My marksmanship is the best with the 357 handgun and the 45, pretty good with the 22. However, all three are too big to conceal carry (at least on a 5' 3", 107 lb woman) , and the 22 is too small a caliber for me to be *SURE* to stop an assailant. My marksmanship is nowhere near as good with the 38 and the 380s, and the 38 hurt my hand so bad I can't stand to fire it even though I prefer revolvers.:-( So we are both carrying the 380s for CCW, and we both need to practice with those to get our marksmanship up to snuff.
I saw a 25 caliber somethingorother at the gun show where we bought my Ruger (mine's a greenish tan, whereas his is blue steel). The 25 caliber had a pink mother of pearl handle,price $115. I was sooo tempted, just 'cause it was so pretty, even though I doubt a 25 would be much of an improvement on not carrying at all. And a "baby Browning", 1967 or 1968, that made my Ruger look like a 44 magnun! So teeny : The firearms equivalent of a tea cup chihuahua!
I am starting to see why some people start out with just one handgun for self defense, one rifle or shotgun for home defense-then they start going to gun shows and wind up with a triple digit arsenal.
The only drawback with a Glock 23 was the early versions had an unsupported barrel ramp feed design that allowed a portion of the .40S&W to be in the “open” and if reloads were used or even a possible new cartridge the case can rupture and even cause a massive magazine detonation though it usually stayed in the chamber area but pretty much destroyed the frame.
The newer G23 has a modified ramp and there are plenty of aftermarket barrels available, ported, longer, threaded, stainless and such. The .40S&W is a high pressure cartridge and requires careful reloading procedures. But it is very effective at penetration and stopping power.
I personally find that a high pressure round like this tends to become inconsistent with variations in temperature and especially with older ammo and bullet types, take the low pressure .45 and its more consistent overall. I would not use a .40S&W for target shooting unless I meticulously loaded all my rounds myself.
This is just my view and over at the Glock Forums the “experts” may say something else altogether. In summary it does the job but I would rather use the “magnum” version the 10mm.
Change the grips on the 38 S&W snub nose and you’ll be in good shape.