The Great California Compliant Micro-Compact Pistol Shootout

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Picking out a new gun is tough. There are many excellent choices. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a range that rents pistols, you are limited to relying on reviews. I recently gathered three micro-compact pistols to make your choice easier. The pistols are the Canik Mete MC9 CA, SIG Sauer P365, and Springfield Armory Hellcat. I have reviewed the pistols for Guns & Ammo magazine individually but have not shot them side by side. Full disclosure, I might have a slight bias, due to one of them being my main self-defense pistol. However, shooting them side by side surprised me, and I walked away reevaluating my decisions.

Overview

The space is limited for a detailed breakdown of each pistol, so here’s a brief rundown on the key aspects. The pistols are all California-compliant models. Other than a loaded chamber indicator, magazine disconnect, and magazine capacity, they are identical to their free-state brethren. They are chambered in 9mm, run 10-round magazines, and are optic-ready. The Mete MC9 has a .25-inch longer slide. Barrel lengths range from 3 inches for the Hellcat, 3.1 inches for the P365, and 3.18 inches for the Mete MC9. The difference in barrel length or slide didn’t have a noticeable difference on pistol performance. Regarding price, the Mete MC9 comes in at $469, the Hellcat at $633, and P365 at $699.

Frame

The frame is our primary contact point. It influences how we point the pistol and manage its recoil forces. The grip angle in relation to the slide determines whether the sights will be high or low of your point of aim. Grip depth, width, and contours have the challenging role of trying to fit a wide range of hand sizes. The smaller the pistol, the more important the small details like grip width become.

From the top of the slide to the bottom of the magazine, the pistols are an identical height. The pistols share the same grip angle. The main distinguishing feature of each pistol is its grip size design. They differ in grip depth, or from the backstrap to front strap at the trigger guard. The P365 has the smallest grip, followed by the Hellcat, and then Mete MC9. Only the Mete MC9 has a removable backstrap.

Since the Hellcat was heavily inspired by the P365, its profile silhouette closely follows the P365. The main difference is the distance from the front of the grip underneath the trigger guard to the backstrap. The Hellcat is .10 inches longer than the P365. The Mete MC9 is .30 inches longer than P365 making it feel deeper front to back. The differences between them may be small, but they are instantly noticeable.

All have a trigger undercut allowing the hand to ride a little higher on the grip for improved recoil control. The Hellcat’s trigger guard is slightly taller than the P365, and the Mete MC9 is the tallest. The Mete MC9 is the chunkiest of the three, in many respects making it feel closer to a compact-size pistol.

Another difference between the pistols is the beavertail. That’s the rear portion of the frame directly below the rear of the slide. The P365 sits flush with the slide and is .30 inches tall. The Hellcat protrudes .20 inches beyond the slide and is .27 inches tall. The extension reduces the chance of the slide biting the web of your hand when it’s cycling. The Mete MC9 beavertail sits flush but is .45 inches tall. The reason manufacturers favor a shallower beavertail is that it places the hand closer to the bore axis allowing for better recoil management.

All pistols have a 360-degree grip texture. They are roughly the same grit and don’t chafe the skin when carried concealed against the bare skin. The Hellcat also includes stippling on the front of the frame where the thumb normally rests while shooting. It adds a strong contact point to minimize muzzle rise.

Magazines

All pistols include a flush fit and extended magazine. I don’t have large hands, yet my pinky falls off the grip with the flush-fit magazines. The extended magazine allows me to get a full grip for better recoil management and handling.

Trigger

The trigger also plays an important role in how a pistol shoots. Heavier triggers cause the shooter to move the gun more and hence can mess up accuracy. Also, the way a trigger flows from initial press to when it breaks can range from jerky to smooth. At 6 pounds, 8 ounces, the Hellcat has the heaviest trigger of the group. The P365 comes in at 5 pounds 6 ounces, while the Mete MC9 falls at 4 pounds 5 ounces. When shooting my accuracy tests, the Mete’s lighter trigger helped produce the smallest groups at 20 yards. More about the triggers in the range portion of the test.

Sights

Despite running a red dot, iron sights are still important in case the red dot goes down. The HellCat’s Tactical Rack U-Dot sights use a rear sight that is a u-notch with a distinctive white half-circle and a front sight with a luminescent yellow circle and tritium center. The sights are easy to align night or day. The P365 Xray 3 sights pair a blacked-out rear sight with Tritium vials and a fluorescent dot in the front. Another great choice. The Mete MC9 offers a blacked-out rear sight and a white dot on the front post. Simple but still effective at night when using a handheld light.

Shoot Off

Before giving you the results of the test, here are my initial takeaways from my first go-around with the pistols. The P365 is a great pistol, but the frame is a little small for my hands. The Hellcat bests the P365 thanks to its grip. The Mete MC9 is a joy to shoot. Its accuracy results were impressive, but it’s finicky with ammo. Once I shot the Hellcat, it became my go-to self-defense pistol. I love that pistol. The P365 became a secondary choice. I’ve since put many more rounds through the Mete MC9 and the problem has ironed itself out. If I can’t have the confidence that each round will fire, I won’t use it as a self-defense firearm.

For the new test, I mounted a red dot of similar size to all the pistols for my shoot-off and shot a target with 1-inch pasties at 7 yards. Right away the Hellcat and P365 pulled away from the Mete MC9. The Mete MC9 proved to have a little more muzzle rise and didn’t come down on target as quickly as the other two pistols. The difference was not night and day, and I wouldn’t have noticed it without this comparison.

I then focused on the trigger. I used previous accuracy test results, which were shot within the last 12 months. The accuracy tests were shot at 20 yards and consisted of averaging 5, 5-shot groups. The Mete MC9 bested the P365 and Hellcat thanks to the lighter trigger. The Mete MC9’s total average size for 5 different ammo types was 1.9 inches. The P365 with 4 different ammo types was 2.4 inches. The Hellcat average was 3.0 inches. 3 inches is still highly effective for a self-defense round, but when pressing the Hellcat’s 6-pound trigger slowly, it caused more movement in the handgun than the other two triggers.

Practicing a failure drill is where I saw what pistols could be run hard and accurately. The Mete MC9 felt sluggish when compared to the other two pistols. It’s partly due to the reciprocation of the slide. The first inch or so there’s less spring tension, which makes it easier to initiate racking. The tradeoff is that there’s less spring tension slamming it forward into battery. It might explain the torquey-ness of the pistol; a smaller section of the recoil assembly spring is handling most of the kinetic energy. It may explain why the Mete MC9 was initially finicky with ammo. The difference between the Mete MC9 and the other two pistols was noticeable but not a wide chasm. The pistol is still a joy to shoot and will work well as a self-defense handgun.

The difference between the P365 and Hellcat was more subtle. The P365 trigger has a smaller take up, is a pound lighter, and is smoother throughout the travel with no big wall. These details make it easier to shoot follow up shots. I found that the way it handles recoil combined with the smooth trigger brought it back on target more quickly. What surprised me was that I found its smaller grip just right when firing it rapidly.

The Winner

You can’t go wrong with any of these pistols. The initial problems I had with the Mete MC9 and ammo worked itself out. The P365 and Hellcat top the Mete MC9. They are refined pistols that are tuned to shoot fast and accurately. They have been stellar from the start and ate up about 12 different types of ammo with zero hiccups. Plus, their sights are optimized for day and night making them worth the $150 plus difference. The P365 edges out the Hellcat due to its trigger. I also changed my mind about the P365 frame, it may initially feel small, but when you run it hard, it feels just right.

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