If you’re picking a new handgun, it can be daunting because there’s so many options. For many people, they are looking for one pistol right now – perhaps their first or second. Hopefully this video and information will make it much easier to choose what’s best for you.
There’s a ton of sizes, but I break all the sizes into two categories – FAT and THIN.
Fat guns are easier and perfect for home defense, fun at the range, or taking a class. Thin guns are perfect for carry because they’re easier to hide. It’s easier to shoot a bigger gun (assuming these are all 9mm), than a smaller gun, but it’s easier to hide a smaller gun on you. So my first question is, “Is this mostly for home defense or mostly for carry?” I ask mostly because people will often say, “Yeah, both.” Remember that whatever gun you choose, it’ll be easy for one area and harder for the other. So what’s it mostly for?
If you’re trying to split the difference because it’ll be your only gun for a while, perhaps think about carrying it and get the biggest THIN gun you can with the most capacity.
Finally, keep in mind that you’ll eventually have both sizes. So if you get a THIN gun now, your next gun will most likely be a FAT gun, and vise versa.
Checklist
Second, stay with these suggestions if possible:
- Name Brand (Sig Sauer, Springfield Armory, Smith & Wesson, Glock.)
- 9mm
- Striker fire (no external thumb safeties or hammers. These are inside the gun.)
- Optics cut (can always add a red dot later.)
- As big as you can go for the category. (Small carry guns are much harder to shoot than slightly bigger carry guns for instance.)
Top FAT Guns – Ideal for Home Defense
- Sig Sauer P320
- Springfield Echelon
- Smith & Wesson M&P 9 2.0 (C.O.R.E.)
- Glock 17 / 19 / 45 (M.O.S.)
- Ruger RXM
Top THIN Guns – Ideal for Carry
- Sig Sauer P365 X series, particularly the X-Macro Comp
- Springfield Hellcat / Hellcat Pro Comp
- Smith & Wesson Shield Plus 9mm
- Glock 43X M.O.S.
- Canik Mete Prime