Customizing the P365 for the ultimate Every Day Carry Weapon.
By James Hwang, Rainier Arms Auburn
My son has been around guns his whole childhood. As a father, I taught him about gun safety and boundaries while he was growing up, but he never actually went shooting; he just didn’t want to. When he turned 21, it was time that he learned how to shoot. My brother gave him a gift for graduation; go to Kansas and learn how to shoot. So he went and took some lessons at Rainier Arms Firearms Academy where he received excellent training from head instructor Don Smith. After a 10 day stay over at Wichita, and some lessons from the best gun range in Kansas, he came back with a solid foundation and was able to handle and shoot a firearm comfortably. What do you expect with excellent instruction from RAFA?
He was able to shoot a variety of guns, while there are excellent choices like the Glock 43x, HK CC9, and others, we settled on the Sig Sauer P365 X Macro Comp. The P365 is one of the most popular sub compacts in the industry but because of his large hands, he felt more comfortable with the bigger pistol grip of the X Macro. And the compensated slide of the Sig makes the recoil flatter and causes it to shoot like a bigger gun. And having a gun enthusiast for a parent, you know that we just couldn’t leave it alone. So here is the list of what we did to make him the ultimate EDC (for him).
Sights
Since the red dots have gotten popular on handguns, it has changed the learning curve on shooting the gun. It is just easier to aim, it’s like the Apple iPhone, simple and intuitive to use. We chose the Holosun 407 K due to the performance and features such as shake awake feature and battery performance. It is one of the best bangs for the buck red dots for the civilian shooter. The 407k fits and was easy to install and sight. While Rainier Arms carry many different options like Trijicon and Sig Sauer, Holosun was the one that he liked.
Holosun 407K with Green Reticle
One of the cool things about the P365 is that the gun is modular. It uses the P365 FCU, which is the trigger group, and you can change the slide, barrel or pistol group to make the gun feel and shoot whichever way that you want. We did look at Sharps Bros, Shalotek, as well as the Icarus. But ended up choosing the Macro Plus model from Mischief Machine Co. This adds weight for the better shot and can protect the hand in case of squibs. And let’s face it, it just feels great in your hand, and looks pretty dang cool as well.
Mischief Machine Co X Macro Plus Pistol Grip
Gas pedal
Gas pedals work, it adds stability and gives the fingers a place to be. And while grip modules like the Sharps bro grip module have built in gas pedals on each side, for your trigger finger and your forward thumb. The Mischief Machine does not have any built in. We decided to use Antimatter Wing system that attaches directly to the STREAMLIGHT TLR7 sub weapon light. It fits perfectly and adds a solid stable grip where your forward thumb has a place to add stability for a nice shooting grip. The Antimatter wing also folds flat so it will fit in holsters without having to make channels for the gas pedals.
STREAMLIGHT TLR-7 Sub with Antimatter Wing
We also followed up with a custom holster made at Rainier Arms in our custom holster department at the Auburn Store. These are molded directly to the gun itself and ensure a solid fit.
There you have it, the ultimate EDC build (for my son anyways). There are many other options that you can choose, but this was the one we liked. After a couple of sessions of practice, we can foresee tight groupings and comfortable carrying for any situation that may arise. We as parents pray that the gun will never be used, but as the saying goes, we pray for peace and prepare for war. All these things were purchased through Rainier Arms, Auburn, where we strive to be the premier EDC shop in the Northwest.
Final product
