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So you came here looking for a review on the new hip carry gun from Sig Sauer, huh? Cool. Whether you’re from our email list or we got lucky from the almighty algorithms, welcome!
The new P365 X Macro is a neat gun and I’ve got a lot of opinions. But if you’re a busy person I’d like to respect your time with options. If you want a full course of meat and potatoes, read the full breakdown. Want the spark notes? Scroll down to the TL;DR (too long; didn’t read). You want the news and want to be able tell people you didn’t just read the headline? I got my patent pending RTL;DR (really too long; didn’t read) just for you. It’s like “choose your adventure” where you only lose if you end up not liking my opinion my writing.
The P365 X Macro features the same flat faced trigger that’s present on all of the other X models of the P365. Whether or not the flat trigger is better than the curved trigger really comes down to personal preference. But flat triggers are cool so it must go on the cool gun. I find myself impressed by how consistent Sig Sauer triggers feel across their lineup. P226, P320, and the P365 all have very similar easy take up (albeit more with the P365s) and a soft break past the wall. The Macro is no outlier. If you’ve shot another P365 or even another modern Sig Sauer pistol, this will feel right at home.
As one of the main staple differences from the rest of the family, the Macro’s grip sets it immediately apart. It is slightly thicker, but noticeably longer than both the standard and X grip modules. Immediately when I picked it up it felt right. Like, for once, a 365 didn’t feel too small. As one with larger hands, I certainly appreciated the extra girth.
The grip extends the normal P365 angle while providing a bit more material towards the bottom to help fill in the palm. The grip actually finds itself longer than a Glock 19. Continuing with the modular nature of the P365, the Macro grip allows for swappable backstraps that allow you to further contour the grip to your liking. Installation is easy, just slide out the old backstrap and insert the new one. You get small, medium, and large options with medium being what starts on the gun. Medium felt just right for me so that’s how it stayed.
Worth mentioning is the addition of a true 1913 picatinny rail. Look, you’re not going to fit a X300 on there (though I’m sure some of you madmen out there will figure out a way) but no longer do you have to find the gun specific carry light. This gun is asking for a TLR 7.
Yes, the grip module works on your P365 XL. Aaaand yes, it is nice.
Just like other Sig Sauer magazines, it feels nice and sturdy. Also just like other P365 magazines, annoyingly, an empty mag in the gun will make it particularly hard to drop the slide. Even what you’d think would be a standard break in period doesn’t really fix this issue. However, should you find the mag ever stuck in the gun you’ll appreciate the slight flaring on the base plate to give you decent purchase to exorcize it.
They haven’t quite appeared on their own yet, but be prepared to pay your standard Sig Sauer premium price or the scalper tax on these Macro mags. Oh, and they’re 17+1, which is probably all you really cared about.
Sig Sauer provides you with some solid night sights; standard 3 dot setup with the front sight made green to give you the idea of blacked out rears. I appreciate their choice to have the sights separate from the mounting plate unlike on the standard X models. Giving up good irons for only the dot doesn’t seem the best choice to me, but to each their own. However, if you do run an optic and want to co-witness your irons as backups you will have to swap out for taller sights. If you choose to run just irons, it’s worth noting that the sight radius, for all intents and purposes, is the same as the standard P365, not the XL. With the front sight being located behind the compensator you don’t quite get the XL sight radius. Speaking of the compensator…
Look, compensators are nothing new. Compensators on carry guns are nothing new. The idea of taming a 9mm bullet out of a 3” to 3.5” barrel so shooting it is actually enjoyable has been going on the past couple of years. Usually this is done by barrel porting or tossing in a threaded barrel in with a detachable compensator with the latter often being a frustrating process to make it reliable. Instead of all those shenanigans, Sig Sauer instead decides to create two slide windows at the top of an oversized slide forward of the barrel and call it a compensator.
As an aside, I find this choice of an integrated compensator interesting from a legal perspective. With a couple states banning scary threaded barrels, this appears to skirt around the edges. How do y’all enjoy your popcorn? I’m just a plain salt kind of guy. Anyone who wants to flavor their popcorn I’m convinced just wants to see the world burn.
