Here in AZ, pretty much whatever they want.  To my knowledge, most companies here don't issue sidearms, you basically have to supply your own.  Too much liability involved with issuing.  I carried my Ruger Security Six .357mag. for many years, then switched to a Rock Island Armory 1911 .45acp.  Some carry Glocks, I knew one guy that carried one of those POS Ravens for a while, cause that's all he could afford at the time.  Boy, did he get a ration of crap for that. 

  hmm...

here in MT there...just...isn't much for security companies.  As in outside of the below example, I've NEVER seen a security guard.   

Most we've got is the armored car delivery. GUARDA I think.   Those two guys carry Sigs. Older models I'd say, the grips look East German. 

    Of places that would actually need guarding, I'm assuming county courthouses would fall under Sheriff's protection and federal buildings under US Marshal?   I'm not sure as I've never actually seen a guard at any of those spots.....

Only armed security guard I've ever seen around here works for the armored car company that collects the money from the school's dining hall and cafes. He carries some sort of revolver. I've never gotten a good-enough look to tell exactly what it is, but it looks like a S&W fitted with rubber Hogue grips, which makes me think it's a personal weapon.

Security folks around here all use Glocks in either .40 or 9mm, not sure which.

Maybe not the last M10s I saw in the catalog had rubber grips.  Looked like Hogues.  The used Ruger Security Six .38 Specials at Gander Mountain last year had both rubber and wood grips.  Most had red nail polish on the front sights.  Stainless steel guns.

Maybe, but IIRC, it was a stainless-steel gun. And it was a full rubber grip, not the rubber with wood inlay that Ruger used to use. But then again, my memory might be off: haven't seen the guard in about a year.

The only armed guards around here in Georgia that I see are armored car guards and they all carry Glocks of some sort. Usually a Glock 17 or 19 (or corresponding models in .40 S&W) though one petite lady carried a Glock 26. Everybody else, mostly banks, hire off duty sheriff's deputies or city police.

When I worked for a well known security/investigations company we were rarely armed and the district manager did his best to talk clients out of armed security.  When we were armed (and I think there were only a half a dozen of us in the district office who had taken the training) we had some ancient S&W .38s.

We were almost exclusively unarmed.  We specifically couldn't have any sort of weapon, no nightstick, no asp, no pepper spray, no pocket knife - nothing.  Most of the time that was ok I suppose but far too often we were put in positions which really put people at risk.  One of the worst was a very large facility where there was one guard on at a time.  It had been burglarized numerous times and I walked into 4 burglaries in progress during the time that I was working that assignment.  Nothing like like walking into a room full of 3 burglars in the act of burgling with nothing but your little plastic key clock.  We didn't even have one of those 10 pound leather covered Detex Guardsman monstrosities that you could brain someone with if you had to, we had one of the lightweight plastic Amano clocks.  After some guard got whacked in the head one night they gave us a radio which was useful to throw at someone I suppose since it didn't work inside the burgled buildings.  We all started carrying 3 cell maglights (which we had to buy and feed duracells-the heaviest D battery) and the district manager looked the other way.  He had enough trouble staffing that particular crap assignment and he didn't want all of the reliable help walking out over flashlights.

One other smaller more specialized company I worked for did more armed work and while they had company guns and gear (ruger .357s and S&W 9mms) you could use you could bring in your own weapon and ammo and have the manager approve it and you had to qualify with it.  You could do the same with your other stuff.  Retired or off duty cops could bring in their old duty gear and have it approved. 

I think most of the smaller armed services like the one I mentioned above went out of business when the local LE agencies just let their officers work those sorts of jobs off duty in uniform and cut out the middleman.  Sucked for the guys who weren't cops.  I had several former coworkers who lost their jobs or got shifted to lower wage unarmed assignments when that happened.

I am recently retired but have been an Armed Security Officer here in Florida from 1997 to 2009. State Law allowed us to carry .38 spl Revolver with lead round nose bullets or 9mm FMJ ammo, no hollow point bullets. My first 10+ years, I carried the S&W Model 10 Revolver which was provided to me from the Company and my last two years, I carried a Glock 19 (my own gun) with FMJ ammo. Some clients allowed the 9mm and some did not. The Florida Handbook for Security Officers allowed only these two types of ammo. I'm sure the Law is not the same for Private Security, Body Guard and Private Detective Work but for the class "G" Security License, only these two calibers are allowed. 

There aren't very many armed security guards in Salt Lake, I've seen one with a glock, one with a Ruger automatic, and one with an XD.


Most security guards are armed with a badge, flashlight, and their own cell phone.

Everyone here seems to carry a Glock. 

Saw an armored truck guard wearing what looked like a GP100 in stainless with a Pachymar.

In Mexico I also see the armored car dudes with revolvers.  Now I haven't seen one up close in years, but that last time, it looked like a 686 in .357 (they even have cartridge belt loops).  They also carry shotguns of the pump variety.