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Arsenal review: Staccato C2 vs. G19 vs. P365XL vs. FNX 45

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  • clawmarks

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    Yes, I am aware these are all quite different than one another :)
    (but I figured it might be helpful for some people who are considering their options...)

    I went through a bunch of inventory prior to settling in on these 4, I'd be lying to say that I _need_ to have them, since 3 of the bunch can be all purpose (carry & home def).
    However, I feel that each of these is a very proficient tool, and I'd like to share my own insights/POV from an ownership and hands-on experience.

    (unnecessary?) Disclaimer
    The following post is my personal opinion only, it doesn't mean that I'm right about anything, or that I'm trying to talk down anything or anyone.
    Setup

    1. All of the pistols have red dot reticles mounted: RMR for the FNX45, RomeoZero for the P365XL and C2, Holosun 507 for the G19. I'm going to risk blaspheme and say that the Holosun is, in my opinion, the superior of the bunch. Several reticle configuration, shake awake, easy to extract battery without losing zero (sig, y like dis???), solar fail safe and cheaper than RMR. Is the RMR sexier? You bet it. Will the RMR survive a drop and is a more robust platform? Arguably yes. Do I lose sleep over it? lol no.

    2. I frequent the range and shoot these b2b often, so I have a fairly good sense of their comparable differences. I usually shoot at 15 yards, and mix in 10/20y routines from time to time. I'm far from being a superior marksman, but I'm not a bad one either.

    3. As the roster might hint - I like "all-rounder" pistols, tools I can both carry and utilize at home, with as little compromises as possible. I like the 9mm platform since I find it to be rather robust.

    4. For reference: My hands are XL in glove size.

    FNX 45
    The least versatile of the bunch. This is a pure home defense tool as far as I am concerned. Surprisingly, this fat boy doesn't kick as strongly as it looks.
    This is not the tactical version, since I do not like the threaded barrel for any of my pistols (not running suppressor/comp, don't like the extra length). I milled and cerakoted the slide for an RMR footprint, so it's tan with burnt copper upper - turned out nicer than the original tan over black scheme IMO.
    The FNX mounts a light/laser combo, since it's my zombie apocalypse pistol in case I run out of 12GA shells and 7.62 ammo XD

    G19
    There's a reason it's so popular, and the reason is: it's amazing. Easy to shoot, easy to carry, never fails and as consistent as they come. I got mine from a police officer that COD'ed the crap out of it: milled & cerakoted the slide to green/black camo with RMR footprint (it looks way better than the description), suppressor height sights ensure co-witnessing in case the holosun pulls an alibaba on me, stippled the grip and upgraded the trigger. This is a beast of a gun, and it's almost the best shooting piece out of the bunch (well, almost, you can probably guess which one is king).

    P365xl
    Performance-wise: this is by far the most surprising pistol I have ever shot, period.
    Although it has a tiny print, and although it looks subcompact which makes you think it's going to kick hard - the P365xl is an engineering miracle. They shoved 12 rounds into this narrow thing, and made it shoot well too. Kudos to sig, seriously. The RZero is definitely not my favorite sight engineering wise, but once you set it up it does what it needs to do, and I definitely like the fact it has a tiny print compared to the RMR/Holosun.

    Staccato C2 Carry DUO
    By far the most beautiful pistol I have (and in my humble opinion - one of the most beautiful pistol anyone can have, at least prior to mods) - but the nicer thing is: It shoots better than it looks, somehow. This is a laser gun, it feels like aimbot and every time I'm on the range I fear someone will ban me from the server since I'm obviously cheating. You now probably say: "Well, you have to say it's good to justify taking two mortgages to afford this thing" - but you're wrong, since I got this one as a present from a buddy I helped with something, ha! In all seriousness though - this is a beautiful piece of metal, my only gripe is that the barrel is silver instead of copper. Yes, I said it, I like copper barrels.
    Anyhow, I originally bought the RMR in order to mount on the C2, but after testing both the RMR and RZero I found the latter to be a nicer fit, especially for carry, and I opted to keep the Zero in.
    Unfortunately, and I hate to write it - the C2 has not been a reliable gun to own. I got it brand new and I take an extremely good care of my equipment, but I already had to send it twice to use their lifetime factory warranty: once for an error with the safety, now for an error with a recurring failure to extract. I wish that was not the case, since I like the company and their product, but it is what it is.

    --

    Reliability
    Other than the C2, the others are 10/10.
    The C2 definitely underwhelmed me with regards to reliability, any pistol should not have faults, but a $2,500 pistol should DEFINITELY not have faults.

