The Ultimate Concealed Carry Handgun - How the Glock 48 was Almost the Winner but it's Almost SIG's to Take

I've been carrying a handgun for around a decade now. I am not the go-to guy for Internet advice, I'm not cop or veteran. I am a civilian with an interest in guns but I have a theory that Glock was almost the winner in 2019 of what I would have considered the ultimate concealed carry handgun, how the market missed that Springfield Armory was the winner back in 2014 and how the SIG P365 has the potential to be the greatest concealed carry handgun of all time. Too bad for Springfield Armory that everyone missed it but maybe SIG will capture the crown. SIG sure has the design.

To start us off, I used to have two handguns in daily rotation. One was a full size 1911 and the other a Glock 26 with the Glock 26 as a backup gun. Before those two, I had a Springfield Armory XD-40 Service which was apocalyptically awful to carry due to it's size/bulk. Incidentally, it suffered from what I now call Glock's X syndrome; short slide with a long grip. After the 1911 and 26, I carried a Walther PPQ that I still think was a great choice but I quickly moved on in favor of the CZ P01 for my love of exposed hammers. The CZ P01 was and still is a primary choice in my daily stable for the last several years but the Smith and Wesson M&P Shield has captured the roll as my primary concealed carry handgun for it's ease and comfort of carry.

Now that you have a very brief overview of my path of carry-hood, understand that I have spent many hours and nights over the last decade (mostly over quiet night shifts and drives home) considering what I would call the Ultimate Carry Handgun.

Around 4 years ago I started to refine what idea that the best carry handgun was. I ended up with that a short grip and a longer barrel and slide were definitely key features. This idea started life as a Glock 26 grip with a Glock 17 slide. The basis of this idea building on my experience where I found my full size 1911 wasn't too long but the 'modular' grip of something like the Glock 26 was better to carry and more versatile in regards to how you dress. Later on, I would modify this concept on my reflection of my time with the 1911 in the IWB carry method. I found it was just a bit too long and reducing the barrel length to around 4 inches was better suited to IWB carry. I initially hadn't considered that I was used to carrying the 1911 OWB. While the 1911 has fantastic dimensions in the width and grip, the 5 inch barrel was just simply too much for even 6ft 2in me to carry IWB and sit comfortably without putting pressure on the muzzle. Note that walking/standing wasn't an issue but sitting is and I take that into consideration.

It wasn't until later, after I switched to the CZ P01, that I would fully realize that around a barrel length around 4 inches really is what I consider the optimum barrel length for my version of the ultimate concealed carry handgun, if not just for taller folks like myself.  The CZ P01 and similar compact firearms to the Glock 19 really, truly are fantastic overall guns for the average citizen but they lack the modularity they need to bring them in the realm of my idea of the ultimate concealed carry handgun. If we consider this idea, effectively the ultimate carry handgun would be an amalgamation of the Glock 26 with a Glock 19 size slide. A Glock 26 Long Slide or hybrid if you will, but I have since reconsidered this idea. I now include width in the requirements and I will explain below.


Moving onto specifics, I hypothesize that the ultimate concealed carry handgun should have the shorter/truncated two, average-sized, finger grip and have an option to use an extension on the magazine that adds an extra finger rung should the person want to carry a nominal round count. This design feature allows the user to choose between a shorter, two finger grip with a flush fit magazine for concealment or a longer grip with a nominal round count as desired.

If we continue with our Glock 19/26 hybrid concept gun, for example, in everyday mode, I would carry our hypothetical, hybrid handgun with a 15 round magazine and grip sleeve but on the day I need to dress up, I would choose a 10 round flush fit magazine or 10 round magazine with a +2 extension for a shorter and therefore easier to conceal grip length. If we apply this idea to the current single stack pistol such as the 2019 M&P Shield Performance Center edition with 4 inch barrel, then we have 4 inch barrel with a 7 round flush fit magazine for dress up mode and an extended 8 round for everyday mode. Until this year, this is an idea that, for the most part, none of the mainstream manufacturers had really done or come close to; except Springfield Armory back in 2014 with their XD-S 4.0. Sadly, SA discontinued the 4.0 version after only a few years. This concept only seems to have ever been done to single stack, concealed carry pistols and one off custom made deals (search short grip Glock 17 or 34 for a good laugh).

