August 22, 2025 • 42 mins
Christian ; Follower of GOD Servant of CHRIST
Decorated Combat VeteranCorporate; U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfare Instrictor;
S.R.T. Commander Active Shooter Response Team
Law Enforcement Los Angeles Police (L.A.P.D.) Police Officer / Fugitive Recovery
F.B.I. Instructor N.R.A Instructor
Competition Shooter; Multi Time State Rifle Pistol Champion
Hunting; Life Long Hunter Proffessional Hunter and Guide
Private Security Contractor; Several Agencies, Current.
GOD Provides / JESUS Saves
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gunfighter-life-survival-guns-tactical-hunting--4187306/support.
Have a Blessed Day
Decorated Combat VeteranCorporate; U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfare Instrictor;
S.R.T. Commander Active Shooter Response Team
Law Enforcement Los Angeles Police (L.A.P.D.) Police Officer / Fugitive Recovery
F.B.I. Instructor N.R.A Instructor
Competition Shooter; Multi Time State Rifle Pistol Champion
Hunting; Life Long Hunter Proffessional Hunter and Guide
Private Security Contractor; Several Agencies, Current.
GOD Provides / JESUS Saves
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gunfighter-life-survival-guns-tactical-hunting--4187306/support.
Have a Blessed Day
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, hello, there are gunfighters. Welcome to Gunfighter Life, the
podcast where we talk about guns, gun fighting tactics, equipment
the right way, with all Mighty God at the center
Judeo Christian values, which means taking no bribes from gun
companies or anybody else to tell you what's good and
(00:23):
what isn't or to tell you to buy the next cool,
hot thing. And I say that specifically for today's episode,
because today's episode is going to be on the top
combat handguns in twenty twenty four. Now, these are not
the top handguns coming out or that have come out recently,
because I would not recommend those, because I would be
recommending you get something and trust your life to it
(00:46):
that is not proven. If you want to get that
because you're a gun collector or because you just want
to go have fun at the range, that's fine, But
why would you trust your life to something unproven. Any
manufacturer of any gun glock Smith and West and Colt
some of the best of the best. When a new
model comes out, it has issues, so you're probably familiar
with the three year rules. So I'm not going to
recommend anything brand new, because why would I If you're
(01:08):
going to trust your life to it. If it's a
combat handgun or a defensive handgun. Why would I recommend
something that's not proven to you because some hot thing
on YouTube or because they're touting it as a game changer. No,
not here with that caveat. Nothing crazy, brand new that's
not proven. Also, nothing super old and obscure, as it
(01:32):
still needs to be manufactured. I'm sticking to guns that
are currently being manufactured at the time of this recording. Also,
these are full sized combat handguns. There will probably be
another one on smaller guns. But even though smaller guns
have come a long way, they're so have large combat
(01:52):
handguns and they're not going to compare if you're talking
about firepower, shootability, all that to full sized fighting handgun. Now,
I carry a full sized fighting handgun generally as my CCW,
my concealed carry. Right now, I'm carrying a SIG two six,
(02:16):
and I would recommend that for the reasons I just
stated that they're more shootable, more controllable. Other reasons higher capacity,
easier to clear malfunctions, you get more purchasery to manipulate
the weapon, get longer site radius, you get a longer barrel,
which means even for the same caliber, you get higher velocity.
There are many reasons. Just so you know, that's what
(02:37):
we're talking about today, a full size fighting handgun combat handguns.
All right, enough of the caveats. I am gonna put
in a bio skip around two minutes if you don't
care if you heard it before, but I think it's
important because you should ask yourself, why am I listening
to this dude, whether it's this podcast or anybody else,
any book, any video, why are you listening to that person?
(03:00):
Do they have actual experienced credibility or are they just
taking a bribe? Are they just taking money or pushing
a product on you, or are they just saying what
they like. There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing wrong
with gun entertainment. But if you're looking for real world,
firsthand experience, that's a big reason I started the podcast
for that reason. On this episode, I will put in
(03:21):
the bio skip around two minutes if you don't want
to hear it, I'll roll into a quick abbreviated bio,
and then into the main topic. First and foremost, I'm
a Christian. I don't apologize for that. God is number
one in my life. I grew up hunting and fishing
in the backwoods at the southeastern United States at a
very early age. Some of my earliest memories are with firearms.
(03:46):
I joined the Marine Corps seventeen did a couple of
combat towards in Iraq. By God's grace, he got me
through that safely. After that, I serve as a instructor,
an urban warfare instruct and a desert warfare instructor for
the United States Marine Corps. I also served with the
LAPD both full time as a swarm police officer and
(04:10):
some more specialized assignments, as well as serving in the
US Army full time and part time National Guard. I've
been a FBI fire Arms Instructor STALAM and FBI fire
Arms instructor have been for a lot of years. Also
on a racertified and some other three letter government agency certified.
(04:30):
I've been a private contractor for a three letter government
agency I won't specify. I've been the commander of the
tactical team in a large metropolitan area. By God's gracey
got me through all that in one piece. Not because
I'm better, because he chose to have grace and mercy
on me. I've been a professional hunter and guy professionally
(04:51):
hunted things like buffalo and elk. Not many people today
can say they've done that, but I'm blessed to be
able to say that I have. I've hunted everything from
white tailed there on the East coast, to muleer on
the West coast, to grace roll on the East coast,
of prey dog on the West coast, and elk and
bear and wolf and slain all manner of beast, a
state rifle and pistol champion a few times over, and
(05:15):
a few different disciplines. Enough about me, guys, blessed be
the Lord, my rock who trains my hands for warm
fingers for battle. Let's get into today's topic, all right.
Number one full size fighting handgun in twenty twenty four,
the Staccato XL the Staccato Excel is perhaps the number
(05:43):
one on the market. So now, if you're not familiar,
Staccato used to be STI I have experienced running STIs
both in real world street scenarios. That was my go
to gun as the commander of a tactical team to
stop act to shooters. I also competed with it the
same that was on my hip. That just made sense.
They kind of did a transition a few years ago
(06:04):
from mostly competition to they more kind of rebranded themselves,
I think, towards a duty gun. But ironically, the only
actual full size nineteen eleven ish that I'm aware they
make is the Stacato Excel one model. All the other
ones are dramatically neutered. In my opinion, they've been cut off.
(06:24):
A nineteen eleven is a five inch barrel. The only
one I'm aware they make is this Taccato Xcel. That
would be the one that I recommended if it was
for a full size fighting handgun. Why am I giving up?
It's not like I don't know why, Especially if you're
carrying with a gun this size, you're probably carrying strong
side hip right, You're probably not carrying appendix, So why
(06:45):
are you getting rid of the extra barrel. It's not
like you can't conceal it. I don't know. But they
do make this Tacato Excel. If you're not familiar, it's
a twenty eleven. It's a double stack nineteen eleven, all
the shootability and controllability, even more so than a as
a traditional nineteen eleven with double stack nine millimeter capability
I think standard is twenty one rounds. You can also
(07:06):
get twenty six round capacity if you want. Capacity is
not even in the top ten reasons why I love
these guns. They just shoot beautifully. They drive like a Ferrari.
Comparing one to comparing it to like, let's say, a
Glock seventeen would be like comparing a Ferrari to a
Volkswagen Beetle. They'll both get you down the road, but
(07:27):
you're not driving the same thing. Just they're phenomenal gun.
They I think deserve the number one spot. The Staccato
XL does appear optics cut. Now. I have what I
would consider the older version of this before they were Stacato.
I have the stim Marauder. It is a beautiful, beautiful handgun.
(07:48):
I don't generally carry it anymore because I honestly they
don't make that gun anymore, and I can't justify cutting
it into a convertible and getting it cut for an
optic It just it saddens me to think about that
thing that slice in the top off. One day I
may just do it. I may just just literally cut
the top off and make it optics ready. But anyway,
(08:10):
it is a phenomenal gun. And it certainly deserves the
number one spot. I think I don't like to talk
about prices. With inflation, they might go up between the
time I record this some time you'd listen to it.
But what I will say is it is not cheap.
You can buy a decent used car or use truck
for what one of these guns cost. If you're allowed
to carry one of these, however, and your job is
to save people's lives, you might look at not going
(08:32):
with the bargain basement sidearm if you don't have to,
and likely you might have if you get this gun
or something like it some one of the other guns
on the list, you might have it quite a bit
longer than you'll have a vehicle. Anyway, let's move on
to the next one. Wilson Combat. I don't think they
(08:55):
need any introduction from me. If you don't know about
Wilson Combat, you may not have heard of Tocado, but
you probably have certainly heard of Wilson Combat. Wilson Combat
makes the FX nine. I actually have one of these
on order before I got the carry gun that I'm
now carrying, and I literally had it on order, and
I thought, surely, with this gun, it's gonna come cut
(09:17):
for an optic, and at the time it didn't, so
I was gonna have to get it and get it
cut for an optic, which ticked me off, so I
canceled my order literally after I paid for it. But
now it looks like it does come with an optic,
or at least an option to be cut with an optic.
