Jim PHL
Member
Please-this is not about KelTec quality or a caliber discussion. Nor am I looking for alternative carry modes. My past experience with KT's leaves me no worries about reliability or accuracy, and I am fine with a nine for power. I am specifically interested in "pocket-carryability".
I have owned 2 Kel-Tecs. I do not consider them fun-guns, plinkers, range-guns or home-defense guns...my Kel-Tecs were specifically and only for extremely discreet pocket carry. I had a P32 when they first came out and traded up to a P3AT when they were introduced. Mine were always reliable and I was always surprised at how well I could shoot them at reasonable "self-defense" distances. Eventually, it was power factor, not KT design, that turned me away. I was no longer comfortable with anything less than a 'treasury load' in a self defense gun. I sold the .380 and now, when I pocket carry, it is with a j-frame .38.
In a bad display of laziness that I think is more common than many CCW-ers would admit, I have carried less and less recently because even the j-frame is a little big in my pocket. I fondly recalled how I ALWAYS had a gun on me when I owned a Kel-Tec. I began considering another P3AT or even the new Ruger, but keep going back to not wanting to 'settle' for a .380.
I plan on checking out the PF-9 at an upcoming gun show, but could anyone who has pocket-carried both a P9 and a j-frame relate your actual experience? If the P9 is not decidedly better for pocket carry than a j-frame, I might still convince myself to get another 3AT, but my hope is I can carry the 9 more comfortably - and therefore more often - than my little wheelie.
My mode of dress most of the time is khaki-style pants or jeans with a tucked-in polo or dress shirt. I worked in a lot of close quarters, too, so occasional incidental contact with other people combined with mode of dress kind of dictate pocket carry as my most preferred and practical means. I prefer to belt-carry a compact .45 and do so whenever situation and mode of dress allows.
I have owned 2 Kel-Tecs. I do not consider them fun-guns, plinkers, range-guns or home-defense guns...my Kel-Tecs were specifically and only for extremely discreet pocket carry. I had a P32 when they first came out and traded up to a P3AT when they were introduced. Mine were always reliable and I was always surprised at how well I could shoot them at reasonable "self-defense" distances. Eventually, it was power factor, not KT design, that turned me away. I was no longer comfortable with anything less than a 'treasury load' in a self defense gun. I sold the .380 and now, when I pocket carry, it is with a j-frame .38.
In a bad display of laziness that I think is more common than many CCW-ers would admit, I have carried less and less recently because even the j-frame is a little big in my pocket. I fondly recalled how I ALWAYS had a gun on me when I owned a Kel-Tec. I began considering another P3AT or even the new Ruger, but keep going back to not wanting to 'settle' for a .380.
I plan on checking out the PF-9 at an upcoming gun show, but could anyone who has pocket-carried both a P9 and a j-frame relate your actual experience? If the P9 is not decidedly better for pocket carry than a j-frame, I might still convince myself to get another 3AT, but my hope is I can carry the 9 more comfortably - and therefore more often - than my little wheelie.
My mode of dress most of the time is khaki-style pants or jeans with a tucked-in polo or dress shirt. I worked in a lot of close quarters, too, so occasional incidental contact with other people combined with mode of dress kind of dictate pocket carry as my most preferred and practical means. I prefer to belt-carry a compact .45 and do so whenever situation and mode of dress allows.