I’ve carried quite a few handguns through the past 40 years of my concealed carry lifestyle. Being trained in public safety, I’m not one who wishes to feel helpless. So I keep a carry gun with me always and a get-home bag ready to go in my vehicle.
On my hip right now is a Nighthawk Custom Counselor. They make an amazing gun, if you can afford them. The Counselor is a 9mm in a Officers ACP format gun. I sometimes carry a .45 variant, a Colt 1991 Compact that was the budget version of the Officer’s ACP in .45. When I bought it in the early 90s it went directly from FFL to gunsmith and would be unrecognizable as a 1991 if that weren’t roll marked on the slide. It’s closer to what you would expect someone like Nighthawk to produce. The T3 is based on what Colt had called the “Concealed Carry Officer’s Model”, something I haven’t convinced myself I want to carry. But that is the variant that most gun writers seem to love. Personally I find that with anything bigger or heavier than an Officers ACP I start to think about leaving the gun at home. The lighter weight of the Counselor is why I prefer it to the 1991 Compact, despite my earlier preference for .45 ACP over 9mm.
As much as I like the Counselor I chose it over a Kimber, or other very good factory gun, because I hadn’t bought myself something “special” in 20 years. That’s partially because factory guns now sport many of the features and attention to detail that could only be had from a gunsmith back in the 90s or early 2000s, so I didn’t need to. Partially because finding something lighter and with the original Officers ACP 3.5" barrel size is difficult. Partially because I missed the attention to detail and little things that gunsmiths do where production lines still do not. So think of the Counselor (or T3) as luxuries, not as necessities for EDC.
My first revolver was a Ruger Stainless Security Six, my first pistol was a 1911 Government Model. They are both great guns, but I don’t carry either one EDC. My wife and I both enjoy our 1911’s, but carry different guns that are lighter in weight with a higher magazine capacity. Having said that, she keeps a Beretta 92 by her side of the bed and I keep a Glock 21 on mine, and add a Jericho 941 as the gun we keep in our truck whenever we go out for any reason.
Bottom line, find a gun that works for you, practice and train with it, and never go out of your house unarmed. in fact, I am always armed even in my house. The world is what it is.