Do You Change Your Every Day Carry When Going On Lengthy Out of State Road Trips?

Do You Change Your EDC on Lengthy Out of State Travels

  • Total voters
    72
If the threat profile changes, I change what I carry. For the most part I carry 1911s of one sort or another. But while I might carry a 45ACP around the house and around town, if I'm heading somewhere away or to "the city" I'm more inclined to swap that out for a 1911 platform with 15 9mms on tap, and the spare mag will be full of those "external hollowpoint" solids that should do better after penetrating automotive glass.

Can't say it's necessarily wise to do so, but I can't say it's dumb either. I just expect capacity to matter more when I'm out of my element and might end up accidentally finding myself in a part of town where I'm not welcome.
 
I live in hotels for work at least 3 weeks per month. Most of my travel is within the borders of Texas, with some travel to Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. All done by car. Texas itself feels "yuge" if the destination is far enough from home.

My normal "load out" is a pocket pistol with 2 spare loaded mags, a belt pistol with 6 spare loaded mags, and an extra box of ammo for each. Sometimes, but rarely, I'll take a revolver with full speed loaders and a box of ammo.

I've only taken a long gun along if I had a particular shooting destination available while on the road.
 
Depends on if carrying an extra is considered changing.
I do carry an extra quite frequently. On vacation, I typically have 4 mags for my primary carry and 4 for the backup. There's also an extra 50 rounds for each in the rear storage area.
 
Let me expand on my previous reply… I drive a lot. Last year 75k miles. My job covers 5 states. I carry my 43x everyday. Weekends, weekdays, wherever. So not vacation but everyday life. On a vacation I’m carrying the same. If I go to a stupid state…well… I sure do like my 43x.
 
We do a few big road trips from Texas back to Georgia every year. No real capacity issues and most if not all are constitutional carry along the way (though I keep a TX LTC since it helps get in a lot of places and makes purchases faster 😁).
I still prefer my usual 1st gen Shield 9mm. I take a few extra magazines and a box of ammo. I like the way it carries and it fits into a pocket holster in cargo shorts which is nice on a 15 hour road trip. I’m not going anywhere very dangerous. A few sketchy gas stations along the way and that’s it.
With young kids, anything extra would be more to worry about securing. If I felt there were a higher threat I might go up a bit, but visiting family, there are additional arms available at the other end if things got ever weird.
 
Yes and no. I do an annual road trip from Idaho to Arizona every winter to visit my folks at their winter home in Yuma. I drive because I enjoy road trips and seeing interesting things along the way. When I get there, I go out in the desert to explore ghost towns, old mines, and off-road.

My daily carry normally is a Sig P365. On the road trip, it remains the P365. But, since I am alone and travel through remote areas, I like having something with a little more capacity and reach, so I also bring my Extar EP-9 subgun in 9mm. With it's 32-round magazine, and the 12-round magazine in the P365, it is comforting knowing that I can step out of my vehicle with the P365 on my hip and the Extar in my hand and have 44 rounds available to resolve any issue. Grabbing a spare mag for both and shoving them in a back pocket means an impressive 88 rounds on hand.

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No I don't really change anything, I just swap my #2 to the #1 position. Normally my 3" K6s is my EDC but often you'll find me pocket carrying an LCP. When I travel I only bring the LCP because I know no matter what I'm wearing it'll be easy to conceal.
 
South central Kansas here.
Carry a 1911 with a couple spare mags and a box of 20 or 50.
Family in Georgia. Constitutional carry all the way down.
Family in Virginia and Michigan. Have the Kansas concealed carry and they and most intervening states either recognize it or are Constitutional carry. Have to go around Illinois.
Brother in Connecticut. If he wants to see me he has to come out. I refuse to travel in hostile territory.
I also check in with "www.handgunlaw.us" while trip planning.
 
Yes. I travel to California, Illinois and New York. So magazine restrictions come into play. Curiously, in NY, if you retired from LE in that state, you are exempt from the magazine capacity restrictions, but for those of us that retired in other states, we must comply with the neutered mag rules.

But on road trips, I typically take two handguns, one to wear in the car/truck and a full-size pistol for motels, national/state parks and transiting certain metropolitan areas.
 
For overnight or longer trips I pack a second gun. Sometimes an AR in a Yoga pad bag, or a ,357 revolver in a laptop bag. Of course extra ammo all around.
 
Every time I go on those long, lonely road trips , its gladening to know that so many Americans are carrying to protect their lives.

I think of the Charles Starkweather massacre in 1958, where one man with a gun, killed a dozen unarmed people on the lonely roads of Nebraska and Wyoming.

Let's not forget. Stay safe.
 
Not one bit.

The extremely predominant danger is actually other drivers, especially on the winding 2-lane roads in rural areas. In 2018 a driver (at night) came around a 50 mph curve All The Way In My Lane (no sign of leaving it). When I could first see the car in the curve we were about —-8 seconds from a Head-On collision—- thank God that MS county has wide shoulders…..and I’ve always been ready with instant reactions..
That danger would have killed many complacent people, and has nothing to do with guns.

Be extra alert about the overwhelming risks from other drivers, even on interstates, and the “choice of handgun” issue is put into perspective, although it will never be a cool, “glamorous” perspective.
 
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Depends on where I am going. While Ohio is constitunal carry I do have an Ohio CHL (Concealed Handgun License) which is honored by several states. However when I go back east to the liberal cesspool of NY all of my guns remain home. When I do travel to states other than NY I always have the same carry gun I carry at home.

Ron
 
I am at a 99.9% "No", but I voted "Depends" only because while I generally avoid NYC like the plague, and even though I am supposed to be exempt from state magazine capacity laws (LEOSA HR218)...I don't want to be the test bed for some crusading anti-2A political hack prosecutor, or local officer that doesn't know the law. I generally carry a Glock 23. Yes, I am still a dinosaur and appreciate the qualities of a 165gr 40 JHP...but I will carry a Lightweight Commander in 45 with 230gr Truncated Cone FMJ Norma if there is a chance I am going to a draconian state that is ignoring the actual law and also hates JHP ammo. Other than in that rare case, I carry one of my Glock 23s. BUT, I haven't been to NYC or NYS for almost 6 years, so that probability gets more and more remote the worse NYC and NYS get.

Then again, concealed means concealed and "NO, I do not consent to any searches of my person, property, or vehicle absent probable cause, or warrant".
 
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