The 4 inch barrel consideration comes from a combination of improved sight radius and ammunition performance. Generally speaking, I have found handguns with a longer sight radius are easier to shoot more precisely than handguns with a shorter sight radius. That can be over come with training but that's not what we're here to talk about. While you're not likely going to shoot 1 inch groups during a defensive situation, it may help. However, the increased barrel length will help with ammunition performance. More barrel will, within reason, increase the velocity of the projectile as it increases the time the confined gun powder has to burn. The mild increase in velocity gain from the extra inch should provide for more reliable expansion of the hollow point bullet, assuming that's what you carry. High quality ammunition should expand regardless but some level of tailoring needs to occur. I don't believe everyone who has a handgun for defense is choosing the best ammunition for that particular handgun. I always suggest researching ammunition for your application and tailoring this choice to your situation; not that everyone has the time or expertise for this.

We have seen a rise in today's market in the concealed carry specific area where the Smith and Wesson M&P Shield, the Glock 43 and a many others are feuding over a market share with what are basically the same pistol; a single stack, 9mm with a 3 inch barrel, a shorter grip and mag plate grip extensions. These 6 to 8 shot (ignoring the 43x intentionally) pistols effectively represent the current design paradigm for concealed carry specific handguns and are probably the most purchased firearms outside of the Glock 19 and friends category. This is what I would have previously considered to be the basis of the ultimate concealed carry handgun. In fact, I believed it so much that I had started looking for aftermarket options to convert my Shield to have a 4 inch barrel. Such options did in fact exist though this was before Smith dropped the Shield M2.0 4 inch models.

Interestingly, 2019 seems to be the year where the manufacturers finally figured it out. While I may have forgotten or not known of other manufacturers who sold models in this configuration, this signals the idea that, at least to some extent, the bigger players are listening to what some folks are asking for. The newest examples on the market include Smith and Wesson's newly released Shield models under their Performance Center banner with 4 inch barrels and Glock's model 48. In my recent contemplation, it seems that FINALLY, we have what would effectively become the ultimate carry handgun. Except that we don't. Remember when I talked about width requirements? It's as much about comfort and ease of carry as it is about efficiency or, more specifically, round density. I blame SIG for the new requirement.

For me, the Glock 48 seemed to have it all. A 4 inch barrel with a 10 round magazine capacity, a slim profile and aftermarket support. I've gone as far as saying that the Glock 48 is probably the ultimate concealed carry handgun. Slow down; continue reading.

That is, until I remembered that SIG Sauer showed up with their P365 two years ago. Basically, someone at SIG must have wanted their proverbial carry cake and eat it too because they managed to find a way to stuff 10 rounds into a Shield sized gun. I know; old news. At first, I was very interested when they announced the handgun and watched all the videos on YouTube (Thanks MAC!) but I hadn't truly considered the ramifications of their design language until now. What makes the SIG P365 so drastic to the paradigm has everything to do with it's efficiency. I know this is old news but in the same three dimensional space that the M&P Shield or Glock 43 occupies, the P365 manages to find a way to shoehorn an additional 3 or 4 rounds (or more) respectively. This is not insignificant. This literally requires a change in how this hypothetical handgun is designed. While it is true that it's not a necessity, the idea that I could have 2 or even more rounds compared to the Glock 48 isn't easy to ignore.

Initially, there was no width requirement. If you wanted more rounds then you were required to switch to a fatter gun. While the Glock 26's 1.26 inch width isn't terrible, the P365 packs the same 10 rounds into a thinner package. I will personally vouch that the thinner gun is better to carry. If we're to talk about the Ultimate Concealed Carry Handgun then packing the most amount of round into the smallest possible space. That said, I still don't consider the P365 the Ultimate Concealed Carry Handgun. It doesn't have the 4 inch barrel length. For those who are shorter or don't care about the barrel length then I would say you need to take a hard look at the P365.

That said, I do think that the design language that SIG introduced with the P365 could be used to make a develop very efficient handgun with a 4 inch barrel and 15 rounds in an incredibly narrow handgun. This could put the venerable Glock 19 to pasture but I doubt it.

Please understand that all of the above is entirely subjective, is based entirely on my opinion and is dependent a number of various factors that change from person to person. A much shorter person than myself will most likely find that the shorter 3 inch barrel is far better to conceal than the 4 inch barrel which it's entirely possible that someone like Hickok45 (6 foot 8 inch?) or Shaq would be just fine with a 5 or even 6 inch barrel with the IWB method.

Update: As I usually do I thought back on this and remembered that 1911 commander models have been around forever though they lack the modularity of the grip. That is honestly not a bad choice and maybe the Springfiled EMP deserves a look. Enough so that I may consider looking into a new 1911 based carry gun.

Update 2: Apparently, SIG is releasing a new version of the P365 called the XL with a 3.7 inch barrel. It only uses the 12 round mags instead of the 10 so it appears that SIG has the nearly perfect carry gun.