wrong place with a 44 mag.

On red dots, they require training and regular use to be fast and accurate. Will your wife put that much time into it? If not, irons. I also honestly don’t know of a reliable small red dot. The Holosun seem to be well liked and I’ve used them, but they do have a failure rate. I have no experience with the newer, small Trijicon but that’s what I would be looking at if I were interested in durability.

 

[MattB]

My P365 is the most difficult pistol I own to manipulate. The recoil spring is stiff, it is about impossible to drop the slide release with an empty mag in the gun (need to drop the mag and then operate the release), and there are no worse magazine to hand-load that I have experienced as the spring is very stiff. Not a big deal is you load it for her, but she could be dead in the water if she has a malfunction that needs clearing while by herself.

 

[ElPollo]

If your wife has hand issues look at the S&W EZ pistols. A buddy of mine bought one for his wife much easier to operate the slide and mag catch. Has a grip safety. Fugly, but they are really easy to shoot. They make them in 380 and 9mm. Longer grip and single stack. Much more controllable than a P365.

And I agree with Matt the slide stop is hard to deal with on a P365. If she has grip issues, slingshotting the slide on a reload is not a good option. I also had issues with dropping the mag on the original, short grip version. The mag hit the meat of my palm and wouldn’t drop unless I shifted my grip. I put an xl sized Wilson grip frame on mine and it’s a way better gun now. That said, your wife is not likely to be doing combat reloads. If she can empty it every time and haul ass, that’s a win.

 

[Fever Buck]

Get the EPS carry for the P365. Closed emitter micro red dot.

As for what the other commenters have said about kick and having a hard time with manipulating:

I have not experienced either of those. Train for a good grip and it’s been a very easy pistol to shoot. I have a base P365 and will be giving it to my wife and grabbing a P365 Macro. I find it to be a much better option than any other micro 9 I’ve used. Haven’t tried the Hellcat yet though.

 

[Fever Buck]

Oh, and as far as failures go, Holosun has done a really good job with reliability. Just hate that it’s made in China. The closed emitter would be a good idea for a woods or CCW gun as debris can get into open emitter red dots and block the dot from showing.

 

[MattB]

Get the EPS carry for the P365. Closed emitter micro red dot.

As for what the other commenters have said about kick and having a hard time with manipulating:

I have not experienced either of those. Train for a good grip and it’s been a very easy pistol to shoot. I have a base P365 and will be giving it to my wife and grabbing a P365 Macro. I find it to be a much better option than any other micro 9 I’ve used. Haven’t tried the Hellcat yet though.

My P365 is a surprisingly good-shooting pistol for what it is. I like it a lot, great trigger (rolling break) and much more accurate at distance than it has any right to be. But it is "stiffer" in almost every regard than my Glocks - and not by just a little bit. The mags are flat stupid to load by comparison. I would make sure anyone who is going to carry/shoot it can full manipulate it before passing it along.

 

[Jmort1754]

I have an xmacro that is nice to shoot even with hot loads..

I use the holosun with green dot on it as I can't see red worth a shit.

Black arch holster
good gun belt.

 

[Shortschaf]

Holosun 507k

I had an rmr for several years that was solid. But when I put it on the 365 with an adapter plate, I hated how tall it sat on the slide.

Sold the rmr and so far so good with a couple of the chinese holosuns.

 

[SloppyJ]

I shoot my 365 the best I've ever shot any pistol in that size range and that's quite a few. I was banging steel at 100yds on stock sights last range trip. I know, it surprised me too.

I'd leave it alone and see if they like it.

 

[BFR]

Just got my wife a 365xl Rose Edition with red dot package. She loves it, just finished the Girl and a Gun Convention in Grand Junction where she was shooting daily for 3 days. Went from a 3 round 2.5” group at 10 yds to 3 rds touching. They’re great guns.

 

[Thinkingman]

If your wife has hand issues look at the S&W EZ pistols. A buddy of mine bought one for his wife much easier to operate the slide and mag catch. Has a grip safety. Fugly, but they are really easy to shoot. They make them in 380 and 9mm. Longer grip and single stack. Much more controllable than a P365.

And I agree with Matt the slide stop is hard to deal with on a P365. If she has grip issues, slingshotting the slide on a reload is not a good option. I also had issues with dropping the mag on the original, short grip version. The mag hit the meat of my palm and wouldn’t drop unless I shifted my grip. I put an xl sized Wilson grip frame on mine and it’s a way better gun now. That said, your wife is not likely to be doing combat reloads. If she can empty it every time and haul ass, that’s a win.

