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Speaking of the magazine, we were impressed with their construction, how easy they are to load to capacity and with how they dropped free from the pistol and clicked into place with smooth assurance. The Kimber R7 Mako comes in two versions, one with an included red-dot, and the other with an optics-ready slide. Ours came equipped with a Crimson Trace CTS-1500. The price difference between the two models is $200, and if you’re at all mechanically inclined you can purchase a CTS-1500 for about $140 and save yourself a few bucks for some extra ammo. But even with the optic included, we felt the pistol was a hell of a value. And given how well it ran out-of-the box while being smartly configured for concealed-carry use, it earned the Great Buy designation as well.

I believe that the SIG P320 compact is not the best gun to ever exist and nor is it the best 9mm to exist. However, it makes my editor’s choice as the best pistol, because it’s a jack of all trades gun that can efficiently serve as a concealed carry gun, a capable home defense firearm, and a fun range gun. I personally love how the modular design allows it to jump between categories and gives you a higher degree of customization. The gun comes with a rail and metal SIG night sights, as well as an additional magazine. Therefore, because this firearm is in all categories like CCW, home defense, range, and more, I give it the overall best 9mm gun you can check out. You won’t be disappointed if this is your first, or your only gun.

With this pistol, CZ did all the custom work to create a competition-ready handgun so you don’t have to. Out of the box it is configured for IPSC Standard division or USPSA Limited division matches. It comes with oversized controls and a pile of upgrades that help the pistol do what it does best—put lots of lead accurately on target in a short amount of time. Of all the pistols in this year’s gun test we probably put the most rounds through the TS2. It comes with three 20-round magazines—in a nicely executed hard-sized case we might add—and we did all we could to load them up and empty them as quickly as possible.

This is my bonus pick because I know that despite my best efforts, someone is going to want a micro-compact gun as their first purchase. It came down to this or the excellent SIG 365 380, but I chose the Ruger for a couple of reasons. First one is that the slide and the controls are easy to manipulate on the Ruger. For an experienced or strong shooter, that’s not an issue, but for a newer, possibly smaller-statured shooter, the Ruger is easier to operate. Second, the Ruger is widely perceived as having the softest recoil for a .380 in its class. While the .380 does recoil less than a 9mm, the recoil from most micro-compact .380 pistols can be off-putting for new shooters. The LCP Max mitigates this through a combination of ergonomics, size and materials. See more details at https://www.quora.com/profile/Ballachy/.