I've been narrowing down my collection of dozens of firearms over the last few years to a few long guns and exactly five pistols to fulfil all my carry & bedside needs. Yes, I could just carry a revolver or a pocket semi-auto to cover all methods of dress, but I like to carry the largest gun I can without having to dress around my concealed carry options. I've owned a lot of Glocks, S&W's, and other brands over the years, but this is what I ended up with. As you will see, I technically no longer have a full-size gun, though one is, for all practical purposes, large (if not full-size). I nonetheless often carrying it in the cooler months because it's my favorite pistol, but it also shares (alternates) bedside duty with my other "compact". In addition to these, I also have a subcompact, thin-line, and true pocket pistol. Yes, there are other guns I'd like to have, but after owning dozens of concealed carry options, this is what I have narrowed my minimum carry collection to and why (for those interested, otherwise just skip to the images):
1. Full-size Compact- SIG Sauer P229 Enhanced Elite chambered in .357 SIG & 9mm (practice ammo). This is my primary bedside gun. Handsdown this is overall the finest pistol I've personally owned (albeit I can't personally justify spending thousands of dollars on a pistol though others rightfully can). The ergonomics of the P229 just work for me especially with the Hogue G10 Grips (the fifth and final set I tried). I'm using XS Standard Dot sights which are very accurate and extremely fast. Unlike SIGlite night sights, they're also designed for both 9mm/357 SIG & .40S&W (I purchased this gun in .40 caliber and then added an OEM .357 barrel and a 9mm conversion barrel from Bar-Sto). Shooting this in both .357 and 9mm saves money on ammo (just like those shooting .38 Special out of their .357 Magnums). I know people are all about saving weight in this day and age, but I like the heft of a pistol in the 33-34 ounce range my pistol comes in at. The weight smooths out the handling for me especially under stress. It's also built like an M4 tank and very accurate. It holds up to 17+1 in 9mm and 14+1 in .357 SIG & .40 S&W (which is good enough for me). With a mere change of barrel, guide rod (optional), and magazines I can move between calibers. As many of you know, it's not like a Glock requiring the replacement of other parts (e.g. extractor). I can carry this gun all day, but I probably wouldn't want to carry it 12 hours a day every day (though I am sure Secret Service Agents did that a lot). If I could only have two pistols in my collection, this would be one of them along with a pocket pistol to ensure I could carry 24/7/365.
2. Compact- the wonderful Beretta PX4 Storm Compact. Thank you Ernest Langdon for putting this on our radar years ago. This is my go-to carry firearm and I just love this firearm. While I'm carrying my P229 it also serves as my nightstand gun. Originally I was going to decide between this and my P229, but I love both so much I couldn't part with either. Although the Beretta is about half the price, it is virtually as good if not better in some ways (e.g. dimensionally). I admit, I have not had any trigger work done to either firearm, but as of right now, I'd say the P229 edges out the PX4 Storm due to its shorter reset and slightly smoother take up in double action. What's amazing about the P229 is that it is just as good or better in DA with a slightly smoother yet heavier trigger. A ten-pull average on my Lyman digital scale has my P229 at 11.5 lbs. (with two pulls over the 12 lb. limit of my scale) while my stock Beretta's average was 8 lbs. 10 ounces. Don't get me wrong, the P229 trigger isn't worth another $500 by any stretch, but between that and it's shorter reset in SA, it amazingly maintains and edge, but the Beretta is almost as good. Both pistols feel so good in my hands and also point extremely naturally (more so than any of the other twenty-some-odd carry pistols I've owned). I do, however, love the way the Beretta locks in my hand with the granulate TalonGrips. Why this gun isn't more popular is beyond me. I only with it was more common because it would be nice to have more aftermarket options available for it. The night sight(s) Ernest Langdon and Beretta had Ameriglo provide for the compact are very nice (although I would have prefered a single rear tritium vial).
3. Subcompact- Smith & Wesson M&P9 M2.0 3.6" Subcompact. I've owned quite a few Gen3, Gen4 and Gen5 Glocks, but I finally replaced my wonderful G26 pistols with this gun. I found out that, for all practical purposes, I think I can carry this just about as well as my G26 with more capacity and a greater purchase (without resorting again to TalonGrips). This is particularly useful because I don't always want to carry my PX4 Storm Compact because I have the granulated Talons on it (which is too rough on bare skin for all day carry IMHO). Everyone's hands are different, and for some reason the rubberized Talons don't provide me much traction (a stock Gen4 or Gen5 Glock, for example, is much grippier for me if that's any indication). Although I prefer DA/SA, I have found out over the years that, for me, I prefer striker-fired guns for anything smaller than a compact (not that we have a lot of options out there for subcompact DA/SA). Dimensionally speaking, manufacturers of DA/SA pistols just can't seem to get down to the size of striker-fired subcompacts for some reason. Walther was able to do this more than a half century ago, but for some reason pistol manufacturers can't seem to get it done in 2020 (for whatever reason). The SA XD-E isn't horrible, but at 5" in height and thin, it hardly qualifies as a subcompact. Anyway, I like the stock three dot sights on this pistol quite a bit, so I think I'm going to leave them.
