Having considered the first ten installments of this series-–all the articles in this series may be found by entering “guns and liberty 2026” into the SMM homepage search bar-–perhaps you’ve decided you prefer semiautomatics over revolvers, and want a compact semiautomatic pistol for daily concealed carry. The next substantial question to be answered is: what caliber? Appropriate handguns are available in .380 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45ACP and a few other common calibers. Which is “best?” As the partial model chart from Glock (above)—solely in 9mm–-illustrates, there are many choices available from that manufacturer alone—the graphic doesn’t depict all of Glock’s 9mm offerings–-including some with integral red dot sights, in all common handgun size categories—very concealable to full-sized duty handguns–and many, regardless of caliber, are quite close to the same compact size and weight.
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