“The very best firearm brand, model, or caliber is the one in your hand when someone is shooting at you.”
~ The point I make at the start of every Firearm Training Course that I teach~
Every person with an interest in firearms has a favorite brand, model, and caliber of handgun, and they will defend their choices to the death. Well, that may be a touch of dramatic overreach, but I promise every gun owner has their favorites and willing to defend their beliefs at the drop of a hat.
Full disclosure, I carry a Glock Model 45 as my duty weapon and a Glock Model 43X as my plain clothes duty and concealed carry weapon. I also own a Heckler and Koch VP9 which is my favorite pistol and my next purchase will be a Sig P320.
At the end of the day, all of the popular firearm brands make safe, effective, and durable weapons that function as you need them to. Having said that, there are manufacturers and models of firearms that are more popular than others for a variety of reasons.
Glock, for instance, is very popular with law enforcement because they worked very hard and spent a lot of money to earn and develop those relationships. The price is reasonable and with their blue line program discounting their weapons deeply for law enforcement officers. Glock pistols are designed to be very durable and will stand up to the worst weather, mud and dirt, and general abuse and still function as they are supposed to. But, stock trigger is not the most popular nor are its stock sights, and it is often described as holding a box in your hand. But it’s an excellent choice, in my opinion, for a duty weapon.
The point I want to make is that Glock chose a potential market, a design to suit that market, and then a marketing plan that made their brand synonymous with law enforcement. They have built their brand reputation by winning and keeping sales contracts with law enforcement agencies throughout the US and the world.
Then across the aisle are your Sig Sauer owners and supporters who will point to Sig Sauer and the military contracts won by Sig to arm the military and elite special forces teams. They use that example to argue Sig is the superior brand. Sig has made huge inroads in the past few years with its many variants of the P365 sub-compact line of pistols which have become immensely popular. Sig didn’t provide just one option for their small-frame pistol. They have a broad selection of options for the P365 including the option to custom build your pistol. Appealing to the preferences and needs of the potential civilian as well as the professional market was a brilliant move.
Then there are the Heckler and Koch guys, and I am one of them, and we love our VP9s. When I was a working SWAT Operator, my primary entry weapon was the HK MP5, a superb weapon for CQB and other close-in work that elite units and operators around the world made very famous.
When marketing is effective, it is a powerful influencer. So company vision along with a healthy marketing budget can influence the popularity of a brand but should we buy only based on popularity and disregard less popular brands?
Lots of people do, and they do it because those popular brands will provide them with a weapon that will do all the things the buyer needs it to do.
But that doesn’t mean less popular brands or models are not good choices as well. In a gunfight, you will defend yourself with the first loaded weapon at your disposal and when you win that gunfight, you will probably love the gun that saved your bacon.
When shopping for a weapon, consider how you will be carrying it, where you will carry it, and what features are important to you. Hold it in your hand and feel the weight, the balance, and the fit. Are there holsters available that suit your needs and wants? If possible, test the firearm on the range with live ammunition so you know how it responds when fired. In summary, buy a gun that you like that suits your needs and wants, and that you feel comfortable using and carrying. The gun that suits you best may not be one of the most popular brands.
