Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Is there anything wrong with pocket carry?

1. read gmoats responses, several times.

2.Having a gun is always better than no gun.

3. neither you nor anyone else can predict the timing or nature of a fight.

4.A quick presentation and 1st shot ability is essential. The Bill Drill is my standard [6 shots into 6" at 7 yards in <3 seconds] I have never seen anyone achieve this from a pocket holster.

5. Believing that the bad guys will run away is not a good basis for a survival plan.

6. Carrying a NAA 22 for self defense defines delusional.

7. Practice, Practice, Practice. Dryfire is your friend.


mike r

There is a set of those for J frame on ebay now. Not really cheap.

An LCP in a pocket holster is much more comforting than nothing at all, but I have found a drawback.

My fat ass got leaner over the last six months and Wranglers have much smaller front pockets than the Dickey's jeans I have worn for years. The LCP and holster is tougher going in than the LCP coming out but it's still tight. But it works very well for many situations like quick trips around town and nighttime bicycle rides out in the country where a confrontation with a meth head is more likely than a home invasion.


But I am ready for options, I am leaning out enough to try the G19 or a G26 and IWB holster but I will continue the LCP pocket carry.


A 9mm LCP if it was possible, would be a hit but a handful.


Since the conversation drifted from strictly pocket carry, at home the LCP is in my pocket or five steps away, in my pocket while working in the garage or outside doing yard work. Inside there is also the G19 and G20 ready to go until I can reach least one rifle or carbine located outside of the safe. A home invasion is unlikely where I live but I do know one family has a meth head son who comes and goes, it's a small 50 home country community with one way in and one way out. To be further prepared, l fenced the property with a 3-rail fence and gate that remains closed and locked at all times. It's a mental barrier for normal people so I am prepared to draw if there is a knock on the door or any person approaches me outside because I know they have jumped the fence.

For the LCP I have found one of these IWB to be more better than pocket carry.

http://blackhawk.com/products/holst...t/nylon/tecgrip-iwb-holster-ambidextrous

Exactly. My whole property is fenced, and the gate is always locked, so anyone who knocks on the door isn't supposed to be there unless I was expecting them. So the mere knock on the door is an alert to something not being quite right.

My snubby is in my non dominant front pocket each day, and a hand casually placed in a front pocket does not draw attention from most people. With just a modicum of situational awareness, combined with a proper pocket holster and pants with pockets that are conducive to pocket carry, it really is not hard to produce a J Frame from a pocket and get hits on target in under 2 seconds, with just a little practice. Of course that means you actually have to practice, and not just talk about it.



These are slow fire groups BTW, and I was shooting to note the difference between irons and laser sighted fire.










As an aside, In the 90s, while doing uniformed patrol work I figured out (was shown the technique and the reasons why by an LE mentor) that a J Frame carried on the ankle was the way to go for me. I could get to it quickly while seated in the car, for dealing with unknown contacts, who would unexpectedly approach the window of your car.

It was blatantly obvious if you drew your service auto, by your body movements, and that would draw complaints. Just a slight bend forwards would allow me to slip the J Frame into my hand, and then either have it pointed at the person, or slid under my thigh, until I determined their intent/threat level, etc. Obviously the vast majority of the times they were just normal people, with normal issues, or wanting to visit, complain, etc. Twice in the career, I pointed the J Frame at Ne'er Do Wells, while simultaneously exiting my vehicle. Neither time it was fired. Both times, scumbags who thought they had the upper hand, with me being "trapped" in my car, were both shocked at the turn of events.

I owe thanks to an older LE mentor/ USPSA buddy for showing me that technique early on, and have passed it on to many in the business.


My J Frame is very rarely a primary gun. Its role is as a second/BUG, but every now and then it has to serve the role as primary. Not ideal, but there are times and places where options are limited. Around the house when I may not be carrying a regular carry piece, the J Frame works quite well in the pocket for answering the door/managing unknown contacts. If there is not time to tuck my regular CCW type pistol under my shirt, I simply slide a hand into my non dominant pocket and answer the door.

Speaking of J Frames, as I was dropping off my littlest Minion earlier this week I ran into a young guy I don't know very well, but know is a decent guy. He shoots USPSA, and I have been on the same squad with him a few times in the past, a number of years back

Apparently he remembered that I refer to my J Frame as my " Ear-Nose-Throat" gun, since that is likely one of the places it is going to get jammed into somebody if I am down to my J Frame and not using my primary gun. In other words, I am rolling on the ground, lost control of my primary weapon, and things are going very badly.

