There’s always something special about your first. Mine was full size, a bit on the heavy side and conceived in 1972, but at least it was comfortable and had generous capacity. Yes, my first carry pistol was a Beretta 92FS. Big? Yes. Heavy? Moderately. Reliable? Without question. Of all the pistols I’ve owned and tested, I’d be hard pressed to name one that never gave me a jam over thousands of rounds.

Since that time, we’ve seen a lot of change. The 90-series M9 just...