Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns First CCW: Compact vs Sub compact?

Title really says most of what I am curious about. Will be buying my first CF pistol and will be using it for carrying. Curious if a beginner would be better served with a compact vs a sub-compact for a first purchase?

One other question, thumb safety vs none? I can see rationale behind either option, but lean more towards no thumb safety. I'm willing to hear arguments from both sides.

In and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

What you shoot well, that is small enough that you'll actually carry it.

It's the golden age of CCW selection. Small Glocks, Shield+, Hellcat, P365.

If those are to small, try G19, M&P compact sized.

You'd likely be best served with one of the representatives of the most recent advances in concealed carry 9mm handguns, i.e., the slim, subcompact, staggered magazine, striker fired auto pistols, examples of which would be the M&P Shield Plus or the Sig P-365. This type of handgun is extremely lightweight, concealable, shootable, comfortable to carry all day, and high capacity. They represent the current apex in concealed carry handguns.

You will be best served not choosing a thumb safety variant of any of this class if handgun, since even experts have been known to forget to deactivate them during the exigency of a life and death encounter. Just learn proper trigger handling safety, i.e., keep your finger out of the trigger guard till ready, or nearly ready, to shoot.

Get one with the night sight option.

I'm a good sized ol'boy and can hide my Mossberg mc2c easily. Whatever's big enough to shoot well and easy to hide is what you should pick. Oh? At least 9 mm please.

Just because a gun has a safety, doesn't mean you have to use it. If you're uncomfortable without one, buy a gun with one and then as you get more comfortable with the gun, don't use it anymore.

I've got em with and without safety. If I were carrying it I'd say no saftey

Then you introduce the possibility of it getting activated unintentionally. No thanks. I'm either going to carry a gun with a thumb safety, and then train to ALWAYS use it, or carry one that doesn't have one at all.

As mentioned by others, pick the gun you will actually want to carry. The gun size will matter some but your clothing choices will matter more. If your primary clothing choices are Spandex or sweats your choices will be more limited than if your primary wear is jeans with a belt and loose fitting shirts or a suit.

First decide if you want to fit the gun to your clothes or fit your clothes to the gun. Carry method is part of this as one needs to decide if they are going to carry inside waistband, outside waistband, pocket, or shoulder holster. Decide this and then decide on the gun size.

I fit my clothes to the gun which easily allows me to carry standard sized guns using an IWB holster. This means I buy pants/shorts a couple inches larger than normal, use a good rigid belt, and a holster that distributes weight over as large of an area as is comfortable. For shirts my picks are much the same as I buy shirts that can easily be "bloused" rather than tight fitting. This has generally meant buying my regular size in Tall or the next size up.

I seldom carry a compact or subcompact though I do have such firearms. When have to carry such guns, I carry the largest I can as that gives me enough room to get all my fingers on the grip, not just two. Most of the time it is a Kahr CW 9 or an Officer size 1911 but I have recently bought a Taurus GX4 to get a few more rounds on board.

Except for the 1911s, my carry guns do not have safeties. I rely on the gun's inherent safeties, holster design, and leaving the gun in the holster except when needed to cover the safety aspect. Guns rarely go off unless being handled so keeping the hands off except as necessary seems to be the best safety feature.

I went the small route once upon a time. I have switched my thinking and now carry as big as I can conceal. Reason being at some point you may have to do more than carry it, you may have to use it. I would rather fight with a bigger gun than a really small one.

Choosing a good holster and belt is as important as the weapon. Happily they are a bit less expensive. Then you come to the clothing issue, tight makes it hard to conceal.

Second I suggest you go to a range where you can rent several different ones, find which you can shoot well.

I'm in the subcompact/no safety camp, have been carrying CW9 for years, if I were to replace it, I'm sure I would switch to a 365 of some sort or (perhaps) a Shield.

Practice, practice, practice.

