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Pocket Holsters and Gun Pants

Thursday, December 31st, 2009 | Best Of, Guns | Permalink | 3 Comments |

SayUncle isn’t crazy about pocket holsters. It’s true that drawing from a pocket isn’t as fast as from a belt, and it’s hard to draw from a seated position, like a car.

I mostly pocket carry because it fits the way I dress. With any kind of belt carry you have to conceal the gun and holster. I don’t walk around with an untucked shirt, which seems to be the major solution to concealing. I’d feel goofy wearing a vest all the time. It’s too warm in Tennessee to wear a coat most of the year and then once you’re inside you have to remove the coat.

Pocket Carry Gun

For me shoving a gun in a deep pocket with a pocket holster is the only way to fly. The gun I carry most often is a Smith & Wesson AirWeight 642. It’s a small, five-shot .38 Special revolver with a two inch barrel. For pocket carry you want something light that won’t bang against your thigh all day. The 642 has a stainless steel barrel and cylinder but an aluminum frame, which keeps the weight to just 15 ounces. The aluminum and stainless steel construction translate to minimal worries about rust.

My carry load is the Remington version of the FBI load - a 158 grain semi-wadcutter lead hollowpoint (SWCLHP) in .38 Special+P. That load has a long history of both good penetration and good expansion, even out of snubnose thirty-eights. I use Safariland Comp 1 speedloaders to reload the 642.

The one weak point in the 642 and other J-frame Smith and Wessons is the small sights. I make up for that by using Crimson Trace LaserGrips. When you hold the LaserGrips in a normal position your middle finger naturally presses a button which projects a laser dot onto the target. I use the 305 model. If I were buying a new pair today I’d buy the newer and slightly smaller 405 model.

Pocket Carry Pants

I like Columbia ROC pants for pocket carry. The pockets are deep with wide openings that make it easy to remove the gun. There’s a second pocket on the right side behind the regular pocket where I carry the snubnose .38. Like the main pocket the extra pocket it’s deep and wide. I use the front pocket for carrying a lockblade folding knife that I can open with one hand. Currently that’s a Benchmade Griptilian.

The Columbia pants are business casual and good-looking. My only complaint is that the material wears out faster than I’d like, but they fetch for less than 30 bucks, so I won’t complain too much. I usually buy mine at Belk’s or Bass Pro Shop.

Pocket Holsters

I always use a pocket holster. It keeps the gun in the right position, so when I grab the gun I get the grip and not the barrel. The holster also blocks the trigger guard for safety, keeps lint out of the gun, and spreads the weight of the gun across a larger area so the pocket doesn’t wear out.

What I want most is a holster that stays behind in the pocket when I draw instead of coming along for the ride. If it disguises the shape of the gun that’s nice, too, but it’s secondary to actually being able to fire the gun once it comes out of the pocket.

The first pocket holster I tried was an Uncle Mike’s. It was inexpensive, but it wore quickly around the seams. Because it’s small and slick-surfaced it didn’t always stay behind when you pull the gun. It also didn’t do much to disguise the shape of the gun. I don’t recommend it.

The Desantis Nemesis is better made and has more surface friction to hold the holster in place. It’s wider, too, with a hook design below the trigger guard that grabs the inside corner of the pocket to keep it from coming out on the draw. You see a hook on the corner of a lot of pocket holsters and it does seem to help. You’ll also see leather holsters with the rough (suede) side out to grab the pocket lining and that helps, too. The pocket holster for my NAA Black Widow uses both of those tricks, and it’s a surprisingly good holster.

I mostly use the affordable but great Mika holster. It has a rubbery mesh band that grabs the pocket so the holster stays in the pocket and the gun pulls free.

P.S. Here’s Jay G’s video demonstration of drawing from the pocket using a Smith & Wesson 360 and Desantis Nemesis. He’s fast. If you carry a revolver and want to know which speedloader to use read his post here and watch the videos.

Tags: ccw, remington, smith and wesson

All you need to know about newspapers listing names of handgun carry permit holders

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 | Guns, True Crime | Permalink | No Comments |

Squeaky:

I’m one of the women he was talking about – I got a gun because of an ex who’d raped me and then began stalking me. I went through all of the appropriate steps to become licensed to carry a concealed weapon, and I’m listed in the same database section that my ex would be if he was arrested for that rape. How is that a public service?

Tags: ccw

Newspaper admits it was wrong to oppose concealed carry

Monday, October 26th, 2009 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

(Jefferson City, MO) News Tribune - Felons learning hard lessons:

Sheriff Greg White is a proponent of the conceal and carry law, passed by lawmakers in 2003 after Missouri voters rejected a similar law in 1999.

The law requires people to attain a standard of proficiency with weapons before they are permitted to carry a concealed gun. Proponents of the law believe it offers a greater sense of security and decreases crime by prompting felons to consider the consequences of armed confrontation.

We confess to harboring some reservations about the concealed carry law. Our fear was an increase in guns in public would result in more guns being displayed prematurely and/or more accidents.

White said recently: “All the fears over conceal and carry have never manifested.”

We concede the point. Anecdotal evidence does not suggest an increase in accidents or unprovoked gunplay.

The evidence, however, does show people defending themselves from harm. The message being sent to felons is don’t bring a weapon to a crime unless you’re prepared to accept the risk.

Tags: ccw

More on guns in national parks and the phony lead bullet issue

Thursday, February 19th, 2009 | Environment, Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

And another thing. Most or all national parks allow fishing. Are lead sinkers banned in national parks?

Previously

Guns in national parks and the phony lead bullet issue

Tags: ccw, lead ammo

Guns in national parks and the phony lead bullet issue

Thursday, February 19th, 2009 | Environment, Guns | Permalink | 14 Comments |

In relation to the new rules on carry in national parks, Donald Sensing writes:

That’s the tack that the Obama administration will take: it’s the lead that’s the problem, so guns must be banned from federal lands. This is not a new tactic, of course, since opponents of Second Amendment rights have long tried to shut down firearms use by trying to cripple ammunition makers and users with absolute liability for ammunition use. It won’t matter, either, that ammunition without any lead at all is available on the civilian market. A way will be found, a reason will be given. The present “defense” of the Bush rule is just theater.

I have a question. Park rangers carry guns, so what kind of bullets do they use and do they contain lead? I think I know the answer and I think you, do, too.

Tags: ccw, lead ammo

A newspaper is publishing a list of handgun carry permit holders. Again.

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

This time it’s the Memphis Commercial Appeal. SayUncle has the details.

A list of legal Tennessee handgun carry permit owners is sort of like a sex offender database, except that the people in it are law-abiding members of society who paid to take a class, passed a written test and shooting test, passed a criminal background check, paid their $150 to get a government permit, registered their fingerprints with the local sheriff, and don’t have a history of crime, drug addiction or alcohol abuse, and are not the subjects of a restraining order or indictment. People, who, in many cases, are more law-abiding than the reporters writing the newspaper, and who statistically commit crimes less frequently than not only the general public, but less frequently even than police officers.

Clearly, newspapers must protect society from law-abiding menaces like us.

Previously

Tags: ccw