Pocket Carry
James has an article at the Carnival on the pros and cons of packing in your pocket. By the way, I’m in the market for a pocket gun. I’ve been perusing the articles at Mouseguns. I’m thinking about the Kel-Tec 9MM. Any thoughts, dear reader, on a good mouse gun?
January 10th, 2005 at 9:58 am
Unc,
As I’ve posted at NGD (and you’ve commented on…), one of my carry guns is a Smith & Wesson model 360 PD .357 magnum snub-nose revolver.
The light weight makes recoil a b!tch, to be sure, but I practice with a mixture of .38 special and .357 ammo so the ol’ shootin’ hand doesn’t take TOO much of a beating.
The upside, of course, is that the gun only weighs 12 ounces.
In the summer, I carry it in my pocket in a $10 Uncle Mike’s pocket holster (I think it’s an Uncle Mike’s; right now I’m not 100% certain).
In a pair of LL Bean cargo shorts, the gun is essentially invisible. What I really like about carrying this way is that in case of a mugging, reaching into your pocket is a perfectly natural movement.
There are certainly better guns to carry in one’s pocket (Baby Browning, anyone?) but none that offer five shots of .357 magnum stopping power.
Plus, since it’s a S&W, it shoots really well for a snubby…
January 10th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Oops! I forgot to mention that if you don’t mind being limited to .38 special and an extra three ounces, the S&W model 637 is about half the price of the 360PD. My local gun shop has ’em for $350.
Also, LISTEN to the guys at the gun shop. I didn’t, and wound up with an external hammer that I’m now toying with bobbing… Rather than taking the hammerless model 340 that they had for sale for $50 cheaper…
[slapping self upside head]
January 10th, 2005 at 10:38 am
My two cents and you can take this for what it is worth.
I would definatly not get an semi auto for pocket carry. If i was going to carry it in my pocket, i would proably be likly to use it from there. I can only guess at the problems you might have with shooting an semi auot from inside your pocket.
I know these are really expensive, but what about a spurless revolver, those would seem to excel at pocket carry (though i do not know how reliable they are in the long run or how comfortabe to shoot)
January 10th, 2005 at 11:06 am
Definitely a lightweight revolver for pocket carry. The various S&W alloy-framed AirWeights (6xx series) like I carry are about $350 and weigh about 15 ounces.
You can move into the the exotic metals (3xx series) and shave a few ounces off that, but the price goes up a few hundred bucks, and you can get into problems with cylinder erosion on the titanium cylinders.
You can also go the other direction and go stainless, but then you’re talking about 25 ounces or so, which is getting heavy for a pocket gun. I really think the 15 ounce 642 I use is darned near ideal for pocket carry.
I’ve been meaning to do a writeup on the various S&W snubnoses and the various pros and cons.
January 10th, 2005 at 11:15 am
My choice: S&W 642 with lasergrip & Uncle Mike’s pocket sheath.
Lack of hammer makes it pocketable, and discourages SA practice for what will be DA use if need arises.
It’s light, .38 Spl. is adequate with good ammo, and you can learn to control it (unlike .357 Mag in an airweight snub).
Laser grip does wonders for your chance to hit your target when you’re in a hurry.
Uncle Mike’s pocket sheath hides gun outline and prevents wearing a hole in your pocket with regular carry.
January 10th, 2005 at 11:24 am
I was leaning toward a semi-auto but am not averse to revolvers. I liked the Kel Tec since it was snag free but a revolver w/o and exposed hammer would be good too. Only problem is that the revolvers are significantly wider than semiauto mouseguns. Could be a problem for a skinny guy like me.
Thanks for the input.
January 10th, 2005 at 11:31 am
I carry an old Colt Agent in a hard leather “front pocket” holster for general concealed carry.
If I am wearing a coat, I will sometimes carry a full size Glock (10mm, 357 Sig or 40 S & W) in a Kydex hip holster.
The range I shoot at had an accidental discharge a while back when someone’s Keltec fell out of his pocket. The bullet hit the building or ground (I wasn’t there), so there wasn’t any injury.
People were downrange hanging targets, so it was quite a surprise.
January 10th, 2005 at 11:41 am
The other really nice thing about the weight of the 360PD is that you can stick it in an ankle holster and wear it all day without feeling like you’re dragging around a boat anchor by the end of the day. What I like most about the ankle holster is that the gun just completely disappears – no worrying about “printing” like I do with the SW99 .40 under a sweater, frex…
And yes, I know, the gun is far less reachable in an ankle holster than on my waist… But it’s more reachable than in the gun safe at home, so…
I’ll also disagree about the controllability of the .357 magnum. Even under rapid-fire drills (all five rounds fired in 2-3 seconds), I can still put at least 3 out of 5 rounds dead-center mass. Under slow-fire drills (all five shots fired in ~ 10 seconds) it’s all five…
January 10th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
The revolver is wider at just one part – the cylinder – and the cylinder slopes down rapidly from the widest part. The rest of the gun is narrower than a 9mm semi-auto. You’d be surprised how easy a snubbie revolver is to conceal in a pocket.
And so I don’t sound like I’m bashing autos, I’ll note the flip side. A revolver is harder to conceal in a IWB holster that puts the cylinder inside the waist. Autos win for IWB carry.
January 11th, 2005 at 3:46 am
Actually, Les, I don’t think the cylinder is narrower than a KelTec P11 (9mm), and it absolutely certainly is not narrower than the P32 or P3AT. The P32 is what I currently have, and though it should go without saying that the .32ACP is underpowered, it beats “nothing” by quite a huge margin. There are far too many times for me (based on dress requirements and that fact that I’m fairly small though alas only formerly skinny) that a larger carry piece just isn’t an option.
I’m looking at upgrading the the P3AT when I can afford to. (Luckily, I talked myself out of trading in the P32 for the P3AT–given KelTec’s somewhat spotty record of quality control, and the fact that my P32 has never had a single issue, I really don’t want to give it up.)
January 11th, 2005 at 11:02 am
Kirk: I didn’t say the cylinder was narrower. I said the revolver “is wider at just one part – the cylinder – and the cylinder slopes down rapidly from the widest part. The rest of the gun is narrower than a 9mm semi-auto.”
January 11th, 2005 at 11:37 am
hmmm, when you say pocket carry i tend to think in a coat pocket, but if you are thinking about carring in a pants pocket then i can see the desire to keep it from printing and thus an autoloader