They make the the again, the full size one, the
SFX nine to five inch, looks like it's cut for
(09:39):
an optic. It is basically a double Stack nineteen eleven.
I would put it second after the STI. The SDI
platform was just more proven for me. They've been around
a lot longer. This gun has still been around the
three year mark and it doesn't seem to have any issues.
It's not as proven, but it's a fantastic gun. So
if you're looking at something. Ever, if you're looking at
(10:00):
like the Double Stack nineteen eleven arena, and for some
reason you like this when over the STI, I would
have no problem with it. It's a phenomenal gun, phenomenal choice.
Wilson Combat makes phenomenal stuff. If for whatever reason, you
like this better, you like McLaren better than Ferrari, whatever,
the case is right. It's a beautiful, beautiful firearm that
(10:24):
appears to work very well. Again, it's not a new
kid on the block. It's been around a while and
it seems to work just fine. All the things I
said about the Wilson Combat shoot ability, ergonomics, all the
things you might love about a nineteen eleven that have
kept it around for over a century, that beautiful, exquisite
trigger pull, all that stuff. And I don't just mean
(10:45):
light because a lot of people today think light. Oh
I make my trigger light and it's a good trigger.
You can have a light, garbage trigger, talking, crisp, clean, beautiful.
I think both these guns will have that. Now after
introducing these first two guns, that'll be my first to
my second one. This one also is not cheap, So
don't act like don't think that you're getting this one
for a bargain, and any double stacked nineteen eleven you
(11:09):
think you're getting at a bargain just a caveat you're
not like these guns. I don't think they're overpriced. I
think they cost what they cost because that's what it
costs to make a good nineteen eleven. I don't think
that Wilson Combat or Stacado is taking each to the cleaners.
Nineteen elevens require quite a bit of hand fitting, hand tuning.
You gotta pay for that. If you want a cheap
double stack nineteen eleven to take to the range, get
(11:32):
a spring Field or one of the other ones that
have come out budget on the market, but don't expect
that to be a life saving tool. Just like if
you want to get a cheap Chinese tournique to practice
with and play with and train with, that's fine, but
I wouldn't use it as my EDC right, I would
get a proper cat tourniquet or something like it. That's
the best analogy I can think of right now. These
(11:53):
guns are not cheap. That's one of the downfalls. And
one of the things talking about these first two picks,
they're from a bygone era. What is that quote from
Star Wars? A more elegant weapon, from a more civilized age.
I don't know about that, because World War One, where
it made its big debut, I think not very civilized,
as was a nasty war. But it was from a
(12:15):
time where men were craftsmen, and they hand fit stuff
and hand tuned stuff. And this gun requires a lot
of that, so to be made well, they require labor,
and labor is expensive, especially here in America. So again,
if you want a good, especially double stack nineteen eleven,
I would not recommend cheap. Now I'm not saying you
(12:37):
have to go with the double stack nineteen eleven. They
are not without their foibles, without their quarks. A nineteen eleven.
If you're not familiar, if you've never been in a
relationship with a nineteen eleven as a duty gun, as
a carry gun is a hard use gun. They require
a bit more finesse. They are a bit more high
maintenance of a gal than a glock or smith and
(12:59):
West n MP or many other things. Going back to
that hand fitted parts, there's a lot that has to
interact together and play well together for it to run.
And I've said this before and i've I think I've
run this in training. If you have a good, well
tuned double stack nineteen eleven, like an STI I think
(13:19):
they can absolutely be as reliable as a glock. I know,
I said it. If you maintain your gun, exchange parts regularly,
do maintenance on your gun regularly. And what I found
for a good, you know, really tight fitting nineteen eleven
or STI about two hundred and fifty rounds before it
(13:41):
starts giving me issues, Nyiah, And you can go a
thousand rounds with a glock. But again, it's not the
same experience. You're not driving the same car, so you
may not want that. You may not be willing to
put in the work in the maintenance, you may not
be willing to tune an extractor or for instance, I
once worked with a swat guy. He was telling me
(14:03):
how he initially liked nineteen eleven's but and I think
he was working for a department where they bought his
AMMO and he shot X amount of thousands of rounds,
so he was nineteen eleven and it broke, so he
didn't like him. Well, you're supposed to change the recoil
spring on a nineteen eleven every thousand rounds. That's like
saying you bought a brand new to stick with the
Ferrari analogy. You bought a brand new Ferrari, you drove
(14:24):
over for three years, never changed to oil, and it died,
So Ferrari suck, right, That's that's not how you drive
a Ferrari. You change oil in it like a nineteen
eleven they're designed to have the recoil spring, that main
spring underneath the barrel that's designed to be changed every
thousand rounds. Maybe you are not willing to do that.
If you're willing to spend that much money on a
(14:45):
nice nineteen eleven twenty eleven, probably you don't care about
the six ninety nine or seven ninety nine or under
ten dollars it is for a good recoil spring. You
just have a couple in your gun case. But they
do require that, and they do require more upkeep and maintenance,
so that's a caveat. I'm also recommen in these I
didn't put this in the initial caveats, but for KONUS
work continental United States, something where you can give your
(15:06):
gun regular maintenance. Right, this is these These two would
not be my first choices. If I was recommending an
apocalypse gunn A peanut butter and chocolate hitting the fan
gun A I'm taking a government contract and deploying to
the mountains of Afghanistan, right, these would not be the
guns I would recommend for that. I'm recommending more Conus
type police work, where after I've shot two hundred and
(15:30):
fifty rounds, I can clean my gun and I can
claim it with proper oil and lube, and I have
tools in a workbench to maintain it to tune that extractor.
So that's the caveat there. The next one I'm going
to recommend, and this is this is the one that's
(15:53):
on my hip because although I have in the past,
and especially where I'm when I'm wearing a duty belt,
I will carry a STI twenty eleven. They're a little
bit heavy for even me day to day, and I
carry a full sized fighting handgun. They're in the forty
ish ounce range. I've come to find that about the
(16:14):
thirty five ish ounce ranges is generally I'll what I
can carry all day without being encumbered, without being able
to have my belt get pulled down or whatever. But anyway,
the next one on the list is basically the one
that I have on my hip. I have an older model.
I bought it used for a screaming deal, and mine
(16:35):
predated the optics cut model, so I had mine direct
cut for a Trigicon RMR. And in fact, all the
ones I'm gonna recommend today are going to be cut
for an optic because it's twenty twenty four. Even if
you don't think you want to run an optic right now,
I don't know why you would buy a gun in
twenty twenty four that was not cut for an optic
for a handgun, for a full sized fighting handgun. You
(16:57):
might make the case if you're talking about like a
backup gun or something and you don't want an optic.
I get it. But again, even if you don't want
to run an optic, why wouldn't you get a gun
cut for an optic in twenty twenty four? Anyway, The
sig Sour Legion two twenty six single action only. I
specify single action only. If you're a double single action guy,
that's fine, but you had better walk down the aisle
(17:18):
with it. That requires quite a bit of training. And
unless all your guns are double single I would not
recommend carrying or using a double single four duty unless again,
you're gonna walk down the aisle with it. That's not me.
I prefer single action only hammerback safety on the six
hour to twenty six Legion SAO. Single action only lets
(17:39):
you do that. It's cut for an optic. It's a
beautiful gun if memory serves correct. It weighs like thirty
four ounces it's metal on metal. It is aluminum, not steel,
but it is metal on metal. It is hammer fired,
which means it has an exquisite trigger. Is it as
good as a nineteen eleven an STI Stacado a cult
gold cup. No it is not. But it is very good,
(18:01):
much better than just about any polymer striker fired handgun
factory trigger you're going to get. Again, light is not good.
It's probably heavier than some polymer spongy, squishy triggers, but
it's not spongy and it's not squishy, which I don't Again,
people think that trigger pull is only weight. It's not
only weight. Wait is one little tiny part of the equation. Again,
(18:24):
it's it's an exquisite trigger. It's also going to the
other point, it's a much more rugged design. I love
nineteen elevens, but they do require that more upkeep and maintenance.
This does not. This is a much simpler design. It's
very forgiving as far as maintenance goes. It's an exquisite
(18:45):
combat handgun. The SIG two twenty six I don't think
requires any well, maybe it does. It's one of the
greatest combat handguns of all time, the one that beat
it I'm gonna talk about after I talk about these handguns.
But this one is a quid that I am specifying
single action only. I'm specifying the Legion cut for an optic.
