Where Do You Carry Everything?

I have been carrying for about 35 years now. My pocket gun (usually a DB9) goes in the strong side (right hand) front pocket. Keys in left hand front pocket. Wallet in right rear pocket. Phone in left rear pocket.

I gave up on carrying a second magazine a long time ago. If 7 rounds of 9mm isn't enough to get me away from the threat I am probably dead anyways. It has been my experience that all of the guys I know who think real life is like the movies with long drawn out hundreds of rounds shootouts and who insist on carry everything possible... never actually carry their weapons that often. Or they only carry one when they think they might need it. On the other hand every time I leave the house I have a pistol in my front pocket. If I am just running out for a quick errand it only takes a second to slip it into my pocket, no special dress and as a bonus my pants stay up much better than when I tried to carry everything 35 years ago. During the summer I usually switch to an LCP when I am wearing shorts.

I DO REALLY miss carrying a pocket knife. I have a little one on my keychain that is good for utilitarian tasks but I miss the convenience of a real pocket knife. I had to draw the line somewhere though. Some times I will carry a little Kershaw Ken Onion Leek knife which is plenty big enough for most of my tasks.

This coming Friday I will be going to the big city for the weekend and I will probably up gun to my XDs in .45acp IWB but still won't carry a second magazine. I will have to plan appropriate attire for IWB carry.

If I were a cop and my job was to seek out trouble and intervein in the situation my carry gear would be very different... but I am not a cop!

P.S. You forgot to add a Taser to your must carry list... in case you exhaust your non-lethal pepper spray.

OR...

Maybe your problem is that you are not dressing properly?

D.B. Cooper said:

I don't think the 2nd magazine is about ammo capacity; I think it's about redundancy. You draw your pistol and get your first shot, but you did something to induce a failure, or something else goes wrong and now you have a round sticking vertically out of your magazine. (This actually happened to me at Gunsite with brand new factory mags.) So the normal remediation is rip the mag from the gun to get pressure off the slide, then do your rack 3 times and roll. So you've got a malfunctioning mag in your left hand, which you had to drop to do you remediation. Malfunction is cleared. Chamber is empty. Bad mag is on the ground. What's next if you don't have a 2nd mag?

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If a second magazine is what fills your comfort level that is your choice and it is not up to me to tell you what to carry. My comfort level is I am comfortable with a single magazine on me in the gun. I do have an extra magazine stashed in my car but for the most part that is completely irrelevant so I don't count it as an extra magazine.

If you want redundancy shouldn't you be carrying an extra pistol "just in case"?

The one pistol, a Remington R51, that I had a similar problem with the magazine to what you describe is a gun that I will never carry.

I am the odd one - I carry a LOT of stuff...because I like having options, but I don't carry OC. CZ P-10C strong side, in a High Noon Stingray OWB rig, and right in front of it is a Condor Admin Pouch, MOLLE sized to fit on a belt, and the outside zippered pouch is used for the cell phone. Inside the pouch is a mini IFK including CAT, Combat Gauze, knife, multitool, milspec bandage, and a few other odds and ends including a pen. Weak side is a High Noon double mag pouch with two 15 round spares. Behind it is a Surefire poly Speed Holster carrying a Surefire G2 Nitrolon flashlight. Yes, I carry this every single day - if I leave the house, all of that is on me, period. There have been times when I also added a CZ P-10S subcompact 9mm in an IWB rig. I know a lot of people who are reading this thinking, where does this guy live, Detroit? No, but I listen to people who have been there, done that, and I feel like having an advantage in bad times might be a good thing. Laugh - a lot of the stuff I have on me has come in handy, just fortunately not the pistol, yet. I have also worked inside the wire for 20 years, and I KNOW who got out of prison yesterday...and they probably know me.

To each his own but my EDC, a clip on knife and of course my keys and wallet is all I need. My extra mag stays in the truck.

Primary pistol: AIWB
Spare mag: mag pouch on belt
2nd option pistol: weak hand front pocket (can put hand on it without revealing I'm carrying and/or quick access with weak hand)
Keys, Leatherman Micra: right front pocket
Wallet: right rear
Cell: left rear
Left cargo pocket: Lip balm, small hand sanitizer
Right cargo pocket: couple dog poo pick up bags, small pepper spray

Cargo shorts and loose untucked shirt is all I need to conceal a decent gun + spare mag + "back-up" and all the other stuff.

