For two years now I have had the Sig Sauer P238 in .380 as well as the Sig Sauer P938 in 9mm. My husband bought the 238 for me, per my request, and I bought the 938 for him, per his request. Since, I have pretty much claimed the 938 as mine as well. To be specific I own the P938 Nightmare. An all black color which features a black hard coat anodized frame and Nitron coated slide, black G-10 grips with nickel accents. The 9mm Sig is almost the same size as the .380 but it has more caliber bang for the buck. I own this gun because of its size and to use as a concealed self-defense gun. As a woman I am picky about the way I dress. I still want to wear fashionable and fitted clothes. I have options of holsters I use for the 938 so that I can still dress the way I want. In this case size does matter. Of all of the pistols I have tested to conceal carry with I kept coming back to the 938.

First of all I am a fan of the 1911 style of pistols. This is what I was trained with from the beginning. I have muscle memory of the external safety. If you do not want a single stage trigger or external safety in a carry gun, than this one is not for you. It is a mini 1911. Measuring only 5.9” long and 3.9” high and about 1” in width the 938 fits in the palm of your hand. As a gal that is 6ft tall I have big hands. This pistol is reasonably comfortable to hold. I can get a solid grip with both hands and not feel like my pinky fingers are dangling below the grip. I know two other women who own a 938 with smaller hands than mine and they really love the gun. With a magazine it only weighs 16 ounces. I have found this to be the perfect size pistol to conceal. I can wear just about anything and get away with hiding it.

Of course this is a great gun for men as well if you need something smaller to conceal. My husband still carries it. But I want to be able to carry a pistol with me anywhere no matter what I am wearing. The collection of holsters I have for the P938 make this possible. For women there are so many options we have now there is no excuse not to carry. Get the pistol out of the purse and on your body. This 9mm fits in the Flash Bang bra holster, the Ava IWB holster and the Femme Fatale thigh and ankle holster.  There are more brands out there as well. I gave a lecture about concealed carry for women recently and wore a fitted skirt and tank top. Just to prove my point that there are many ways for women to conceal I wore three P938s at once! I did the entire lecture before I announced this and the audience was speechless. I had the bra, thigh and IWB holster. You could not do this with a standard sized pistol.

I have put only 300 – 400 hundred rounds through my P938. I have to be honest that the only reason I have not shot it more is because it is not really pleasant to put rounds down range with. It is snappy. In fact even a little more so than the Sig P238. 9mm vs .380 in the same size gun makes a difference. It is not horrible but after a box of ammo my hand is sore. I would not use this at a USPSA match. But that is not what this gun is for. For me it is a self-defense concealed carry gun. Now my friend with much smaller hands loves her P938 so much she actually competes at bulls-eye matches with it. The guys think she is nuts but she loves it. I test groups at only 7 yards since I personally believe a gun fight will be close range. The groups are fine and with rapid fire I am still in my bulls-eye zone. The sites are SIGLITE night sights and glow very well in the dark.

The P938 comes in ten different colors and textures. Magazine capacity is six plus one rounds of 9mm into an all-metal frame. There is a 7 round magazine available with the “pinky extension”. It has a single-action only trigger and an ambidextrous safety. The trigger weight is heavy but crisp at 7.5-8.5 lbs. The Barrel length is 3” and the sight radius is 4.2”. There are specific Sig Sauer universal holsters available but they are very basic and nothing I would use. The MSRP of my Nightmare is about $836 and will change depending on the finishes you choose.