It's a great model also, six and one half a
(19:09):
dozen of the other, a really really good model that's
similar in all the points. Depending on what flavor you like,
I would go with the Legion, but they do make
the Zevtech. Zev Tech kind of makes their own version,
their own flavor of very similar single action, only it's
got some kind of Gucci cuts in the slide and
stuff like that. Nothing wrong with that now, it shouldn't
(19:31):
affect the function of it at all. It's cut for
an optic, has a thread of barrel, but it's very
similar in form and function to the Legion SAO. And
it's been around a while now, I think it's getting
up on that three year mark. So either one of
those in the SIG two twenty six, all right now,
the one that beat it, And I recommended this one
first because it's the one that's on my hip, so
(19:52):
it would be hypocritical of me not to. But when
I got this gun, these guns did not exist, or
at least I don't think they were out at the
three year mark. I've learned the hard way. That's how
I came up with a three year rule. That was
something that came out after the painful experience of getting
guns that just came out that were supposed to be
the new game changer that didn't work. But anyway, if
these guns were out, they probably weren't out of the
(20:13):
three mark three year mark yet I think they are now.
The Barretta ninety two X Performance Now I have said before,
I think the Bretta ninety two is the finest combat
handgun ever fielded. It's neck and neck there with the
two twenty six, but the Bretta has a lot going
for it. One thing it didn't have going for it
(20:34):
as a modern carry gun was the double single action. Again,
if you really want to walk down the aisle with that,
that's fine, but it's kind of dated. It's kind of
like the fanny pack or the mullet, which they may
try and bring back in style, but come on anyway,
with that, I prefer single action, hammerback safety on. If
(20:55):
you prefer another operating system, that's fine, But the Barretta
ninety two xmance a fine fine handgun. It's I think
that the Burretta operating system is better. I think that
drop down locking lug design is a superior design. I
think the open top slide is a superior design. That's
(21:17):
why I think it is a little bit better than
the SIG. The SIG is a great probably the best
conventional design, meaning like browning tilting barrel system. But I
think that design, although cheap and simple, is not the best.
I think the Barretta has a better design, and no
matter how finally made you make a gun, I don't
know if you're going to compete with that better design
(21:38):
to begin with. So I like that system. I like
the barrel staying in a linear line. I have found
it to be quite a bit more accurate, especially with
different loads. I like the open top design. It can
greatly reduce some malfunctions, which is a good thing in
a combat handgun. And the Bretta ninety two X performance
gives you that capability with the ability to carry hammerback
(22:01):
safety on. The only one I'm aware of before this
was some really early prototypes and the Millennium, which was
kind of more of a high grade collector's finally polished gun.
This seems to be a decent combat handgun, the bread
and ninety two X Performance and the Bread and ninety
two X, the difference being I believe the Performance has
a steel frame, which makes it quite a bit heavy
(22:24):
if you're going to carry on a normal belt, if
you're gonna carry on a duty belt, makes no difference.
The Bread of ninety two X, however, has the traditional
alloy frame but still lets you carry hammerback safety on
phenomenal guns. Either of those models. I know they did
just come out with the Bread of ninety two X.
I I don't think that one's hit the three year
(22:46):
mark yet, but I do believe the Bread of ninety
two X and the ninety two X Performance have or
if not, they're much closer, and I think the Bread
of ninety two X Performance has, so you might want
to look at those also if you just want the
traditional double single, it's a fine combat handgun. If you're
looking for the bargain, just a regular Bread M nine
or ninety two, especially like a police trade in because
(23:09):
most cops don't shoot that much. You can get those
for a song and a dance. So if you're looking
for a value on here and you're willing to deal
with the double single, you really want to look at
the bread in ninety two. In my opinion, they do
still make them more traditional models. Again, if you want
the double single, I think that is great for a
combat handgun, where like let's say your FOB is getting
(23:33):
attacked and you're in general when you're inside the wire.
Difference between military, which is why I'm not people often
look to the military and think, what do they do,
what do they carry? Does that even apply to you?
Because here's the deal. If you're carrying a handgun in
the military, as I did, sometimes that is not your
primary weapon. And most of the time when we were
(23:55):
carrying a handgun inside in garrison, we carried condition threegie
in loaded magazine and no round and chamber slide forward,
meaning we had to rack it. But that's fine. If
for a file before a Ford operating base is getting
attacked and we're running up to the wire, then we
racked the slide as we're running up to the wire,
(24:16):
as we're you know, running up to the attack. Or
like my and I carried both an M sixteen and
a Boretta as a marine, and I qualified with both
in the army. But like let's say the army when
I was in calv when I was in First Cavalry,
that's not my primary weapon. My primary weapon is a tank, right,
(24:39):
or a machine gun on the tank, or in the
Marines it was a rocket launcher or a satchel charge.
It's just twenty pounds sixteen one and a quarter pounds
sticks of C four right, that was my primary thing.
The handgum was a just in case. If you are
either law enforcement or an armed civilian part of a
well regulated citizen and re write, and that's what you
(25:02):
have on you while you're out and about, that's your primary.
You can sell all you want about your handgun is
to fight your way to your rifle. But if you're
out and about as a citizen and the handgun is
what you have on you, that's your primary at the time.
So it's apples and oranges, you're not really comparing the two.
And with a CCW gun, those encounters are often quick,
dirty and nasty for law enforcement as well, which is
(25:24):
why they don't generally carry without around in the chamber.
In fact, I don't recommend that at all for anybody
unless it's again like a backup gun. It's in your
pack or something in that case, that's fine. But if
it's on you and you're gonna need it right away,
probably I wouldn't count on being able to ractice slide
in time. Those situations again are often not always, but
often quick, dirty and nasty and over quickly, and you
(25:48):
want to change that person's behavior. If you have to,
right it's probably because they're trying to kill you or
somebody else. You might want to change your behavior right quick. Anyway,
the point of that is double single great for a
combat handgun, perhaps maybe a better system, But for civilian
concealed carry or for a police officer, I don't think
(26:09):
it's a good option. I much prefer single action only
hammerback safety on it to my primary. That's why I
recommended those models. If you really, really, really really train
with a double single, you can get good and fast
with that first double action and get accustomed to right
(26:29):
after that. Okay, I have a completely different trigger pull,
but again that's train train, train even more than you
normally would with another system, and again kind of walk
down the aisle with it, because that can get you
into trouble if you switch back and forth between different
operating systems. It's quite a bit different than most other systems. Anyway,
(26:50):
with that, I realize that today the modern marketing is
polymer striker fired guns. They dominate the mar I don't
think they're as good. I don't think you almost ever
get as good a trigger poll which is a major thing.
The point of a gun is to hit a given target,
unless it's just a collector piece or a you know,
(27:11):
Tiffany blue decoration. If it's a fighting gun, the point
is to hit a given target, and I think trigger
is a big part of that. So for that reason,
I prefer hammer fired guns. But I do realize that
today I think, mostly because of affordability, the polymer streger fire,
(27:34):
because there's so much cheaper to produce, is the standard.
So for that, it would be remiss of me to
not talk about polymer striker fired handguns. And so we
talk a little bit about military. The number one that
I'm going to recommend the seventeen. I know you probably
(27:57):
thought I was gonna say glock, but I didn't. You know,
glock might have been a top pick twenty years ago.
There's so many good polymer striker fired handguns on the market.
I don't know why who would go with the glock
other than you're just a diet in the wold glock
guy and glock, and everybody knows glock, and I already
have glock magazines, and glock is the best. But if
(28:19):
you're not that guy and you look at it objectively,
then I have a glock. I run a glock. I've
carried a glock on duty both as a private contractor
and a law enforcement officer, and I may again someday
if I decide to take up a contract and that's
what they have and that's what I have to run.
But if I have my choice, even if they dictate
polymer striker fire, it wouldn't even be in the top
(28:41):
several picks. The top pick I'm gonna pick today is
the seventeen. It's a full science fighting handgun. It's our
military's new combat handgun. Again, I put it after the Barretta,
but it's it's proven right, It's been around for more
than three years. It's an evolution of the three t one,
and I'll probably talk about some models of the three twenty.
(29:03):
It doesn't have a hammer fire trigger, but it has
a pretty good trigger for a polymer striker fired handgun.
With that caveat. It's got a pretty good trigger. The
seventeen comes cut for an optic again talk about military proven.
I actually didn't want to like this gun at all.
I got one so I could beat it up and
test it and try it out. I actually really do
(29:23):
like that. If you want more on that, I did
a whole episode on I think the gun that I
hate to love. But it's a good gun for a
polymer striker fired handgun, much more affordable than many of
the guns I've talked about thus far, and it's a
good option, and it's quite a bit lighter than I
think most of the guns I've discussed thus far. It's
(29:45):
like twenty and the mid twenty ish ounces as supposed
to the mid thirty ish ounces again comes optics cut.
The military is not spewed it out of its mouth.
It's a good combat handgun. If you want a polymer
striker fired one, that's the one I'm gonna recommend. It's
(30:05):
also modular, which I think was kind of a weird
criteria for the military because I don't see them. I
don't see a marine going up to the cage and saying,
you know what, Private Smith, what do you feel like today?
Do you feel like a small grip or a medium grip.
Let me measure your hands, what size glove to you wear.
They're probably gonna say, here's your handgun, sign the hand receipt.
