The Sig P365 XL has grown into one of the top-selling guns online, competing with the giants like a Glock 19 Gen 5 and the Glock 43X. For me Sig and Glock are Mercedes and BMW; both are great, but we each have our preference (BMW).
The Sig P365 XL has become a must-have for CCW owners who are looking for a more unique experience than a Glock or Ruger.
As you could imagine, barrel threading for compatibility with a muzzle brake or suppressor is a highly complex job and takes precise machinery.
When I think of SIG as a company, precision, and attention to detail are some of the first characteristics that I think of. The last thing you want to do is put a subpar attachment on a Sig. Faxon Firearms is a company I’ve followed closely after I shot their gold fluted P365XL threaded barrel.
The craftsmanship of a Faxon P365XL threaded barrel matches the quality you’ve come to expect from a SIG SAUER P365XL.
What is the difference between P365 and P365 XL?
Sig Sauer is one of the best and most prestigious gun manufacturers in the world, with decades of excellence to boast. I may own more Glocks than Sig, but the P365XL is one of my favorite for its use as a CCW and EDC pistol.
The P365 XL is 0.6" longer in the barrel and overall length but maintains the width and height of the P365. Naturally, the P365 XL has a longer line of sight than the P365 by 0.7" for a clear advantage in accuracy and control of the muzzle.
One of the many significant features of the Sig P365 (XL) is they’re both optics-ready for quick and easy installation of an RDS. Sig has this clear advantage over Glock because Glocks are only optics-ready for their MOS models.
Everyone has their preferences, but I’d choose the P365 XL over the P365 because the 0.6" in the barrel and overall length offer more control with noticeably less muzzle flip. However, if weight is your overall concern when deciding which CCW you’d like, then the P365 will be a better option.
Barrel fluting has risen in popularity over the last decade because of the advantages it provides shooters. If you’ve never heard of barrel fluting, it has nothing to do with a musical instrument. Fluting is the process of milling sections of the exterior of the barrel away in a concentric pattern. Barrel fluting is not only common for heavy machine guns, ARs, and military sniper rifles, but also in pistols.
There are 4 types of fluting, such as straight fluting, spiral fluting, bear claw fluting, and diamond fluting. For the purpose of this blog, I’d like to stick with straight fluting because it’s the most common for pistols.
What Are The Benefits of a Fluted Barrel?
The first time I saw a fluted barrel on a pistol, I was instantly worried about the integrity of the barrel with part of it cut out. However, I learned that if professional gunsmiths do the machining right, fluting has no negative impact on the integrity of the barrel.
Benefits of a Fluted Barrel
Weight Reduction
Milling out portions of the metal on the outside of the barrel reduces the weight of the barrel. It may seem negligible on pistols, but you’ll notice a difference in weight when the pistol is in your hands.
Heat Dissipation
Because of fluting, the barrel has less mass, meaning there is less metal to cool down after I fire each shot. Fluted barrels offer better heat dissipation than non-fluted barrels.
Improved Accuracy
A fluted barrel is lighter, so it’s easier to hold steady while firing, thus improving your accuracy.
Aesthetics
I really like the spiral fluting or diamond fluting, but fluted barrels always look better and cooler than non-fluted barrels.
What is a Threaded Barrel?
A threaded barrel has distinct threads cut into the end of the barrel for weapon accessories, such as a suppressor or flash hider. You can thread your own barrels with the right equipment, but if you’ve never heard of words like baffle, tap, and die set, or have never used a lathe, bring your pistol to a gunsmith. Gunsmiths are like any other type of professional, with some being great and others not so great.
What’s The Point of a Threaded Barrel?
A threaded barrel can attach a flash hider, sound suppressor, and a compensator for more control and accuracy. Many modern rifle barrels come with threaded barrels, but it’s not as common for pistols (yet).
A threaded barrel gives the gun owner added versatility to reduce the muzzle flash signature to make it harder for your enemies to see where the shot is coming from. A silencer gives owners the ability to stealth during CQB operations. Besides being able to reduce your signature, many muzzle devices provide added stability and reduce muzzle flip, which increases your overall accuracy.
I’m often surprised at this question, but I understand people in extremely liberal states like California and Massachusetts have incredibly strict gun laws. For example, California can have threaded barrels, but not on pistols with a detachable magazine above 10 rounds. What makes it even crazier for me is that if you can have a threaded barrel on a pistol, it has to be registered as an Assault Weapon.
In most other states across the country, there is nothing illegal about having a threaded barrel on a pistol. With a family full of Virginia State Troopers and Sheriff’s Deputies, they tell me there are way bigger fish to fry than to worry about if someone has a threaded barrel or not.
Are Threaded Barrels More Accurate?
It’s funny when companies try to tell me that having a threaded barrel is more accurate than a non-threaded barrel. It can be more accurate, but it needs an attachment like a muzzle brake (Compensator) or silencer to reduce the recoil, muzzle-flip, and flash signature. However, without an attachment on a threaded barrel, I don’t see any way it would make it better than a non-threaded barrel.
What Are the Benefits of a Threaded Barrel?