I was told a story about a mobster once. I forget which one. This mobster was executed by another mobster. These were mobsters of the old school Italian variety. Anyways, the short version of the story is that the guy that was executed was successfully executed because the guy doing the executing was able to hold his right arm down preventing him from getting to his strong side weapon. I believe he was sitting in a chair at the time. While he held his right arm, he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. This brought up the discussion of "left handed guns". He was convinced that the BUG had to be on the opposite side of the primary weapon because of this story and, I had to agree and the more I thought about it, the more I agreed. I still agree.

I have been in A LOT of fights in the course of my life. More than I can easily recall. Typical fights almost always end up with two guys rolling around on the ground in a "ground fight". When you're on the ground fighting, you have an arsenal at your command as does the person you're fighting. You have your two hands, your elbows, your arms, your fingers, your feet, your knees, your legs and your head, your physical weight maybe, your teeth, etc and your opponent also has all of these weapons at his command as well. In the course of the fight, each participant will be trying his hardest to bring his weapons to bear against the other (offense) while simultaneously preventing his opponent from using his weapons (defense). So, the point being, there's typically a lot of arm and leg trapping going on while simultaneously vying for the position of dominance that will allow one combatant to use at least one of his available weapons in a decisive manner.
The person you're fighting with may be physically bigger and stronger than you. Maybe considerably so. He may also possess advanced fighting skills that you lack. Think about the Zimmerman-Martin fight. That ended up on the ground and Martin ended up on top in the dominant position and was about to cave Zimmerman's head in when Zimmerman was able to shoot him from below. But what if Martin had managed to trap Zimmerman's right arm from that position? We never would have heard about either of these individuals. So, IMO, that's the reason the BUG should be on the opposite side of the primary weapon- because if you need to defend yourself with your BUG, you almost certainly need it accessible from the opposite side of your primary weapon.
So it's my opinion that the BUG has to be on the opposite side of the primary weapon and it has to be easily accessible (and deployable) from any position you might find yourself in and anything else you're carrying in your pockets or otherwise on your person needs to be carried in a way that accommodates this.
Anyhow, that's my thought process on where to carry what.

D.B. Cooper said:

This is a follow on to my earlier thread regarding CCW wardrobe. Once you've settled on yor wardrobe, specifically the pants, where do you carry everything?

If guys like John Corriea (Youtbuer/Active Self Protection) are to be believed, then the cell phone always goes your weak side front pocket so that you can call 911 without breaking your shooting grip on your sidearm. Sidearm goes on the strong side belt. (Corriea is big on appendix cary-I am definitely not.) He, and others, will also say if you're going to carry a gun, carry a less than lethal option (pepper spray). Then you've got at least one spare mag if you carry an autoloader, if only to have another mag if your primary mag in the gun fails. Then you've got your keys and whatever else you carry.

Sidearm and magazine can go on a good belt under your sport coat. Where do you carry your pepper spray? Add to that a pocket knife. What about a flashlight? Dockers only have so many pockets.

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M1911 in a tuckable, right side at 3:30. Two spare mags in a Walmart multi-tool case on the left side (carried parallel with the belt.) Cell phone just behind the multi-tool case. And a blackthorn Shillelagh as an alternate to shooting.

depends on season and temp. Hot summer I car a smallish pocket style auto in a belt pouch that looks more like a tool pouch because I wont wear shirts untucked. In the pouch is a spare magazine and a pocket knife.The outside of the pouch is a small paper tablet and pen. I dont carry or own a cell phone and never will.

Spring and fall its typically apendix carry with a vest for cover. Knife just goes in my pocket. If cool enough or winter I like shoulder rigs as they are always out of the way and hidden well along with spare magazines.

I always prefer to carry at least medium or fullsize pistols in the fall, spring and winter. Summer its a micro pocket style for the belt pouch or ankle holster.

