Kid- IMO there are many variables in selecting a CCW. Glocks and Sigs are great quality guns. Both reliable and durable IMO. You need to find something that works for you though (fits and shoots well). I like the G26/G27 and maybe the Sig 239. However bigger guys can "get away" with carrying much bigger guns. I use IWB carry but others don't like it. I feel it gives the best concealment. However you will need to get new pants to carry comfortably.
Have you been shooting for a while? I'd seriously consider get some good training before even thinking about CCW- both legal and practical shooting training.
Pops has the Sig 230, and I like it.. But the closest thing they make now is the 232. so.. Also i'd want to get the sub-compact glock, but i heard u can't get em in mass? is that true?
Hey Kid...Welcome to the forum! In addition to what others have posted so far, take a few to use the advanced search option here...We've mentioned our concealed carry MANY times.
Personally, I carry my H&K USP Compact .40s&w and love it.
You can't buy New Glocks in MA, but nothing wrong with used ones! Glock's lifetime warranty is for real and they don't care how many people owned it before you!
First, there is no "best". What works for me may not work for you.
Second, how are you intending to carry it? Pocket carry puts much greater limitations than belt carry.
For pocket carry, I prefer, in order:
1) Kahr PM9
2) Kahr MK9
3) S&W 642
I'm much more accurate with the Kahrs than the S&W 642. I have no use for the super-lightweight .357s.
For belt carry, there are a myriad of options. I'm partial to compact 1911s, but you'll have a hard time finding one for $500. I like Kahr K9s -- very small and thin, but they do have a low capacity. Glock 19s and 23s are fine, just replace the POS factory sights. Sig P239 is a good choice, but may be a bit above $500 (I may be putting my P239 .40 up for sale...).
Any DA Sig with the exception of the 232/230 and 239. Right action for the job, reliable, and easily/comfortably concealable, enough weight to make them pleasant to both shoot and carry. I tend to go for bigger things as I don't carry often, use smart carry.
I am warming up to my S&W 1911 with 5-6lbs trigger, it had some major assembly issues but is beginning to prove itself reliable and accurate. Initially the complexity of the 1911's design, my experience with doubling/tripling and small parts breakage, and the idea of a "light" (Not light in my case) short trigger pull for the first pull, were turn offs. I am thinking of getting another to set up for carry.
I like my G27. The 23 is a little bit larger, but still compact. Both are reliable and accurate. G27 is probably going to run you more than $500 used though.
Look for a gun that will eat any ammo, all of the time. Test your carry ammo with at least 200 rounds to make sure it works.
Definitely get training. While you may have been shooting since you were 8, you haven't been shooting the gun you're going to potentially trust your life to since you were 8. And, you haven't been carrying since you were 8. It's a whole different animal. There are so many intricacies to CCW that a course by David Kennick or another good instructor should be well worth it, if only to get the legal ins and outs.
A carry gun (or any weapon) is a funny thing. You always want to have it, but you never want to need it!
This is excellent advice. Best gun for concealed carry is the one you will carry all the time and can hit a target on command.
If the gun is too big to conceal with just a Tee shirt so you leave it home, I do not consider it the best. If the gun is so small you can not hold it and hit what you aim at that is a problem also.
If the caliber is more than you can handle, you will not have confidence in it and may leave it home.
We, as a group, should make our guns available to new shooters/new permit holders and let them try them out. I have J and K frame S&W revolvers that I would let you test out and can show you vqrious carry methods. No small semi autos but I am sure there are others that will do the same.
Another option is the GOAL road show on concealed carry. Jon and Darius have put a lot of time into this and could be a source of some information. Before you buy, take the class.
E mail is in my profile if you want to try my guns.
Another vote for carrying a Kahr. I have a few compact guns, maybe too many, if my wife ever saw all of them at once Every time I open the safe they are all looking at me, but time after time I grab the Kahr K40. It is slim, and while it doesn't bring a particularly large amount of rounds with it, I shoot it well and I am very comfortable with it, and I think that the comfort part is equally important to my ability to shoot it.
+ 1 on picking which works for you. most time I carry a walther pp 32 auto and yes there are some who laugh st this but I'm not a "big" guy so I carry what I can hide easily
Though I just bought a Para commader style have to try different conceal options maybe a shoulder holster now that fall/winter are here
The most important thing about a carry pistol, imho, is that you have to be able to "carry" it comfortably and inconspicuously. No matter what the caliber, if you decide to leave it home because it's a bother, what's the sense in owning it? This is why, after experimenting with .45, .40, and a few other calibers, I went to Keltec.
