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

I think in general people prioritize concealability way too highly and shootability too lowly. Comfort is a little stickier wicket, but after you find the right shootable gun you should be able to come up with a comfortable enough way to carry it.

If I am tasked to defend my life or my family's life, I want the pistol I shoot the best, not the one that carries the easiest.

You can pistol whip with a polymer gun?

😂😂

Go to a gun store and handle a couple.

I like the p365 series.

Have em all. P365. P365x and p365xl.

IMO the p365x is the sweet spot. Shorter slide and longer grip.

I put a xl grip on my p365 before the x’s came out.

Plus there the a lot of Pinky extensions for the different p365 mags. Even a +2 from magguts.

Keep hoping kahr will come out with something new.

I like the cw9. But not the 7 or 8 rd mags.

Don't get hung up on semantics. About the time you figure it out, next year's models will be out and the ad terminology will have changed again. Just find something that works for your circumstances a d stick with it.

Wish someone would come up with more capacity Glock 43 mags that are somewhat staggered.

That's why I went 43X and 15-round Shield Arms magazines that fit flush to the grip.

Everything is a compromise, but I'm satisfied with the route I chose.

the size I settled on was a Glock 48 and a S&W Shield Plus.

This^^^x100. It is all about commitment. If you are carrying to save your life and are not willing to train religiously you are fooling yourself. Learning to shoot accurately takes training and practice as does shooting quickly, learning target discrimination and becoming safe and consistent in gun handling. This is a process made easier utilizing a gun purpose built to be reliable and win gunfights. Small and light is a priority only to those those that seek a comfort animal more than a fighting tool.

Competence comes only via training and practice. Always wear your gun, practice frequently and embrace dryfire like it was free money.

ymmv


mike r

This................many small guns are neither easy to shoot accurately, or they are just too uncomfortable to shoot to be comfortable with if needed.

I can conceal just about anything, so shoot-ability is my prime consideration with size in either 9mm or 45 ACP.

As mentioned above by Goalie, a G-19 or a S&W M&P Compact is about ideal.

YMMV

MM

My personal daily carry guns are service sized, anything from a K-frame S&W revolver, a Combat Commander, a Glock 19, etc., but I've been carrying concealed since I was 19 years old. It's old hat for me. I think a great place for someone to start for the first time carrying concealed would be something in the class of an M&P Shield Plus with the 13 round mag inserted. We're not talking a Ruger LCP here. It shoots pretty similarly to a full sized service handgun, and doesn't give up very much to one, either, in terms of capabilities.

This is his first centerfire pistol. Not just the first concealed carry option. I think we all could agree it’s easier to shoot a full size or at least the G19 sized gun better than subs. He needs to shoot a lot.

Glock 19, best all around pistol, period.

while i agree with THE great waputi i carry a glock 48 daily due to the slim line single stack design, my G19 is my go to hell gun if that day ever happens

Couple the 48 with a Shield Arms 15 round mag and you are ready to go.

Where do you sign up for the notifications so I can get on the list? I’d love to know when “go to hell day” is gonna be so I can make plans.

Back when I was selling guns, the biggest headache I had was people who wanted the smallest gun possible but then wanted to add pinkie extensions, etc., onto it to make it easier to shoot. I always asked them why not buy a bigger gun but they had it in their head that a small gun with an extension was smaller than a bigger gun without one, even though it wasn't.

Those who have some experience know you are right. Those who don't keep advocating man-boy guns with extended magazines. Interesting mix on this forum.

First time concealed carriers are rarely pleased with service sized handguns, and tend to give up carrying them pretty fast. There's a happy medium, however, between one of those, and a pipsqueak gun, and nowadays these happy medium guns don't give very much up at all to the service sized guns in terms of handling and performance. I'm speaking of the class of handgun represented by such models as the S&W Shield Plus, the Sig P-365, the Springfield Armory Hellcat, etc..

I find that strange too. My guess is that there are a lot of new pistol owners that love to pretend but don't actually shoot much and they carry even less. I understand the lack of shooting as until recently ammo was impossible to find. As far as carrying, it would be interesting to track the number of CHL applications in non-constitutional carry states and see if they followed the NICS check surge.

Here in SW Idaho I see mostly new shooters at the range I frequent. All 9mm. Most shoot half a box and leave, but that may change as 9mm ammo has been flooding in lately with prices dipping below $20/50. BTW, most of the pistols look pretty small. Only geezers shoot 1911s and revolvers of any kind.