Smith EZ shouldn't just be marketed to women, it has practical applications in any circumstance where your hands could be sweaty(or other slick fluids!), injured...whatever.
It's a great platform.
Re Sig 365, I got the X model, which has a slightly longer grip.
I love the thing, I require a Uplula mag loader to get 12 in the mag.
It shoots great.
Re red dots, in my opinion, at defensive range, they're the answer to the question that no one asked....Just something else to go wrong or hang up on draw.
Muscle memory is your friend when the adrenaline is pumping.
Knowing where your piston points ('Am I shooting a Glock today or something else with a different grip angle?') is elemental in putting rounds on target.
It's nice to have the presence of mind to focus on front sight, it's more reassuring to know where it's pointing just by being in your hand.
My Browning Buckmark has the same POA, mag release, and slide orientation as my defensive handguns.
I can practice cheaply and without recoil weariness to develop those skills.
My advice is get a 22lr with a similar interface as the defensive handgun and practice.

 

[NSI]

EPS Carry.

-J

 

[TheGDog]

If your wife has hand issues look at the S&W EZ pistols. A buddy of mine bought one for his wife much easier to operate the slide and mag catch. Has a grip safety. Fugly, but they are really easy to shoot. They make them in 380 and 9mm. Longer grip and single stack. Much more controllable than a P365.

And I agree with Matt the slide stop is hard to deal with on a P365. If she has grip issues, slingshotting the slide on a reload is not a good option. I also had issues with dropping the mag on the original, short grip version. The mag hit the meat of my palm and wouldn’t drop unless I shifted my grip. I put an xl sized Wilson grip frame on mine and it’s a way better gun now. That said, your wife is not likely to be doing combat reloads. If she can empty it every time and haul ass, that’s a win.

NO S&W EZ in CommieFornia, otherwise I likely would have gotten that to be for her, lotta glowing reports from gentleman with wives in same boat!

 

[Ferrulewax]

the EZ is the answer, just saw you can’t have one. Thats too bad.

 

[TheGDog]

Yeah... the springs being a lil stiff has me somewhat concerned, but usually after a good amt of range trips and cleaning and storing the mags with rounds in them, that kinda stuff usually tends to ease up a lil over time.

If she doesn't take a shining to it, then oh well, there's still the P238 she can take.

LOVING how slim that pistol is, and the trigger seemed good.

Several of the others in this category I was really turned off by the triggers. Either mushy and flexy at the end of the pull (Lookin' at you Ruger Max 9), or, one of 'em, can't remember which one, wanna say the Hellcat? Had this metal-on-metal scaping kinda feeling transmitted thru the trigger to my finger at the end of the trigger pull. Legit made me wonder if the trigger internals were broken or bent or something.

RE: when slide locks back, I'll just teach her to slingshot it. I agree, even for me that slide release (at least while it's nice and tight on the showroom floor anyway) seemed pointless.

And then re: recoil. We'll see what we can do to help her there. I figure one of the things I can try is to use lighter-weight projectile loads. But it'll pretty much just be loaded w/ LeHigh Extremes I figure. Probably stagger-stack Defender and Penetrator.


Does Hogue make one of those rubber wrap-around grips for p365 like they do for P238? She liked it when I threw on that hogue wraparound on the P238.

EDIT: BTW For more information here, she stated that the checkering on the backstrap of the P238's grip (which right there, would be part of it's Alum. frame) roughed up the webbing tween her thumb and index finger, from the recoil, over time at the range session. But thankfully that Hogue Wraparound cleared that issue right up. Makes the grip slightly more wider though, but it's minimal for the level of addtl comfort it provides.

 

[280ack]

Good info on this topic!
The 365 series in 9mm are stiff actions, for some and may not be ideal for those with low hand strength. However the use of a red-dot like the 507k would allow for more of a "grip" when manipulating the slide. Some have found it easier than just squeezing the slide and pulling. The Holo sun 507K replaced the Sig Micro red dots on my gun because they failed, battery life was 60-90 days on the glass version and the standard version. They are problems. Having to adjust/sight in after replacing the cell a pain. Explore the Holosun line.
I would seriously look at the 365XL with the Holosun 570K been using that combination for 2 years at this point and no issues.
I would also look at the P938, the slide retracts easily and the pointability/accuracy is great and recoil as not bad for a small frame pistol. They can have optics added and you may find the Hogue rubber grips a big benefit. The shootability of this P938 is far better, for me than the 365xl. The P938 has become a favored back-up gun for LEOs.

 

[waldo9190]

Honestly, I tried a Holosun on my 365XL, but after about a year I ended up going back to the stock irons. For me, they present as/more naturally than any other irons I've shot on a defensive pistol, and carrying AIWB for ME is more comfortable without the dot there. YMMV.

 

[2Stamp]

I like the size of the 365XL better. Put a Wilson Combat grip module on it and it changes the feel of it for the better. And I put a Holosun 407K on mine.

 

[croben]

I would stick with a closed emitter RDS, especially if it’ll be used as more of a hiking/outdoors gun. The glass can still be affected by dirt, debris, water, snow,etc, but can be wiped off immediately and still used. With an open emitter, these same conditions can render the dot completely useless and wash it out or completely block it, which is fine if you still have iron sights, but defeats the purpose of having an RDS. There is a transition period that isn’t immediate going from irons to an RDS, so she will need to spend some time before becoming really comfortable with it.