For a HD firearm, that does not have to be concealed, size and weight, IMHO, are not primary deciding factors.........unless they contribute to the fit to the shooter and aid in comfort and accuracy when shooting. Primary factors for me would be reliability, accuracy and accessibility. Long guns are not always easily accessed because many times, they are leaning up against the wall away from the bed, under the bed or somewhere else where one needs to get up to get to it. To me, something sittin' on the nightstand, or directly next to the bed, where it can be reached at an instant is what I want. For my wife, the gun that sits on her side of the bed is a 5'' 686 loaded with .38s. She prefers shooting it at the range over my 4'' and 6'' L-frames and that preference has led to familiarity and relative accuracy. She dislikes the J-Frames(for obvious reasons) and thus refuses to even practice with them. She is more comfortable with the revolver platform than with my auto-loaders. The simplicity of being able to see immediately if the gun is loaded, knowing an action does not have to be worked to chamber a round, the ease for her loading the firearm when empty and not having to think about a safety being on or off is why she prefers them. But this is her. I did not point her in a direction or make her go for something I would like/use. After many range sessions with a wide variety of firearm platforms and calibers, this is what she picks up and prefers over everything else, when it's her time to shoot. While she is still very uncomfortable with the idea of having to use a firearm for HD, she is not uncomfortable with what firearm to use.