Two outstanding and proven middleweights are the SIG P228 (top) and Glock 19.

For about 12 years my choice of carry gun was a middleweight. About 10 years ago I became a competition shooter. I started out with indoor gun-range pistol-league stuff, then segued into IPSC. When IDPA started up in 1997, I fired the first match ever held in Washington. For the next few years I did it all with my middleweights, first the SIG P228, then the Glock 19.

Eventually, though, I realized I was giving up something, a measure of controllability, speed and ease of accurate aimed fire compared to using a full-size service gun. That's when I put away the Glock and switched over to a full-size Wilson 1911 as my daily carry piece. It served me well--so well that I was the 2002 Washington State IDPA Champion in Custom Defensive Pistol (IDPA's .45 auto division).

As previously mentioned, some service guns like the Glock 17 and SIG P226 are, in the overall scheme of things, so compact that we could logically class them as middleweights. In Glock 9mms, we do have another option, a dimension beyond the Glock 17: the Glock 34, a semi-longslide 9mm designed from the ground up to be the same overall size as a 1911 Government Model. Now, to me that's a darn interesting concept. When I recently socked away my multi-thousand-dollar 1911 in the gun safe and went back to a Glock, both for carry and match use, it was the Glock 34. And I'm loving this gun. The way I figure it, if I can carry and conceal a full-size, steel-framed 1911, I can carry and conceal a Glock 34. (The major difference being, of course, that the Glock is a lot lighter.)

Though service guns can seem to many people too large to carry and conceal, when the balloon goes up, if you're limited to a handgun, they're what most everyone would want to have in their hands. The late, great holstermaker Bruce Nelson said to me many times, "Everyone wants a .25 auto to carry that magically turns into a .44 Magnum if they actually need to use it." Or, as I've also heard it said, "None too small to carry; none too large in a gunfight."

So the question you have to ask yourself is whether you are willing--or able--to carry and conceal a truly substantial sidearm in order to have the best tool to hand if you ever need to defend your life. If the answer is no, this class of weapon is not for you. If the answer is yes, you probably won't be satisfied by anything less.

And there you have it. Each class of weaponry just discussed has its own virtues and vices. A clear understanding of the same can guide you toward making the best choice for you.