The Basics of Every Day Carry
If there was one subject that gets the internet commandos all riled up on, it's your personal choice of every day carry - AKA - EDC. Look around any subject specific forum or Facebook page, and there's an almost unlimited supply of tough guys that swear "If it ain't a 1911, it ain't worth carrying." blah blah blah...
45ACP was a great cartridge for a long time. It's also still a somewhat relevant cartridge today, but others have passed it up, and the only thing it has going for it is back to back world war wins. Yes, it's a lot of lead flying downrange, but it's also a lot of lead to sling around all day. The bigger the bullet, the more the weight, the fewer the capacity.
Cue the internet tough-guy spouting off something like "Well you don't need capacity if you got that stopping power!"
Meh, not really. Your EDC is all about what you can comfortably carry for the entire day. Remember, this isn't what you'd pull out at the range to ping iron plates at twenty-five yards... This is what you use to make big noise in one direction while you flee in the other to live another day.
380ACP is probably the most common of the EDC calibers around the US. It's light, small, and packs a good enough punch. Plus, you can conceal a small 380 just about anywhere.
9mm is another common caliber, and it too offers plenty of modestly sized firearms to lug around all day.
Some will swear they carry 40S&W, but why bother? That caliber will be dead in a few years anyway.
At the end of the day, if you're good with a little plinker 22, it's a hell of a lot better than having nothing. Pick something you're comfortable with and don't let some tough guy give you grief about a small pistol... Guns are like lifted trucks, the bigger they are, the more they're making up for other small facets of life.