A federal appeals court just upheld permitless carry in three more states. That's 28 states now where you can carry without permission. More people are carrying than ever before — which means more people are asking the same question I get asked constantly: which gun should I actually carry every single day?
I've carried a Glock 19 for eight years. Before that, a SIG P226. I've shot thousands of rounds through the Hellcat at my local range and in low-light training courses. I own all three of these guns. I'm not writing a "top five" listicle where I pretend every option is equally valid. I'm telling you what works, what doesn't, and why it matters for your specific situation.
The Glock 19: Still the Benchmark
The Glock 19 gen5 runs $599 to $650 depending on where you buy it. It hasn't changed fundamentally since 1988. That's not a weakness — that's the point.
A Glock 19 is a 4.02-inch barrel, 9mm that holds 15 rounds standard. You can find holsters for it anywhere. I mean anywhere. I've bought Glock 19 holsters at gas stations, sporting goods stores that barely know what they're selling, random kiosks at gun shows. The aftermarket is so saturated that you can get a quality appendix IWB holster for $60. Try that with any other gun.
Reliability is stupid simple. I've never had a failure with my gen5 that wasn't ammunition-related. Field stripping takes two seconds. Springs, extractors, firing pins — all cheap and easy to replace if something goes wrong. Parts availability means you can keep shooting even if you're somewhere remote.
Where the Glock 19 loses points: the trigger is mushy out of the box. The grip angle feels wrong to some people (it feels right to me, but I'm not everyone). There's no external safety, which matters more than internet people admit — you need to train the trigger press discipline into muscle memory, not just understand it intellectually. And the sights are basic. Not bad, but basic.
Shoot a Glock 19 if you haven't. If you have hands that fit the grip, if the sights work for your eyes, if you're willing to spend $100 on a trigger job and $80 on night sights, this gun will run forever.
The SIG P365 XL: The Compromise Gun
I resisted this gun for two years. Everyone online kept saying it was better, and I thought it was hype. I was wrong.
The P365 XL runs about $750-$850. It's 3.7 inches barrel, 12 rounds standard capacity. SIG's proprietary magazines run $40 each — that costs money when you want to build a rotation. The grip is shorter than a Glock 19 but the XL grip module is still reasonable. Aftermarket holster selection is excellent but not Glock-level ubiquitous.
Here's why I carry it on Fridays: it disappears in a decent appendix holster. The grip is genuinely slimmer. The trigger, right out of the box, is miles ahead of gen5 Glock. It's a real trigger. The sights are better. It conceals faster than my Glock 19 in anything tighter than a shirt jacket.
The tradeoffs: SIG has had magazine feeding issues intermittently, mostly with early production runs and steel-cased ammo. You need to actually test your mags with your ammo. The gun runs hot — slide velocity is higher, which accelerates wear. I've seen them chew up extractors around 5,000 to 8,000 rounds if you're not lubing properly. The grip angle is aggressively designed, and if it doesn't match your hand geometry, there's no adjustment. Field stripping is more involved than Glock.
The P365 XL is the gun I recommend to people with arthritis, people with smaller hands, people who drive a lot. It's the gun for someone who doesn't want to live at the range but needs something that shoots better than factory Glock out of the box.
The Springfield Hellcat: The Overbuilt Micro
I shot the original Hellcat in 2019 and thought it was too much gun for too much hassle. The new Hellcat Pro, which dropped in 2024, changed my mind.
The Hellcat Pro costs $599-$699. It's 3.46 inches barrel, 11 rounds standard. The grip is chunky for a micro but not unreasonable if you've trained on larger guns. The trigger is pre-staged, which means there's a takeup before the break. People hate that or love it — I land on love it because it makes a short gun easier to shoot straight under pressure.
Where Springfield made their play: the gun is over-engineered. The slide-to-frame fit is tighter than any production handgun I own. The sights are excellent. The warranty is exceptional. The grip texture is aggressive without being unpleasant. I've shot 2,200 rounds through my Hellcat Pro and had zero failures with quality ammunition.
The reality: a tight gun means a tight gun. It takes actual break-in. Clean it early, run it wet. After 500 rounds it loosens up exactly the amount Springfield intended. The magazine capacity is real but still a step down from a 19-sized gun. If you want a five-shot reload advantage over your competition, you don't carry a Hellcat.
Buy the Hellcat Pro if you genuinely need the smallest possible gun that still shoots like a real firearm. It's excellent. But don't buy it because it's trendy. It's more gun than you need in a smaller package than makes sense for most people who actually shoot regularly.
Capacity, Ergonomics, and Training Reality
Here's what matters and what doesn't: capacity matters up to about 12 rounds, then the returns flatten. Sight quality matters — low-light dots matter more than open sights now. Trigger quality matters because you're more likely to train if you don't hate pulling the trigger. Reliability matters obviously, but all three guns are reliable if maintained.
What doesn't matter: brand loyalty. Get over it. Ergonomics is the only metric that matters. If the gun doesn't fit your hands, the other specs are irrelevant. Go to a range that rents, shoot all three, figure out which one feels natural.
You'll train more with a gun you like shooting. You'll carry a gun consistently if it disappears in your holster. You'll defend yourself effectively with any of these three if you practice. The gun you actually carry beats the perfect gun you left at home.
My Carry Rotation in Practice
I carry the Glock 19 in a Tier 1 Concealed Appendix holster under a t-shirt five days a week. I carry the P365 XL on days when I'm in and out of cars. I carried the Hellcat Pro to training class for a month and then moved it to the range rotation because I was faster and less fatigued with the bigger gun.
That's the actual answer: I don't carry one gun. I carry what makes sense for what I'm doing. A plumber needs different carry options than an office worker. Someone with a 25-mile commute needs different gear than someone walking downtown.
Figure out your actual life first. Then pick the gun that fits it. Don't pick based on forum posts or YouTube reviews from guys who test guns for three days then move to the next product.
DownRange Bottom Line: The Glock 19 stays the standard because it works, parts are everywhere, and the learning curve is manageable. The P365 XL is the gun to carry if you need smaller or better ergonomics without sacrificing too much capacity. The Hellcat Pro is the gun for people who need a micro-sized carry gun that actually shoots straight. Pick based on your hands and your daily life, not the internet. Then train with whatever you pick. The gun is maybe 20% of the equation. Training and mindset are the rest.