I make my own holsters because I am picky and most of the time what I want for my lifestyle simply is not made by anyone. Leather is nice but I prefer Balistic nylon and thin neoprene for the liner. Retention and loose fit is not really an issue as you make it to fit your specific pistol. When it gets soaked with sweat you just wash it. My shoulder holsters are set up so the weight of the pistol is counter balanced by however many spare magazines equal it out. This eliminates tie downs and stops any shifting that happens with shoulder rigs due to weight being off. Gives you stability while still having comfort and freedom of movement. I dont like plastic holsters as I find them uncomfortable. If I can run comfortably with a holster on it is a no go for me. Same for sitting.

My EDC is strong (right) side, IWB. No other defensive tool goes into a strong-side pocket.

Folding knife: clipped to left front pants pocket

BUG (those rare occasions when I carry one): left front pants pocket

Pepper spray: shirt pocket, or absent a shirt pocket, clipped to neck of T-shirt or button opening of a polo.

I don't have a good place for a flashlight yet.

Non-defensive stuff: phone and keys in right-front pants pocket, wallet in left rear.

The pepper spray is accessible by both hands, and the wallet is opposite the gun to avoid confusion when reaching for ID during police interaction.

D.B. Cooper said:

You draw your pistol and get your first shot, but you did something to induce a failure, or something else goes wrong and now you have a round sticking vertically out of your magazine. (This actually happened to me at Gunsite with brand new factory mags.) So the normal remediation is rip the mag from the gun to get pressure off the slide, then do your rack 3 times and roll. So you've got a malfunctioning mag in your left hand, which you had to drop to do you remediation. Malfunction is cleared. Chamber is empty. Bad mag is on the ground. What's next if you don't have a 2nd mag?

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I don't carry a spare mag.

To address your point (which also used to be a concern of mine), may I suggest learning to clear a type III malfunction by removing the mag from the gun and retaining it in your dominant hand while you do your rack-rack-rack?

Or, you can use the method that doesn't rely on the rack-rack-rack.

Neither requires a spare mag

John Correia demonstrates both techniques here:

Gun strongside. OWB, when I can wear a sport coat. Spare mag on the left (weak) side. I'm still struggling to find the perfect spot for it. It sticks out nearly as much as the gun, and I may end up ditching it. A type 3 malfunction with resultant damage to the magazine is theoretically possible, but...

When I carry a knife, it is a clip folder. It goes in my right front pocket, toward the rear so that the "wave" will grab something on the way out.

I hate cell phones and forget mine as much as possible. When I have to carry it, it goes in my left front pocket, where it is in the way of everything. In a sport coat, I sometime will slip it into a coat pocket.

Wallet is always left rear pocket. Keys right front. Folding money left front, scrunched into a wad under the @#$! cell phone.

I'm just not going to carry pepper spray, flashlight, first aid kit, and all that on my person. It's so incredibly unlikely for me to need any of it that I'm willing to trade the remote possibility of death-due-to-lack-of-mace for not having to walk around with a full combat load-out every waking moment.

I carry a lot of crap and just always have. Proverbial little kid growing up, and now an old geezer, still with pockets full of stuff.

The things on my belt are my 17, its reload, a fixed blade, my phone, and my Leatherman. Everything else, a couple of pocket knives, flashlight, keys, etc, are in my pockets.

Aside from the pistol and spare mag when I carry, I also carry a folding knife and sometimes a small flashlight along with keys and wallet. Carry what you want but some people get pretty carried away with how much they shove into their pockets IMO.

I think a lot of it depends on what your lifestyle is too. If you live and work where everything is right there and handy for you, you dont have to carry much.

If youre out and about all the time, and only have what you have with you, I think you tend to carry more. At least thats how its always been for me. The "office" (my truck) was often about a half hour or more walk back to, if I forgot something.

You also end up being the guy everyone else who wont carry what they need, ends up coming to when they want to borrow your knife, flashlight, Leatherman, etc. Sucks to be them!

I learned early on not to let most people borrow/use my stuff. Burned enough times to say no.

Seriously, belt buckle is 12 0'clock. Moving clockwise magazine holder next to the buckle, holster at 3 O'clock, watch in R/F pocket, handkerchief in R/R pocket, nothing in L/R pocket, Gerber Multitool over L/R pocket (Buck 110 with it if I'm out in the weeds). L/F pocket flashlight and OC. L/ cargo pocket First Aid kit phone in phone pocket. R/cargo pocket Wallet.

