There are so many guns out there to choose from. I’ll try to be short and direct with this post.
I’ll start by saying I break pistols down into three different categories: carry guns, home defense guns, and range guns.
Here are the basics of what I look for in each Category
Carry Guns: Reliable, Concealable, Shootable, 10 Round minimum
Home Defense Guns: Reliable, Shootable, 15 Round Minimum
Range Guns: Nothing really matters, this is where fun & stupid collide
Clearly, we’ll be talking about carry guns in this article, and there are a lot of great options. Below you’ll find the five handgun platforms I’m most comfortable recommending to someone looking for a carry gun.
They’re in no particular order. Each one made the list for a reason, and depending on what you’re looking for, any of them could be the right choice.
But first, let’s talk about what puts a gun in the carry gun category.
What Makes a Gun a Carry Gun?
I’m looking for reliability first. If I’m carrying a firearm for defensive purposes, it needs to work when I need it, and just as importantly if not more so, only work when it’s commanded.
After that, I’m balancing concealability and shootability. Ideally, I want something I can shoot well, yet is small enough to easily conceal. For most people, I may favor concealability slightly over shootability because, first and foremost, I want to make sure you actually carry your gun.
Capacity is important. I struggle to recommend a carry pistol that holds fewer than 10 rounds.
I’m also a big believer that you should actually shoot your carry gun. If something is comfortable to carry but miserable to practice with, you’re simply less likely to actually train with it.
There isn’t one perfect combination of all these things. That’s why this list includes everything from a Glock 19-sized pistol down to a rather tiny .380.
Why You Won’t Find Ported or Comped Guns on This List
Comps and ports work, and I’m perfectly happy with them on range and competition guns. For a defensive handgun, however, the additional blast, noise, and debris they can direct toward the shooter, particularly from close-retention or unconventional shooting positions, make them a deal breaker for me when considering carry guns or home defense guns.
I’ve got a whole article explaining why I don’t carry them Why I Won’t Carry a Comped or Ported Pistol.
With all that out of the way, here are my five.
1. Glock 19 and the G19 Pattern Pistol
This choice is bigger than just the Glock 19.
I’m including the entire family of pistols that exist because somebody looked at the basic Glock 19 formula and thought, “Yeah, that’s pretty much the right thing for everything.” And this is why it’s been copied by so many companies.
This includes the Glock 19 itself, Shadow Systems MR920 variants, the Ruger RXM, ZEV’s Glock-pattern pistols, and other quality pistols built around essentially the same Gen 3 or Gen 4 Glock pattern.
A Glock 19-sized pistol is large enough to shoot extremely well while still being small enough for a lot of people to conceal comfortably. You get useful capacity, a full-enough grip, good holster availability, readily available magazines and parts, and a pistol that’s equally comfortable being used for training, home defense, or concealed carry.
If somebody told me they wanted one handgun that could do almost everything, a Glock 19-pattern pistol would be one of the first places I’d tell them to look. Which one you choose is basically dictated by personal preference and budget.
2. Glock 43X / 48 and the Slimline Glock Pattern Pistols
If the Glock 19 family represents the general-purpose compact, the Glock 43X and 48 family represents the same basic idea after somebody put it on a diet.
I’m including both the 43X and 48 here, along with pistols inspired by the same concept, including guns like the Shadow Systems CR920 family and even the Palmetto State Armory Micro Dagger.
Personally, I think this general category hits a very useful middle ground. I have bigger hands and I’m a bigger person, so I’ll take the 19 every time. But the 43X and 48 are the preferred choice for a lot of people, and there’s a reason for that.
If you’re looking for a carry gun, particularly if a Glock 19 feels just a little too big, the slimline Glock pattern absolutely deserves to be considered.
3. SIG Sauer P365 Family
It’s almost impossible to talk about modern concealed carry without talking about the P365. It might be the best-selling pistol specifically for concealed carry at this point. I don’t actually know if anyone has good enough sales data to prove that. I could have at least asked AI before writing this, right? Oops, anyway… I never claimed to be good at writing articles.
At this point, saying “P365” describes an entire ecosystem, a plethora of pistols, if you will.
You can get very small P365 configurations, larger XL configurations, XMacro-sized guns, and seemingly seventeen other combinations SIG will probably invent before I finish writing this article. And they do colors and stuff too, but just so you know, black is very slimming on you!
Personally, I gravitate toward the P365 XL and XMacro-sized configurations, but that’s exactly why the P365 family earns a spot here. It gives you options.
The platform allows someone to choose the balance of grip size, barrel length, capacity, and concealability that works for them without abandoning the basic platform. And thanks to its removable FCU, it’s probably the most modular and customizable pistol family on this list.
4. Smith & Wesson Shield Plus
The Shield has been around long enough that it’s easy to overlook it while everybody chases whatever the newest micro-compact happens to be. But that would be a mistake. The Shield Plus took an already established carry pistol and gave it the capacity and features necessary to remain competitive with newer designs.
It’s thin. It’s easy to conceal. It’s reasonably easy to shoot. It comes from a well-established manufacturer, and there’s a substantial aftermarket and holster ecosystem surrounding the Shield platform. There are also multiple Shield Plus configurations available, which gives shooters some room to choose the version that makes sense for them.
What I find most interesting about the Shield Plus as a carry gun is how many people whose opinions I respect either prefer this pistol or consistently rank it among their top two or three. It says a lot when the people who know, choose you.
5. Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0
And now for something completely different.
The Bodyguard 2.0 isn’t here because I think everyone should carry a tiny .380. It’s here because sometimes I carry a tiny little .380. When tiny is exactly what you need, it’s hard to do better than this gun.
Before this gun, I generally wouldn’t recommend a .380. They were either not reliable enough, not shootable enough, not accurate enough, or there was just something else about them that turned me off.
However, there are situations where carrying a Glock 19, P365 XMacro, or even a traditional micro-compact simply isn’t convenient, or possible. Clothing, environment, activity, or concealment requirements can make a genuinely small pistol the best or only choice. That’s where the Bodyguard 2.0 becomes very interesting.
In a sense, for me, the Bodyguard 2.0 is the gun I carry when I don’t want to carry a gun. When I’m walking the dog, taking out the trash, wearing gym shorts, or whatever. It can live on your person in a way very few other pistols can.
The old joke about .380s was that they’re usually better than a sharp stick. Well, this is drastically better than a sharp stick!
And most importantly, it’s reliable and shootable. It’s almost insane how good this little pistol is.
So Which One Should You Carry?
That’s ultimately something you’ll have to figure out.
If possible, rent them. Borrow them. Shoot them side by side. See what fits your hands, what you shoot well, and what you’re actually willing to carry every day.
The smallest gun isn’t automatically the best carry gun. Neither is the gun with the highest capacity, the softest recoil, the biggest optic, or the newest feature somebody on YouTube told you that you absolutely need.
A good carry gun is one that’s reliable, fits your circumstances, and that you can carry consistently and shoot competently.
Any of these five gives you a pretty good place to start.