I don't I don't see how the modulary comes into
(30:28):
play there the modularity. But for you, I absolutely think
it comes into play because you can do that. You
can decide, you know what I like of the nineteen
eleven it's ergonomics, the way that it points. I'm gonna
get a nineteen eleven stylish, more nineteen eleven stylish. I'm
gonna go to the Wolfson Combat and spend a little
(30:49):
bit of money and get a nineteen eleven grip or
polymer eighty grip from I three twenty, or just get
a different size. I think for you, as a as
a citizen, you have a lot more freedom. You can
take a lot more advantage of that, because if you
don't know, it's a modular system, that whole fire control
unit you can take out. You can change virtually anything
on that gun, and the fire control unit is a
(31:12):
serialized part. So that's an added bonus which I think
makes a lot more sense for you than it does
for the military. The next one I'm going to recommend.
I will briefly mention the SIG X fives. They make
a three to twenty version. It's I think it's more
geared towards competition. But as somebody that's carried a STI
(31:35):
for both duty and competition, I which part of that
don't you like? The fast part or the accurate part?
If I was going with something like that, I would
prefer to go to a hammer fired gun. But if
you want the three twenty x five or the three
twenty lesion, it exists, it's out there. It's not a
bad option, and I also should I also briefly mention
(31:57):
they do make the two twenty six x five, and
they've had very different, very various versions of that over
the years. I'm not sure how long the current version
has been in production, so I don't know if i'd
recommend it, But if it has and it's proven, you
may look into that X five two twenty six on
the polymer striker fire train going to a different manufacturer,
(32:21):
the HKVP nine. The HKVP nine is a good gun
for a polymer striker fired handgun. If you want a
polymer striker fired handgun and you don't mind spending a
little bit more money on magazines. You may look at
(32:44):
the VP nine. It's been around a while now. It's
not a spring chicken, it's not new, it's been around
quite a while, proven, kind of a sleeper, but absolutely
I think it deserves to be on this list. You
might think with that i'd recommend the FNS. I do not.
I do not recommend anything in the FN five H
(33:04):
nine kind of family. I would not recommend them at all.
I've had nothing but issues with those. But the HKVP
nine I think is a fine gun as far as
Palmer Schegger fired triggers go, it is good. And the
next one I'm gonna talk about is the Walter also
(33:24):
kind of a sleeper, but the Walther PDP kind of
made as a duty combat handgun. It's not gonna be
as common. The mags aren't gonna be as common. You
might not find them at your local store. But it's
a very very good gun, very good optics mounting system,
which is important. They make a full sized version it has.
(33:47):
I think they're kind of ugly, to be honest, but
that doesn't make them a bad gun. Just kind of
like I think spider cone knives are ugly. They're good knives.
I just don't like the aesthetics. I actually don't like
the aesthetics of a Walter PDP, but they feel really
good in the hand. Bad aesthetics does not mean bad ergonomics.
They have good ergonomics. They're fairly modular, they have a
(34:08):
good optics mounting system, and they have a very good
trigger for a polymer striker fire trigger. All right, with that,
I guess I have to put a glock on the
list because some people are just glock and glock, and
it's gotta be glock if I'm picking a glock for this,
I think except for the old Gen ones, which are
(34:30):
off the table because they're no longer being made, the
best Gen is the Gen five. Finger grooves No, just
finger grooves, not cool, So Gen fives don't have a
finger groove. They also have some other design features that
are minsule that I won't get into, like actual rifling
instead of polygonal rifling, which I prefer, or polygonal rifling.
(34:52):
However you want to enunciate that there are benefits and
detriments to both. But I like the glock Gen five barrels.
I also like their of fingergoos less is more there,
so Gen five and a Glock seventeen would be fine.
I would probably recommend a thirty four because again I
(35:14):
think a full size handgun is a five inch and
the closer I can get to that the better. And
since I can get a longer barrel in the thirty four,
why wouldn't I? And they do make a Gen five
in the thirty four. They don't make a GEM five
and the seventeen l which would be cool. But anyway,
Agena five thirty four would be fine. It would be
(35:35):
a fine serviceable combat handgun. The seventeen also would be.
But again I don't get like the trend towards this
sworder barrel, because if I'm carrying a gun this size,
I'm probably carrying it muzzled down strong side hip, probably
not appendix carrying at the lock seventeen. I could be wrong.
I don't prefer a Pennics carry in general, but a
(35:55):
gun that size you're probably carrying strong side hip, in
which case what do you care how long the barrel is?
As long as it's not like the Batman Joker revolver
going down to your knee, what difference does it make
how long the barrel is, So why would you give
up the extra velocity, the extra shootability, the extra ability
to clear malfunctions and everything with the longer barrel, longer
site radius anyway, So for those reasons, I would go
(36:17):
with the Glock Gen five thirty four. And that's not
an all exhaustive list. There are many. I mean there
are a s mortgage board. Again, Palmer striker fired handguns
dominate the market. There are tons of them. I'm gonna
give you one kind of wild card here. If you
(36:40):
don't want nine millimeter, I mean forty smith and Mustin's
kind of a dead cartridge, but forty five still has
some advantages. I mean, nine millimeter is the de facto
defensive handgun caliber of our time, and I think for
good reason. But if you want a forty five, the
one that I would recommend for a modern combat handgun,
I mentioned I'm not a big fan of the FN
(37:02):
five H nine series, and I'm not and I stand
by that. But the FNX forty five, lovingly referred to
as the tactical Wheaties Box, that's a fine gun. It
is polymer, but it is not striker fired. It is
hammer fired. You can carry it hammerback safety on double
stack forty five comes cut for an optic. It's a big,
(37:26):
beefy gun. You'd better have fairly big meat hooks, fairly
big hands. But if you do, when you're willing to
carry a gun that big, that FNX forty five. If
you want a forty five and a modern combat handgun
still being made. It's a big gun. It's bordering on
a cruiserve handgun, but it's it's doable, especially in duty
(37:49):
rig So anyway, you might consider the FNX forty five
if you want a big modern forty five. Ironically, I
can't think of any good high quality double stacked forty
five nineteen eleven like twenty eleven's being made. They used
to when it was STI, but they went to Scato
and now they I think only make nine millimeters. And
(38:12):
I'm not aware of any of There may be when
it used to be the Pair of Ordinance, but they
got bought up by Remington in that whole debacle. The
older pair of Ordinances are good, but I said currently
being manufactured. So for that, ironically, I mentioned some nineteen
elevens in nine millimeter. But if you want a good
modern double stack forty five. It's gonna be the FNX
forty five anyway. I think that's gonna be enough. Again,
(38:34):
there are many more that I didn't mention that you
may like for a certain reason, but I think that'll
round out the top combat handguns in twenty twenty four.
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Your tactical tip of the day,
you want to get good with a handgun practice number
one dry fire. I'm big on that that's not your
(38:56):
tractical tip of the day. You should be doing that anyway.
Twenty two doesn't have to be exactly the same, but
get one analogous to what you're gonna be fighting with.
We started off with nineteen elevens get a nineteen eleven
and twenty two. There are many Get one to train
with so that you're good with it. You're gonna run
(39:17):
a glock, fine, get the glock in twenty two or
a glock conversion killer from like tactical solutions, and train
in twenty two. If you're practicing to draw, you can
do a lot more reps, a lot more affordably with
the twenty two than you can with nine millimeters, and
certainly with forty five. So if you don't yet have one,
and you have a bunch of handguns, a bunch of ars,
(39:39):
and you're looking at the next cool combat handgun. You
already have a decent one. Perhaps get a twenty two
training partner for your gun then, not to be identical,
but probably something with a similar manual of arms. Meaning
you rack the slide same way, you clear malfunction the
same way, you do attack, reload the same way. Anyway,
(40:03):
that's your tactical tip of the day, your tactical verse
of the day. I mentioned in the beginning, I don't
take bribes on this show. I'm not gonna tell you
by the next cool thing hot thing on YouTube that
may or may not work when you're trusting your life
to it and you get killed because I'm trying to
make a dime. Not here. Tactical verse of the day.
(40:24):
You shall do no injustice and judgment. You shall not
be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of
the Mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. You
shall not go about as a tale bearer among your people,
nor shall you take a stand against the life of
your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate
(40:45):
your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebeat your
neighbor and not bears him because of him. You shall
not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children
of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There's a ton of good stuff in that short verse,
that short passage. It's several verses a short passage. Versions
have this translated. You shall not take a stand against
(41:09):
the life of your neighbor. Some versions translate that, I
think more clearly in our modern English. Maybe not more correctly,
but easier to understand. And you shall not stand idly
by while somebody takes the life of your neighbor. You should,
I hope, feel as passionate about protecting the life of
those around you, the women, the children, the orphan, the widow,
(41:33):
the little old lady. You should feel as passionate about
protecting their lives as you do your own. You shall
not stand idly by while somebody takes the life of
your neighbor. You want to stop back to shooters, be armed.
It's not a CoP's job, it's not the government's job.
