Providing some personal experience as a new pistol owner, I have to say that the P365XL is pretty awesome.
I’ve never owned a pistol until recently. At the end of last year, my wife’s father passed, leaving me a Judge and a .44 mag short barrel revolver along with a few shotguns and a long barrel pipe-fed .22. At Christmas, my father passed down a Sig .45 P220 (crafted in Germany).
I enjoyed shooting all of the weapons I had at the time but really wanted something I could carry under my CCW Permit. I hit up a local firearm shop and dry-fired a few pistols, including the Glock 19 and a few others. However, as soon as I picked up the P365XL, I felt like it was made for my hand.
The P365XL is incredibly comfortable. I have medium to large sized hands and my pinky has just enough room with the 10 and 12 round mags for me to shoot reliably without slippage and the pistol itself is compact enough to conceal comfortably, even with the 15 round mag (a 15+1 configuration on a compact pistol - what??).
The P365XL also comes with a nice added option (among other advantages) that the P365 does not have which is a removable plate where you can add an RMR. Even without the RMR, the P365XL comes with Tritium sights, making it easy to line up irons in low-light.
- Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope (3He) but is completely safe on the gun. Just a few moments in sunlight will cause it to glow for years.
Among upgrades from the P365 and earlier releases of the P365XL comes an improved striker which came after a few earlier iterations which were “slide-striking” and breaking easily. That no longer happens with the latest iterations of the P365XL. You will hear from people complaining about the strikers breaking after less than 1000 rounds. That did happen, but on earlier versions of the P365XL. Not on the latest makes.
Overall, the P365XL is a choice carry for new and veteran pistol owners. Many folks who love the Glock 19s and others have switched to the P365XL already and others carry both. There’s tons of YouTube videos about the pistol which should be checked out by anyone who is interested.