The Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous in Wyoming gave me a chance to check out a lot of new and upcoming guns and accessories. One of those was the new SIG P365-XF DH3. While it might be a surprise to a lot of folks, I had somehow never shot a P365 before this. As it turns out, I may have spoiled myself by shooting possibly the best version of it first.
SIG Sauer P365-XF DH3: Daniel Horner’s Competition Edge in a Carry-Size Package
The SIG Sauer P365-XF DH3 was developed in collaboration with renowned shooter and trainer Daniel Horner. SIG advertises it as bringing “elite-level competition performance” to a lightweight EDC platform. It builds on the proven and popular P365 foundation, then tweaks it based on Horner’s experience and expertise.
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The P365-XF DH3 is chambered in 9mm. That’s pretty standard P365 fare. It starts getting interesting with the 3.7-inch barrel. The barrel features a slide-integrated expansion chamber engineered to reduce muzzle rise and deliver faster, flatter follow-up shots.
In addition to the comp, the stainless steel slide has custom DH3 serrations, lightening cuts, and a Coyote Cerakote finish. The slide is optics-ready using SIG’s SIG-LOC compact footprint. It comes fitted with steel XRAY3 day/night sights.
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The P365-XF frame is a textured coyote polymer grip module equipped with a 1913 accessory rail and a removable magwell. Its frame comes with interchangeable small, medium, and large backstraps, which let shooters customize the grip to their hand. The XF uses a full-size grip frame and accepts 17 or 21-round magazines. However, you can also get sad 10-round magazines if you’re stuck behind enemy lines in a ban state.
The P365-XF DH3 is a competition-inspired package that is small enough for everyday carry yet capable of delivering big-gun performance. Online prices look to be averaging about $929.99 and up as of this writing.
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Trigger Time
I had a chance to run 6 mags through SIG’s range gun at the Rendezvous. Our range gun was fitted with a SIG Romeo-X Compact optic. The first thing I noted was that the grip frame is extremely comfortable. There’s plenty of room for a full hand grip. The texture is that “just right” balance of providing good traction without being overly aggressive.
The controls are easy to reach, and the straight trigger was smooth with a clean break. Recoil was quite pleasant, and the gun shoots amazingly flat thanks to the integral compensator. It wasn’t long ago that I wrote off compensators as a niche competition thing. As a result of shooting more over the past year, though, guns like the P365-FX have changed my mind on their practicality for everyday carry.
While we weren’t shooting groups from a bench, I was banging steel regularly out to 25 yards with it, including pulling head shots. Rapid follow-up shots were easy to keep on target thanks to the comfortable grip and compensator. The Romeo-X was a nice fit on the pistol.
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I did take some 50-yard shots as well. I got a few hits, and I don’t think a person would be happy with me shooting at them at that distance. With that said, my editor Joshua Swanagon, was getting regular hits at that range. The gun is definitely capable of it with the right shooter behind the trigger.
Worth a Closer Look
To sum things up, I know 6 mags isn’t a torture test. Likewise, it’s not even enough for a full coverage review, but it was enough to impress me. Even though I have other EDC pistols that I’m happy with, I may be giving a P365-FX DH3 a closer look anyway. The capacity, handling characteristics, and shootability definitely make it a winner.
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