Springfield Armory's new P365 clone (aka Hellcat)

[Chucktshoes]

Soooooo...I happened to be posted up at the Love’s across the street from The Outpost Armory tonight. I wandered over there to see if they had one so I could get my hands on it and see what it felt like. 
 

I shouldn’t have done that. I went and I did a thing. 
 

[quedz]

Nice, looking forward to your review...

[Chucktshoes]

If you were wondering how Sig reacted about the Hellcat...

 

https://streamable.com/e57h0

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Chucktshoes

[DaveTN]

16 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

If you were wondering how Sig reacted about the Hellcat...

Ha, Ha, that’s funny. 

 

 

Funny that anyone would want an HS Produkt over a Sig. 

[KahrMan]

To the company that did "Grip Zone"...

[Trekbike]

21 minutes ago, KahrMan said:

To the company that did "Grip Zone"...

Yeah sometime the folks in the marketing dept at SA make me wonder.     Not that it would be a deciding purchase factor since I'm happy with my P365, but I'm not fond of the name Hellcat.   

[Chucktshoes]

Managed to score a quick range trip yesterday. Only got to run 100 rounds total through it, and let my friend shoot it as well, but here are my first impressions. 

It’s got an excellent trigger. Heavier than I generally prefer, but I’m also pretty spoiled by my light Apex triggers. It’s not spongy or gritty, just smooth take up to a hard wall where it breaks cleanly. The reset is very audible and tactile. 

I can pocket this gun. In reasonable pants with reasonable pockets, this gun can ride in a pocket without an excessive bulge or print. To me that’s a big deal for 12rds of 9mm. 

My POI was reliably to the left of POA, and a couple of guns that went out were believed to have slightly off center rear sights. That’s not the case here, it’s all me. During some dry fire later on I was able to see where I was pushing it to the left during trigger pull. All of my other pistols have larger grips, so I imagine it will correct easily enough with some practice and slight adjustments to my grip. (I blame this on not having a Grip Zone)

Overall, it does feel really good in the hands. The grip texture is gentle enough to light touch, but does get more aggressive when firmly held for firing.

I quite like that U-notch sight. The yellowish-green front sight picks up very quickly in the U-notch. They are steel and stand up tall enough to catch on a pocket or belt for a 1 handed rack of the slide. Mine is the OSP model, so I understand that the sights are slightly taller to facilitate co-witnessing when the optic is installed. 

I’m really liking it so far and as long as it remains reliable, it has a very high chance of becoming a primary carry gun while still serving as a backup if I am rolling with a bigger gun. 

[DaveTN]

1 minute ago, Trekbike said:

I'm not fond of the name Hellcat.   

I absolutely would be if it had “Dodge” in front of it.

[Trekbike]

On 11/2/2019 at 8:43 PM, Chucktshoes said:

Soooooo...I happened to be posted up at the Love’s across the street from The Outpost Armory tonight. I wandered over there to see if they had one so I could get my hands on it and see what it felt like. 

I shouldn’t have done that. I went and I did a thing. 
 

Yeah, that "just looking" intent turns into a purchase about 75% of the time on most items, about 90% of the time firearms are involved...

[DaveTN]

4 minutes ago, Trekbike said:

Yeah, that "just looking" intent turns into a purchase about 75% of the time on most items, about 90% of the time firearms are involved...

When my wife told me she wanted to “Go look at” Doberman puppies. I said “No one goes and looks at puppies”; you go buy puppies. Same thing for me with guns.

[Trekbike]

4 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

I absolutely would be if it had “Dodge” in front of it.

I would agree that's a more appropriate use of the name.   

[Chucktshoes]

7 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

I absolutely would be if it had “Dodge” in front of it.

Ha! Hellcat on the gun doesn’t bother me, but any car with Dodge on it gets a hard no. 

[DaveTN]

9 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

Ha! Hellcat on the gun doesn’t bother me, but any car with Dodge on it gets a hard no. 

 BS! that’s fake news, you sound like Adam Schiff. If you had a chance to get your hands on a Dodge Charger or Challenger Hellcat, you would be grinning ear to ear. Any man would. The only ones that say they wouldn’t are those that are sad because they know it will never happen to them; because they just aren’t cool enough.

