Help! I need a pocket gun!

[chaim]

You don't say your price range or your size. That would have some bearing on the choices.

Relatively inexpensive ($200-400 range):
-An alloy J-frame sized snub. For many (most?) people these will work in a pocket. There are many good choices from Taurus and S&W. I'd prefer something without the hammer spur (the Taurus 85CH or 850 in alloy, or the S&W 642 or 442 are great choices). In .38spl these will run between 15 and 17 oz.

-A steel framed J-frame sized snub. These are a bit heavier, but should still work (especially in jeans or dockers, in lighter material like dress slacks the alloy is more needed). Still, as above I prefer no hammer spur for a pocket. Used you can get a Taurus 85CH for under $200 with some hunting, new you can be under $350. S&W is a bit more.

-Kel-Tec .380 or .32. Puny guns, but less effective caliber (everything is a trade off). Great prices.

-Kel-Tec 9mm. Probably will work in a pocket, though being a double stack it may be a tad wide

-Bersa in .380. My Thunder will work in a pocket (then again, with few exceptions I only carry around the house, and I've never tried to carry all day as MD is not a CCW state), though it is a little big. They are coming out with a lighter and slightly smaller "Thunder 380 Concealed Carry Model " supposedly in June that will probably work better for pocket carry.

-Beretta Bobcat if you can deal with .22lr or .25ACP or a used Jetfire in .25ACP.

-NAA mini-revolver in .22lr or .22mag, again if you don't mind the calibers.

Medium priced ($300-500 range):
-New S&W snubs as above.

-Beretta Tomcat.

-NAA Guardian in .32 or .380.


Fairly to very expensive (over $500):
-Kahr PM 9 or PM 40. Very effective caliber, small, single stack, easily pocketable gun. Also, pretty expensive.

-Rohrbaugh. People seem to like them, but they are pricey

-SIG 232. Similar in size to the Bersa, though the alloy version weight wise should be better.

-Maybe a 3" alloy 1911?

 

[Ala Dan]

Hey chaim my friend you forget the LWS-32 from Seecamp. It and
its new brother (the Seecamp .380) are the DeLorean's of the "mouse
pocket guns".

 

[chaim]

Hey chaim my friend you forget the LWS-32 from Seecamp. It and
its new brother (the Seecamp .380) are the DeLorean's of the "mouse
pocket guns".

Well, I guess on such a list it is easy to leave more than a couple good choices off. I've heard good things about the Seecamp (though I have no first hand experience) so it was certainly not an intentional snub.

 

[DDGator]

-Rohrbaugh. People seem to like them, but they are pricey

I couldn't let this go... With maybe one exception, everybody I have talked to that has bought a Rohrbuagh R-9 has loved it. They are fantastic guns.

If you can afford a lightweight 3" 1911, you can afford a Rohrbaugh.

 

[RoyG]

If you can afford a lightweight 3" 1911, you can afford a Rohrbaugh.

Kind of a let them eat cake statement.

 

[DDGator]

I don't know, Roy. I bet you can't swing a dead cat in this forum without hitting people who have one or more examples of $1,000 guns. My entire firearm collection doesn't exceed about $3,000 on its best day. A lot of people around here have problems fitting all their guns into one safe.

 

[RoyG]

The most expenisve gun I own is less then $600 and that was new. Most of them I find used in pawn shops and gun shops. Yes I could get a thousand dollar gun but then I wouldn't have the 3-4 other guns I could of had for the same thousand.

The Rohrbuagh may be the best pocket gun out there but I've not seen one in any shop I go to nor have I seen one during my travels. And yes I travel quite a bit. Usually putting on close to 50,000 miles a year on company travel with almost none of it flying.

The nice thing about the Kel-Tec/Bersa/NAA guns is you can find them in almost any town. New and used. They may be the VW bug of mouse guns.

 

[logical]

I don't get hung up on what a single gun costs if it fills a need...especially a CCW need. I have a Rohrbaugh ordered because I can't imagine a better pocket gun for my circumstances and needs.

