Glock 43 vs Sig P365

A person looking for a slim, svelte carry gun is likely to weigh the Glock 43 vs Sig P365. Both are wildly popular these days and for good reason.

Both of these guns are eminently totable. You can conceal and carry them all day with ease and without anybody noticing. Both are easy to shoot and accurate to boot.

Glock 43 Vs Sig P365: From Austria With...Something

Glock took their time in getting to the single-stack subcompact party, but the Glock 43 was quickly recognized as a great example of the breed. If that's the gun you choose between the Glock 43 vs Sig P365, you'd hardly be making a bad choice.

Running down the tale of the tape, the Glock 43 makes for a very easy carrying BUG or as a primary CCW pistol that conceals with minimal effort.

Barrel length is 3.39 inches. This pint size Parabellum pistol stands 6.26 inches long by 4.25 inches tall, so it's big enough for most people to get something like a solid grip, and a mere 1 inch wide. It says 1 inch on paper, but given the contours of the gun it feels a lot thinner in the hand. Looking at the specs is one thing; handle one and you'll want the gun checked for anorexia.

The 18-oz unloaded weight isn't the lightest among this class of pistol, but that's plenty light enough to make daily carry incredibly easy.

The standard compliment is 6+1 of 9mm. Glocks are built to handle ammunition meeting SAAMI standards, so that means +P is okay...though probably not advisable, since it's a small gun (shooting +P will not be fun) and the standard pressure stuff works so well there's no real reason for it anyway. Besides, if you want a .357 Magnum, just buy a Ruger GP100 and do the darn thing right to begin with.

MSRP is $529, which isn't the cheapest (heck, the Shield can be found for almost $200 less on the right day) but you know you're getting a good gun for the money.

Glock 43 Vs Sig P365: This Swiss Don't Miss

The Sig P365 is the hot new thing these days, so plenty of people are going to want to get at that new boy if considering the Glock 43 vs Sig P365. There are a number of reasons for doing so, too.

Namely, 10+1 rounds of 9mm in a cleverly-designed magazine. The bottom is staggered but tapers to single-stack in the top, allowing the pistol to stay slim but get more rounds aboard than in comparable guns. Since the base of the magazine well is thinner than at the top, Sig changed their magazine design to get a bit more capacity. An extended magazine - costs extra, but you get a 10-rounder with a pinkie extension from the factory - brings capacity to 12+1, if you buy it from Sig.

The specs are right in line with the rest of the single-stack subcompact class. The P365 has a 3.1-inch barrel, with an overall length of 5.8 inches by 1 inch wide by 4.3 inches tall. It weighs a hair under 18 ounces unloaded, so it's light and very totable. It comes with Sig's XR3 day/night sights, which is a nice bonus. There's also a small accessory rail for a light. It's rated for +P, but whether you'd want to shoot it in such a small gun...is up to you.

Just like the Glock 43, the Sig P365 has a light striker trigger mechanism, but unlike the Glock comes with Sig Sauer's untabbed trigger. MSRP is $600, which is a bit steep but considering the features the gun has, that isn't as unreasonable as it seems at first glance.

Sig P365: Apparently Capacity Does Matter That Much

The Sig P365 is something of a swing back in a different direction. As it turns out, people still want to have as much capacity as possible without the pain of carrying a big double-stack gun.

Quite some time ago, what everyone wanted was MORE CAPACITY and darn the torpedoes. That was the age of the Wonder Nine, which hit its boiling point in the late 70s/early 80s. Granted, the whole thing got started with the Browning Hi Power back in the 1930s, which introduced the double-stack magazine. The Smith and Wesson Model 59 followed, with experimental models given to US special operations personnel in the 60s and commercial production beginning in 1971. A few years later, things REALLY got cooking with the Beretta 92 and the CZ 75, and the Sig Sauer P226 a few years after that.

In fact, that was the dogma for quite some time. If you wanted capacity, you needed a big gun. As more people in the American market wanted a smaller gun that was easier for concealed carry, smaller and smaller 9mm pistols became the norm, eventually culminating in the single-stack subcompact poly striker pistol segment.

The Sig P365, of course, was created because a lot of people have complained that they wished their small poly striker gun carried more ammunition aboard.

It's a weird conundrum, as - on the one hand - very, very, very few civilian-involved shootings (and actually not too many police shootings) involve more than a few shots being fired. On the other, nobody ever has wished they brought less ammo to a gunfight.

Sig Sauer, to their credit, did arrive at a very clever magazine design when they created the Sig P365. And as more pistols of this type emerge - true subcompacts with double-stack magazines and slim dimensions - they're just going to get more popular.

Glock 43 vs Sig P365 Side By Side

For a bit more of a visual comparison, here are the Glock 43 vs Sig P365, side by side.

Glock 43 vs Sig P365...Which Is Better?

The fact is that it just comes with more and better stuff. You get more rounds in a magazine. The sights are higher quality. The ergos are going to be better (at least for some people) because it doesn't have the aggressive rake of the Glock grip. It's rated for +P, even.

The Sig P365 also has a better trigger than the standard Glock 43. Granted, it isn't Series 70 1911 crisp; we're talking about a modern mass-market compact plastic fantastic and those do not have the best go-pedals for the most part. (Except for the Walther PPQSC and the HK VP9sk. Those triggers are fantastic.) What's more, everyone knows it. The Glock 43's trigger isn't the worst by a long stretch, however; it's just that it's a known thing with Glocks and other poly-striker guns. Then again, these aren't target pistols. They're working guns first and foremost.

The G43 can be equipped with magazine extensions, including +4 extensions that give it the same capacity as the stock P365. Yes, you get a longer grip but if you have issues concealing a Glock 43 then you probably are making some deeper errors. Stock sights on Glock pistols sure aren't great, so points to Sig on that front.

That said, capacity for a carry pistol is a sticky wicket. These are EDC, concealed carry guns. While no one wishes they'd brought less ammo to a fight, defensive shootings conclude quickly and with few shots fired. It is very rare indeed for a civilian using a gun in defense of their life to have to change a magazine while doing so. We're talking only a few instances occurring in a decade or two.

So those extra four rounds matter more at the range than in the real world. Granted, you have to decide whether that matters for yourself.

Another thing to consider is that the P365 is new, and the Glock 43 isn't. There are some reported teething problems out there, so you may want to wait a little bit to let the bugs get worked out. That's why you don't buy a new phone or car right away; you wait a year or so until any quirks get resolved.

That's the on-paper stuff. What will matter more is how they both feel to you. Get out and handle both of them, and shoot both if you can. The one that feels better and is more accurate for you is the one to get.

Have you shot these firearms? What did you like, and what didn't you?
Let us know in the comments below!

About The Author

Born in southeastern Washington State, Sam Hoober graduated in 2011 from Eastern Washington University. He resides in the great Inland Northwest, with his wife and child. His varied interests and hobbies include camping, fishing, hunting, and spending time at the gun range as often as possible.