The way we decide to carry

My carry methods have evolved over the last 15 years as my experience with handguns has evolved.

First it was big, reliable with decocker for a safety (Ruger P95).

Then it was smaller with a manual safety (Bersa Firestorm 380, among others of this type).

Then bigger caliber with no manual safety (XD40).

Then smaller with no safety (Kel Tec P3AT).

Then bigger caliber, not as big as .40 though, no safety, smaller package (Glock 26).

I've sold/traded all pistols with manual safeties and only have P3AT as a always on my person (running out to store/bathrobe/beltless/church/fine dining), G26 as always on with belt (except church/fine dining) and XD40 (travelling/between console & carseat/open carry when urge hits me/nightstand).

All 3 function exactly the same--point and shoot.

I don't adjust what I carry to what I may encounter in terms of threats--that's just a lotto/crapshoot--I carry what I can when I can where I can and how I can.

I may be in a tailored suit, shorts and t-shirt, khakis and polo, or buck naked in a bathrobe depending on whats called for at the time, but I'm always armed, comfortable and comforted.
 
Transportation of a loaded firearm in an vehicle is concealed carry here. Vehicles are be the method I use to travel through danger zones. While I rarely go to such places the need does arise on occasion and you can bet I'm hauling along some serious backup artillery.
 
I am a social worker and I have to dress up and down depending on the situation. When I am at the Office I have to wear shirt/slacks and tie. When I am in the field I don't want to ruin my nice clothing so I wear Blue Jeans (or shorts in the summer) and a t-shirt and a loose unbuttoned shirt over that.

My primary CC weapon (S&W 640 in 357 magnum) is always carried the very same way. In the front right pocket. The only time I don't have this gun is when I am at the gym, it is too big and heavy for work out clothing. My back up is a 22short NAA mini that I wear on a neclase around my neck (It hides very well like that). I don't know how useful it would be but It is better than nothing I guess.

If I am going to a bad area (frequent) I put on a shoulder holster with my Coonan Classic, in addition to my J-frame.

Unless I am at the gym the J-frame is all ways carried the same (in the pocket)
 
Let Reality Dictate

Ok,
When I am in tie and sport coat (not often) I have to pocket carry and LCP if I want a gun on me. The coat would be a great concealer however it never stays on all day and night therefore LCP it is.

Most days OWB G27 or OWB Charter .38

Basically my daily attire has to dictate what I can and cannot carry. As for the whole lounge cloths to pants and a belt thing I always wear my daily work cloths when I leave the house. I don't go to the store wearing sweats or anything of that nature. My Job requires me to be ready to answer a call and go out in a hurry therefore the work cloths are always close at hand.

There is no way the same setup can work for every activity that just wouldn't make any sense.

Regards, Vermonter.
 
I think it is flawed logic to not understand that different situations, venues and clothing call for different concealed handguns. If you use a "one size fits all" solution then you are going to be suboptimal in some cases you will be carrying too much in some other cases. It is a judgment call.

If I'm wearing a large winter jacket, I can conceal any handgun. But if I'm wearing slacks and a business shirt and tie in the heat of summer, I will need a small deeply concealed handgun.

This is no different than wearing different shoes for different occasions. You aren't going to wear your tuxedo shoes while mowing the lawn and you probably won't go to the beach on the 4th of July wearing snowmobile boots.
 
People need to read the entire thread before commenting. I Have said before I am not talking about how you carry depending on clothes and venue. I am talking about I hear people say If I am going to a such and such part of town the I carry something bigger or more ammo because it is a bad part of town. This part that is in bold is what I am getting at. I can understand that if you are wearing a bathing suit you are not going to carry a Desert Eagle. And I understand that you might want to carry a .380 in a suit pocket if you are going out to a nice dinner or to Church. Again what I am saying is if I am out of the house if I carry lets say 40 rounds of ammo and a .357 then why would I change that for a different part of town? It is as if you can predict evil when you travel out of your nice parts of town . Criminals are not going to say I will not carry less because I am in a nice neighborhood. They are going to make sure they are totally prepared no matter where they decide to commit a crime whether it is a nice neighborhood or a bad one. .
 
