What is your absolute favorite pistol, 1911's excluded.

[Lost River]

For personal protection: 3rd Gen G19.
For range and competition: 3rd Gen OD G34

No need for pics of Glocks, as one looks like the rest.



For recreational shooting/hunting: Custom 5" Model 29-2 .44 mag.

For critters big and small, Elmer Keith's favorite will handle it.

[Hemoglobin]

No picture. I will try and remember to get one when I visit next, but...

I have two favorites: first is the Smith and Wesson 57/58. My dad keeps one in his nightstand he bought 25? years ago. It's a work of art. That is based on naustalgia. The second is the Beretta 92. I can't shoot or carry the gun for anything. It's too big but I tried. Racks like its on perfectly tuned ball bearings. When I have more disposable income... it will be mine again. I bounce between a 92 with wilson treatment or a RMR for my 19+ a spare every time I get spare money, but it always goes into the vacation fund!

[attrapereves]

Glock 19 is the best all around pistol for me.

[GHMann]

My favorite to shoot is my XDm .45 3.8" compact. My favorite to carry is a Shield 9mm.

[MountainRaven]

The Wokka Flokka 19

If I were Dictator, I would make it illegal to own any other handgun.

If I were Imperator Mundi, I would ban people who ban things and send them on an expedition to the center of the sun. For science. (There will be a party and cake for survivors.)

As for absolute favorite? Hmm... so many good choices. There's the H&K P7 (any 9mm flavor), the P30 (I like it better than the VP9), the Browning Hi-Power, the SiG P225, SiG P210, SiG P226, Beretta 92G-SD, Wilson-Beretta 92G Brigadier Tactical.

On the practical side, the P7, P225, P210, and BHP can't mount weapon lights, so we'll eliminate them. With the exception of the Hi-Power, all are out of production and magazines are appropriately difficult to find.

The P226 now has a long extractor in most models, which is prone to failure. There are the German-made models, but they generally lack the ability to mount a weapon light and are collector's items, anyway. The Mk25 doesn't exhibit these issues. But then we get into the position of the slide lock and my thumb interfering with the slide lock, so we'll drop the P226.

So that leaves us with the Berettas and the P30. In out of the box configuration... I'm going to go with the Wilson-Beretta 92G Brigadier Tactical as my favorite non-1911 pistol. (Although I did get a screaming deal on my 92G-SD, so once I mod the G-SD to my taste, the practical differences will be minimal. Except that the Wilson comes that way out of the box, and there are more of them.)

I suppose I could rank the Beretta 92G-SD and P30 relative to each other based on how hard it is to get them where I want them. The P30 needs sights and P30S slide locks. The 92G-SD needs a D spring, metal trigger, rear sight, Elite hammer, metal recoil guide rod, and G10 grips. And maybe a factory 4.7" barrel. None of the mods for either are particularly expensive (except for the barrel, but the barrel is also the most superfluous modification) or difficult to do. I think I'll call it a wash. Maybe give a slight lead to the P30, but not much of one, due to the reduced capacity, increased cost, and increased difficulty of finding magazines for the P30... and the lack of a carbine that takes P30 magazines.