I have a couple of larger guns that I could move up to, but the trick is concealing them.
Or am I overthinking this? The P238 may be small, but with good ammunition it is a capable stopper.
Denton,
The P238 is not a fighting gun. It's too small for a proper purchase when drawing and trying to shoot accurately under stress.
I have to agree with A_S on this one, Denton.
You have to decide if you want to carry a fighting handgun, or a last-resort self-defense gun (or both). I tend to carry both, or at least have both with me. My always gun for a number of years now has been a Kahr PM9. It's very small, very packable in a pocket holster or ankle holster, so I rarely go out and about unarmed. I practice with it, and can confidently hit a IPSC head box at 10 yards with a high rate of repeatability. Kahr used to be the only source for teeny weenie nines, but now several other 9mm pistols are hot competitors. The Glock 48 is probably the best of the bunch, and that's what my wife carries every day now. There is no need to carry a 380 these days, with such small and potent 9mm pistols available. So my Kahr is my "always" gun.
But it's not a fighting handgun.
I have also carried a 5-shot S&W revolver in the same manner, and can shoot it at least as well as the Kahr. I put a set of Crimson Trace grips on this revolver, and I can reliably put 5/5 shots in the IPSC head box at 25 yards with this laser dot.
But it's not a fighting handgun.
When the Aurora CO theater shooting went down a few years ago, I had to look seriously at my primary handgun choice. We went around this topic at length on several forums, including the Handguns forum on this site (which I no longer bother to visit, it's almost as bad as the Optics forum). A few truly expert persons such as Mackay Sagebrush convinced me that I need to carry a fighting handgun whenever I can do so.
A fighting handgun is exactly that. A reliable, solid platform for a serious cartridge, with enough capacity to handle at least 2 engagements/opponents. A 6-round revolver in 357 Mag or larger caliber meets this requirement, as do many autopistols. It needs to be accurate enough to hit the head box of an IPSC target reliably at 15 yards. It needs to be easily reloadable, because as others have pointed out, the propaganda about low round count and close distance isn't reliable. As Mackay Sagebrush says, you don't often get the gunfight you want, but you always get the gunfight you get. So plan accordingly. The guy at White Settlement didn't plan to shoot a killer in the brainstem at 15 yards, but that's the gunfight he got.
For me, my fighting handgun choice means a Glock 19 or a S&W Scandium 1911, with backup mags. These are guns that I can shoot well. I have tens of thousands of rounds through them, and I have several examplars of each. I practice with them every time I go the range, and I shoot them in IPSC and IDPA and 3-Gun competitions to keep me sharp. And I have done so for more than 20 years. They have the range and power to incapacitate an opponent with one well-placed shot, and the capacity to allow me to engage 2 or more opponents without reloading. I used to carry a G19 with a Crimson Trace grip on it, and with that system I could make reliable head box shots at 40 yards. But I sold that gun and haven't replaced the CTC grips yet... I need to do that. I rarely see the red laser dot when I'm doing short work, but when you have to hit waaay out there, the laser is a game changer.
The G19 gets the nod most of the time, both for training and for regular carry. I carry it on my strongside hip most of the time. However, I have found a shoulder holster is very comfortable and seem to be using that more and more as I get older. It's a great way to carry when you're driving or any place you expect you'll be sitting a lot. But it's harder to conceal, you need to wear a vest or jacket over it. Galco makes several excellent rigs including the Jackass Rig and the Miami Rig. I have two Miami rigs, and they are quality products.
Ken Hackathorn said it best: "Train the way you expect to fight, for you will surely fight they way you have trained." Don't get caught in a gunfight with a nonfighting gun.
