First pistol in a decade. Compact choices.

[El Pablo]

Shield 2.0. They have better triggers than the originals. Slim & comfortable to carry

I hate my shield 1 40 cal. Wonder why I still have it.

 

[okcBob]

I hate my shield 1 40 cal. Wonder why I still have it.

I did the trigger & grip upgrade on my 1.0. I just like the weight & thinness of it

 

[dennishoddy]

that's what i carry. but really, OP, you should take some of the most popular concealed firearms from Glock, SW, Sig Sauers, Ruger and go down to the local range and rent 'em and see which one is more your fancy. As long as you get it from a major brand, the reliability is fairly comparable and it mostly comes down to preference as far as i know.

Personally, Sig Sauer p365 is a great little pistol for me.

I did that with my wife back when she was looking for a handgun. After visits at Wilshire and H&H, I was out over $200 in rental prices. She picked out the one she was most comfortable with which was the Sig P-938, so I bought it. Cost me another $50 to replace the grips after an extended shooting period at our range whereupon she determined the grip was too fat. Turns out her favorite gun is my Kimber 1911 in ..45acp, but she ain't getting that one. She did use it to get her CC license though.

 

[OHJEEZE]

I carry a S&W 640-1 daily.

If I was looking to carry a auto it would be a CZ p-01 9mm.

No way would I ever consider a striker fire turd! Dont want any plastic either!

Your milage may vary though!

 

[ricco]

The mission drives the gear, decide what your mission parameters are and choose the pistol that best meets those parameters

 

[Hworth18]

The mission drives the gear, decide what your mission parameters are and choose the pistol that best meets those parameters

^^THIS^^
Decide what you need the pistol for and buy accordingly. I carried a subcompact for the longest time then went for a mid size gun with better range. Not only to handle a close encounter, but to handle an active shooter where I might have to make a distance shot or two. A sub just didn't cut it for me.

 

[wolf_walker]

The last fifteen years, I haven't needed it for anything lol.

Well, there was that really suspicious hooker that came to my door once at 2am, I'm pretty sure she had a friend in the bushes, but the old glock
was there and probly would have handled things.

My problem is I'd like to carry more and print less, but I hate small handguns. I have a 31" waist, damn near anything is like having a 8" long piece of 2x4 strapped to my hip. I know the answer is some tiny subcompact, but I really don't care for small handguns and I'm willing to deal with some oversize-ness, just a bit less than the full size Glock maybe.

I had a chance to handle some M&P's and Canik's and the G3C the other day. All great handguns at a glance, the M&P compact is
the closest to what I'd like so far overall and seems like a safe bet. The Canik Elite is just freakin cool, and the trigger felt great, the G3C even at an inflated
price is amazing for the money, I'm tempted to just buy one of them outright instead of ditching my g22 which was the plan.

I'll keep pondering for a bit, thanks all for the info, keep it coming.

 

[OKCShooter]

Any thoughts on the Mako? Not usually a Kimber fan but trigger looks promising, cut for optics and good capacity make it a possible contender.

Closed port is a little scary but the subcompact 9's don't seem overly finicky.

 

[1shott]

As others have said, G43x.

Its one heck of a package that glock got right. Mine has factory glock night sights. I do not have any of the shield 15 round mags at the moment.

For a compact carry gun, that for me anyway points and shoots great, cant be beat IMO.

 

[GIJROB]

Man to be honest its going to boil down to personal preference. I've shoot or owed most of the compact/ subs on the market. I personally carry a STI Tactical 4 but I'm kind of a big guy so I can get away with it that being said get out there and shoot some different models and choose what is going to suit you needs/wants.