Where Do You Carry Everything?

[trackskippy]

Or I could only own and carry guns with drop free mags and not have to fiddle with an empty mag while I'm being shot at, stabbed, beaten, etc.

In a perfect world, that works. Reality always seems to have a different idea when it comes to your expectations.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I'm still experimenting with all of this. What doesn't work is putting a ton of stuff in my front pockets. If you have to fish through your pocket to get past your knife and car keys to find your pepper spray, odds are it will take too long. Tactical type flash lights are too big for a front pocket anyway. It has become apparent that I either carry nothing but a pistol, keys, and phone, or I wear cargo pants and load 'em down. (And cargo pants are against dress code, sooooooo...)

 

[D.B. Cooper]

In a perfect world, that works. Reality always seems to have a different idea when it comes to your expectations.

Really? How so? I get to choose my carry gun right? I mean, it's not issued to me. I just buy a gun with a reliable magazine eject. Problem solved. My XD-E launches empty mags. Full ones, too, for that matter. This really seems like a non-issue to me. I mean, of all the things for me to worry about, this one wasn't even on my radar until a few minutes ago.

 

[trackskippy]

Youre assuming everything is going to work properly. Even with guns that are usually very reliable, stuff happens.

This morning I was shooting one of my 9mm 1911's, which are usually pretty reliable, and had two of the less fun stoppages you occasionally run into, an empty case in the chamber with the slide driving the next round in the mag into the empty case. Even with the slide locked back, the mag has to be ripped out of the gun. Those mags are "supposed" to drop free.

This is why you practice regularly and learn to work out problems there, so if and when it might happen at a bad moment, you already know what to do and its not a surprise.

I dont care what it is you carry, sooner or later its going to stop, for whatever reason, and youre going to have to deal with it. Hopefully, its just another lesson in practice, and not at a bad time.

 

[aaaaa]

Or I could only own and carry guns with drop free mags and not have to fiddle with an empty mag while I'm being shot at, stabbed, beaten,

Carry two pistols with heel releases. New York reload.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Carry two pistols with heel releases. New York reload.

Now yer talkin'!

But if i were going to do that, I'd just carry two revolvers.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

This morning I was shooting one of my 9mm 1911's, which are usually pretty reliable, and had two of the less fun stoppages you occasionally run into, an empty case in the chamber with the slide driving the next round in the mag into the empty case. Even with the slide locked back, the mag has to be ripped out of the gun. Those mags are "supposed" to drop free.

Not in the circumstance you describe they're not. There is too much tension/pressure on everything, because the slide spring is pinning the slide forward against the live round that is pressed into the spent case that FTE. (I know you all know this.) The immediate action drill for that type of failure is always to rip the magazine out with the non-dominant hand (even after locking the slide to the rear) because the magazine is usually stuck in the gun.

This is why you practice regularly and learn to work out problems there, so if and when it might happen at a bad moment, you already know what to do and its not a surprise.

Agreed. I shoot my guns enough (every week) that if problems are developing, I'm going to see it coming and remedy it rather than running the gun until it fails. If I keep having malfunctions, I buy new mags. If my mags don't eject properly, and I can't fix it by replacing a mag, it's going to the gunsmith.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

I think of this as a holster rather than a gun problem.

For me, an acceptable EDC/street holster must cover and protect the mag release mechanism. This protects the mag in a holstered gun from being released by seat belt buckles and rolling around on the ground. And myriad other stuff.

Back in the early 90s we didn't have the variety of good holsters we do today. The right kydex rig probably would've fixed the issue. But I don't have the Colt anymore and no longer carry cocked-and-locked as I did back then. Now I prefer an LEM gun with no safety or barring that a striker gun.

 

[The_Quartermaster]

I only carry a gun, just one spare magazine, keys, wallet, and phone. I keep it simple really and my back thanks me for it.

 

[armoredman]

Class three malfunction, (double feed), bring the sidearm down into your workspace, (right in front of you), strip the magazine all the way out of the pistol, allowing any free floating rounds to fall out. Replace the magazine, tap to seat, rack the slide and assess the situation, (used to be just BANG, but lawyers got involved), an easy drill once you've practiced it. I actually had a double feed with low powered practice ammo in my CZ P-10S last week, automatically completed the malfunction drill and went back to work. First malf I've ever had with that sidearm. Cleaned the dogsnot out of it and tested it with 200 rounds of SD practice ammo, no problems. Still keeping an eye on it.
One thing I noticed mentioned is carrying the badge wallet - I leave the badge at home and just have my Dept. ID in my wallet.

 

[mljdeckard]

It's usually a double-stack 9mm 1911 at 3:30, in a Blade-Tech OWB.
Spare magazine in a nylon pouch on the weak side, Leatherman in a pouch right behind it.
Folding Spyderco knife weak-side front pocket. I do like to have a backup weapon on the weak side.
Phone weak rear, wallet strong rear.
I am pretty much always either in uniform, wearing OCP trousers, or wearing some flavor or other of past-issue BDU trousers. The extra pockets are useful.
I also have a few IWM holsters, but I haven't used them lately. Even in Summer, I just grab t-shirts that are roomy enough to cover the OWB. I just get tired of switching because of the season.
I usually dangle my keys out of the weak side front pocket next to the knife.

In between the knife on one side, and the Kydex OWB on the other, I really can't fit my hands in my pockets, and it's difficult to try to reach in either one.

I have one single magazine/flashlight pouch, I haven't used it in a long time. Even I think there is a practical limit to how much crap you can load onto your belt, and I just find the Leatherman more useful than a flashlight.

I do have a Miami Classic shoulder rig, I find it has limited utility. (Either when I'm driving, or when I am wearing a outer garment heavy enough to not blow open, when it's not too cold for me to leave it open.) I have the fanny pack I sometimes use for long drives, it's easier to not have to sit with it in the waistband, and my phone and wallet can go in the front pocket too.

I have never wished I carried pepper spray.

 

[Archie]

I generally carry my defensive handgun in a belt mounted, strong side, just aft of the hip, top draw holster.
* Spare magazine is in a belt mounted scabbard on the opposite side, just aft of the hip.
* Spare speedloader is in my strong side front trouser pocket.
(That depends on the sidearm I'm carrying, of course.)
Then I have a small flashlight, a small tape measure, my keys and whatever money I carry in forward trouser pockets.
Some bulkiness derives in my trouser pockets and I fear the result at times. I have decided (not firmly enough, it seems) to make myself a few 'holders' for the incidental items in my pockets. I have just enough knowledge of leather working to do so with minimal fuss and avoidance of the crude look I eschew. I'd rather look like a wannabe Batman than a wanna be Captain Kangaroo.

 

[The_Quartermaster]

This is how I picture some of you and others elsewhere, dude at the end, lol.