I won’t carry my much-loved S&W Model 58, because its parts started getting a bit too loose, about 1990. It had served as my duty revolver, from 1985 until 1990, and, before I bought it, it had been a San Antonio PD duty revolver. I also finally realized that N-Frame revolvers are just a bit too large for my hands to hold correctly, while getting enough finger on the trigger, for double-action shooting, so, I tended to grip them improperly, which is a BAD idea when firing powerful ammunition.
My lesson about weapons that are too large for my hands is why I won’t carry a number of excellent, quality weapons that I admire. Beretta 92/M9, for example. Until the slimmer trigger was an option for SIG P226/P229 pistols, they did not fit me, either. The palms of my hands are large enough for me to enjoy the “feel” of such pistols, but my fingers are relatively short, for the size of my hands.
I won’t carry a Kimber product. I bought three Kimber 1911 pistols. All three required too much tinkering and parts replacement, for me to ever want to go through that experience again. I could only trust one of them to function well enough for street duty, and it insisted upon one specific aftermarket magazine. Another insisted upon being fed only from another, different brand of aftermarket magazine. The best thing those Kimbers did for me was that I learned to reflexively clear malfunctions. Meanwhile, my two Colt Government Model pistols ran well, as did my Les Baer, so, “user error” was factored-out. So, Kimber was three up, three down, over a five-year trial period, 1997 to 2002. Sorry, Kimber, you’re out. Too many other good 1911 manufacturers.
I won’t carry .40 pistols, anymore. The only one I still have, a SIG P229, is simply retired, after being my duty pistol for eleven years. I have simply aged-out of wanting to shoot .40 S&W. When my then-chief OK’ed 9mm duty pistols, in late 2015, I transitioned to a 9mm Glock Gen4 G17, a more “orthopedic” pistol, for aging hands. Modern 9mm duty ammo seems to get the job done as well as .40 S&W. When .40 S&W first appeared on the market, I liked the concept. At that time, it was difficult to get high-performing 9mm ammo. Notably, in appropriate pistols, the gentler-accelerating .45 ACP still works well, for me. I still like shooting my all-steel, full-sized 1911 pistols.
Speaking of Glock, I won’t carry pre-Gen3 Glocks, due to the way they fit, and prefer Gen4 and later, except that Short Frame Glocks, which are Gen3, fit me well.
I generally won’t carry pistols that are too small for me to quickly grip reliably, at the outset of the draw. Plenty of the slim-line compact nines, for example, are just not for me. Conceal-ability is just one part of the equation, when choosing a carry gun, and slimness is just one aspect of conceal-ability. A weapon that will “fill your hand” can be important.
I won’t carry a pistol that has a safety that requires my thumb to hunt for the thing. I started handgunning with a 1911, in late 1982 or early 1983, so, became habituated to finding the safety. I found the slide-mounted safety/de-cocker levers of the classic Walthers, old-school S&W, Beretta 92/M9, etc., to be quite workable and intuitive, in spite of the different movement required. Actually, there is a way to use one’s thumb in a way that will smoothly off-safe both the 1911 and the Walter/S&W/Beretta systems, rather than “sweep,” upward or downward, the thumb pushes forward, in a way that will move a 1911‘s lever downward, and the slide-mounted lever upward. if I recall correctly, Massad Ayoob wrote about this method, a very long time ago. It works.
What pistols have safety levers that do not work for me? Well, to start, some of the miniaturized 1911-ish pistols, such as the Colt Mustang, and its SIG and other design derivatives. While they operate, in principle, like that of a full-sized 1911, such tiny weapons‘ safeties are positioned in a way that my thumb does not readily “find” the little things. Most of the afterthought-like safety levers on striker-fired autos, such as the S&W M&P series, for example, are placed in a way that my habituated thumb motion/position does not “find“ them, either. I could, probably, adapt to some of these pistols, but, ammo just costs too much, on my retiree income.
Well, this is getting a bit long. Enough, for now.
