Springfield XD-S

[Seismic Sam]

IMHO, you buy the gun that best suits your needs for comfortable, accurate shooting by YOU, that has acceptable stopping power depending on your own level of percieved need, and goes Bang! ALL the time. As far as the wardrobe is concerned, you can totally forget that, along with printing and fear of being "made" and all the rest of that psychological garbage. The fact of the matter is that your point of view will change VERY rapidly after you start carrying, and you will feel totally different about carrying after you have done it for a year. As such, basing your gun choice on the way you feel NOW is a complete waste of time, and you want the gun that feels the best and shoots the best for you, and has the maximum power that you are comfortable with, and you should expect that with time your recoil tolerance will INCREASE provided you don't go out and by a Smith 500 snubbie!! The other thing you will learn over a lot of time is that people are incredibly unobservant, and if you walk around with a 1911 if an IWB holster fully exposed and are so used to it that you even forget it's there, people will literally not see it most of the time. If you're all paranoid, then they WILL see it because you're drawing attention to yourself even though you think you aren't.

So rent as many guns as it takes at Bill's to find one that you REALLY like and feels right, and ignore all the marketing and hype and the attraction of having something that you think nobody will notice.

[Snakeman721]

IMHO, you buy the gun that best suits your needs for comfortable, accurate shooting by YOU, that has acceptable stopping power depending on your own level of percieved need, and goes Bang! ALL the time. As far as the wardrobe is concerned, you can totally forget that, along with printing and fear of being "made" and all the rest of that psychological garbage. The fact of the matter is that your point of view will change VERY rapidly after you start carrying, and you will feel totally different about carrying after you have done it for a year. As such, basing your gun choice on the way you feel NOW is a complete waste of time, and you want the gun that feels the best and shoots the best for you, and has the maximum power that you are comfortable with, and you should expect that with time your recoil tolerance will INCREASE provided you don't go out and by a Smith 500 snubbie!! The other thing you will learn over a lot of time is that people are incredibly unobservant, and if you walk around with a 1911 if an IWB holster fully exposed and are so used to it that you even forget it's there, people will literally not see it most of the time. If you're all paranoid, then they WILL see it because you're drawing attention to yourself even though you think you aren't.

So rent as many guns as it takes at Bill's to find one that you REALLY like and feels right, and ignore all the marketing and hype and the attraction of having something that you think nobody will notice.

I already have a couple guns as possible carry guns that I like very well, it's just that with an IWB holster, I'd have to buy new pants or get used to that tighter waistband...or lose weight...lol.

[old guy]

Went up to Circle Pines today just to shoot the XDs, my first impression was it pointed high like a glock, I really like the trigger tho it's a lot like a Taurus, long lite free travel then about a 6 lb single action.
It was as accurate as I could shoot and hit point of aim at 8 yds. no malfunctions with 50 rds of Magtec hardball.
Recoil was probably the stoutest of any small .45 I've fired but not diffecult.
My 14 yr. old Grandson was with and he shot it as well as I did and He has been known to limp wrist my Kahrs.
I would feel well armed if I had to carry one

John

[Hanns]

I'm a big guy (6'4" and 3 bills) and I've CCWed my USP45F a few times. It's a big gun, wide double stack magazine and doesn't conceal very well in my opinion. I've got a good OWB leather holster for it, wore a long t-shirt and cover garment over the top and most people didn't know it was there. That being said a smaller pistol is much easier for daily carry. My P7M8 is barely noticeable under a t-shirt, it's invisible under a carry garment and I can carry it all day in my IWB holster and forget it's there. Same weight as the 45 but a lot smaller package. It's what works for you, try it out, be honest with yourself if it's not working the way you expected it to.