Trey Veston
Member
I bought a P365 TacPac model last February after carefully considering it and the Hellcat. Both had their pros and cons, but the P365 won out mostly for the manual safety and the modularity of the design.
My dad really liked it and said he was going to buy one to replace his Ruger EC9s. But, when he came back from his winter home in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, he had a new Hellcat.
He and my mom were down at the lake cabin this weekend and invited me down for the day. So, I showed up with a G19 MOS that needed sighted in, and my P365. I also brought a box of 100 9mm reloads that weren't accurate in anything so far, so wanted to burn them up. Recipe was 147 grain RMR RNFP with Titegroup.
My dad said we should do an informal shootout between the two most popular micro pistols on the market and see what we think.
So, after getting the G19 sighted in at 25 yards and getting just over an inch group, we started checking out the micros.
Both pistols were extremely close in size with the Hellcat's 11 round magazine and the P365's 12-round magazine installed. Overall length went to the P365 by a 1/4".
Winner for size? P365.
Then we shot for groups at 25 yards. Now, I know that my P365 will do 2" at 25 yards with my carry ammo, which uses Hornady XTPs and Ramshot Silhouette powder. But today, both pistols had to use a load that sucked, which was more fair, I believe.
This was my first group ever shooting a Hellcat at 25 yards with a rest. Dad loaded 6 rounds instead of 5 for some reason...
We both agreed that the ammo was responsible for all of the flyers. We both had great sight pictures and trigger pulls, and still saw the bullets hit 4" off target. So, we agreed to let me shoot a group with both pistols and that would be the proofing target.
P365 group on the right, Hellcat group on the left. Winner; P365. Again, dad loaded 6 rounds into his magazine. He kept doing that, lol.
However, after getting the G19 dialed in, it turned in a barely over inch group, so... Winner, G19.
Then we set up 5 paper plates at 10 yards, loaded 5 rounds into the mag, and had to shoot all 5 targets within 5 seconds.
We did this with both the Hellcat and the P365, multiple times each.
First attempt, we both hit 1 plate out of 5. Pathetic. Then we slowly got better until ammo got low. The best was 4 out of 5 by my dad using the Hellcat.
Winner, Hellcat.
Then we each took a turn with the G19 and red dot for the heck of it. I got 4 out of 5 and dad got 4 out of 5. Winner, G19.
So, after a couple of hours in the hot sun shooting 3 of the most popular 9mm carry pistols of the last couple of years, we concluded that the G19 was the most accurate and shot the best at speed, but was a giant compared to the other two...
Also, the P365 and Hellcat are so close that choosing one or the other is a crapshoot. I liked the sights on the Hellcat more. I also found that the Hellcat pointed just a bit more naturally for me than the P365.
Both are great pistols, and shooting them side by side really highlighted just how close they are in every category.
My dad really liked it and said he was going to buy one to replace his Ruger EC9s. But, when he came back from his winter home in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, he had a new Hellcat.
He and my mom were down at the lake cabin this weekend and invited me down for the day. So, I showed up with a G19 MOS that needed sighted in, and my P365. I also brought a box of 100 9mm reloads that weren't accurate in anything so far, so wanted to burn them up. Recipe was 147 grain RMR RNFP with Titegroup.
My dad said we should do an informal shootout between the two most popular micro pistols on the market and see what we think.
So, after getting the G19 sighted in at 25 yards and getting just over an inch group, we started checking out the micros.
Both pistols were extremely close in size with the Hellcat's 11 round magazine and the P365's 12-round magazine installed. Overall length went to the P365 by a 1/4".
Winner for size? P365.
Then we shot for groups at 25 yards. Now, I know that my P365 will do 2" at 25 yards with my carry ammo, which uses Hornady XTPs and Ramshot Silhouette powder. But today, both pistols had to use a load that sucked, which was more fair, I believe.
This was my first group ever shooting a Hellcat at 25 yards with a rest. Dad loaded 6 rounds instead of 5 for some reason...
We both agreed that the ammo was responsible for all of the flyers. We both had great sight pictures and trigger pulls, and still saw the bullets hit 4" off target. So, we agreed to let me shoot a group with both pistols and that would be the proofing target.
P365 group on the right, Hellcat group on the left. Winner; P365. Again, dad loaded 6 rounds into his magazine. He kept doing that, lol.
However, after getting the G19 dialed in, it turned in a barely over inch group, so... Winner, G19.
Then we set up 5 paper plates at 10 yards, loaded 5 rounds into the mag, and had to shoot all 5 targets within 5 seconds.
We did this with both the Hellcat and the P365, multiple times each.
First attempt, we both hit 1 plate out of 5. Pathetic. Then we slowly got better until ammo got low. The best was 4 out of 5 by my dad using the Hellcat.
Winner, Hellcat.
Then we each took a turn with the G19 and red dot for the heck of it. I got 4 out of 5 and dad got 4 out of 5. Winner, G19.
So, after a couple of hours in the hot sun shooting 3 of the most popular 9mm carry pistols of the last couple of years, we concluded that the G19 was the most accurate and shot the best at speed, but was a giant compared to the other two...
Also, the P365 and Hellcat are so close that choosing one or the other is a crapshoot. I liked the sights on the Hellcat more. I also found that the Hellcat pointed just a bit more naturally for me than the P365.
Both are great pistols, and shooting them side by side really highlighted just how close they are in every category.