He inquired as to if I was carrying my "Ear-Nose Throat" gun. I acknowledged that I was. He then asked why "you pros carry small revolvers instead of autos" and stated that he had talked to a number of "older pros" (I assume he meant LE/former LE) and that they all carried J Frames. Apparently I am in the old category now...anyways..

I told him that while there are some very reliable small autos on the market like the single stack Glocks, the J Frame still works and lots of guys are alive today because they chose to carry one every day.

I have a 637 that lives in the door of my truck. I bought one the Mika pocket holsters to keep it clean. It's very well made and has a rubber-like fabric to keep it in your pocket if you need to deploy it in a hurry. I hardly ever carry it but it's handy in a coat or pants pocket for the rare occasion when I do.

https://mikaspocketholsters.com/product/pocket-holster/#prettyPhoto

If you don’t want to mess up your hammer - another option.

I went on EBay and found a hammer for my Model 36 - busted spur from being dropped i guess.

$25 out the door, a little grinding polishing and bluing gave me a bobbed hammer - had more trouble getting the sideplate off than anything else (couple of raps with a screwdriver handle on the grip frame and it finally popped off, but I digress!). The original went into my ever-expanding parts box so I can “restore” it if I want to.

"Revolvers don't jam". That is a quote from a Chicago cop that got into the elevator with me wearing two revolvers after I asked him why he didn't carry a semi-auto? For me carrying all the time just isn't comfortable with any kind of holster that I've tried. If I'm going somewhere where the threat level is higher, then sure I can deal with the lump in my lap. Some interesting stuff in that CCW laundry list of dos and don'ts. You can't shoot in defense of property. I guess that means that if a guy is leaving with your TV that you just say have a nice day. We had a defense lawyer talking to the group and there had been a situation there recently where a guy was car jacked and shot at his own vehicle in an effort to disable it from being stolen. Can't do that was the answer because shooting at any vehicle, even your own, is a class 2 felony.

Nice and lightweight Colt Cobra, is in my pocket alot.
https://i.imgur.com/w5xUIMh.jpg

That tells me immediately the experience level of the person who makes such a statement.

The bad part is that when they do, they usually are not even remotely as easy to bring back into action as compared to typical malfunctions in a modern semi auto service weapon.

Revolvers have their attributes, and I am a big fan of the J Frames, but they can and do jam, and generally speaking are not nearly as reliable when it comes to high volume shooting, between cleanings.

In fact the weekend before last I was at a friend's who is a well known trainer in the industry. A social/shoot was being held and we were all shooting revolvers. I initially was running my rather tight 4" Model 19-3. However the trigger became extremely hard to pull and the cylinder was having a hard time rotating. Long story short, there was enough carbon built up in various places that is was affecting the advancement/action. Fortunately my friend has no shortage of cool guns, so he produced a rather cool 4" Round Butt K Frame that had been worked over by Wayne Novak.




Fortunately his was a lot cleaner than mine!

When I got home a good solvent soak and scrubbing revealed that the Model 19 had accumulated more lead & carbon from shooting wadcutters than I had realized.

Those are Old School cool.

I think so too. Have it loaded with hollow based wadcutters, reversed. What you guys think of that, have heard both pro and con,but they flatten out about the size of a nickel in wet newspaper.

I think if you are ever attacked by wet newsprint, you are in business. Otherwise, there are about eleventy four dozen better choices in defensive ammo.

Standard Wadcutters have a very good reputation for penetrating adequately out of 2" .38s and are carried by more than a few very knowledgeable people as their primary J Frame load, with some sort of JHP as a reload (due to ease of reloading with speedloaders or speedstrips as compared to full wadcutters).

I would suggest you turn your HB wadcutters back around.

I really like the Buffalo Bore Ammo loading of their 150 grain hard cast wadcutters for carry in my snub nose 38 specials

Revolvers don't jam, the hell they don't. Just last year, my Ruger SS "jammed" from un burnt 2400 powder flecks getting under the star. I was shooting double action at 7 yards, and it locked up.

I also use the Buffalo Arms 150 cast wadcutters in my S&W 38

This.