You are not ready for a pistol optimized for concealed carry. It is a huge mistake to buy something smaller than a Glock 19 (that size range) as your first centerfire pistol. You need to learn to shoot first.
Don't get hung up on mag capacity, optics or any of that other man-boy stuff. Get a M&P9 4" barrel, Glock 19, or equivalent. Spend your money on ammo and range time. Manual safety is a non-issue and you'll discover why with a little range time.

You can easily conceal carry a G19-size pistol when you are ready. You can post about holsters next.

You might look into some of the newer micro style that are not exactly micro. They are more like a stretched micro.

I'm talking about pistols in the size range of the Sig P365XL, Glock 43X, Glock 48.

These guns or similar offer a full hand grip, much nicer to control.

I've noted that most of the true micro 9's only have a 2-finger or 2 1/2-finger grip length. So the makers all offer extended magazines to compensate. Unless pocket carry is the goal, might as well get a pistol that has a little longer grip like those I mentioned above. The longer grip also facilitates easier magazine changes.

I carry guns without safeties also. I was merely replying to his direct concern where it seemed like he didn't quite feel safe without a safety.

I will never disagree with a Glock 19 as a concealed carry choice.

That said, the M&P Shield Plus (with the 13 round mag inserted) shoots and handles just about as well, and conceals even a little better. It only falls two rounds shy of the same magazine capacity as the Glock 19 with a flush mag. You can definitely get all three fingers comfortably on the grip of the M&P Shield Plus when the 13 round mag is inserted, illustration below.

Thank you everyone for the advice/conversation. I am definitely leaning towards no thumb safety and the discussion here has only strengthened that point of view.

Regarding size, the one I was most considering before handling it on Sunday, only allows for a 2.5 finger grip. That said, for a few bucks they do offer magazine extensions that I am sure would allow for a full grip. It's still not out of the running, but does mean I'll likely handle a few more before purchasing.

Does it really matter between a G26, G19 or commander length 1911 or whatever when none will be comfortable for all day every day carry without a good belt and a good holster.

I agree with this completely.
I have carried quite a few guns and after running drills and shooting matches with the smaller guns, it's readily apparent that I shoot a full size or compact like the G19 better than the 43 or even the Shield. There are times when all I can carry is a J frame but I do so knowing the limitations of what I can do with one and it's better than nothing. Some of the slimmer high capacity guns like the 43x seem to blur the lines but my hands work better with a fuller grip. The 365, Shield and others just don't fit me, I can shoot them okay but under pressure and time, the G19 is a lot quicker and smoother.

On the shootability score, I cannot distinguish between a Glock 19 and a Shield Plus, so long as that 13 round mag is inserted in the well of the Shield Plus, as illustrated in my post above. It makes the grip length about equal to that on the Glock 19, and only surrenders two rounds in capacity to it, while offering a slimmer and more concealable package. It's a bit more of a natural pointer than the Glock 19, too. But I will never criticize the choice of a Glock 19 as a concealed carry piece. It set the standard for the Goldilocks ideal in that department in the opinions of many, and offers the advantage of being able to accept Glock magazines from 15 rounds all the way up to 32 rounds.

I like this approach, although I will add a plug for the P365 platform because of its modularity. The fire control unit is the same for the regular P365, the P365 X and the P365 XL (and even the new P365-380). The XL gives you about the size of a Glock 19, with a longer barrel and slide than the subcompact P365 or the hybrid P365 X. If the gun is going to be concealed inside the waistband, the length of the slide is not a drawback for concealment. It is the grip area that could cause the printing problem. If that was considered a problem, you could buy a small grip module used in the standard P365 for $40 and put it on the XL. Of course, you also could go the other way and buy a standard P365 with the shorter barrel and add an XL grip frame if you prefer the shorter slide/barrel but a larger grip. (The X model already would have the XL grip.) Also note that the X and XL models are cut for optics if you ever wanted to go there. At this writing, they do not offer the standard P365 with an optics cut. Confused yet? Anyway, options are good to have.

If you want a bit more of a grip, add a Pearce extension on the mag. It usually allows one more round plus a place for your pinkie finger.