I don't carry any of these firearms, but I can offer some general advice.
Look up reviews. I don't mean promotional pieces that talk about the various features of the firearm you are looking at, but actual reports from owners that fired thousands of rounds through their firearm and have taken it to training classes. There are a number of YouTube channels and blogs of individual gun owners that can give you
honest feedback.
There are two types of firearms, those that last and those that break down quickly. Don't get me wrong all firearms break down eventually, but some already show serious wear after one or two thousand rounds or after being used in a training class or two. For example, plastic sights tend to break. Springs and levers made from cheap metal wear out very quickly. The biggest issue is with outright design flaws. I am not talking about firearms that are inoperable from the get go, but rather firearms that have design features that are inherently less reliable. Malfunctions, such as failure to feed or failure to extract, start happening when these firearms are operated in less than ideal conditions, such as slightly dirty and in rain. Prime examples are compact 1911s chambered in .45 ACP.
Another thing to look at is serviceability. If something fails in the firearm, how easy is it to replace it. How easy is it to get replacement parts and at what cost. How easy is it to detail strip the firearm. Can you do it by yourself or do you need a gunsmith for replacing springs and levers.
Next up is the manual of arms. There are different schools of thought when it comes to external safeties, including thumb safeties and backstrap safeties. Without going into a long argument about external safeties, handguns with a light and short trigger travel, like 1911s, should have them. For all other handgun types, they are optional and not really needed. In any case, you will end up with multiple handguns for different uses. It is best to keep a consistent manual of arms, i.e., consistency in external safeties across your handguns. Similarly, you should also look for consistency in action types and not mix single-action, single-action/double-action and double-action only handguns. The goal here is that no-matter what firearm you pick up, you are very familiar with its operation and have trained with this particular firearm or a similar firearm extensively. Many manufacturers produce lineups that include different sizes of the same design, Take advantage of that. In some cases, the smaller model may even fit in the same holster as the bigger one.
Try to stay with the same caliber, unless you have an actual practical need to use a different one. For example, have one caliber for carrying in the street for 2-legged threats and one for carrying in the woods for 4-legged threats. The idea here is that you can stock up self defense rounds and target rounds on those calibers without creating an expensive mess.
Go to a range that rents firearms and test them out. Once you have bought one, take a defensive handgun training class with it not only to train the basics on how and when to use the firearm, but also to figure out if your gun, holster and backup magazines work for you.
My personal good to go list includes: Most Glocks, S&W M&P Shield, S&W M&P 9c and 40c, Sig Sauer P320 and a few others.
I have fired now about 13,000 rounds through my Glock 19, about 7,500 rounds through my Glock 26 and about 5,500 rounds through my Glock 20. These are all estimates. I have taken these firearms through several multi-day training classes. I had the following malfunctions in these about 26,000 rounds fired:
- Unnecessary "improvement": I replaced the safety plunger in the Glock 19 with a Titanium safety plunger. This changed the timing of the safety plunger in correlation to the striker and resulted in a single light primer strike. I subsequently removed the unnecessary "improvement".
- Operator error: I am right handed. During a training exercise with the Glock 19, we were supposed to hold the gun left handed, using the right hand as a support hand. Instead of the thumbs-forward grip, I did the thumbs-over-thumbs (revolver) grip. This resulted in the slide bumping into my thumb when cycling and a single failure to extract.
- Unnecessary "improvement": During practice with the Glock 20 and hot 10mm loads, the magazine fell out several times while firing. I traced this down to the Vickers extended magazine release that I installed and accidentally pushed inward while trying to hold on to the gun. I subsequently removed the unnecessary "improvement".
- Unnecessary "improvement": Also during practice with the Glock 20 and hot 10mm loads, the slide locked open on a non-empty magazine several times. I traced this down to the Glock extended slide stop lever that I installed and accidentally pushed up while trying to hold on to the gun. I subsequently removed the unnecessary "improvement".
- Wear out: Also during practice with the Glock 20 and hot 10mm loads, I had failures to feed. I traced this down to a worn-out recoil spring (5000-round service interval, requiring replacement). I replaced it and it works fine again.
You should be looking for this type of report for the firearms you are considering. Sorry for the long post.