If I'm pocket carrying the watch goes in my shirt pocket and the reload goes in my L/F pocket.

I need a purse. I have so much stuff jammed into my pockets its ridiculous.

Try cowboy boots. In the shafts of my boots I carry my checkbook, backup pistol, spare ammo, bowie knife and a couple of grenades.

For typical EDC:

Primary Front Pocket- Primary carry gun

Primary Back Pocket- Wallet

Secondary Front Pocket- NAA Mini BUG totally encased in a Velcro knife sheath, phone, chapstick, spare change. flashlight and folder knife clipped to pocket lip.

Secondary Backpocket- Primary reload in knife pouch (mag or speed-strip), handkerchief, wad-o-keys.

I'm left-handed. I wear jeans exclusively when not working. Here's my typical carry habit:

Primary sidearm, left side, slightly to aft, in OWB holster.
Secondary sidearm, left front pocket.
ID/badge case, left rear pocket.
Spring-assisted folding knife, clipped to right side pocket.
Spare magazine for secondary firearm, IWB mag pouch, right side, slightly aft.
Two sets of keys (which account for home and three vehicles), right front pocket.
Cell phone, belt-worn holster, above right front pocket.
OC spray pen, right front pocket.
Third gun (sometimes), inside watch pocket, butt turned to left, hidden behind cell phone holster (this is a NAA .22LR revolver.)
Cash, shirt pocket.
Hand sanitizer, shirt pocket.

I have been considering discontinuing OWB carry of a primary sidearm, making the front-pocket-carried one become the new primary. This is why it has remained on my "strong" side, and why I carry a spare magazine for it. When this happens, the NAA will become the new second gun.

I also carry a small leather bag when I leave the house which contains, among other things, the NAA revolver (if it's not in my watch pocket), checkbook, pens, nitrile gloves, one or two flat N95 masks, a second cheap cell phone (not connected to service), and my work site access badge/ID. I don't carry this bag; it remains in my vehicle when I'm out and about, and comes back in the house when I get home.

It doesn't have to be complicated. Handgun and magazine pouch on the belt. In the pockets, wallet and keys. Flashlight and pocket knife can clip to the pocket edge. OC spray could be in a belt pouch, keychain or with a pocket clip. If you have jacket pockets, they make a good place to carry light and slim items like a credit card case, a handkerchief, reading or sunglasses, or a pen-light. If you don't want to carry a heavy and bulky load, make trade-offs according to your personal priorities. A thin AAA pen-light is better than being in the dark, but won't have the tactical utility of a 2000 lumen face-melter. A slim compact pistol doesn't have the utility of a full-size duty gun, but weighs less and is half the bulk. If you carry a fat wallet full of pictures and useless membership cards, consider switching to a slim credit card case that holds your driver's license, two credit cards, and your CCW permit if needed.

I've seen guys with the cargo pants and tactical vests fully-loaded with who knows what. You don't have to be that guy. I put combo locks on the house and haven't carried keys for over ten years now. Cars use electronics or are unlocked like a jeep. OC spray is optional. There are some people for whom it should be EDC, but others only need it sometimes. Church security should definitely have it. A male who keeps to themselves and has other less-lethal options like krav maga or kubotan skills could go most days without it, but if they show up for church and are on that team, OC is "hands off" and potentially avoids liability issues involved with other options. Regularly revisit your inventory and refine it to meet the needs of your routines.

trackskippy said:

I think a lot of it depends on what your lifestyle is too. If you live and work where everything is right there and handy for you, you dont have to carry much.

If youre out and about all the time, and only have what you have with you, I think you tend to carry more. At least thats how its always been for me. The "office" (my truck) was often about a half hour or more walk back to, if I forgot something.

You also end up being the guy everyone else who wont carry what they need, ends up coming to when they want to borrow your knife, flashlight, Leatherman, etc. Sucks to be them!

I learned early on not to let most people borrow/use my stuff. Burned enough times to say no.

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Yup.
" Spare is in the truck, go find it."