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In response to the OP's question then:

I always carry. Whether I go into town, a larger city, the bad part of a larger city (which I try to avoid but sometimes I end up having to go there anyway), country side etc. I always carry. Even sitting at home here on the computer now I'm carrying.

It doesn't make sense to think that you can predict when you're going to need your weapon. If you don't need it great - carry anyway. If and when you do need it you're going to be glad you have it. If you don't have it you've just allowed yourself to become a victim.
 
kinggabby said:
...I am talking about I hear people say If I am going to a such and such part of town the I carry something bigger or more ammo because it is a bad part of town...
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And that's an important point.

There's the story about the Sheriff who goes to the fancy garden party. The hostess goes up to him and says, " Sheriff, I see you're wearing your sidearm. Are you expecting trouble? At my party?"

The Sheriff replies, "Why no ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I'd be carrying a rifle."

I carry whenever I legally can (mostly on trips to other States). I'm not going to try to guess whether or not I'll need my gun. Chances are I won't need it, but I'd feel pretty foolish if, for some reason, I did need but didn't have it.

And if I thought that I'd really need my gun some place, I wouldn't go there.
 
kingabby had his question hijacked

Probably in this day and age of instantaneous communication, buzzing around like bees at work, we all get in a hurry to blurt a response out.

Here's my .02. I always carry also. What that means is that anywhere I'm allowed to do so, I am. I will always have one on with at least one spare magazine, and where I wear it on my body and what clothing covers it wasn't germane to his question.

I might even go between a 1911 or a P226, but it matters not a whit does it? He is also right about the threat level being a "constant," one never knows whether the nice, quiet neighborhood one lives in or the nighttime urban jungle is going to pose "a problem," right?

Clint Smith said it right for me. I prefer to be comforted, not comfortable, and do my best to select gear to make the latter as good as possible and carry on with life.
 
Changing my way of carrying only changes upon my clothing. Sometimes I pocket carry with loose fitting shorts or jeans, sometimes IWB when I wear tighter clothes. it doesn't matter if its a good or bad neighborhood.

there are no good or bad neighborhood IMO.

nothing about the what I carry changes. the 9mm goes with me almost everywhere I can go legally. If I could carry a rifle too I would, except it would be too bulky :D
 
..I am talking about I hear people say If I am going to a such and such part of town the I carry something bigger or more ammo because it is a bad part of town.
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Yeah I really can't make any bit of sense out of this. If I'm going to church or a "bad part of town" a threat is a threat regardless. The odds of an encounter happening may be different but I don't think you should change the caliber of your weapon based on where you are going.
 
Yeah I really can't make any bit of sense out of this. If I'm going to church or a "bad part of town" a threat is a threat regardless. The odds of an encounter happening may be different but I don't think you should change the caliber of your weapon based on where you are going.
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Again this is what I am getting at. I treat every place I go with the same level of threat possibility. if I say carry my Sigma with 4 magazines to one place I will carry it to all places ( unless dressing for the place restricts me ). Because the way I see it you never know .
 
The only time I change my carry set up is when I go to the beach or pool. Then I just can't. Otherwise I have never had a problem concealing my CZ P-07 in the exact same spot. I can even conceal it with my dress shirt tucked in. At 5'10" and 190lbs it isn't because I'm a big guy either.

I don't understand the attitude of, "I'll be in Suburb A instead of on East and Main so I only need a. . ." With the invention of cars the limits of neighborhood boundaries largely disappeared. Criminals have been using cars to attack and flee since the 1930s. Before that they used horses to seek out high value targets. I don't think that has changed a bit in the last 100 years.

ETA:
I've had to pull in defense on three occasions. Every time the response from the responding officer was, "Well, that usually doesn't happen in this area. If you had been over on ____, I wouldn't have been suprised."

One time was in a gas station parking lot in one of the safest cities in the state. Another time was in broad daylight in the parking lot of a major big box store. The third time was in a gas station parking lot in a neighborhood that "is on it's way up." None of the locations are known to be trouble spots.
 
