Size/Carry-ability - if it's not easy to carry, I'll not carry it as frequently as I should
Reliability - a must if I need to defend me and mine
Caliber - 9mm minimum
Capacity - 10+ rounds for me
All other characteristics are secondary to me. The P365 checks my boxes.
Reliability
Longevity and durability
Cheap and readily available parts, mags, holsters, etc.
High capacity
Service caliber (9mm is king, to me, at this point in the voyage which has included .45ACP and .40)
Consistent trigger pull, and NO safety lever (I used to be a 1911 guy. No longer, I'm somewhat ashamed to say!)
Shootability, controllability
These are the factors that led me to choose Glock 19.
I shoot it as well as I shoot anything.
It meets Coopers holy triumvirate of speed, power, accuracy.
I think my baseline on what gun to carry is yes, and work from there.
These days my weekly practice/training gun is a 5" M&P FS, and I carry it to and from. Otherwise my primary carry gun in the 4" M&P Compact. So pretty much if I am wearing a belt I am probably wearing one of these two. I have to dress around the 5" a bit, but my normal casual clothes facilitated by the CV hide the 4".
But if I am not wearing a belt I really haven't found anything I like besides the J-frame. The Shield is great, but that extra capacity comes with extra weight that tends to pull my pants down. And the lighter 380s with their tiny grips don't present well. Several of my Js wear grips too big for a pocket, but my pockets are too small anyway.
Without going into detail, I really, really like what I get to do for a living. And that living requires *huge* amounts of time in NPEs, both the firing kind, and possibly, the arresting kind. So my answer is “nothing.” Now, that said, I have 1000s of rounds through J-frames, and now, am racking up round count on an LCR. My God, have I owned just about every “BUG/Bondgun/DEDC gun made in the last 30 years... At this point, I’m just sticking with the LCR.
I’ve taken more than one class with a compact 5-shot. I wouldn’t do a Gabe White or Mike Glover course with a J-frame though, so yeah, I’ll swap to one of my full-size 9mm Glocks for any larpwork/techwork I want to do post-COVID.
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
When I was still working, I'd gotten to a point where I no longer needed to carry our "new" Glock 9mm pistol. I wanted to be done with it and either go back to my M&P or, maybe, adopt something better - VP9 or the P320.
Did multiple range sessions with all four pistols each time. Shot The Test on a B8 and Bill Drills on an A zone with them every time. Recorded the results. After the fourth session, I went back to the M&P. And I've stayed with it. For consistency, commonality I adopted the 2.0 Compact 4" and the PC Shield 4" for daily carry.
Guns I carry need to meet the basic bar of having a good ‘people management trigger’ (see Bolke’s excellent post on the topic) and a reliable means of controlling ignition during holstering. I feel that I can use a manual safety to add a degree of people management.
So for me a 1911 with a 4 pound trigger, a stock Glock with an SCD, or an LEM P30 works; a VP9, P320, or no-safety M&P does not work.
I have limited hand size so most TDAs don’t work. That’s a damn shame because I think they’re cool and shoot them really well in SA.
For me I need to be able to reliably clear concealment, acquire a firing grip, and deliver a rapid first shot to a low probability target with one hand or two, while moving (stepping) or seated. That is the first through fifth tier comparative requirement for me. I have good data to support the idea that this demands a service versus subcompact pistol.
Sixth tier metric is an equally precise second shot to the same target or a different one.
Anything else — how quickly the gun can be reloaded, how many rounds it holds beyond 8 — goes into the nice to have category.
I have little issue dressing around an LWC all year long or a G17 most of the year. I find the LWC or p35 to be significantly more comfortable because of slide width, and I think there’s something to the idea of an increased probability of shooter-induced malfunctions in real shootings with polymer pistols. I shoot G17s very well and 18 rounds on board very comforting, so there are often long periods (usually in the winter) when I switch to them, and I always travel with one.
I sometimes get lazy and carry a very nice CCO versus an LWC. I shoot them equally and am more concerned about grip acquisition than the extra round. I should really stick with the LWCs.
I have a full sized Colt “on the way” from MARS. I will probably carry it because it is so damn cool, but it doesn’t do anything better for me than an LWC, and it’s likely to be a little slower out of the holster.
I have a G43 (with SCD) for very NPE circumstances. I try very hard not to talk myself into carrying it. I think it’s severely disadvantaged for firing grip acquisition, capacity, and shooter-induced.
I try to carry a J frame only as a coat pocket gun in zipped-up weather, with a better gun underneath. Sometimes it seduces me. I do my best.
Mostly, I carry a gun when dressed. That is by far the most important thing.
Ignore Alien Orders
Get a philster Enigma and you'll be able to carry a gun even when you're not.Originally Posted by JAD
Problem solved. Problem staying solved.
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The flip side to that is, I love my job, you would be considered an oddball to NOT have multiple firearms close by either on you or in the truck or both. Predators get clocked on sight, larger dangerous animals are always around, the world is a wide place.
You wear whatever you choose and still fit in. Open carry is the norm. The rural mountain terrain allows shooting at your pleasure.
I like full size guns at work.
Your circumstances define your best choices.
I don't have any idea what your circumstances are. Every handgun is a compromise, a lot of long guns are. Pick as best you can and be happy.
ETA: anything in a suitable chambering for the targets you expect, that you can make solid hits with, and is reliable? What more can you ask. All else is detail work or personal preference.
Someone else chose what I would carry when I was working for XYZ. We trained with the guns extensively due to the environment and who we were protecting. After training on certain platforms so extensively it simply made sense to stick with what was trained to the level of unconscious competence.
Occam's Razor.
The only thing I would add that I haven’t seen posted is corrosion resistance. I wore the clear coat off a 642 in 12hours and have rusted the real tennifer Glocks from the early oughts with my extremely corrosive sweat.
im strong, i can run faster than train
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