The benefits of a threaded barrel come with the attachments you install. You can expect to shoot better in low-light conditions with a muzzle brake or silencer because the flash will be reduced to avoid distortion of your target.
Shooting with a compensator allows me to significantly improve my follow-up shot accuracy by reducing the muzzle flip and recoil by more than half. The benefits of a threaded barrel are worth the cost, but meticulous engineers must do it right to avoid catastrophic injury.
What is Titanium Nitride (TiN) PVD Coating?
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating is one of the most advanced barrel finishing techniques used in the gun industry today. PVD can be done with many materials, such as titanium nitride (TiN), copper, zirconium, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and gold.
Faxon Firearms use titanium nitride to coat their barrels to ensure the highest level of protection for their barrels. The TiN finish provides an almost indestructible coating on the barrel. It significantly increases the overall rigidity to provide enough strength to handle any drop or contact with other metal without marring the finish of the barrel.
Faxon barrels have a low coefficient of friction, meaning the barrel is smooth and allows the bullet to exit the barrel without friction. This provides better accuracy and less wear and tear over the years.
As most know by now, titanium has incredible corrosion resistance that can handle any weather or environmental condition we have on our planet. Not only will it repel any water or moisture, but it will also protect your barrel from scratches if you drop the gun or hit it against a tree while walking through the wilderness.
What is The Best P365XL Threaded Barrel?
Faxon creates some incredibly unique and aesthetically beautiful barrels for the Sig P365 (XL). My favorite is the fluted, threaded, Chameleon Titanium Nitride drop-in barrel. The muzzle thread is ½-28 TPI, which is the universal standard for 9mm muzzle threading. The Chameleon PVD finish results in one of the most durable and long-lasting barrels I’ve ever shot with.
Faxon uses the highly processed and stress-relieved 416-R stainless steel with an 11-degree target crown for an exact match for the Sig P365 XL.
This level of precision from Faxon allows me to simply take out my stock barrel and drop the Chameleon barrel in with no additional gunsmithing needed!
There is no point in owning a top-shelf threaded barrel if you’re not going to at least rock a compensator on it. The Faxon Exos-525 Sig 365 (XL) compensator is uniquely built with an added port at the top of the compensator to allow the gas to escape up and to the sides, instead of just side ports.
The added port of the compensator significantly improves control of the pistol by reducing the felt recoil and muzzle flip. The design of the Faxon EXOS-525 is optimized with Faxon barrels. For example, an aftermarket Faxon P365 barrel will sit flush with the compensator for a perfect custom fit.
Faxon uses heavy-duty 6061 stainless steel for the housing to ensure the compensator is as durable as possible to avoid wear and tear. If you’re looking to improve your accuracy with an attachment, the EXOS compensator eliminates most felt-recoil for quick, accurate, follow-up shots while maintaining my sights on the target. Even shooting with a silencer doesn’t provide the same recoil reduction as a compensator does.
The Odessa-9 from Dead Air Armament might be more than the actual P365 (XL), but it’s worth every penny if you’re looking for a safe, reliable, and high-performance silencer. Most shooters don’t use silencers as often as they’d use a compensator or an RDS, but it doesn’t mean you should buy a cheaper silencer attachment.
My biggest issue with silencers is they’re too long, too short, or force me to change my sights for a raised iron sight or an RDS. Silencers that are too short provide little noise reduction and silencers that are too long throw off the balance of the pistol. Plus, if I’m using a 10"-12" silencer, I mine as well use an SBR or AR-Pistol and gain power, distance, and capacity.
Dead Air Armament Odessa-9 Silencer
The Odessa-9 mates perfectly with the Sig P365XL threaded barrel from Faxon Firearms. As perfectly as the Odessa-9 fits on the Sig P65 XL, it’s still difficult to spend almost $700 on a weapon attachment that won’t last as long as the gun.
So, what makes the Odessa-9 worth the price tag?
The Odessa-9 is one of the few 100% modular silencers in the market with up to 10 different baffles for more (or less) noise reduction. The Dead Air Odessa-9 silencer answered all the problems that I’ve had with silencers. Having the ability to change the baffles out to make the silencer smaller or longer, depending on my purpose and desire to reduce noise.
As most shooters know, the standard handedness is a right-handed (RH) twist rate for barrel threads and other attachment threading for guns. The Faxon Chameleon P365XL threaded barrel is an RH 1:10 twist, and the Odessa-9 is an LH twist rate. I’ve noticed with my small threading (1/2 x 28) attaching opposite threading secures my attachments better than using an RH attachment on an RH barrel.
Using all 10 baffles on the Odessa-9 reduces the noise to 122 dB with the HUSH subsonic ammo. It’s amazing anytime I can shoot a pistol and not worry about hearing protection because the 9mm Sig sounds like an air gun. I know it’s expensive, but there is no other silencer I can find that is more fit for Faxon threaded barrels and the Sig P365 XL.
Conclusion
Everything about the Faxon P365XL threaded barrel is awesome. Fit and finish are great and shot groups are tighter. Match Series drop-in barrels for P365 and P365XL are available now on the Faxon Firearms website!
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