It's your responsibility, as a man, as made in the
image of God, to protect life yours and others. You
(41:53):
shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love your
neighbor as yourself. Are you just carrying a gunna protect
yourself if you get mugged at the ATM, in which
case you might be carrying an LCP. Are you thinking
you might have to stop an actor shooter or stop
somebody else's life from being ended. You shall love your
(42:15):
neighbor as yourself. In that case, you might want a
more capable of fighting handguns. And there's a lot more
into that than just handguns, right, It just goes into
that mindset, and mindset is important. You could have the greatest,
fanciest combat handgun with the best optics and the best
hollow points. If you're not willing to stay take a
stand and stand up while somebody tries to take the
life of your neighbor, what good is it? What good
(42:36):
is it? Anyway? With that, thanks for listening and have
a blessed day.
Well, hello, there are gunfighters. Welcome to Gunfighter Life, the
podcast where we talk about guns, gun fighting tactics, equipment
the right way, with all Mighty God at the center
Judeo Christian values, which means taking no bribes from gun
companies or anybody else to tell you what's good and
(00:23):
what isn't or to tell you to buy the next cool,
hot thing. And I say that specifically for today's episode,
because today's episode is going to be on the top
combat handguns in twenty twenty four. Now, these are not
the top handguns coming out or that have come out recently,
because I would not recommend those, because I would be
recommending you get something and trust your life to it
(00:46):
that is not proven. If you want to get that
because you're a gun collector or because you just want
to go have fun at the range, that's fine, But
why would you trust your life to something unproven. Any
manufacturer of any gun glock Smith and West and Colt
some of the best of the best. When a new
model comes out, it has issues, so you're probably familiar
with the three year rules. So I'm not going to
recommend anything brand new, because why would I If you're
(01:08):
going to trust your life to it. If it's a
combat handgun or a defensive handgun. Why would I recommend
something that's not proven to you because some hot thing
on YouTube or because they're touting it as a game changer. No,
not here with that caveat. Nothing crazy, brand new that's
not proven. Also, nothing super old and obscure, as it
(01:32):
still needs to be manufactured. I'm sticking to guns that
are currently being manufactured at the time of this recording. Also,
these are full sized combat handguns. There will probably be
another one on smaller guns. But even though smaller guns
have come a long way, they're so have large combat
(01:52):
handguns and they're not going to compare if you're talking
about firepower, shootability, all that to full sized fighting handgun. Now,
I carry a full sized fighting handgun generally as my CCW,
my concealed carry. Right now, I'm carrying a SIG two six,
(02:16):
and I would recommend that for the reasons I just
stated that they're more shootable, more controllable. Other reasons higher capacity,
easier to clear malfunctions, you get more purchasery to manipulate
the weapon, get longer site radius, you get a longer barrel,
which means even for the same caliber, you get higher velocity.
There are many reasons. Just so you know, that's what
(02:37):
we're talking about today, a full size fighting handgun combat handguns.
All right, enough of the caveats. I am gonna put
in a bio skip around two minutes if you don't
care if you heard it before, but I think it's
important because you should ask yourself, why am I listening
to this dude, whether it's this podcast or anybody else,
any book, any video, why are you listening to that person?
(03:00):
Do they have actual experienced credibility or are they just
taking a bribe? Are they just taking money or pushing
a product on you, or are they just saying what
they like. There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing wrong
with gun entertainment. But if you're looking for real world,
firsthand experience, that's a big reason I started the podcast
for that reason. On this episode, I will put in
(03:21):
the bio skip around two minutes if you don't want
to hear it, I'll roll into a quick abbreviated bio,
and then into the main topic. First and foremost, I'm
a Christian. I don't apologize for that. God is number
one in my life. I grew up hunting and fishing
in the backwoods at the southeastern United States at a
very early age. Some of my earliest memories are with firearms.
(03:46):
I joined the Marine Corps seventeen did a couple of
combat towards in Iraq. By God's grace, he got me
through that safely. After that, I serve as a instructor,
an urban warfare instruct and a desert warfare instructor for
the United States Marine Corps. I also served with the
LAPD both full time as a swarm police officer and
(04:10):
some more specialized assignments, as well as serving in the
US Army full time and part time National Guard. I've
been a FBI fire Arms Instructor STALAM and FBI fire
Arms instructor have been for a lot of years. Also
on a racertified and some other three letter government agency certified.
(04:30):
I've been a private contractor for a three letter government
agency I won't specify. I've been the commander of the
tactical team in a large metropolitan area. By God's gracey
got me through all that in one piece. Not because
I'm better, because he chose to have grace and mercy
on me. I've been a professional hunter and guy professionally
(04:51):
hunted things like buffalo and elk. Not many people today
can say they've done that, but I'm blessed to be
able to say that I have. I've hunted everything from
white tailed there on the East coast, to muleer on
the West coast, to grace roll on the East coast,
of prey dog on the West coast, and elk and
bear and wolf and slain all manner of beast, a
state rifle and pistol champion a few times over, and
(05:15):
a few different disciplines. Enough about me, guys, blessed be
the Lord, my rock who trains my hands for warm
fingers for battle. Let's get into today's topic, all right.
Number one full size fighting handgun in twenty twenty four,
the Staccato XL the Staccato Excel is perhaps the number
(05:43):
one on the market. So now, if you're not familiar,
Staccato used to be STI I have experienced running STIs
both in real world street scenarios. That was my go
to gun as the commander of a tactical team to
stop act to shooters. I also competed with it the
same that was on my hip. That just made sense.
They kind of did a transition a few years ago
(06:04):
from mostly competition to they more kind of rebranded themselves,
I think, towards a duty gun. But ironically, the only
actual full size nineteen eleven ish that I'm aware they
make is the Stacato Excel one model. All the other
ones are dramatically neutered. In my opinion, they've been cut off.
(06:24):
A nineteen eleven is a five inch barrel. The only
one I'm aware they make is this Taccato Xcel. That
would be the one that I recommended if it was
for a full size fighting handgun. Why am I giving up?
It's not like I don't know why, Especially if you're
carrying with a gun this size, you're probably carrying strong
side hip right, You're probably not carrying appendix, So why
(06:45):
are you getting rid of the extra barrel. It's not
like you can't conceal it. I don't know. But they
do make this Tacato Excel. If you're not familiar, it's
a twenty eleven. It's a double stack nineteen eleven, all
the shootability and controllability, even more so than a as
a traditional nineteen eleven with double stack nine millimeter capability
I think standard is twenty one rounds. You can also
(07:06):
get twenty six round capacity if you want. Capacity is
not even in the top ten reasons why I love
these guns. They just shoot beautifully. They drive like a Ferrari.
Comparing one to comparing it to like, let's say, a
Glock seventeen would be like comparing a Ferrari to a
Volkswagen Beetle. They'll both get you down the road, but
(07:27):
you're not driving the same thing. Just they're phenomenal gun.
They I think deserve the number one spot. The Staccato
XL does appear optics cut. Now. I have what I
would consider the older version of this before they were Stacato.
I have the stim Marauder. It is a beautiful, beautiful handgun.
(07:48):
I don't generally carry it anymore because I honestly they
don't make that gun anymore, and I can't justify cutting
it into a convertible and getting it cut for an
optic It just it saddens me to think about that
thing that slice in the top off. One day I
may just do it. I may just just literally cut
the top off and make it optics ready. But anyway,
(08:10):
it is a phenomenal gun. And it certainly deserves the
number one spot. I think I don't like to talk
about prices. With inflation, they might go up between the
time I record this some time you'd listen to it.
But what I will say is it is not cheap.
You can buy a decent used car or use truck
for what one of these guns cost. If you're allowed
to carry one of these, however, and your job is
to save people's lives, you might look at not going
(08:32):
with the bargain basement sidearm if you don't have to,
and likely you might have if you get this gun
or something like it some one of the other guns
on the list, you might have it quite a bit
longer than you'll have a vehicle. Anyway, let's move on
to the next one. Wilson Combat. I don't think they
(08:55):
need any introduction from me. If you don't know about
Wilson Combat, you may not have heard of Tocado, but
you probably have certainly heard of Wilson Combat. Wilson Combat
makes the FX nine. I actually have one of these
on order before I got the carry gun that I'm
now carrying, and I literally had it on order, and
I thought, surely, with this gun, it's gonna come cut
(09:17):
for an optic, and at the time it didn't, so
I was gonna have to get it and get it
cut for an optic, which ticked me off, so I
canceled my order literally after I paid for it. But
now it looks like it does come with an optic,
or at least an option to be cut with an optic.
They make the the again, the full size one, the
SFX nine to five inch, looks like it's cut for
(09:39):
an optic. It is basically a double Stack nineteen eleven.
I would put it second after the STI. The SDI
platform was just more proven for me. They've been around
a lot longer. This gun has still been around the
three year mark and it doesn't seem to have any issues.
It's not as proven, but it's a fantastic gun. So
if you're looking at something. Ever, if you're looking at
(10:00):
like the Double Stack nineteen eleven arena, and for some
reason you like this when over the STI, I would
have no problem with it. It's a phenomenal gun, phenomenal choice.