    Carry-ability
    First - it's important to mention what I consider to be a good carry gun: Something that will make me forget I carry it, it shouldn't be heavy, it shouldn't print, and it shouldn't feel like a burden. I found that a pistol that feels like a burden, is a pistol that will find itself in the safe more often than not.
    The P365xl is definitely the king of the hill, this thing is so easy to carry - it makes the G19 look like an FNX.
    The G19 would be the follow-upper, it's a bit lighter than the C2 and is as reliable as it gets.
    The C2 is a close runner-up to the G19 from carrying perspective, but until they get their shit together reliability wise I'm not going to rely on it.
    The FNX is a great tool for when you want to beat someone up, but I wouldn't consider carrying it

    Shootability
    Similar to the carry-ability - this is also not a true competition. The C2 is on a different league.
    The G19 will be my 2nd choice, it's very ergonomic and easy to shoot.
    The P365xl follows, which is a huge surprise to me even as I'm writing these rows now. I think that being an easier-to-shoot compact compared to a really awesome full size pistol is a great achievement by Sig.
    The FNX45 is a close follow-upper.
    I should mention that all of these pistols are super easy to shoot compared to many other I've tried, it's not like the FNX is hard or whatever, it feels a bit like comparing a bunch of good german cars - one is going to win, but they're all a lot nicer than the common fiat.

    VFM
    Value for money is important, none of these is exceptionally cheap - but from the bunch it's extremely clear to me who's the worst and who's the best.
    The worst is obviously the Gloc- J/k, the Staccato. It's a beautiful laser gun, but as an actual every day tool it doesn't make any sense, even without considering the reliability issues - for an everyday use I don't believe I need a laser gun, my adversary isn't going to come at me from sniper-rifle distance, and I can handle the rest good enough.
    The best, I would argue, is the Sig. P365XL w/ RZero mounted can be found for a base price of the glock/FNX without the reticle. When you take into account the versatility, I think it's arguably one of the best VFM pistols on the market when all things are considered.

    My personal ranking?
    This is a tough one.
    Each of these is really good at something, and I really love them all.

    The last position has to be the FNX: It's tacticool, but it's not versatile - and therefore if I had to own only own one, this would have to be the first to get tossed away.

    2nd to last would have to be, and I hate to say it, the Staccato. I absolutely love this pistol, love would be an understatement - this is my favorite pistol of the bunch. It shoots amazingly well, it's sexy, it's cool, it's 'murica made and based close to home in my beloved Texas. I love it so much, I even put a sticker on my bike (like a child...) BUT - reliability issues are a huge no-no for something that is more than a range toy, and although I got it for free I do acknowledge that it's pricey AF, and would most likely not be able to pull the trigger had I had to buy it myself. I am proud to own it, I would most likely never ever sell it, but I can't rationally say it can be top ranked compared to the other 2 when I consider the full picture.

    Between the last two, I have to admit - it's a very tough choice for me.
    The G19 does it all really well, but the P365 is exceptionally good both carry and value wise.
    If I absolutely had to give up on one of them, it would be the ...
    ...
    ....
    The sig :(
    I love the P365xl, I think it's an amazing piece of engineering, and I absolutely love the fact the VFM is off the charts.
    I don't love the glock, it's so generic and common. Bah.
    However, from an all-rounder perspective, I hate to admit - it takes the crown. Emotionally I had hoped it won't be the winner (I'm writing this post without preparation, I wasn't even sure who's the winner prior to writing these lines) - but I must admit it is. It can serve ALL the necessary functions, it's extremely reliable, it's extremely easy to shoot, it's just a really good pistol. Dang it.

    Epilogue
    If you got all the way here, thank you for reading. I hope it was semi-interesting and perhaps, hopefully, slightly helpful.
    I'd love to hear what your thoughts / experiences are regarding these pistols, or others. I hope you won't make me by more guns though, I am already way past my original "I'll only get one to keep the fam safe" threshold...
    Lynx Defense
     

    Sam7sf

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    Thanks for the review. I agree with your choice and reasoning.

    I don’t own micro pistols anymore. I’m happy carrying the handgun that size wise fits between a g19 and a xd service length.
     

    Tblack89

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    I agree as well, especially on the holosun preference. I replaced the Romeo on my sig for the holosun. The clarity is amazing, very nice sights at reasonable cost compared to others.
     

    EZ-E

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    The 365XL is pretty nice, but the trigger feels mushy to me. I wanna like it but the trigger just turns me off. But even the Sig 320 Legion & Custom Shops are mushy too. The only other pistol close when CC is a concern is the Glock 43x with a Shield Arms 15rd mag & I'm not even a Glock guy....lol.
     

    Brains

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    I've been eyeballing a 365XL, but I need to try one before I buy it. Disappointing to hear about reliability issues on a high dollar gun, that would severely chap my ass if I weren't a cheap SOB who only buys sub 1k stuff lol.
     

