What Pistol do you carry daily?
Super Moderator
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 2,726
Likes: 506
From: Calgary, AB, Canada
Yeah I fired my nephews Kimber 1911 in 45 cal last June in New Zealand. Boy I forgot how nice that gun is and I put that down to the slim width stock because of the single stack mag. Beautiful trigger on these things. I also fired his 500S&W Mag. That was a brute but first (and last) 2 shots put both thru second ring at 25 yds. My pistol here is a H&K P30L 9mm. Factory trigger leaves something to be desired.
JK Newbie
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Dallas, TX
Yeah I fired my nephews Kimber 1911 in 45 cal last June in New Zealand. Boy I forgot how nice that gun is and I put that down to the slim width stock because of the single stack mag. Beautiful trigger on these things. I also fired his 500S&W Mag. That was a brute but first (and last) 2 shots put both thru second ring at 25 yds. My pistol here is a H&K P30L 9mm. Factory trigger leaves something to be desired.
I'm eyeing CZ-75 P-10 Omega 9mm from https://gritrsports.com/shooting/fir...ols/9mm-luger/ right now, folks at local store told me it might go on sale soon
Fingers crossed
Last edited by Jinko; Feb 27, 2023 at 12:58 AM.
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2024
Posts: 122
Likes: 9
From: West Palm Beach FL
I really don't carry anymore, but in the past I did. I carried a variety of different pistols at different times, in different places, for different purposes.
I started with a full sized .45. Pretty much everything got easier from there.
In colder environments, I carried bigger guns. In places where it was typically over 100F & people were barely able to walk around in the heat, large calibers were not needed so much.
For many years, I believed that if I could only have one pistol, it should be a .357mag revolver because it's ability to use .38spl ammo makes it very versatile and it is dead simple to operate. I still believe that this is one of the best possible starter choices for a first carry gun for people with average needs.
In areas with large dangerous animals, I carried a .44mag with stout ammo.
High capacity 9's are a good choice if you are in an area where multiple assailants are likely, as in urban environments.
Slim single-stack 9s, or even .380s may be a better choice in environments where tactical performance needs to take a back seat to concealment reliability. The locked breach .380s, like the Colts, are far better than the blow backs, like the PPKs.
.40 is a real snappy round. If I had to own just one pistol for the rest of my life, I would not be disappointed if it ended up being a medium frame .40. ...but the .40 is not a gun for someone who is not willing to put in a lot of range time to develop the necessary skills. The bigger the bullets & the smaller the gun, the harder it is going to be to shoot well.
Some of the older guns out of Spain were on the list of my favorites until recent options finally caught up with their features. That quick take down feature on the new 9 that the US Army is now using, is not really a new feature. I believe that the Spanish stopped making those around 40 or 50 years ago. They had been in production for quite a while before that.
I sort of have a love/hate relationship with Glocks. I love the accuracy, the ammo density, the general quality, the special coatings, & the reliability. There is nothing at all I like about they way they feel in my hand or the way that the trigger feels. I think that having a take down method which requires you to pull the trigger on an empty chamber is an invitation to an eventual negligent discharge, regardless of how much you have trained.
The true DA/SA guns with exposed hammers & de-cocking levers are probably the ones that I feel are best for most people who carry often. Loaded chamber indicators are also useful.
I don't like magazine safeties at all, although I do give a nod to the fact that in a few very specific cases, they have been reported to have prevented bad things from happening.
...and I still just like a Browning Hi-power. It just feels good in my hand.
...but I will probably never get away from my fondness for a well tuned 1911.
In colder climates, I was fond of shoulder holsters. If you are going to wear shorts & a T-shirt with no belt, then a belly band is pretty close to your only real option. Outside the belt hip holsters are my favorite for places where you don't need to conceal. IWBs are a good choice in many cases. About the only thing I will not use is an ankle holster. They hamper my ability to walk normally too much.
Back to the original question - which gun(s) did I carry most? .357mag J-frame, .45acp full size, large & small frame 9mm. The .44mag only came out when I was hiking in certain remote areas. If I was going to pick one up to carry tomorrow, it would likely be a 9, but that choice would be influenced by a lot of factors.
Different guns are optimized for different purposes. In my opinion, there is no single pistol that is the best choice in all cases. My original choice of a .45 was made because I could only afford 1 gun at the time & I wanted a 1-shot stopper because I lived in an urban environment where a missed shot was likely to hit a bystander & needing to take more than 1 shot increased my chances of missing my target at least once. My current situation is different.
I started with a full sized .45. Pretty much everything got easier from there.
In colder environments, I carried bigger guns. In places where it was typically over 100F & people were barely able to walk around in the heat, large calibers were not needed so much.
For many years, I believed that if I could only have one pistol, it should be a .357mag revolver because it's ability to use .38spl ammo makes it very versatile and it is dead simple to operate. I still believe that this is one of the best possible starter choices for a first carry gun for people with average needs.
In areas with large dangerous animals, I carried a .44mag with stout ammo.
High capacity 9's are a good choice if you are in an area where multiple assailants are likely, as in urban environments.
Slim single-stack 9s, or even .380s may be a better choice in environments where tactical performance needs to take a back seat to concealment reliability. The locked breach .380s, like the Colts, are far better than the blow backs, like the PPKs.
.40 is a real snappy round. If I had to own just one pistol for the rest of my life, I would not be disappointed if it ended up being a medium frame .40. ...but the .40 is not a gun for someone who is not willing to put in a lot of range time to develop the necessary skills. The bigger the bullets & the smaller the gun, the harder it is going to be to shoot well.
Some of the older guns out of Spain were on the list of my favorites until recent options finally caught up with their features. That quick take down feature on the new 9 that the US Army is now using, is not really a new feature. I believe that the Spanish stopped making those around 40 or 50 years ago. They had been in production for quite a while before that.
I sort of have a love/hate relationship with Glocks. I love the accuracy, the ammo density, the general quality, the special coatings, & the reliability. There is nothing at all I like about they way they feel in my hand or the way that the trigger feels. I think that having a take down method which requires you to pull the trigger on an empty chamber is an invitation to an eventual negligent discharge, regardless of how much you have trained.
The true DA/SA guns with exposed hammers & de-cocking levers are probably the ones that I feel are best for most people who carry often. Loaded chamber indicators are also useful.
I don't like magazine safeties at all, although I do give a nod to the fact that in a few very specific cases, they have been reported to have prevented bad things from happening.
...and I still just like a Browning Hi-power. It just feels good in my hand.
...but I will probably never get away from my fondness for a well tuned 1911.
In colder climates, I was fond of shoulder holsters. If you are going to wear shorts & a T-shirt with no belt, then a belly band is pretty close to your only real option. Outside the belt hip holsters are my favorite for places where you don't need to conceal. IWBs are a good choice in many cases. About the only thing I will not use is an ankle holster. They hamper my ability to walk normally too much.
Back to the original question - which gun(s) did I carry most? .357mag J-frame, .45acp full size, large & small frame 9mm. The .44mag only came out when I was hiking in certain remote areas. If I was going to pick one up to carry tomorrow, it would likely be a 9, but that choice would be influenced by a lot of factors.
Different guns are optimized for different purposes. In my opinion, there is no single pistol that is the best choice in all cases. My original choice of a .45 was made because I could only afford 1 gun at the time & I wanted a 1-shot stopper because I lived in an urban environment where a missed shot was likely to hit a bystander & needing to take more than 1 shot increased my chances of missing my target at least once. My current situation is different.
