A S&W j frame. Pretty much the same back then as now.

1984 my duty gun was a 1911. Carried it off duty most of the time.

If I wanted something smaller, I’d carry my Detonics.

But. As a back up. A model 60 a 640 and then a 642.

Back then I carried a Browning HiPower until the Beretta 92F was available. In the 90's I made the switch to Glock.

If not carrying my duty 4" S/W revolver off duty, then it was my model 36 J frame.

Started carrying a commander in ‘91 when I turned 21…learned that stainless guns are heavy and went from one gun to the next over the next decade or so…

1911 then.
1911 now.

Probably a Beretta 92 or P226, backed up by a J-Frame.

HK-4 in .380. Dan Wesson .357 w/4 in barrel. Charter Arms 44 spl 5 shot revolver.

With winter clothes I could sometimes conceal a SW mod 59 9mm.

For a while I had a Detonics .45.

S&W Mod. 29 4" bbl in a shoulder holster.

In the mid 90s, while there were no ccw, I carried on occasion because of opening and closing a gun/class iii/gold & silver shop.

I had either a 442(that I still had) or a 4516 in a cowhide iwb holster.

Hmmm. Forty years ago? 1981 predates a lot of stuff I’d carry. Probably a 1911, 5” Govt model. Why not? Para’s set up with the shoulder holster makes a lot of sense for the time. Was something like the Milt Sparks VM2 an option then? Maybe that, but I’ve never carried a full size 1911 IWB, and have no idea who comfortable or concealable it would be for me.

In 1986, I sold off the HK P7 I had been carrying so I could get a SW 669. I didn’t like the HK heel mag release. I also carried a SW Model 36.

When I received my carry permit in 2004 I carried a Beretta 8045 Cougar in an Uncle Mike’s IWB holster but if I had been smarter I would have held onto one of my first pistols and used that to carry and if we stretched back to the mid-90's that same pistol would have been (and should have been) my first choice.

I would have carried my Smith & Wesson 457 chambered in .45 ACP.

… I miss my 457.

I am an old guy. Started carrying in the late 60's. For the first 10 years or so it was a S&W J frame 38 with a 3 inch barrel or a Mod 10 both with round butts.

Got my ccw in 85 or 6 when Fla first offered them. Carried a Detonics in an Alessi iwb. In 94 got a p-12 and carried that until purchasing a 228 that is currently carried.

40 years ago. Didn't have a lot of money so a Charter Arms Undercover.

When I graduated from the police academy in 1989, I bought a .38spl 649 snubby.
It served me well for years. Eventually, I switched to a P232 and a G26.

Mid 80's to 9-11 Ruger Security six, still have it. After 9-11 I like a lot of people 'upgraded' for me it was sigP220

30-40 years ago, I had zero need to carry concealed. Until 1995, it would have been a 4 inch Model 66 in some form of a OWB holster. Or a Beretta 92F that I bought in 1990.

1995 brought my first SIG P226.

Browning Hi Power and a J frame Smith and Wesson.