    Tblack89

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    The 365XL is pretty nice, but the trigger feels mushy to me. I wanna like it but the trigger just turns me off. But even the Sig 320 Legion & Custom Shops are mushy too. The only other pistol close when CC is a concern is the Glock 43x with a Shield Arms 15rd mag & I'm not even a Glock guy....lol.
    The 43x just feels nice in the hand though. I prefer the feel over my 365x.
     

    Sam7sf

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    I guess the 365 has a mushy trigger but the wall is nice. A Glock second gen would feel like this. Mushy but a nice trigger. Xd’s feel like that.

    A handgun that would surprise y’all for a light feeling trigger with no mushy feel is a ruger sr9 with its mag safety removed.

    Then I would say a steyr m9. Very nice trigger.
     

    Brains

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    I guess the 365 has a mushy trigger but the wall is nice. A Glock second gen would feel like this. Mushy but a nice trigger. Xd’s feel like that.

    A handgun that would surprise y’all for a light feeling trigger with no mushy feel is a ruger sr9 with its mag safety removed.

    Then I would say a steyr m9. Very nice trigger.
    Hmm ... Never tried removing the mag safety on mine, might see what that's like.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    The 365XL is pretty nice, but the trigger feels mushy to me. I wanna like it but the trigger just turns me off. But even the Sig 320 Legion & Custom Shops are mushy too. The only other pistol close when CC is a concern is the Glock 43x with a Shield Arms 15rd mag & I'm not even a Glock guy....lol.

    You might try out a S&W Shield Plus. Best production striker trigger I’ve pulled and ergos fit my hand better than the P365/XL.

    You know me, WC X9 is the standard.
     

    robertc1024

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    You might try out a S&W Shield Plus. Best production striker trigger I’ve pulled and ergos fit my hand better than the P365/XL.

    You know me, WC X9 is the standard.
    Hmm - That's interesting to hear. I've had a P365XL on my short list for a while - might need to look more carefully at the Shield Plus.
     

    EZ-E

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    You might try out a S&W Shield Plus. Best production striker trigger I’ve pulled and ergos fit my hand better than the P365/XL.

    You know me, WC X9 is the standard.


    Smith did a great job on the M&Ps. If you get a chance to finger bang, the CORE PRO SERIES & the CUSTOM SHOP M&P triggers are pretty damn good.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    Smith did a great job on the M&Ps. If you get a chance to finger bang, the CORE PRO SERIES & the CUSTOM SHOP M&P triggers are pretty damn good.

    I agree. This is on my real short list

    6d52346f294775e810a069ac82315f2a.jpg


    If there’s a good promo around 4th of July, I’m going to have to make it happen.
     

    clawmarks

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    M&p shield made a good impression on me when I tried it in the past.

    The 365xl has mushiness, but wall is solid and so is the reset - for me at least.

    This post is making me think of getting a shadow systems mr920. But I don't really want to give up on any of my pistols, and I'm already way past the logical amount so getting another one feels like plain hoarding.

    Then again, if the g19 is indeed my top pick all things considered, why shouldn't I do it?

    Why did I get into this gun thing, dang it!
     

    Sam7sf

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    M&p shield made a good impression on me when I tried it in the past.

    The 365xl has mushiness, but wall is solid and so is the reset - for me at least.

    This post is making me think of getting a shadow systems mr920. But I don't really want to give up on any of my pistols, and I'm already way past the logical amount so getting another one feels like plain hoarding.

    Then again, if the g19 is indeed my top pick all things considered, why shouldn't I do it?

    Why did I get into this gun thing, dang it!
    Ain’t nothing wrong with a g19. It’s been a solid carry option for a long time.
     

    rmantoo

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    While I love 2011s, no way that one which has twice needed work would rank above the other 3 in my personal EDC evaluation. And while any firearm can break, for me the odds of having 2 major breakages on the same firearm countermand’s my personal reliability requirement.

    If you love the C2, I’d sell it and get another…honestly, I’d sell it and get an EdcX9 or an SVI (the S is Strayer, who was the S in STI before he broke off to start his own firm).

    I can’t argue with any of the other rankings… they’re all solid guns.

    I love my p365 (not xl). Over 1000 rounds through it so far and not a single malfunction. Mine now has a Mystic Machine aluminum frame and a 507k. I can’t say enough good things about this pistol.

    G19s and FNXs are both solid pistols.

    None of these 3 have the “glass breaking “ trigger feel of a good 1911/2011, but they all have the advantage of true mass production; I’d bet they are 100s of each of these built and sold for every C2. Maybe 1000s.
     
    Last edited:

    clawmarks

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    Good point @rmantoo , I'm going to ask staccato to consider replacing it.

    Anyhow it's been downgraded from my go-to nightstand piece to range queen, if it'll go through 500+ rounds free of b/s I'll consider changing. Glock or mr920 will fill in.
     
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