There are so many guns to choose from. Glocks, Sig Sauers, Rugers, Smith and Wessons, the list goes on and on.
What were the things you looked for when you bought your carry gun? Size? Price? Feel? Number of Rounds?
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Main factor was being ambidextrous because I’m left handed.
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S&W M&P 40 switchable hand grips for perfect grip. Not to much recoil and I don’t know how many rounds I have put through it and never had malfunction
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PPS M2. Small. Low recoil, considering weight/size. Price. Felt good. Shoots great.
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Size/concealability, caliber (I wanted a .40S&W), and brand (I’m a Ruger fan boy).
Ruger SR40c fit the bill…and it was ABAG…Anything But A Glock… 
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My weapons are on target great balance and very reliable.
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For the most part, in order of importance to me:
- I demonstrated greater than a certain minumum standard of proficiency with the firearm
- Reliability greater than a certain personally determined minimum standard
- A size and weight of which I would carry more often than not during my daily activities (comfort and concealability); holster type/availability often factors into this
- Consistency of trigger break with gloves or frozen fingers
- Availability of personally determined acceptable defense ammo
- Availability of parts for mainteance and repair
- Firearm I wasn’t afraid to get scratched, dinged, rubbed, sweat on, or possibly even destroyed if circumstances required (far enough down the list that it often works out to what I can reasonably afford to replace or repair)
- Personal preferences that might change over time
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Size, capacity, reliability…
Basically can it be trusted in the worst of situations. We don’t get to choose when we need, so I need it to always work…
I carry a Glock 19 or Sig p365 depending what my day will consist of. Weather and clothing don’t dictate what I carry, my activities do
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Reliability, conceal ability, fit, and it’s a Kimber nuff said. I love my Kimbers.
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One of my carry options also. Always goes bang at the range.
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The gun spoke to me. There was a gun shop that I hung out in wayyyyy back when and they got this Colt Officers Model in stainless on a trade, unfired, BNIB. I was 20 at the time and fondled that gun every chance I got until the owner said “You know I can’t sell that to you until you are 21, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put it on layaway.” The final price was like $547.92 or something close. A fair princely sum for a new E-5 in the late 1980’s, I had the money but chose to give him $50 every payday, which actually worked to my advantage as I acquired several top shelf collectable rifles in the interum . On the day I turned 21 I handed him $0.92. I think I actually got my CCW somewhere between Christmas and New Years and have been carrying it ever since.
Cheers,
Craig6
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How it felt in hand at the gun store, followed by being reputable (M&P), in a useful defensive caliber(.45) and last, capacity. Bonus, it’s a sweet shooter.
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My CCW is a tool with one use, to help me protect me and mine while I/we get from point a to point b, if and only if, certain circumstances happen. So I don’t care if it’s pretty, or unique, or really anything else.
It needs to work when I need it to, it needs to be small enough to be concealable yet hold enough rounds to stop the threat, it needs to be accurate without me having to add a bunch of junk to it. It needs to be in a large enough calibre that I am comfortable it will do its job. Stop the threat to me and mine.
My best hope for my CCW each day is that no one even knows it’s even there. So for me it’s a Glock. I’m not a fan boy, that’s just what works for me.
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Oh whew…I thought I was the only one that heard voices from the guns in the case at the gun shop saying “buy me, buy me”…I thought I was the only one. 
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So did Sledge Hammer’s.
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- Ambidexterity
- Compact size
- Grip ergonomics
- Capacity (double stack)
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Yeah that’d be a NO. its not just you.
I bought a Glock 21 .45ACP, two reasons:
- I shot everything the range had on rental (literally everything) and it was the most naturally accurate for me
- I talked with the head of the Israeli Shooting School in Los Angels (a former Mosad trainer) and he said they shoot Glocks because you can sweat on them, drop them in the sand, or drag them through a swamp and they still fire FB first time every time
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Reliability, available accessories (I.e. holsters and spare mags), shoot ability (for me), capacity.
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For summer time, size was everything(second to quality, of course). Then, I wanted added capacity.
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I have had a Glock 27 since the mid ‘90s. I have converted it to 9mm to save my old hands and my wallet. It runs, reliably. It is simple to operate, take down, and clean. Not sexy but very functional. So, it was only natural to get a G 43, which is smaller and lighter, but operates the same. It, too, is reliable.
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