Active shooters have definitely changed the landscape for non-LE concealed carriers, especially if you ever enter a big-box store or church with family members. I grew up shooting at fairly long ranges, and I train routinely at 50 and 100 yards with my carry gun.
I’ve tried lots of guns over the last 40-odd years, starting with DA revolvers. From a pure accuracy standpoint, I value a crisp trigger and good sights matter more than anything else. But I also want to balance slow-fire accuracy with concealment, speed from the holster, ease of getting good hits quickly on multiple targets out to about 15 yards, and ease of reloading quickly with a large-capacity magazine.
I don’t shoot J-frames well at speed unless I add grips that make them almost as big as a K-frame. You can also time reloads with a sundial, so they’re out. I do shoot the G26 and G43 well, but their short grips mean that the magazine hangs up on my firing hand about half the time so I plan to strip the mag from the gun on every reload, which again slows things down. That forces a change in tactics that I don’t much like, so they’re out, too.
I’m pretty much settled on a Glock 19 for everything. It’s not hard to conceal, plus I can shoot it and manipulate it as well as I can larger pistols. Beyond that, I've gotten good training and I pay a lot of attention to being able to articulate very clearly why I chose to fire a shot much beyond handshaking distance.
Okie John