Don't overlook the Keltec pistols. I've carried for a years now in .320. Just recently I've just ordered the .380 model which is identical save for the barrel diameter. It's so small that you'll forget that you even have it in your pocket yet it's got a great bark and bite. It only weighs a few ounces, well below anything else on the CCW market, and has an extremely slim profile.
And, for anyone who feels that .380 is too small a caliber (or .320 for that matter), remember the first rule of gun fighting.....always have a gun! Because of its size, it's always in your pocket. The Keltec is 100% reliable, accurate as a tiny pistol can be, and is super easy to carry as it weighs so little that it slips into a pants pocket easily. It's about an "uncomfortable" as a lighter. I also have a small collection of other pistols, all with very nice holsters but they are relegated to Fall/Winter carry so I can wear a sweatshirt. In Spring and Summer, my keltec is always with me, even if I'm only wearing shorts and a t-shirt or, heck, a bathing suit. It's totally inconspicuous.
It's also extremely safe. You carry with a round in the chamber because this is a double action only pistol. There is no safety, either, because of that and because it has a hidden hammer/nothing to catch on your pants. You must fully pull the trigger to fire the pistol. You could have a round in the chamber and throw the thing off a buiding and it can not go off. And, finally, trigger pull is about 10 pounds so there's no way it can go off accidentally.
Just thought I'd throw in here and suggest that you at least look at them in a shop. Don't know if they are "legal" in Mass, however, now that I think about it. Just check around.
Kel-Tecs are available in MA, you just have to find a used one for sale. Can't buy new, but that's not a big deal. Supply is short, so prices are high, that is a big deal.
For $500, you may want to look at getting a couple, for a couple reasons:
1) You're getting another gun, what more reasons do you want?
2) You can have one for "normal" wear, or for carry during the temperate / cold weather - 1911, K- Frame S&W, etc and one for hot weather / quick trips - J - Frame, pocket auto, derringer, etc
3) If you need work done on it, you've got a back up gun
4) If you need to use it, it may be collected as evidence, and you'll need something else
5) Do I really need to give reasons for buying more guns?
Revolvers are my thing, and I'm sure for $500 cash I could walk out of any gunstore with a nice broken in Ruger Service Six and a S&W Model 60. You'd probably get a discount for a "bulk" purchase.
Kel-Tecs are available in MA, you just have to find a used one for sale. Can't buy new, but that's not a big deal. Supply is short, so prices are high, that is a big deal.
S&W will be happy to pay shipping indefinitely, but they frequently (IMO experience with two guns) send the gun back broken. They don't test fire enough. It is obvious they don't really care whether the gun runs correctly and may not even understand how it is supposed to run, they think as long as it feeds 10 rounds it's good enough. Of four S&Ws I bought only one (bought used, a PC gun) was running and built correctly with no flaws.
Glock won't always pay for shipping and makes you fight for it, and has been known to refuse to sell replacement parts to owners, requiring that a certified armorer work on the gun.
Kel-tec has shipped people new slides, barrels, and other parts, sometimes with extras, no questions asked.
That being said, I buy S&W because the parts and design are good and the potential is there, I take it as a matter of course that it will need work. Don't own a Glock but would still buy them. This is not a specific company problem, it's just the way things are in most cases.
A carry gun is not a toy. It's not used for recreation, for competition, or for sport hunting. (OK, a good carry gun MIGHT serve a dual purpose and double for one or more of those.) But my point is that if you are carrying it as a self defense weapon, your LIFE might be riding on it.
So clearly, it must be absolutely, utterly reliable. It must go bang each and every time you pull the trigger. Guns set up for recreation sometimes (often?) compromise reliability in the search for a little more accuracy, a little faster lock time, a little more competetive advantage. A little more whatever. None of which is needed on a self defense pistol.
It needs to be sufficiently accurate, but "target" or "bullseye" grade accuracy is definitely not needed.
It must fit your hand well. The controls must be easy to reach and manipulate.
(There was a woman at one of Ayoob's courses trying to shoot a Browning Hi Power. It had been her father's gun, her father had passed away, it had great sentimental value to her, but it just didn't fit her hand and she couldn't shoot it well, no matter how hard she tried.)
The trigger needs to be light enough to permit you to shoot it accurately, without being SO light (hair-triggered)
that it fires before you want it to (unintentional discharge).
The sights need to be easy for YOUR eyes to see, in any kind of light that you think you might need it in.
It needs to be powerful enough to have real fight stopping potential, yet not so powerful that it overpenetrates and endangers innocent bystanders behind the BG.
And it needs to be of a size and weight that lets you carry it all the time. The smaller and lighter a gun is, the easier it is to carry, but the harder it often is to shoot.
Is there a perfect gun that can do all that? Sure. But only YOU can determine what that is, for YOU.