Wilson Combat makes phenomenal stuff. If for whatever reason, you
like this better, you like McLaren better than Ferrari, whatever,
the case is right. It's a beautiful, beautiful firearm that
(10:24):
appears to work very well. Again, it's not a new
kid on the block. It's been around a while and
it seems to work just fine. All the things I
said about the Wilson Combat shoot ability, ergonomics, all the
things you might love about a nineteen eleven that have
kept it around for over a century, that beautiful, exquisite
trigger pull, all that stuff. And I don't just mean
(10:45):
light because a lot of people today think light. Oh
I make my trigger light and it's a good trigger.
You can have a light, garbage trigger, talking, crisp, clean, beautiful.
I think both these guns will have that. Now after
introducing these first two guns, that'll be my first to
my second one. This one also is not cheap, So
don't act like don't think that you're getting this one
for a bargain, and any double stacked nineteen eleven you
(11:09):
think you're getting at a bargain just a caveat you're
not like these guns. I don't think they're overpriced. I
think they cost what they cost because that's what it
costs to make a good nineteen eleven. I don't think
that Wilson Combat or Stacado is taking each to the cleaners.
Nineteen elevens require quite a bit of hand fitting, hand tuning.
You gotta pay for that. If you want a cheap
double stack nineteen eleven to take to the range, get
(11:32):
a spring Field or one of the other ones that
have come out budget on the market, but don't expect
that to be a life saving tool. Just like if
you want to get a cheap Chinese tournique to practice
with and play with and train with, that's fine, but
I wouldn't use it as my EDC right, I would
get a proper cat tourniquet or something like it. That's
the best analogy I can think of right now. These
(11:53):
guns are not cheap. That's one of the downfalls. And
one of the things talking about these first two picks,
they're from a bygone era. What is that quote from
Star Wars? A more elegant weapon, from a more civilized age.
I don't know about that, because World War One, where
it made its big debut, I think not very civilized,
as was a nasty war. But it was from a
(12:15):
time where men were craftsmen, and they hand fit stuff
and hand tuned stuff. And this gun requires a lot
of that, so to be made well, they require labor,
and labor is expensive, especially here in America. So again,
if you want a good, especially double stack nineteen eleven,
I would not recommend cheap. Now I'm not saying you
(12:37):
have to go with the double stack nineteen eleven. They
are not without their foibles, without their quarks. A nineteen eleven.
If you're not familiar, if you've never been in a
relationship with a nineteen eleven as a duty gun, as
a carry gun is a hard use gun. They require
a bit more finesse. They are a bit more high
maintenance of a gal than a glock or smith and
(12:59):
West n MP or many other things. Going back to
that hand fitted parts, there's a lot that has to
interact together and play well together for it to run.
And I've said this before and i've I think I've
run this in training. If you have a good, well
tuned double stack nineteen eleven, like an STI I think
(13:19):
they can absolutely be as reliable as a glock. I know,
I said it. If you maintain your gun, exchange parts regularly,
do maintenance on your gun regularly. And what I found
for a good, you know, really tight fitting nineteen eleven
or STI about two hundred and fifty rounds before it
(13:41):
starts giving me issues, Nyiah, And you can go a
thousand rounds with a glock. But again, it's not the
same experience. You're not driving the same car, so you
may not want that. You may not be willing to
put in the work in the maintenance, you may not
be willing to tune an extractor or for instance, I
once worked with a swat guy. He was telling me
(14:03):
how he initially liked nineteen eleven's but and I think
he was working for a department where they bought his
AMMO and he shot X amount of thousands of rounds,
so he was nineteen eleven and it broke, so he
didn't like him. Well, you're supposed to change the recoil
spring on a nineteen eleven every thousand rounds. That's like
saying you bought a brand new to stick with the
Ferrari analogy. You bought a brand new Ferrari, you drove
(14:24):
over for three years, never changed to oil, and it died,
So Ferrari suck, right, That's that's not how you drive
a Ferrari. You change oil in it like a nineteen
eleven they're designed to have the recoil spring, that main
spring underneath the barrel that's designed to be changed every
thousand rounds. Maybe you are not willing to do that.
If you're willing to spend that much money on a
(14:45):
nice nineteen eleven twenty eleven, probably you don't care about
the six ninety nine or seven ninety nine or under
ten dollars it is for a good recoil spring. You
just have a couple in your gun case. But they
do require that, and they do require more upkeep and maintenance,
so that's a caveat. I'm also recommen in these I
didn't put this in the initial caveats, but for KONUS
work continental United States, something where you can give your
(15:06):
gun regular maintenance. Right, this is these These two would
not be my first choices. If I was recommending an
apocalypse gunn A peanut butter and chocolate hitting the fan
gun A I'm taking a government contract and deploying to
the mountains of Afghanistan, right, these would not be the
guns I would recommend for that. I'm recommending more Conus
type police work, where after I've shot two hundred and
(15:30):
fifty rounds, I can clean my gun and I can
claim it with proper oil and lube, and I have
tools in a workbench to maintain it to tune that extractor.
So that's the caveat there. The next one I'm going
to recommend, and this is this is the one that's
(15:53):
on my hip because although I have in the past,
and especially where I'm when I'm wearing a duty belt,
I will carry a STI twenty eleven. They're a little
bit heavy for even me day to day, and I
carry a full sized fighting handgun. They're in the forty
ish ounce range. I've come to find that about the
(16:14):
thirty five ish ounce ranges is generally I'll what I
can carry all day without being encumbered, without being able
to have my belt get pulled down or whatever. But anyway,
the next one on the list is basically the one
that I have on my hip. I have an older model.
I bought it used for a screaming deal, and mine
(16:35):
predated the optics cut model, so I had mine direct
cut for a Trigicon RMR. And in fact, all the
ones I'm gonna recommend today are going to be cut
for an optic because it's twenty twenty four. Even if
you don't think you want to run an optic right now,
I don't know why you would buy a gun in
twenty twenty four that was not cut for an optic
for a handgun, for a full sized fighting handgun. You
(16:57):
might make the case if you're talking about like a
backup gun or something and you don't want an optic.
I get it. But again, even if you don't want
to run an optic, why wouldn't you get a gun
cut for an optic in twenty twenty four? Anyway, The
sig Sour Legion two twenty six single action only. I
specify single action only. If you're a double single action guy,
that's fine, but you had better walk down the aisle
(17:18):
with it. That requires quite a bit of training. And
unless all your guns are double single I would not
recommend carrying or using a double single four duty unless again,
you're gonna walk down the aisle with it. That's not me.
I prefer single action only hammerback safety on the six
hour to twenty six Legion SAO. Single action only lets
(17:39):
you do that. It's cut for an optic. It's a
beautiful gun if memory serves correct. It weighs like thirty
four ounces it's metal on metal. It is aluminum, not steel,
but it is metal on metal. It is hammer fired,
which means it has an exquisite trigger. Is it as
good as a nineteen eleven an STI Stacado a cult
gold cup. No it is not. But it is very good,
(18:01):
much better than just about any polymer striker fired handgun
factory trigger you're going to get. Again, light is not good.
It's probably heavier than some polymer spongy, squishy triggers, but
it's not spongy and it's not squishy, which I don't Again,
people think that trigger pull is only weight. It's not
only weight. Wait is one little tiny part of the equation. Again,
(18:24):
it's it's an exquisite trigger. It's also going to the
other point, it's a much more rugged design. I love
nineteen elevens, but they do require that more upkeep and maintenance.
This does not. This is a much simpler design. It's
very forgiving as far as maintenance goes. It's an exquisite
(18:45):
combat handgun. The SIG two twenty six I don't think
requires any well, maybe it does. It's one of the
greatest combat handguns of all time, the one that beat
it I'm gonna talk about after I talk about these handguns.
But this one is a quid that I am specifying
single action only. I'm specifying the Legion cut for an optic.
It's a great model also, six and one half a
(19:09):
dozen of the other, a really really good model that's
similar in all the points. Depending on what flavor you like,
I would go with the Legion, but they do make
the Zevtech. Zev Tech kind of makes their own version,
their own flavor of very similar single action, only it's
got some kind of Gucci cuts in the slide and
stuff like that. Nothing wrong with that now, it shouldn't
(19:31):
affect the function of it at all. It's cut for
an optic, has a thread of barrel, but it's very
similar in form and function to the Legion SAO. And
it's been around a while now, I think it's getting
up on that three year mark. So either one of
those in the SIG two twenty six, all right now,
the one that beat it, And I recommended this one
first because it's the one that's on my hip, so
(19:52):
it would be hypocritical of me not to. But when
I got this gun, these guns did not exist, or
at least I don't think they were out at the
three year mark. I've learned the hard way. That's how
I came up with a three year rule. That was
something that came out after the painful experience of getting
guns that just came out that were supposed to be
the new game changer that didn't work. But anyway, if
these guns were out, they probably weren't out of the
(20:13):
three mark three year mark yet I think they are now.