The slide+comp combo is the same slide that’s found on the Specter Comp minus the slide windows to the rear of the front sight. Those who are familiar with compensators know that comps don’t exactly reduce recoil, but simply redirect it. With the Macro’s comp this is no different.
Does the compensator work?
Yes.
Is it noticeably different from a standard 365XL?
Yes…but not in a dramatic way.
Will your controlled pairs be faster or easier?
Yes.
Will you miss it if you didn’t have it?
No.
Will the compensator suck to shoot indoors without ear protection in a defensive scenario?
Does shooting any gun with a short barrel and supersonic ammo without earpro suck? Does shooting any gun indoors without earpro suck? When your heart rate pops 200bpm and adrenaline is coursing through your body do you really think you’ll feel the difference between a comp’d and an uncomp’d gun? Honestly, I think this question is rather irrelevant.
$800 for a subcompact carry gun is enough to give most people pause when considering their EDC. Is spending the extra $300 over a standard P365 worth it? Well, if you were planning on throwing a compensator on your P365 anyway, I’d say yes. A new threaded barrel and a compensator is going to throw you back at least $200 and, for the uninitiated, you’d think that would be it. However there’s also the whole process of finding the right new recoil spring and what if you get that spring weight wrong and then there the shipping cost for the new springs (because good luck finding proprietary recoil springs in your LGS) and then all of the ammo testing those springs and probably being restricted to the specific weight that will cycle your new comp’d gun and…you get the picture. Sig Sauer saves you a ton of time and effort with this method of compensator. $300 extra for a sturdy grip, solid capacity mags, optic ready, real pic rail, and not having to deal with the *insert expletive of choice* that comes with throwing a compensator on a gun. Good value in my opinion.
Full disclosure? I like to consider myself an impartial reviewer who typically prefers Glocks. At the root of it though, gun is gun and gun is cool. I’m fairly lukewarm on Sig’s guns.
I was very prepared to not care for this gun. Sig Sauer is constantly pumping out new P365s for whatever flavor you’re looking to enjoy seven days a week, 365 (I just threw that in just for you, dads). I mean, look. This is legitimately what the P365 and P320 are designed for; ultimate modularity tailor made for your purpose. Now whether that’s so you’ll continue to buy their products and accessories or to enable you to make your pistol just the way you like it (like you likely already do for your AR)…well I’ll let you choose your ‘based’ opinion.
The Macro is for people who don’t like the smallest possible carry gun. Developing a firearm to bridge the gap between pocket pistol and ‘duty’ gun is nothing new. The Glock 19 specifically comes to mind. The Macro seems to be the best modern take of this concept. Do I see this replacing a full size pistol for LE or Military? Absolutely not, obviously. But to say that this gun couldn’t be flexed into that role for someone with a smaller grip would be disingenuous.
All in all, I think I’m more intrigued by the idea of the Macro than I like it. Not to say I don’t like it. Quite to the contrary, I do like the Macro, but not enough to move away from my Glock 43x or my 19 that’s customized the way I want it. I suspect a similar sentiment would be shared by many other gun owners who carry guns they already like. When people come looking for a carry gun and they don’t already have another full size pistol I almost always suggest a compact full size gun. It’ll take a light. It’ll take an optic. Plus, such guns are easier to control and typically more enjoyable to shoot. Which means that person is more likely to actually practice with that gun. The Macro accomplishes these same tasks, albeit in a smaller, but not too small package. A Glock 19 or a P320 X Compact are the duty pistols that can do ‘carry’.The Macro is the inverse of that; the ‘carry’ gun that can do ‘duty’. And I’ll find it hard not to recommend it.
The P365 Macro is nice…but not groundbreaking enough for you to replace your current EDC that you like. The Macro makes sense if you feel a 9mm in small gun has too much bark and you don’t care too much about printing. It’s an interesting take on the EDC gun and worth trying, but by no means a necessary take to shift towards. However, if you don’t currently own a pistol, I think the Sig Sauer P365 X Macro is probably one of the best options out there.