I currently have two pistols. My first one is a Glock model 19 chambered for the 9x19mm round, also known as 9mm Parabellum or simply 9mm. I chose the Glock brand for the following reasons:
- It's a simple design and is fantastically reliable
- It's very easy to field-strip and clean
- It has no external safety switch, you just draw, aim, and pull the trigger
- It's effectively a double-action pistol so all trigger pulls are the same *
- It has three safety mechanisms which are only disengaged by pulling the trigger so it's a very safe gun **
- Glock's customer service is reputed to be among the best in the business
I chose the model 19 for the following reasons:
- It's relatively small and concealable (it is the middle size of the three 9mm pistols Glock offers)
- The ammo is ubiquitous and practice ammo is relatively inexpensive
- I can use +p and +p+ law-enforcement-grade defensive ammo since the gun can easily handle the increased chamber pressures
- It has manageable recoil
I thought about getting a Glock 23, which is the same gun but in .40 caliber. However, I decided to go with the 9mm as it had a more manageable recoil and was less expensive to shoot. Being able to aim accurately and to afford to practice are more important than the increased power, especially when it comes to your first gun.
My second gun, which is what I usually carry now is a Glock model 26. It is also chambered for the 9mm round but is the smallest of the three sizes. It is therefore lighter and more concealable. It has a shorter grip so managing recoil is not as easy as with the 19, but now that I've had more experience shooting it has become easier to do so.
As time goes by, I may move up to something more powerful. The new 45 G.A.P. (for Glock Auto Pistol) looks interesting. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a new round and chambering developed by Glock so that they can have a pistol with the same ballistics as the venerable .45 ACP but in a shorter round. This is so that they can use frames with the standard grip size. Currently, the Glock 21 (full size .45 ACP) and Glock 30 (compact .45 ACP) have relatively large grips that some people find difficult to wrap their hands around. The Glock 36 is better as it uses a single-stack magazine but the grip is still larger from front to back than most of Glock's other guns.
* Although the firing pin is under some tension, it's not enough for the gun to fire should it be released unexpectedly. Pulling the trigger applies greater tension to the firing pin spring prior to releasing it.
** The three safeties are: 1) The trigger safety, which is a small tab that is depressed when you curl your finger around the trigger. Unless it's depressed, the trigger can't move backward. 2) The firing pin block safety which prevents the firing pin from moving forward unless it is depressed by the trigger bar as you pull the trigger. 3) The drop safety, which prevents the sear plate (the part of the trigger bar that pulls back the firing pin) from dropping down and releasing the firing pin until it has reached the rearmost position at which point it drops down and the firing pin is released to fire the round. The gun can be dropped from a considerable height onto solid concrete and it won't fire. There is one drawback, though, and that is that the gun can be accidentally fired if something pulls the trigger. Generally, this only happens if you have your finger on the trigger while holstering the gun, which you should never do anyway.
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