The Barretta ninety two X Performance Now I have said before,
I think the Bretta ninety two is the finest combat
handgun ever fielded. It's neck and neck there with the
two twenty six, but the Bretta has a lot going
for it. One thing it didn't have going for it
(20:34):
as a modern carry gun was the double single action. Again,
if you really want to walk down the aisle with that,
that's fine, but it's kind of dated. It's kind of
like the fanny pack or the mullet, which they may
try and bring back in style, but come on anyway,
with that, I prefer single action, hammerback safety on. If
(20:55):
you prefer another operating system, that's fine, But the Barretta
ninety two xmance a fine fine handgun. It's I think
that the Burretta operating system is better. I think that
drop down locking lug design is a superior design. I
think the open top slide is a superior design. That's
(21:17):
why I think it is a little bit better than
the SIG. The SIG is a great probably the best
conventional design, meaning like browning tilting barrel system. But I
think that design, although cheap and simple, is not the best.
I think the Barretta has a better design, and no
matter how finally made you make a gun, I don't
know if you're going to compete with that better design
(21:38):
to begin with. So I like that system. I like
the barrel staying in a linear line. I have found
it to be quite a bit more accurate, especially with
different loads. I like the open top design. It can
greatly reduce some malfunctions, which is a good thing in
a combat handgun. And the Bretta ninety two X performance
gives you that capability with the ability to carry hammerback
(22:01):
safety on. The only one I'm aware of before this
was some really early prototypes and the Millennium, which was
kind of more of a high grade collector's finally polished gun.
This seems to be a decent combat handgun, the bread
and ninety two X Performance and the Bread and ninety
two X, the difference being I believe the Performance has
a steel frame, which makes it quite a bit heavy
(22:24):
if you're going to carry on a normal belt, if
you're gonna carry on a duty belt, makes no difference.
The Bread of ninety two X, however, has the traditional
alloy frame but still lets you carry hammerback safety on
phenomenal guns. Either of those models. I know they did
just come out with the Bread of ninety two X.
I I don't think that one's hit the three year
(22:46):
mark yet, but I do believe the Bread of ninety
two X and the ninety two X Performance have or
if not, they're much closer, and I think the Bread
of ninety two X Performance has, so you might want
to look at those also if you just want the
traditional double single, it's a fine combat handgun. If you're
looking for the bargain, just a regular Bread M nine
or ninety two, especially like a police trade in because
(23:09):
most cops don't shoot that much. You can get those
for a song and a dance. So if you're looking
for a value on here and you're willing to deal
with the double single, you really want to look at
the bread in ninety two. In my opinion, they do
still make them more traditional models. Again, if you want
the double single, I think that is great for a
combat handgun, where like let's say your FOB is getting
(23:33):
attacked and you're in general when you're inside the wire.
Difference between military, which is why I'm not people often
look to the military and think, what do they do,
what do they carry? Does that even apply to you?
Because here's the deal. If you're carrying a handgun in
the military, as I did, sometimes that is not your
primary weapon. And most of the time when we were
(23:55):
carrying a handgun inside in garrison, we carried condition threegie
in loaded magazine and no round and chamber slide forward,
meaning we had to rack it. But that's fine. If
for a file before a Ford operating base is getting
attacked and we're running up to the wire, then we
racked the slide as we're running up to the wire,
(24:16):
as we're you know, running up to the attack. Or
like my and I carried both an M sixteen and
a Boretta as a marine, and I qualified with both
in the army. But like let's say the army when
I was in calv when I was in First Cavalry,
that's not my primary weapon. My primary weapon is a tank, right,
(24:39):
or a machine gun on the tank, or in the
Marines it was a rocket launcher or a satchel charge.
It's just twenty pounds sixteen one and a quarter pounds
sticks of C four right, that was my primary thing.
The handgum was a just in case. If you are
either law enforcement or an armed civilian part of a
well regulated citizen and re write, and that's what you
(25:02):
have on you while you're out and about, that's your primary.
You can sell all you want about your handgun is
to fight your way to your rifle. But if you're
out and about as a citizen and the handgun is
what you have on you, that's your primary at the time.
So it's apples and oranges, you're not really comparing the two.
And with a CCW gun, those encounters are often quick,
dirty and nasty for law enforcement as well, which is
(25:24):
why they don't generally carry without around in the chamber.
In fact, I don't recommend that at all for anybody
unless it's again like a backup gun. It's in your
pack or something in that case, that's fine. But if
it's on you and you're gonna need it right away,
probably I wouldn't count on being able to ractice slide
in time. Those situations again are often not always, but
often quick, dirty and nasty and over quickly, and you
(25:48):
want to change that person's behavior. If you have to,
right it's probably because they're trying to kill you or
somebody else. You might want to change your behavior right quick. Anyway,
the point of that is double single great for a
combat handgun, perhaps maybe a better system, But for civilian
concealed carry or for a police officer, I don't think
(26:09):
it's a good option. I much prefer single action only
hammerback safety on it to my primary. That's why I
recommended those models. If you really, really, really really train
with a double single, you can get good and fast
with that first double action and get accustomed to right
(26:29):
after that. Okay, I have a completely different trigger pull,
but again that's train train, train even more than you
normally would with another system, and again kind of walk
down the aisle with it, because that can get you
into trouble if you switch back and forth between different
operating systems. It's quite a bit different than most other systems. Anyway,
(26:50):
with that, I realize that today the modern marketing is
polymer striker fired guns. They dominate the mar I don't
think they're as good. I don't think you almost ever
get as good a trigger poll which is a major thing.
The point of a gun is to hit a given target,
unless it's just a collector piece or a you know,
(27:11):
Tiffany blue decoration. If it's a fighting gun, the point
is to hit a given target, and I think trigger
is a big part of that. So for that reason,
I prefer hammer fired guns. But I do realize that
today I think, mostly because of affordability, the polymer streger fire,
(27:34):
because there's so much cheaper to produce, is the standard.
So for that, it would be remiss of me to
not talk about polymer striker fired handguns. And so we
talk a little bit about military. The number one that
I'm going to recommend the seventeen. I know you probably
(27:57):
thought I was gonna say glock, but I didn't. You know,
glock might have been a top pick twenty years ago.
There's so many good polymer striker fired handguns on the market.
I don't know why who would go with the glock
other than you're just a diet in the wold glock
guy and glock, and everybody knows glock, and I already
have glock magazines, and glock is the best. But if
(28:19):
you're not that guy and you look at it objectively,
then I have a glock. I run a glock. I've
carried a glock on duty both as a private contractor
and a law enforcement officer, and I may again someday
if I decide to take up a contract and that's
what they have and that's what I have to run.
But if I have my choice, even if they dictate
polymer striker fire, it wouldn't even be in the top
(28:41):
several picks. The top pick I'm gonna pick today is
the seventeen. It's a full science fighting handgun. It's our
military's new combat handgun. Again, I put it after the Barretta,
but it's it's proven right, It's been around for more
than three years. It's an evolution of the three t one,
and I'll probably talk about some models of the three twenty.
(29:03):
It doesn't have a hammer fire trigger, but it has
a pretty good trigger for a polymer striker fired handgun.
With that caveat. It's got a pretty good trigger. The
seventeen comes cut for an optic again talk about military proven.
I actually didn't want to like this gun at all.
I got one so I could beat it up and
test it and try it out. I actually really do
(29:23):
like that. If you want more on that, I did
a whole episode on I think the gun that I
hate to love. But it's a good gun for a
polymer striker fired handgun, much more affordable than many of
the guns I've talked about thus far, and it's a
good option, and it's quite a bit lighter than I
think most of the guns I've discussed thus far. It's
(29:45):
like twenty and the mid twenty ish ounces as supposed
to the mid thirty ish ounces again comes optics cut.
The military is not spewed it out of its mouth.
It's a good combat handgun. If you want a polymer
striker fired one, that's the one I'm gonna recommend. It's
(30:05):
also modular, which I think was kind of a weird
criteria for the military because I don't see them. I
don't see a marine going up to the cage and saying,
you know what, Private Smith, what do you feel like today?
Do you feel like a small grip or a medium grip.
Let me measure your hands, what size glove to you wear.
They're probably gonna say, here's your handgun, sign the hand receipt.
I don't I don't see how the modulary comes into
(30:28):
play there the modularity. But for you, I absolutely think
it comes into play because you can do that. You
can decide, you know what I like of the nineteen
eleven it's ergonomics, the way that it points. I'm gonna
get a nineteen eleven stylish, more nineteen eleven stylish. I'm
gonna go to the Wolfson Combat and spend a little
(30:49):
bit of money and get a nineteen eleven grip or
polymer eighty grip from I three twenty, or just get
a different size. I think for you, as a as
a citizen, you have a lot more freedom. You can
take a lot more advantage of that, because if you
don't know, it's a modular system, that whole fire control
unit you can take out. You can change virtually anything
on that gun, and the fire control unit is a
(31:12):
serialized part. So that's an added bonus which I think
makes a lot more sense for you than it does
for the military. The next one I'm going to recommend.
