What gun should you carry? There are many choices, both in what manufacturer and what features the handgun has. A usual list would include capacity (how many cartridges does it hold), caliber (basically, how big is the bullet, how fast does it travel to the target), whether the gun is a revolver or a semi-automatic pistol, the gun’s size, whether it has an external safety on it, how much it costs and many more that I can’t remember at the moment. Which of these should be very important to you?

How about whichever ones you want? It’s your gun. If you can shoot it well and keep it running, then it will work for you. Some may be better than others, but I am not about to wade off into that cesspool of “this is the perfect weapon” drivel. And, after you choose a gun and begin carrying one, you will likely end up owning several – each with its own features that you consider important at the time you purchase it. So, rather than go over misinformation that can be found on hundreds of gun forums and in dozens of gun magazines, I am going to comment on a couple of things that I think are very important, but I don’t hear mentioned elsewhere. Since I have learned these firsthand, from direct experience, I can honestly recommend that you keep them in mind when deciding on a particular gun to carry. No, these won’t all help save your life, but some of these will keep your life a little more pleasant.

Your carry gun obviously has to be durable, but it should be durable like a hammer. A hammer isn’t fancy, engraved and chrome plated. All these things are fine for a beautiful handgun, but if you pack something like that around, you’ll find out very quickly that you have a once-nice and now scratched and beat up gun. Carry guns need to be thought of like a tool. If you carry your gun all the time (and why wouldn’t you?), then you will also be doing all kinds of daily activities that subject the handgun to the possibility of damage. I was crawling across a shingled roof this past weekend, scraping the grip of my gun along the shingles, not giving it a care in the world. Oddly enough, it didn’t show any damage, likely because the gun doesn’t have wood or ivory grips that would abrade. While you could just take off your fancy gun when working, that leaves you with the gun away from where you are. Not a good choice. 

Would you be concerned if you dropped your gun? If so, it’s probably the wrong gun to carry. Oh, but you wouldn’t drop your gun, right? Well, I take it that when you practice, you do work with transitioning the firearm from one hand to the other so you can shoot with either hand. That is a critical skill, and when you start moving, shooting and then swapping the gun back and forth, it is likely you’ll drop it. With a gun that’s a tool – like a hammer – just let it hit the ground, pick it up and get back to practicing. You won’t have to inspect it for damage. One other problem with a nice gun is that if you drop it, you’ll invariably try to catch it. Bad idea. You must just let it hit the ground. God has a sense of humor and if you grab at your gun, you will get a finger on the trigger and blow a hole in something.