A couple of weeks ago I made my mind up that I was going to retire my Sig p365XL and jump over to a Glock 43x. This week all of my accessories arrived and I ran to the range to test fire, zero the dot, and do some drills.

Why switch away from the Sig?

Between Sig’s corporate fuckery, the p320’s stacking failures, and the reports of trigger return spring and extractor breakages from guys like Mickey Schuch (Carry Trainer) and Rhett N. (Demonstrated Concepts), I just had a gut feeling I should make a lateral switch over to a similarly sized gun. I was looking for a similar capacity, dot capable, with a longer maintenance interval. So I settled on the 43x MOS.

One of Mickey’s posts on the 365 https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16bGTrev74

Side By Side

As you can see in the photos, the Glock is a couple ounces lighter and not as tall as the 365xl with factory 15 round mag. So far, so good.

Accessories

As far as the optic, I really didn’t want to mess with adapter plates on the MOS. I had a chat with Mike B. at Gideon Optics and he recommended their fully enclosed Valor Mini (RMSc footprint) which directly mounts to the slide with no plate. It’s also my first fully enclosed dot, which I look forward to trying. I get a lot of dirt and bellybutton lint in my open emitter guns when they ride in my fanny pack.

I really like the layout of the dot, and the side machining makes a good place to pinch the dot to run the slide. Obviously with only a few hundred rounds on the gun I can’t speak to longevity, but I’m hopeful. Note that the window is a bit larger than the Holosun 507k on the right, for what it’s worth.

I went with a Henry Holster “Flint” for my AIWB holster. I’ve been strictly a PHLster, DarkStar Gear, and Zulu Bravo Kydex customer for the last 10 years or so. I wanted to try this one just to see how it does. I really like that it includes a DCC monoblock clip and modwing as standard features. I’m sure it’ll be just fine.

I added a Talon Grips wrap in “rubber” texture just to get a little more purchase and add just the slightest amount of girth to the grip. I’m a fan.

The 15 round magazines from Palmetto State Armory really pushed me over the edge to switch. I carefully watched the growing pains of the Shield Arms 15 rounders and wasn’t in love with the idea of switching mag releases to a metal one. Well, PSA makes these nifty 15 rounders with a polymer sheath along the front that won’t chew up your polymer mag catch. I got 3 of the black ones and 1 of the slick finish ones. I put about 300 rounds through those 4 today, and they all fed and ejected reliably. I also really like the baseplate, which flares on the lateral edges, making stripping stuck mags a bit easier. So far, I dig them.

I’m going to swap to some steel sights, just because it makes me more comfortable. Then it’s good to go in my book.

Shooting Impressions

Today I shot about 300 rounds of remanufactured 115gn stuff and a couple mags of my carry ammo (Federal 147gn HST). No issues at all. Trigger is standard Glock weight at about 5-6 lbs, which I’m good with. After zeroing the dot, I was primarily working on “predictive shooting” and associated drills, as Ben Stoeger defines it, to make sure I could get a repeatable grip and dot return.

Once again I’m reminded of something Yeager said about guns that ‘feel good’ in the hand at the gun counter versus Glocks that feel ‘rectangular’. When you’re trying to build your grip and shoot fast, it seems helpful to have edges on the grip that allow more feedback to your hand so you know you’re in the right spot and applying the right tension. Don’t trust the gun counter fingerbang. It might be lying. In contrast, the 365 with Wilson grip module (which I really liked) lacks edges in the same way which didn’t provide the same feedback while building grip and riding recoil. I digress.

I also worked Bill Drills, and target transitions by aiming at the next lanes target, and on the beep moving my eyes and trying to let the dot arrive on the A-zone to break the shots. Finished with some one handed stuff and called it.

That’s mostly boring, but it was a good day of shooting and I am pleased with the new gun.

Fanny Pack Setup

It wouldn’t be a GuG post without mentioning a fanny pack. I bought the cheapest holster I could find on Amazon to repurpose as a dedicated FP setup. It turned out to be a Blackhawk A.R.C. Luckily it comes unassembled which allowed for easy application of Velcro to mate to my Shield Arms Junk Sack (still my favorite fanny pack). I like holster bodies more than trigger covers just because it keeps the gun better indexed in the bag.

Thanks for reading!