I will briefly mention the SIG X fives. They make
a three to twenty version. It's I think it's more
geared towards competition. But as somebody that's carried a STI
(31:35):
for both duty and competition, I which part of that
don't you like? The fast part or the accurate part?
If I was going with something like that, I would
prefer to go to a hammer fired gun. But if
you want the three twenty x five or the three
twenty lesion, it exists, it's out there. It's not a
bad option, and I also should I also briefly mention
(31:57):
they do make the two twenty six x five, and
they've had very different, very various versions of that over
the years. I'm not sure how long the current version
has been in production, so I don't know if i'd
recommend it, But if it has and it's proven, you
may look into that X five two twenty six on
the polymer striker fire train going to a different manufacturer,
(32:21):
the HKVP nine. The HKVP nine is a good gun
for a polymer striker fired handgun. If you want a
polymer striker fired handgun and you don't mind spending a
little bit more money on magazines. You may look at
(32:44):
the VP nine. It's been around a while now. It's
not a spring chicken, it's not new, it's been around
quite a while, proven, kind of a sleeper, but absolutely
I think it deserves to be on this list. You
might think with that i'd recommend the FNS. I do not.
I do not recommend anything in the FN five H
(33:04):
nine kind of family. I would not recommend them at all.
I've had nothing but issues with those. But the HKVP
nine I think is a fine gun as far as
Palmer Schegger fired triggers go, it is good. And the
next one I'm gonna talk about is the Walter also
(33:24):
kind of a sleeper, but the Walther PDP kind of
made as a duty combat handgun. It's not gonna be
as common. The mags aren't gonna be as common. You
might not find them at your local store. But it's
a very very good gun, very good optics mounting system,
which is important. They make a full sized version it has.
(33:47):
I think they're kind of ugly, to be honest, but
that doesn't make them a bad gun. Just kind of
like I think spider cone knives are ugly. They're good knives.
I just don't like the aesthetics. I actually don't like
the aesthetics of a Walter PDP, but they feel really
good in the hand. Bad aesthetics does not mean bad ergonomics.
They have good ergonomics. They're fairly modular, they have a
(34:08):
good optics mounting system, and they have a very good
trigger for a polymer striker fire trigger. All right, with that,
I guess I have to put a glock on the
list because some people are just glock and glock, and
it's gotta be glock if I'm picking a glock for this,
I think except for the old Gen ones, which are
(34:30):
off the table because they're no longer being made, the
best Gen is the Gen five. Finger grooves No, just
finger grooves, not cool, So Gen fives don't have a
finger groove. They also have some other design features that
are minsule that I won't get into, like actual rifling
instead of polygonal rifling, which I prefer, or polygonal rifling.
(34:52):
However you want to enunciate that there are benefits and
detriments to both. But I like the glock Gen five barrels.
I also like their of fingergoos less is more there,
so Gen five and a Glock seventeen would be fine.
I would probably recommend a thirty four because again I
(35:14):
think a full size handgun is a five inch and
the closer I can get to that the better. And
since I can get a longer barrel in the thirty four,
why wouldn't I? And they do make a Gen five
in the thirty four. They don't make a GEM five
and the seventeen l which would be cool. But anyway,
Agena five thirty four would be fine. It would be
(35:35):
a fine serviceable combat handgun. The seventeen also would be.
But again I don't get like the trend towards this
sworder barrel, because if I'm carrying a gun this size,
I'm probably carrying it muzzled down strong side hip, probably
not appendix carrying at the lock seventeen. I could be wrong.
I don't prefer a Pennics carry in general, but a
(35:55):
gun that size you're probably carrying strong side hip, in
which case what do you care how long the barrel is?
As long as it's not like the Batman Joker revolver
going down to your knee, what difference does it make
how long the barrel is, So why would you give
up the extra velocity, the extra shootability, the extra ability
to clear malfunctions and everything with the longer barrel, longer
site radius anyway, So for those reasons, I would go
(36:17):
with the Glock Gen five thirty four. And that's not
an all exhaustive list. There are many. I mean there
are a s mortgage board. Again, Palmer striker fired handguns
dominate the market. There are tons of them. I'm gonna
give you one kind of wild card here. If you
(36:40):
don't want nine millimeter, I mean forty smith and Mustin's
kind of a dead cartridge, but forty five still has
some advantages. I mean, nine millimeter is the de facto
defensive handgun caliber of our time, and I think for
good reason. But if you want a forty five, the
one that I would recommend for a modern combat handgun,
I mentioned I'm not a big fan of the FN
(37:02):
five H nine series, and I'm not and I stand
by that. But the FNX forty five, lovingly referred to
as the tactical Wheaties Box, that's a fine gun. It
is polymer, but it is not striker fired. It is
hammer fired. You can carry it hammerback safety on double
stack forty five comes cut for an optic. It's a big,
(37:26):
beefy gun. You'd better have fairly big meat hooks, fairly
big hands. But if you do, when you're willing to
carry a gun that big, that FNX forty five. If
you want a forty five and a modern combat handgun
still being made. It's a big gun. It's bordering on
a cruiserve handgun, but it's it's doable, especially in duty
(37:49):
rig So anyway, you might consider the FNX forty five
if you want a big modern forty five. Ironically, I
can't think of any good high quality double stacked forty
five nineteen eleven like twenty eleven's being made. They used
to when it was STI, but they went to Scato
and now they I think only make nine millimeters. And
(38:12):
I'm not aware of any of There may be when
it used to be the Pair of Ordinance, but they
got bought up by Remington in that whole debacle. The
older pair of Ordinances are good, but I said currently
being manufactured. So for that, ironically, I mentioned some nineteen
elevens in nine millimeter. But if you want a good
modern double stack forty five. It's gonna be the FNX
forty five anyway. I think that's gonna be enough. Again,
(38:34):
there are many more that I didn't mention that you
may like for a certain reason, but I think that'll
round out the top combat handguns in twenty twenty four.
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Your tactical tip of the day,
you want to get good with a handgun practice number
one dry fire. I'm big on that that's not your
(38:56):
tractical tip of the day. You should be doing that anyway.
Twenty two doesn't have to be exactly the same, but
get one analogous to what you're gonna be fighting with.
We started off with nineteen elevens get a nineteen eleven
and twenty two. There are many Get one to train
with so that you're good with it. You're gonna run
(39:17):
a glock, fine, get the glock in twenty two or
a glock conversion killer from like tactical solutions, and train
in twenty two. If you're practicing to draw, you can
do a lot more reps, a lot more affordably with
the twenty two than you can with nine millimeters, and
certainly with forty five. So if you don't yet have one,
and you have a bunch of handguns, a bunch of ars,
(39:39):
and you're looking at the next cool combat handgun. You
already have a decent one. Perhaps get a twenty two
training partner for your gun then, not to be identical,
but probably something with a similar manual of arms. Meaning
you rack the slide same way, you clear malfunction the
same way, you do attack, reload the same way. Anyway,
(40:03):
that's your tactical tip of the day, your tactical verse
of the day. I mentioned in the beginning, I don't
take bribes on this show. I'm not gonna tell you
by the next cool thing hot thing on YouTube that
may or may not work when you're trusting your life
to it and you get killed because I'm trying to
make a dime. Not here. Tactical verse of the day.
(40:24):
You shall do no injustice and judgment. You shall not
be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of
the Mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. You
shall not go about as a tale bearer among your people,
nor shall you take a stand against the life of
your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate
(40:45):
your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebeat your
neighbor and not bears him because of him. You shall
not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children
of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There's a ton of good stuff in that short verse,
that short passage. It's several verses a short passage. Versions
have this translated. You shall not take a stand against
(41:09):
the life of your neighbor. Some versions translate that, I
think more clearly in our modern English. Maybe not more correctly,
but easier to understand. And you shall not stand idly
by while somebody takes the life of your neighbor. You should,
I hope, feel as passionate about protecting the life of
those around you, the women, the children, the orphan, the widow,
(41:33):
the little old lady. You should feel as passionate about
protecting their lives as you do your own. You shall
not stand idly by while somebody takes the life of
your neighbor. You want to stop back to shooters, be armed.
It's not a CoP's job, it's not the government's job.
It's your responsibility, as a man, as made in the
image of God, to protect life yours and others. You
(41:53):
shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love your
neighbor as yourself. Are you just carrying a gunna protect
yourself if you get mugged at the ATM, in which
case you might be carrying an LCP. Are you thinking
you might have to stop an actor shooter or stop
somebody else's life from being ended. You shall love your
(42:15):
neighbor as yourself. In that case, you might want a
more capable of fighting handguns. And there's a lot more
into that than just handguns, right, It just goes into
that mindset, and mindset is important. You could have the greatest,
fanciest combat handgun with the best optics and the best
hollow points. If you're not willing to stay take a
stand and stand up while somebody tries to take the
life of your neighbor, what good is it? What good
(42:36):
is it? Anyway? With that, thanks for listening and have
a blessed day.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com