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While I can't say I've ever changed my carry piece based on the perceived threat.

Oh wait I can, I normally carry one 14rd spare mag, and I swapped to two 16rd when I was going to repossess a car one evening. Also swapped the 14rd in the gun for a 16rd. But that's an extreme case where I knew there was higher risks.

I do change my carry around based on weather, clothing, and even my mood.

My two carry pieces are a CZ PCR and a Taurus 38 snub. While I carry the PCR most, somedays I just feel like carrying the revolver.
 
While I can't say I've ever changed my carry piece based on the perceived threat.

Oh wait I can, I normally carry one 14rd spare mag, and I swapped to two 16rd when I was going to repossess a car one evening. Also swapped the 14rd in the gun for a 16rd. But that's an extreme case where I knew there was higher risks.

I do change my carry around based on weather, clothing, and even my mood.

My two carry pieces are a CZ PCR and a Taurus 38 snub. While I carry the PCR most, somedays I just feel like carrying the revolver.
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And how did you know it was higher risk ? Did criminals give you a call and tell you they would be active that night? And on lighter nights did they call and tell you they were going to stay in and watch a movie instead of deciding on attacking people?
 
Because repoing a car is a risky venture. It is not uncommon for repo men to be assaulted and shot at it. It tends to happen more in lower income areas.

Also some neighborhoods do have a higher crime rate. If a neighborhood is known to be violent, and you are going there to take a piece of property, it increases the chance you will meet violence.
 
And how did you know it was higher risk ?
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Because I was walking up a person's driveway at night, climbing into "their car" and driving away in it.

There's a reason we normally contract that out to Towing Companies, but the guy had already moved 4 times, and by the time we found out his new address, the earliest any of our Towers could get to it was the next day.

Same guy threatened to break my jaw when he stopped by to pick up the stuff he'd left in the car. :rolleyes:

The joys of working at a Buy-Here/Pay-Here car lot.
 
Hopefully this addresses the original post correctly.
I carry pretty much the same thing wherever I go. I tend to avoid areas where I'd feel a bunch of extra mags or a bigger gun are necessary.
If I were a delivery man, or otherwise forced to go places I feel in danger I might behave differently.

The one exception to that would be hiking. If I'm in bear/cougar country I'm probably going to go.... well, "loaded for bear".
 
Unless i missed something, I read a lot about extra mags and different calibers, but not a thing about a backup. Sometimes I go with one gun, sometimes two. (Three on one occasion, but it's because I already had two, and just bought one) There isn't any rhyme or reason to it for the most part. Before I moved out of Southern AZ dang right I always had two, but I didn't always have the best luck being in the right place all the time. Along the same lines, those 5.11 pants are pretty nice; cell phone pocket i usually use for an extra mag pocket, and the cargo pockets are stout enough to keep a .380 in a pocket holster under control.
 
I carry different weapons based on where I’m going and what I’m doing because its prudent.... After all how often do you see someone in a business suit robbing a store with a gun or knife? It does happen but not very often in comparison to something like jeans and a hoodie...

There are times and situations when I would carry my 460 Rowland but I try to avoid those places and situations like the plague.... Last time I carried it I had to take one of my sons to get a SSN card and the building he had to go to is located in what appears to be a criminal haven with dealers and prostitutes all over the place...

I simply avoided touching federal property and parked where I could observe my son and I couldnt be approached from behind anything... All went well and two hours later we were on our way home...

Normally my P220 Carry is almost always on my but as the temperature climbs and we want to do outdoor activities for long lengths of time it just becomes too hot to wear a vest or a second shirt or anything similar and IWB just doesnt work for it for my body with my P220 or 460 Rowland...

In the past I downgraded to a Bersa Thunder 380 but I recently added a Sig P290 (9mm) which will be taking its place as my secondary choice....

I also commonly down grade if my wife is going on a multi hour shopping spree as my bad knee really struggles with the added weight and miles of walking...

I get it that bad things can happen anywhere and if I find myself with a 9mm or a 380 or whatever then its going to have to do the job as is but no Im not about to start carrying my Rowland as a daily carry, its too big for any sort of comfort..
 
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