It had un-checkered walnut grips with a gold medallion. With a rust resistant Parkerized finish, the new Agent had less attention paid to its exterior finish while its interior lockwork was just as smooth and finely finished as that on any other Colt snub. Originally very finely finished with deep bluing, Colt decided in the 1980's to cut production costs and make the Agent more affordable by offering a "bargain basement" finished Agent variant. The lightweight Colt Agent revolvers were also the first aluminum frame. Slightly larger than the Smith and Wesson J-frame series, the Colt snubs carried six, rather than five rounds of powerful. 38 Special Snubnose Revolver-It was a sad day some 20 years ago when Colt decided to stop manufacturing their exquisite defensive revolvers. The Glock 27 has been imitated by other makers, but in my book the original is still the best. Accuracy is nothing short of amazing from a pistol this size, much better than one would expect. It also accepts higher capacity magazines from the Glock 22 and 23. The compact size of the Glock 27 makes it easily concealable yet it holds 10 rounds (9+1) when loaded with standard magazines. 40 caliber is highly versatile in terms of capability as a defensive pistol for use at home, on the street, or on the trail. Of all of these, my favorite has been the Glock 27. Every Glock carried has been accurate, rugged, and highly reliable. 357 Glock 31, compact Glock 32, and the "mini" Glock 33, the single stack. The Glock 27-During my 20 year stint at Union County Sheriff's Office, I carried quite a few different Glock pistols both on and off-duty.
After all the variants I've tried, my favorite is still the original full size 1911A1 in basic GI format, with a curved backstrap and the original GI thumb safety-no bells and whistles required. I carried a lightweight compact variant of the 1911-the long out of production Spanish Star PD-while working undercover narcotics.
I've found its lightweight single action trigger assists in the placement of accurate shots, and is easily managed by most shooters. I have personally seen its intimidation effect on bad guys.
45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) chambering has a fearsome (and justified) reputation as a fight stopper. Today, there are likely as many manufacturers of 1911 pistols as there are of AR15 rifles. The 1911 served as our military service pistol for roughly 74 years, and for much of its history of commercial manufacture was primarily built by Colt. The 1911-The 1911 is the generic term for all variants of John Moses Browning's timeless 1911/1911 A1.You may also find it hard to keep your choices to only five total. You will likely also find that it won't be as easy as you first thought.
While it is my opinion, feel free to talk it out amongst yourselves, and try and come up with a list of your own. Remember that my list is not meant to be agreed with by all or any of you. My number one handgun is the one I will likely never part with. One is only available on the used gun market. The handguns listed are all handguns I have carried or continue to carry as a law enforcement officer both on and off-duty over the past 36 years. At the end of February, I described my top five all-time favorite defensive rifles, and promised I would follow-up with my top five all-time favorite defensive handguns.