Sig Sauer’s 365 X Macro vs Sig’s 365-.380
It’s Joe’s birthday. What does he want?
Oh. You guessed. Another gun. Another hammer-fired gun. Specifically, he wants the Sig Sauer 229 which is also called the M11-A1. Now, remember, Joe and I have had a friendly running competition about which is better: the striker-fired gun or the hammer-fired gun.
“1911s have the best triggers and they are hammer guns,” Joe maintains.
Well, a good trigger isn’t everything. And plenty of striker-fired guns have very nice triggers.
But, even though I took him to the dark side (hey Joe, what about that Sig Sauer 320 you like so much? Hmm?), Joe wants that Sig 229. After all, it’s the compact version of the Sig 226. He has the Sig 226 already.
The 226 is lonely. We want to keep the family together, right?
Joe reminds me that the 226 has a great grip for his big hands. He says it’s accurate. It has a smooth trigger with a short reset for rapid firing. And it holds 17 rounds. The 229 comes with three 15-round magazines.
So we just happen to be nosing around one of our local gun stores. What do we see? And just before Joe’s birthday?
There it is. The Sig Sauer 229. He wants it.
Ho hum. Another hammer gun.
Joe and I have made a deal. If one of us wants to purchase a gun, we have to give up one that we already have. This way we save money and we don’t stockpile.
Once we decide which handgun we are willing to give up, we strike a deal with the owner of the gun shop. We give him our gun and some money, and we get the new Sig.
Happy birthday to Joe!
The Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) range has been closed for training recently, and we missed a couple of our usual Wednesday morning practices. Since we missed our range time, we somehow manage to find our way to another local gun shop.
“You want this,” says the owner, and places a gun in front of me.
“It’s a hammer-fired gun,” I think. “Why is he showing this to me? I like striker-fired guns!”
I pick it up. It’s a 9mm. I like 9mm handguns.
It’s slim. Nice.
Heavy. My hand sinks firmly into the beavertail. Now it feels like part of my hand.
Wow. A slim grip safety. Doesn’t make the grip seem fatter.
Fiber optic orange front sight. You can really see this sight.
And then I look at the muzzle.
“Joe, you got to see this heavy barrel! I bet this thing hardly moves in your hand when you fire; it’s such a sturdy barrel. See? It’s much thicker than the barrel on any these other handguns.”
I hand the Springfield Ronin to Joe.
“It fits my small hand perfectly,” I whisper in awe.
Joe grins. “It’s a hammer-fired gun,” he says smugly. “Are you saying you want a hammer-fired gun? And did you know this is a scaled-down version of the 1911s?”
A 1911? I don’t care for them. However, I drop the magazine and yank the slide. Whoops! It slips right backwards. I pull the trigger.
Oh, no. It’s the shortest, lightest trigger of any gun I’ve ever shot. Wow.
“Hammer gun,” Joe gloats in my ear. “So, which gun are we going to give up to get this one?”
We decide. Just like we did with Joe’s birthday Sig Sauer 229, we make a deal with the owner. We hand over one of our (cleaned) guns and some cash. The gun store owner is happy and we’re happy.
Then, on Saturday, we meet Tam at the WCSO range. Tam’s a newbie. She has come out a handful of times. I watch her shoot her semi-automatics. She plants her feet. She remembers not to cross her thumbs behind the slide. She aims.
Blam! Blam! Blam! Every shot hits the 8-inch target. I’m impressed.
She comes over to me.
“What are you shooting?” she wonders.
“We’re comparing the Sig Sauer 229 and the Springfield Ronin. They are both 9mm guns. Would you like to compare them with us?”
“Sure!” She’s game. Since she has been doing so well and has remembered range safety rules, I’m confident she will have no trouble shooting these new handguns.
These guns are similar in that they are both compact. While Ronin weighs 30.4 ounces unloaded, Sig weighs 29.6 ounces.
Ronin’s barrel is 4.25 inches and Sig’s is 3.9.
Ronin’s length is 7.9 inches and Sig’s is 7.1.
Ronin’s height is 5.5 inches and Sig’s is 5.4 inches.
So, Ronin is a little longer, has a longer barrel, is a smidge taller and is slightly heavier.
A major difference is that Ronin is much sleeker at 1.18 inches wide, and Sig is 1.5 inches.
Ronin comes with a 9-round magazine and Sig comes with three 15-round mags.
Ronin is single action only and Sig is double action/single action. Ronin has a grip and thumb safety. Sig does not have a safety, but trigger pull in double action is 10 pounds. That’s hefty enough to make the first shot a very deliberate and not an accidental one.
First, Tam and I shoot the 229. On a 1-5 scale, with 1 being the easiest and 5 the hardest, we rate difficulty of trigger pull a 2. It’s light and easy.
We both think the distance of trigger travel to be fairly long, even though the pull is light. We give travel a 3.
We agree the recoil is fairly sturdy. We give recoil a 3.
The slide is fairly easy. It gets a 2.
Grip? The grip is a little fat for our hands. We are hitting the target, but not in tight groups. That could be because of the fat grip.
Joe, with his large hands, finds different results. He is hitting the target in nice groups. He finds the trigger to be lighter and with less travel than Tam and I do.
He doesn’t mind the recoil. He gives recoil a 1.5.
He finds the slide easy to rack, and gives it a 1.
Overall, Joe is shooting the Sig with greater ease and more accurately than Tam and I do. Again, I’d say this is because the grip is really too wide for us with our small hands.
And the wind is probably blowing just as Tam and I shoot.
The Ronin is much easier for Tam and me. Trigger pull is light and has practically no travel. Kick is a 2, instead of 3 for the Sig.
Ronin’s slide is easier for us. We give it a 1.
We both prefer the smaller grip, and that is probably why we both get bullseyes with the Ronin.
Joe agrees with us in that he likes the trigger pull and the short travel. He finds the kick to be easy too. Racking the slide is very easy for him as well.
Joe doesn’t like the grip as well as Tam and I do. It’s a bit too narrow for him. This is probably why he isn’t shooting tight groups, although all rounds hit the target.
We’ve all come to the opinion that while both guns are easy shooters, grip seems to make a difference in accuracy.
When Joe and I return home at night, we weigh trigger pull on both guns using the Lyman Digital Trigger Pull Gauge.
This Ronin’s trigger pull is 4.12 pounds, and the Sig is 5.5 pounds (in Single Action). Easy.
Joe and I are happy with having traded guns to get the Springfield Ronin and the Sig Sauer 229.
“They’re both hammer guns,” says Joe with great satisfaction.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.
