I know that I've already posted in this thread, but I want to expand on it a little.
My carry history is oddly well-documented here. I joined TFL in 2010, which was right around the time I actually got my CHCL and started carrying. My first carry gun was like just about every other pistol I'd ever had: full-sized, and in parkerized steel. It was a gov't model 1911, which I carried in a Theis holster. I didn't even own a gunbelt when I first started carrying. It was hanging a 1911 and spare mags on a dress belt that made me a staunch supporter of proper gunbelts. Later, I switched to a DeSantis Speed Scabbard and bought myself an Aker B21 belt. That worked well until about 2012, when I sent my 1911 off for some new sights.
While it was gone, a buddy of mine loaned me a Glock 19. I'm not sure, but I think it was a Gen 3. I'd hated Glocks forever and a day, and had never bothered to learn much about them beyond that simple fact. Nonetheless, having nothing else suitable for carry, I carried that Glock while my 1911 was in the shop. When I got my 1911 back, I realized just how heavy it was, by comparison, and decided to give these newfangled polymer thingamabobs a try. Accordingly, I started
Spats McGee's Search for a Polymer 9mm, Phase 1. I threw out a bunch of different options, and got some great information. In spite of my better judgment, I finally settled on a Gen 4 G19, which I bought in April or May of 2013.
Having grown accustomed to using OWB leather while carrying that 1911, I bought a leather OWB holster for the G19, a Galco this time. (Mainly because I could buy it in person, rather than online.) Somewhere around six months after I started carrying it, I posted
A Grudging Review of the Glock 19. Over time, I added a DeSantis Econobelt and a variety of holsters to the mix. (You know, because you need the right belt & holster for every occasion, right?) I have IWB, OWB, leather, Kydex and a hybrid (CBST). I still toy with the idea of getting a different carry pistol (3.8" Compact XDM, I'm still looking at you!
), but the G19/CBST combination gets far more carry time than anything else I have. It's a great combination for a guy like me who is: (a) in a suit 4 days out of the week, and (b) often in a sport coat when he's not in a suit.
Still, there are those days from late spring to fall when it's just too hot to wear a coat, so somewhere along the line, I also picked up a Ruger LCR in .357 for pocket carry. When I bought it, I thought, "I'll practice with .38s, and carry .357s." Yeah, . . . That lasted until the day that I thought I'd test a few .357s in it. I'm not overly recoil sensitive, but that sonofagun kicked like a mule! My groups? At 10 yards, they were roughly "minute-of-mammoth." I switched back to .38s that day. My groups are much better and I don't take near the beating that those .357s dished out. It's a great little gun for pocket carry.