4. Thinline- Smith & Wesson M&P9 M2.0 [ported] Performance Center Shield. I actually purchased the mighty Shield recently along with the 3.6" subcompact in lieu of a SIG P365 or Springfield Armory Hellcat. Don't get me wrong, those are great guns and many people are happy and perhaps even better off with them, but having owned a 1.0 going back to 2014, I shoot a Shield better. In fact, I decided to follow Jerry Miculek's advice about having a ported one. He said he Magnaports all his pistols (if they're not ported already), even his concealed carry guns, because he wants to "cheat" in every way possible to give himself the upper hand if he ever has to defend himself. In all actuality, I only justified this because I got such a good deal on this gun right before Christmas. I paid less than what I did for my plain Jane 1.0 back in 2014 (even before applying the $50 rebate). No, it's not as high capacity as the others I mentioned, and it's only marginally thinner, but I do shoot it better (even a plain Shield) and the porting does make it modestly quicker/flatter shooting. I don't plan on porting my other carry guns, but it makes sense for one of my smallest carry options as smaller guns are harder to shoot (and I didn't have to pay more). I didn't like the fiber optic sights that came on it at all. The rear serrations are so superficial they might as well not have bothered (as they don't provide the contrast they were designed to create), so I slapped on a pair of Orange Ameriglo i-Dots instead (as pictured below). Like the P229 and PX4 Compact, the M&P Shield and Subcompact also overlap (the Shield is on the right side in picture below below). However, sometimes the dimensions really matter though. As you can see the Shield is actually slightly taller than the subcompact providing room for 2.25-2.5 fingers (maybe three for females with really small hands). The Subcompact shoots even better and holds five more rounds in the flush magazine.
5. Pocket pistol- Ruger LCP II. I had to choose between this and my Bodyguard 380 (which I subsequently sold). Don't get me wrong, I really like the Bodyguard a lot, and although I can't shoot it at speed like Jerry Miculek, the trigger for the first round in typical defensive distances is just as accurate as my SIG or Beretta (it was really that good). It's not as smooth, but that front sight appears as if it's frozen in time every time I pull the trigger, even with that long and relatively heavy trigger pull. In fact, I think it's more consistent than those guns. Anyway, my Ruger LCP II's trigger is almost as good for the initial shot (but not quite), but it's significantly better for subsequent shots at speed because it has a reset (albeit a relatively long one compared to striker-fired and SA pistols). In other words, the Bodyguard is just as accurate for the first shot (perhaps more so), but the Ruger is easier to shoot at speed. I wish I could slap a trigger like Jerry, but I've tried and tried and my fingers simply won't do it well; and as Massad Ayoob is fond of pointing out, we don't get to pick the distance we engage a target while defending ourselves. The attacker and his buddies might be just a few feet away or on the other side of the parking lot, and I feel I personally need every advantage I can get out of a mouse gun. As such, the LCP II is primarily a backup gun or summer carry when I can't pull off a Shield for some reason (which isn't very often). I decided to keep it because I think it's a good idea to have an option you can carry 365 days a year. Anyway, the LCP II is a marginal improvement over both the Bodyguard and the original LCP in my opinion, but it would have been nice to have better sights (or the option of changing them like I had on my Bodyguard). My hack was simply to use orange and white Dykem Brite-Mark markers (as a base to make them pop) to add some contrast. Anyway, although the picture below show the finger rest, I usually carry it with the flush magazine.
I primarily carry appendix (P229, PX4, & Shield), but sometimes that isn't convenient, so I'll carry either the Shield, or more often than not, the M&P Subcompact under my t-shirt at 2:30 or 3 o'clock in a high-riding holster (like I used to carry my G26). Pocket carry is my least favorite option (because I need my pockets and don't use my rear ones), but it is a necessary evil at times.
At least two of these guns are good options for ankle carry as well (though I can only see myself doing that with the Ruger). I also opted for a manual safety on my Shield this time as it gives me something to more safely stash my firearm off body in a pinch or in a pocket if need be (since I don't currently have a revolver). I wouldn't normally carry it this way, but I like having the option of doing so. It also might be an advantage if I have to arm someone else which is also a good reason for carrying a second pistol when practical.
RED DOT CONSIDERATIONS- they're obviously getting more and more popular, but I've held off thus far for a few reasons. One, they sort of start to get in the way concealment wise, especially with the smaller pistols, but more importantly, they're still prohibitively expensive and, even worse, I have a bad astigmatism which causes red dots to bloom for me with that annoying star pattern (and no, I don't plan on getting glasses if I can help it). Some sights like the Holosun seem to mitigate that, especially with the green dots, but that's now $400 to $600 just for one sight. I can see doing that eventually on my P229, but I am less sure about the others.
Glock- One of the reasons I eliminated Glock from my final cut was the grip angle. I've had six Glock pistols and I have trained with them a lot. When I am shooting nothing but Glocks the grip angle isn't a problem at all, but I like my DA/SA guns, and while owning both I discovered that—although I always draw my SIG and Beretta well—about 5% of the time I would aim high with my Glock pistols. That might seem like a small number, and it is, but the pistols are so competitive these days that I really didn't feel the need to compromise here. Other than that, I am a huge Glock fan and really love the platform, but it's just not ideal for me.
If I had to pick one pistol, I think it would be the M&P9 M2.0 3.6" Subcompact because I can configure it to a compact or "full-size" by adding a 15 or 17-round magazine. I've had both full-size and compact (4") M&P M2.0 pistols, and they're great, but they can't shrink down to 4.3" in height. Pocket pistols are the easiest way to conceal obviously, but if I could only have one gun I don't think I'd practice nearly enough with a pocket pistol (especially an LCP II). Anyway, these are obviously not the "best" pistols out there, so my post was not in any way meant to portray them as such, but these are the right pistols for me after vetting a bunch of others over the years. Together they fit all the size requirements I need to always carry the largest most shootable firearm [for me] I'm comfortable concealing, and they are all reasonably accurate, shootable and reliable.
I am always curious about what people carry, so please display some gun porn and share your thoughts
P.s. That's my wife's purse if anyone feels compelled to comment!
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Originally Posted by Jay23
