The Family of Guns and Magazine Compatibility

I strongly promote settling on a “family” of guns as your primary defensive handgun option.  Personally, I use the Glock 9mm family, in particular the Glock 19 and Glock 26.  I don’t bother with the small-frame Glocks like the model 43 because they don’t accept the standard magazines.  Being restricted to model specific single-stack magazines is my biggest turnoff regarding single stack models.  I find that accommodating the slightly wider gun, such as the model 26, is completely worthwhile due to the enhanced capability the double-stack magazine provides.  The flush fit 10 round magazine for the Glock 26 can easily be swapped for a 12, 15, 17, 21, or 33 round magazine.  The versatility is amazing, thus the Glock 26 remains my primary carry gun.  I can make it quite tiny, or I can load it up so that it gives up relatively little to a service-sized pistol.

I used to carry a Glock 19 most of the time and I still use one often, and the 19 is my preferred house gun.  Obviously, a Glock 17 or 34 make wonderful house guns as well, as the larger size is only a plus rather than a negative if the gun is not a concealment piece.  Such magazine compatibility makes this line of handgun exceedingly versatile.  The Glock line, however, is not the only handgun family with such magazine compatibility.  The Smith and Wesson M&P and the Sig P320 lines also work in this manner, as do many other handgun families.  In my mind, the double-stack 9mm, in all of its size deviations, serves as the go-to self-defense tool of the contemporary age.