Am proficient with these handguns. I am going to pick one as my main ccw weapon. Right now I rotate a few as I feel the desire to carry a different application from time to time. But I feel that I just want to start carrying just one on a full time bases. What do you all think? What would you choose?
1.S&W Shield 9mm / 124 HST 8 rounds
2.Taurus G3c 9 mm / 124 HST 12 rounds
3.Taurus 85 38 Special / 130 HST 5 rounds
3. Ruger Speed Six 357 mag / 125 SJHP 6 rounds
4. Rossi 720 44 Special / 200 wadcutters 5 rounds
The longer I served as a LE firearms instructor, and then began occasionally volunteering to help teach (or teach solo) some CCW-type classes for private citizens, the less inclined I became in thinking to shill makes/models and calibers of guns to folks for concealed carry. Not my prerogative.
That said, if we were friends and just sitting around and chewing the fat, and you asked me what gun(s) I'd wish to carry from those you listed, strictly for my own use, I'd go with the Shield 9 and Speed-Six. Why? Because I carried a 3913 (8+1) or CS9 (7+1) for quite a few years (still do), which is similar enough to the Shield 9 for comparison, and I owned a blued Speed-Six for several years. I still regret letting that one slip through my fingers. Alas, a SP101DAO I carried for more than 20 years recently was transferred to a family member who really wanted it. I still carry a 5 or 6-shot revolver, although the significant bulk of my retirement CCW use involves various J-frames.
When I was working with people on our range who asked these sort of questions, it was easy enough to take them out to one of the firing lines and run them through some increasingly demanding drill scenarios, using drills both familiar
and unfamiliar to them (and no "warm up's"). I'd let them consider the results of their performance for themselves, considering the scored hits (and misses), timing (using timers, time-limited targets), as well as their self-evaluated comfort levels in using the different guns (and holsters) as they were pushed up against, and past, their usual comfort zones. Maybe add in some multiple threat and decision making Shoot/No-Shoot judgment moments. I've listened to my fair share of folks who started out with one perception or belief about their choices, and then changed their minds after being put through some paces which revealed some things they didn't expect, or just hadn't considered.
