Two days ago I made a one day trip to Illinois and back. I spent eighteen hours in a car and I carried this:
This is probably a good indicator of where small and light guns fit in my lexicon.
I have nothing against small and light guns, or those who use them, they just don't work well for me. I have large hands and long fingers and small guns are not a good interface. With revolvers, I'll shortly wind up with a bleeding index finger that's been pinched between the frame and trigger. If a grip is used that's large enough to really control the weapon, it negates the utility of a small gun. I think S&W J frames are dandy weapons, as are Colt D frames. They just don't work for me.
With semi-autos I'll wind up with the web of my shooting hand cut and/or abraded pretty quickly. When drawing from a holster, I have great difficulty establishing a good master grip, so accuracy suffers. My issued sidearm at my current job is a Glock 23, which I hate with a passion. The grip is simply too small and I often find myself inadvertently engaging the slide stop if I'm not very aware of my hand position. We're supposed to be replacing them with G19s, something that can't happen soon enough in my opinion.
This served as my back up gun for nearly 25 years. In that context it served well, but as a primary carried IWB? Forget it, for the aforementioned reasons.
A previous comment was made regarding danger assessment. The poster has obviously drawn the completely illogical and dangerous conclusion that nothing beyond contact distance will pose a danger to you. Many of the victims of active shooters were killed beyond contact distance. Ask any of the kids running for their lives down the school commons area at Columbine if they felt in danger. Ask any of the patrons of the movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado if they felt safe because they were beyond contact distance.
In evaluating carry guns I use what I call the Food Court Standard. From the holster, I have to be able to consistently draw and execute a head shot at twenty five to thirty yards, the average distance across a mall food court. If it can't do that it doesn't get carried. In that scenario I envision an active shooter armed with a rifle suddenly appearing across the food court, while I sit waiting for my wife and enjoying my Orange Julius. My best chance for overcoming that scenario is a single quick headshot, before I draw the shooters attention. If I can't get that done, I've just brought a handgun to a rifle fight. The chances of that actually happening are slim to none you say? Probably, but it's the stakes not the chances sports fans.
All of that aside, the reality is that size and weight are primary factors in handgun selection. Most people want something that doesn't interfere in any way with their lifestyle and convenience.(the fact that you're participating in this discussion means you automatically have more interest than most of the general public) Most of them will never shoot their choice of weapon outside of a CCW permit class, so size and weight are all that matters.
