When it comes to the gun I keep next to my bed for home defense. There are a few key things I’m looking for.
Of course reliability, shoot-ability, capacity, accessory modularity, and yes, night stand appeal, which is a fancy way of saying, looks good on my nightstand.
I’m tactically vain, sue me.
The HK45 Tactical has been my bedside gun for sometime. In and of itself I love the gun but For the past few months I’ve been contemplating moving to a 9mm for home defense mainly for capacity, but I’ll address why in detail in another video.
That said, here are the top 5 9mm handguns I’m considering for my bedside home defense gun.
Staccato P
The Staccato P is one of those guns you can’t stop shooting once you start.
Because of this I’ve racked up a pretty high round count on this gun with little to no problems in terms of reliability. I think there was maybe one malfunction I’ve had so I’m confident in the guns reliability.
There are few handguns that give me the shooting confidence that the Staccato P does. It’s trigger is phenomenal, it shoots as flat as ironing board, and because it’s a 2011 it has ergonomics oozing from it’s pores.
If you told me I had to do my absolute best shooting display I’d more than likely use my staccato P.
It’s a walking cheat code. It’s just so damn easy to shoot.
Throw a 20 round magazine in it and it satisfies my inner capacity whore and I actually like the safeties. Yes, I just said I like the safeties.
I know it’s cool in the gun industry to hate on manual safeties but they don’t bother me and to some degree I like knowing that my gun can’t be fired unless the manual safety is off and the grip safety is depressed.
The comp isn’t ideal but I can easily take it off and add a threaded barrel if I want.
Combine that with a light and red dot, though marketed as a duty gun with competition shooting aspirations, it unexpectedly makes for an extreme good bedside home defense gun.
ZEV OZ9C
I think the ZEV OZ9C is one of the best looking polymer handguns on the market. It’s simply stunning.
Yes, like i said before, the way a gun looks plays a factor in what gun I protect my home with. It’s a very very small factor but it’s a factor nonetheless.
That said, what really turns me on about this gun is that it’s essentially a sexier higher quality feeling Glock 19x and if you know me, you know I love the Glock19x.
However unlike the 19x the OZ9c has a cut out for a red dot, flared magazine well, and even slightly better ergonomics. Throw in my CN logo adorned 20 round Taran Tactical magazine baseplate magazine and if I want to suppress it I can get a threaded barrel for it.
I have all the tactical accruements I could ever want.
As good as this gun looks, it shoots better.
I’ve been very vocal about my love affair with the longer grip, shorter slide configuration on guns and that’s exactly how I have my OZ9c configured.
I don’t know what it is but i just shoot this type of configuration very well and the OZ9c is no exception.
My gun has been reliable enough that I don’t have any apprehensions using it as my bedside home defense gun.
Walther PDP
On the surface the PDP is a very modest looking gun. But don’t be fooled, this gun is a beast.
You wouldn’t guess it but I can shoot the PDP faster than most guns and the ergonomics on the gun are incredible. Then there’s the trigger which is one of the best stock triggers on a polymer gun that I’ve ever felt.
Not withstanding it’s anemic sights the PDP has all the features I’d want as well. I can drop a threaded barrel in it if I decide to suppress it and have a cut out for a red dot.
It may not be as fancy as other guns on this list but it’s a workhorse that has a special place in my heart because it shoots sooo much better than it’s appearance suggest.
I’m not saying it’s an unattractive gun, I’m saying it’s an unassuming gun. Visually it gets overshadowed by the other guns on this list, but when it comes time to do work on the actually shooting side, I know the PDP is going to not only hold it’s own but probably outclass the other guns in a lot of ways.
I also love the fact that it has an 18 round flush magazine. Sure I can go and get extended magazines for it and get even more rounds but I think it says alot when it just comes ready. Go self contained no extra pieces sticking out the bottom with 18 rounds.
Sig Sauer P320 XFIVE
The Sig Sauer XFIVE is a boat anchor of a gun and that’s exactly why i’m considering it for my nightstand home defense gun. It’s the excessive weight that makes it an easy gun to shoot. This gun just handles the 9mm round so well.
Much like the Staccato this gun is a laser beam in my hands.
The first time I ever shot this gun was during a red dot vehicle training course and as a result I became intimately familiar with this gun in dynamic shooting situations very quickly.
So I have a lot of confidence with this gun in not only its shoot-ability but its reliability.
As big as it is it still manages to have tier 1 ergonomics. Then there’s the 21 round magazine and that delicious magazine well. Visually it’s actually a really unique looking gun.
Depending how you look at it it gives you a little bit of 1911, a little bit of classic double action single when it’s actually a striker fire. It’s a visual hodge podge of looks but I like.
However, suppression may be problem with this gun because of how long the slide is, adding a suppressor, that’s if I can find a threaded barrel for it, would make it really long taking up alot of nightstand real estate, so if I went with this gun, I likely wouldn’t suppress it.
FN 509 tactical
The FN 509 Tactical is the most complete gun on this list.
It has freaking everything. Threaded barrel, cut out for a red dot full rail for your light, suppressor height night sights incase your red dot stops working and 24 round magazines.
Yes, 24 round magazines. The only thing the FN 509 Tactical doesn’t have is a manual safety. Which like i said before isn’t a requirement but does give me a little bit of superficial comfort.
There is nothing you need to do to this gun, it comes out of the box ready to be a bedside home defense gun. Ironically, The FN 509 Tactical has been living as my bag gun for some time but more and more I feel like i’m doing it a disservice because of how perfect it is as a home-defense nightstand gun as it pretty much does every thing really well.
Oh, and did I mention that it has 24 rounds magazines.
If you haven’t realized it yet, this list was in no particular order. I’m still trying to decide which gun i’ll end up going with and when I make that decision I’ll make a video about it.
But let’s be real, I’m splitting hairs here because all of these guns are damn near over qualified to be bedside home defense guns so I don’t think anyone can go wrong with any gun on this list. Now, I know these guns aren’t exactly cheap but this list does not factor in price.
I’ll do a video on more affordable Top 5 bedside home defense guns in the near future, until then, these are my top 5 bedside home defense handguns in 9mm.