[Chucktshoes]

4 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

 BS! that’s fake news, you sound like Adam Schiff. If you had a chance to get your hands on a Dodge Charger or Challenger Hellcat, you would be grinning ear to ear. Any man would. The only ones that say they wouldn’t are those that are sad because they know it will never happen to them; because they just aren’t cool enough.

I’m sure they’d be fun for a drive, but I wouldn’t own one. I watched my dad own a succession of 6 Dodges over about 15 years. From sedans, to sport coupes to pickups and not a single one of them (including the Charger) had a transmission that was worth a damn. They all had major tranny problems within 2-3 years. He drives a GMC Sierra and a Mustang GT now. They both have been working just fine longer than any of his Dodges. 
 

Some folks learn from their own mistakes, I try to also learn from the mistakes of others. When MOPAR = NO CAR because the damn things break down, you can keep that garbage. 

 

[DaveTN]

Dang man, that's harsh. Now my feelings are hurt. 

[Capbyrd]

40 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

In reasonable pants with reasonable pockets, this gun can ride in a pocket without an excessive bulge or print. To me that’s a big deal for 12rds of 9mm. 

You are going to have to quantify that statement.  You regularly wear pants from the women's section.  
 

 

[Chucktshoes]

4 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Dang man, that's harsh. Now my feelings are hurt. 

As long as you weren’t involved in the design or manufacture of their trannys, don’t take it personal. 

Now, if you were..well...I don’t know what to tell you other than “if the shoe fits...”

[Chucktshoes]

6 minutes ago, Capbyrd said:

You are going to have to quantify that statement.  You regularly wear pants from the women's section.  
 

 

Yeah, I can’t even pocket carry an LCP in skinny jeans, so nope. That’s what appendix carry is for. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Chucktshoes

[quedz]

1 hour ago, Chucktshoes said:

My POI was reliably to the left of POA

Same problem for me recently with my G42. I ended up correcting POI by using less gun hand grip pressure and more with my support hand.

[Chucktshoes]

21 minutes ago, hughd said:

Same problem for me recently with my G42. I ended up correcting POI by using less gun hand grip pressure and more with my support hand.

Something I’ve also noticed is that the trigger shape may have played into it as well. This gun is my first with the Glock-style dongle in the center. It’s probably my least favorite feature of the gun. It also slopes on either side of the dongle and those slopes are ridged. I realized that I was indexing the pad of my trigger finger there and against the dongle instead of centered and on top of it. When I pulled the trigger I was actually pushing slightly left instead pulling straight to the rear.  Next range trip will see if that fixes the issue or if more changes need to be made. 
 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Chucktshoes

[Trekbike]

8 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

From sedans, to sport coupes to pickups and not a single one of them (including the Charger) had a transmission that was worth a damn. They all had major tranny problems within 2-3 years. 
 

+1 on that for sure.     In the early 90's I bought my wife a Plymouth Voyager since we had two young kids and needed a minivan.     Read all the reports about the bad transmissions, but was assured that the factory had fixed that with the new design.   The first transmission crapped out just out of the 60K warranty so I had to fight with them to get them to cover the majority of the repair cost since I had brought it in with a reported problem around 35K miles.   About 60K later again that transmission crapped out.   So two transmissions by 120K.   At this point I was kinda stuck with a vehicle with a blown trans, so I put in another one since it was cheaper than a "new car".   I'm thinking around 50K later it blew a head gasket and I was done with Plymouth/Chrysler/Dodge vehicles.      I guess you could give me one now, but I won't buy one with my own money.         

Edited November 5, 2019 by Trekbike

[tnhawk]

On 9/28/2019 at 10:00 PM, swiley383 said:

I have a XD 45 that I bought just after the Clinton ban expired. I actually when’t to to buy a 1911 and walked out with the XD. Lots of rounds through it everything from factory stuff to my hand loads including my first attempt at hand loads. No major problems except hand loads that were to light. Shoots good with all my current loads. Still need a 1911.

The 1911 is an addiction.  After the first purchase, there is no cure.

[BHunted]

18 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

If you were wondering how Sig reacted about the Hellcat...

 

https://streamable.com/e57h0

 

Love those videos... funny as hell(cat)...