matt:
I'm basically a 1911 guy. My EDC is one of two Officer's-sized .45's.... But around the house (largely because a special belt or high-end holster isn't necessary), an M&P40C is my choice....
(I've been carrying for more than 40 years. Probably everything known to man
.... The slightly smaller than full-size 1911's, although with a low round count, are easy to shoot, and will do the BG a very bad turn if I do my job. These two are very reliable, too, and I don't mind the weight. I do wear a special belt, and a good holster.)
One rule is to avoid the "gun of the month club".... Everything you're going to carry should work exactly the same - safety goes "down" to fire, for example - or not have that feature at all. It's far easier to miss a feature that's not there than to try to figure out which way the safety lever goes. (My M&P hasn't got any external controls except for the slide stop.) You can
sometimes get into something like my PPK/S where just leaving the safety lever off is adequate, but bear in mind that it's "backwards", should it find itself "on"....
Weight, for a carry gun, isn't much of a problem for a big guy (6' 1", about 350#), but YMMV.... The major problem with the lightweights is that they aren't much fun to shoot with anything remotely resembling full-power loads, but that's also a YMMV thing....
In my case, an M&P40FS or M&P40C isn't more than a little worse than my smaller 1911's, and a 9C is just plain fun (as would be a 9FS). I'm a little hesitant about a Shield 40, but probably could deal with it. I had to get rid of a PPS40 because the trigger was such that my pudgy finger would wrap around it and get pinched badly. Meantime, the very narrow backstrap hurt, too, but I could have dealt with that. (The PPS9 should be fine.)
SO....
If you want something you can carry
and punch paper with, I'd go with a 40C or 9C. The 40C is just a tad less capable than the 40FS, with little penalty in the design itself, and most holsters for the 40's will fit the 9's (Compact or Full Size), so you save a buck there. I carry a 40FS magazine, btw, as a spare for my 40C. Small penalty, and it means that I could grab the 40FS instead of the 40C if I have the urge
.... All of these are good enough for the range if you're not competing, and fine for bedside guns & such, too.
The Full Size variants are better for the range, of course, but I just don't gain/lose much between them and the smaller ones. The Full Size will shoot a bit better, but if you're into SD, getting six rounds into a six-inch circle at about 30' is good enough anyway.
I have a couple of full sized 1911's. Great for the range, or any "fixed" location, and not all that difficult for me to carry, but the smaller guns are just a lot easier to carry....
(I'm a semi-retired rent-a-cop, among other things. My first "duty" gun was a 6" S&W M19 Combat Magnum. Bigger than a breadbox, but not much of a problem. For concealment, largely because I couldn't hit anything with a snubby, I ended up with a 4" S&W M10HB. "Printing" wasn't an issue then. I switched to an M39 and PPK/S somewhere along the line, and then to 1911's about 2004. Bought my first M&P for the heck of it, really, and ended up with a couple more.)
Buy several....
Regards,