I know people who get incredibly hung up on the $900 price tag yet they have a half dozen $300-500 guns at home in a $900 safe that they bought because they were "good deals"......PPK copies, 3 different Glocks, Makarovs. They never shoot them because they have something better in each catagory or carry them because they really don't suit their needs...but they can sit around the water cooler and talk about how many guns they have.

So given the choice between a $900 gun that's the best of its kind that I carry every day or three guns that just sit around because they shoot poorly and I don't trust then to go bang........

So, yes, I know you could buy 3 or 4 Kel-Tecs for $900......but they are too light to be good paperweights.

 

[Ala Dan]

I'm not married to one particular gun, or manufactuer'er for that matter.

As my friend logical has pointed out, I'm sitt'in around the ole'
water cooler bragg'in 'bout how many guns I have! (Laughing Loudly)

The only problem I would have with a $900 firearm, would be two fold:
a) do I really NEED this particular gun, and b) is this gun REALLY worth
what they are asking for it? If it fills a NEED (not a want), and its worthy
of the cash dollars requested; then I have NO problem with that. But on
today's market of some expensive but poorly made firearms, one needs
to be real careful how he/she spends their hard earned dollars. As long
as my Springfield WW-II G.I. replica performs as it has in the past, I
won't be spending that $900+ on a upper end 1911.

 

[Wilson 17&26]

Kel-Tec pistols are built in Florida, so they should know the climate.

 

[DDGator]

Rohrbaugh's don't tend to sit around in gunshops. I saw one at a gunshow for the first time last week and that was only because it was a huge volume dealer and it was horrendously over-priced.

Rohrbuagh is having some production growing pains. When the backlog on orders hit 3-4 months, they realized they need a larger facility. They bit the bullet hard and shut down for about two months to make the move. Now they are cranking out guns again. I still don't think more than maybe 500-700 have been shipped total.

You will start to see them around, but not until the waiting list is caught up. Also, they don't use distributors, so your dealer has to call them and order one if they want one.

Rohrbaugh quality is well worth the price -- its a semi-custom piece with all the best quality parts. No cast, forged or MIM parts at all-- unlike some $1,000 guns.

 

[DaleJunior]

Originally posted by logical
I have a Rohrbaugh ordered because I can't imagine a better pocket gun for my circumstances and needs. * * * So given the choice between a $900 gun that's the best of its kind that I carry every day or three guns that just sit around because they shoot poorly and I don't trust then to go bang........So, yes, I know you could buy 3 or 4 Kel-Tecs for $900......

hope you ordered two in case it ever gets stolen or requires repair; hate to feel that you'll be unprotected for protracted periods of time since you could only afford to buy one gun with a self-imposed months long waiting period

 

[DDGator]

I wonder how many of us keep two of our chosen carry gun around for such circumstances?

Ease of replacement wouldn't be my primary consideration for a carry gun -- but that is just me. If I had to ship my gun back for repair, I have other guns that I could carry for the short time it would likely be gone. I have never had a gun stolen and plan on it ever happening.

Sorry, logical -- didn't mean to speak for you.

 

[logical]

So I should never buy one because I can't get it immediately....errrr OK.

Actually, I can easily afford 2 but I suppose if it's stolen I'll go back to what I carry right now for a while. I never said I only have one gun...the Rohrbaugh will put me at 13 if we're counting. The Rohrbaugh will take over as what I carry when a pocket gun is called for. I'll keep my NAA Guardian .380 around for fill-in....maybe keep it in my back-up holster in the console of my back-up car parked at my back-up house where my back-up wife lives. Gotta have two of everything.

 

[jetman]

I'd have to vote for a Kahr in some configuration you can find and afford. I had a PM9 that was a great shooter but lately sold it and upgraded to an all black PM40 with night sights. They are awesome little pocket pistols when it's too hard to conceal a larger pistol. Very accurate and dependable once fully broken in. You ought to be able to find a good deal on a used PM9 in your price range. I sold a Tomcat 3032 for my PM9 and never was sorry. The PM9 is smaller, lighter, narrower, more accurate and definitlely more powerful with +P 9mm rounds than an anemic .32

 

[nero45acp]

Another Seecamp recommendation here.


nero