Mouseguns
GFZ:
Let it be the Ruger LCP, a snubbie, a Seacamp or any of the old and new subcompacts out there, let us dispense with the bullshit from the get go: They are carried out of laziness by 90% of their owners.
Maybe. For me, they’re the guns I carry when I can’t carry a gun.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I agree and admit I carry an LCP on occasion as the apparel and style may dictate. Not my favorite carry, but better than nothing. It’s my most concealable carry piece… next to my P238, which shoots better for me but a bit more noticeable.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I’ll admit I carry my P3AT more than I’d prefer – more than my preferred carry gun, in fact – because my preferred carry gun (Taurus PT-145) just is not compatible with my work clothes. So, 9 hours a day, 5 days a week, I carry a mousegun. But it’s certainly not by choice.
Any other time I go out, it’s a real gun, unless there’s some reason for “deep concealment” (usually if I know I’m going on campus – they can’t legally prohibit me from carrying on VT property because I’m not a student or employee, but if they saw it they’d make a legal stink about it that I don’t want to deal with).
February 21st, 2010 at 12:27 pm
If the question is deciding between a small pocket gun and no gun at all, then carry a “mousegun”, by all means. I carry a larger pistol when I can.
Despite the ah, contentious nature of the opening statement, GFZ goes on to makes some excellent points about carrying a pistol of ANY kind, not just mousegun.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Eh, I’ll say “sometimes.” It’s definitely a gun I can carry constantly and in almost any attire, but there are times when I also just think to myself “I’m just going to the grocery store; I don’t feel like strapping on the 1911, especially since I don’t want to change out of sweatpants and a t-shirt.”
So yes, the downside is that it might keep you from carrying something better. That said, it’s better to have a gun than to not have one.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:46 pm
A lot of them are probably carried by those of us who aren’t fat and live in places where T-shirts and jeans are the usual mode of dress for ten months of the year.
And that’s from someone who has carried(concealed) everything from a Baby Browning to a six-inch M-27.
The P3AT is a usuable compromise for short range problems. Especially when loaded with high end ammo.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:06 pm
GFZ makes many good and valid points. I am 66 & semi retired. Where I work, I am surrounded by Gun Fearing Wusses. (GFWs) There is no way I can carry a full sized or even compact firearm. dress code is south Florida casual, loose shirts etc, but everyone is always watching. Therefore, I carry my Seecamp .32 in a Robert Mika pocket holster. Nothing else is ever joins the Seecamp in that pocket EVER. The Seecamp is known reliable, gets 25 rds per month or more through it and is capable of putting all 7 into 5″ at 6 feet – – – – – quickly. In the unlikely event that I have to use it at work (retail store) I will probably (probably!! Hah!) lose the job, no matter what the circumstances.
When I get home, I exchange for my S&W 640 with +P 158 gr Buffalo bore ammo. When I go out non-work, I carry a Kimber compact stainless II. (Officers frame, 4″ barrel) .45 ACP Hydrashock ammo.
I do not feel under-gunned with the Kimber or the S&W. The Seecamp is much better than begging for mercy and I am sufficiently proficient with it to trust it’s admitted limited capabilitys. Should the circumstances permit it, a Browning Hi Power, .40 S&W Hydrashock ammo, is 30 feet away locked in my car’s trunk, less than 20 seconds to access.
Remember, the first rule of a gunfight is to run like h*** if you can. Second rule is to have a gun, any gun.
Roger
February 21st, 2010 at 5:21 pm
And yes gentlemen, you are right: It is better to have a mouse gun than a comb. But the point I made was about somebody who chooses a subcompact out of comfort and not because of imposed circumstances. For those quick milk runs I have a small Rossi revolver and even a NAA .22LR that gave me some sort of security while working late at night in a Gun Free Zone workplace where I just couldn’t have a regular size gun.
But you all agree that making the decision of carrying a small gun out of laziness is sheer idiocy. It is wanting to have the cachet of saying “Me? But of course I carry a gun!” but without the discipline that such act must have. From the answers I read here, none of you apply to that category. You seem to know where you are standing with the subcompact.
Kevin.. my wife agrees with you. She promises to smack me on top of my head now and again to keep me polite π
February 21st, 2010 at 7:36 pm
I’m still not volunteering to stand in front of one.
February 21st, 2010 at 7:53 pm
A mousegun can also act as a backup. Carried in addition to your main.
Again it’s for if you can’t carry a larger weapon, or if you want to carry it with your larger.
His points are valid, and as said, they apply for any weapon. One carries in case you’ll need it in a situation where your life will depend on it.
As such discipline and training counts.
February 21st, 2010 at 7:53 pm
As emdfl said, sometimes it’s not practical to carry a full size pistol when the weather sucks.
When it’s summer here in Texas (like it is for 9 months out of the year), people look at you weird when your in a pair of jeans and a hoodie. The only thing you can wear and not stick out in a crowd is a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
February 21st, 2010 at 10:10 pm
The answer is “Smary Carry”, not a gun that if you use it, the other guy’s gonna get mad and hurt you.
Stop giggling and get one. A PT145 won’t be found, even by your spouse while out dancing to live jazz.
Proven effective.
February 21st, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Good discussion to be having.
I am firmly convinced that there is ONE respect in which the archetypal J-frame in the pocket is not a tactical compromise compared to a larger CCW pistol. but instead has the advantage itself — pocket draw to a threat, from a hand in the pocket, is incredibly fast. It will virtually always deploy on target faster — often MUCH faster — than Mr. Uber CCW will be able to produce his full sized 1911 or Glock 21 from a concealed belt holster. Of course, then you need to get your hits with the pocket gun, and that’s the rub.
We need more snubby/J-frame/pocket gun classes. Instructors should develop them. It is a major gap in firearms instruction today.
February 21st, 2010 at 11:42 pm
A .357 mag snubby is a mousegun? On what planet?
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:40 am
My CCW instructor told my class that only one-third of us would put in the range time and learn to handle ourselves and our firearm in a way that we truly could rely on it when, God forbid, we might need it. The other 2/3rds, he said, would probably take the class and rarely carry a pistol, much less learn how to shoot it properly.
I like to think I’m in that 1/3, although the scores at my last USPSA match might say different… π
The point Miguel makes is valid and dovetails with my experience getting my CCW: Only a very small percentage of people who purchase a firearm understand what they’re getting into, namely, that self-protection doesn’t reside in a hunk of metal and plastic, no matter what size it is. Self-defense begins with understanding that protecting your life and the lives of your loved ones is both a right and a responsibility
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:08 pm
A .38 snubnose is not a “mousegun”.
The fact that it does not produce erections for the knee-jerk 1911-fetishists does not make it an inadequate carry gun.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Lazy lazy lazy.