Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Question for you pocket carry guys...

How long does it take for you to draw when seated in a car all belted in or having lunch at a restaurant...

I ran a "come as you carry" class about 15 years ago and the few people in the class who did pocket carry died in most of the scenarios that were based on real incidents....

I rarely pocket carry but when I do it is usually in a BDU pocket that has Velcro flap hold downs and a dedicated DeSantis BDU holster that holds the gun and an extra magazine.

Just wondering if any of you who do always pocket carry do any "practical practice" and how long it takes you to get a shot off once you know there is a threat to be delt with...

Bob

Laughing. I have a carry option when driving

hey Bob, I only pocket carry when I have to, an appendix carry is something to consider for sitting down a lot.

I pocket carry my J-frame lots of the time and never intended it to be a quick draw combination. It is along and that is really all that I'm after. No quick draw is going to be any faster than if someone already has the drop on you. Then it is comply or die and nothing in my wallet is worth dying over.

That's the problem with front pants pocket carry, and why I gave it up almost twenty years ago. Back pocket is much better, but I transitioned, since about twenty years ago, to 100% IWB belt carry. Exceptions being jacket and coat pocket (S&W Airweight 442), not to mention bathrobe pocket carry (NAA Mini Revolver).

That's not true for proper belt carry. You just need to "wait your turn," i.e., wait for the robber to be momentarily distracted from you. So long as you can draw and fire in under two seconds, you should be able to win the day at that moment in time. But in a front pants pocket, this becomes much less likely.

Pocket carry totally sucks in a car, and it also won’t win a fast draw competition if starting with the hands outside the pocket. Where it shines is in ambiguous threat scenarios because it allows me to have my hand in a firing position on the gun in my front jeans pocket without telegraphing anything. With the right shirt or cover garment, I can even partially draw the gun without being noticed. I like it in scenarios where I am going to be a pedestrian in sketchy areas. That really isn’t an issue where I live now, but it happened a lot where I used to live, and it still is my preferred carry method when I venture to the bigger cities and intend to be walking around downtown a lot.

Having a lightening fast draw is perhaps one of the most over-exploited skills necessary for the average gun-toter. The outcome in deadly force encounters seldom hinges on who gets their gun out first.

The truth is, drawing from a seated position (in a realistic setting ... not some made-up/contrived fantasy) isn't going to be terribly fast no matter where the gun is and in most cases the movement associated with presenting the gun will be telegraphed.

When seat-belted in a car, a cross-draw or shoulder holster is the only thing that's remotely efficient though this is one of those limited situations where ankle-carry makes sense. (I have a friend that utilized ankle-carry to great effect when he was ambushed with a point blank shotgun blast through the open window of his patrol car.)

When I'm in a vehicle and involved in stop and go driving, I often place one of my carry guns (I carry two) under my leg. Same goes when I'm forced to sit in a restaurant booth. When I'm involved in open highway driving, my need for instant access is pretty nonexistent.

As for pocket-carry in general (at least front pocket carry), the advantages far out-weigh the disadvantages when you consider them in totality. Having the option of standing around casually with a firing grip on a gun that's less than a second away from making noise is a pretty significant advantage in the world I live in .... not to mention the fact that the movement associated with me removing my hand from my pocket is completely innocuous.

Action vs reaction is a very real thing and pocket carry can put you way ahead in that cycle of decision making.

Pocket carry is better than no carry, but I would reserve it for cooler regions or even arid areas where a coat/jacket, overalls or parka is worn. Holstered of course.

While walking, back pocket holstered carry, preferably concealed, has potential for quick access.

if i remember right, probably not, one of those guys in the miami shootout had a gun on the seat, hard braking and the gun flew off on the floorboard.
having said that, when i use to drive a patrol car, and stationary, the gun was wedged by the right side of the seat, i am left handed so that was much prefered to getting it out of a left handed holster.
If i am in an area that i deem it warranted, it sits between my seat as driver and the consul, kind of a little pocket, easy to get to.
or in an opened fanny pack sitting right behind the transmission shifter, also easy to get to.
i mostly wear shorts these days, and don't go out all that much. But have used cargo pants to put a pistola in.
i do have a number of older pocket pistols dating back to the early 1900's. One is the remington model 51. I don't know who the prior owner was, but it came with a nice leather holster to fit it, kind of looks like a wallet. Probably carried in the back pocket.

Yes, you can create all sorts of imaginary scenarios where pocket carry doesn't work. And mall ninjas love to imagine all sorts of non-reality.

But the fact is that having a gun with you because of convenience is better than not, and having a gun doesn't eliminate the need for using your head.

But carry on with your fantasies.

years ago a deputy was sitting in a sambo's restaurant with his back to the front door. guy comes in intending on shooting his wife further back. so he puts a round in the back of the deputies head prior to taking out his wife.
to this day i won't sit in a restaurant unless my back is to a wall, and i have clear view of the traffic in the restaurant. usually there is a fanny pack sitting by me on the bench seat with ready access.
In thinking about it tho, i have always preferred some type of holster, rather than having to dig one out of a pocket.

+1 on the fanny pack idea. They can be very handy and quick to access and nobody ever looks twice at them. In winter if I carry anything I have a heavy jacket with two deep pockets right in front on either side of the zipper. Deep enough to be secure but easy to get to.

"to this day i won't sit in a restaurant unless my back is to a wall, and i have clear view of the traffic in the restaurant."


Picked up the habit of sitting in a restaurant or anywhere facing the door after a friend during my youth had been hit in the head with a hatchet from behind.

Don't be the guy on the inside or middle when sitting in booth-type tables.

ALWAYS pay attention to where the EXITs are.

I pocket carry in my cargo shorts/pants pocket. It's low enough that I can access when sitting and can still access quickly when standing.

I pocket carry(Normally a G26 in a Mic Holster or a Bersa Thunder Plus without any Holster ) in a Wrangler cargo Pants Pocket .,I have some Propper BDU Pants on the way to see how I like them.

I also carry a LCP with a Ruger 7 round magazine and Viridian Green Laser in the Viridian holster(automatically turns the Laser on when pistol is removed from the holster} in front pocket of Propper BDU shirt.

Sitting in a truck Getting to a Pocket carry pistol is almost impossible to draw but with the Lcp in my shirt pocket I can access the Pistol very easily when seated

I like the Idea of carrying 2 pistols anyway as if one gun malfunctions I have another.

"fantasies"....I don't think that the Luby's Cafeteria shooting was much of a "fantasy" for those who died nor the 50K Car Jackings a year that occur in the United States in which a couple dozen people a year die.... I have two friends who were both car jacked in the driveways of their homes...if they had been pocket carrying both would be dead vs. having killed the armed people who were trying to hijack them.

Thanks to the rest of you for your answers. I ask only because of a couple of the other threads here dealing with pocket carry... Over on the S&W forums there sees to be a LOT of posters who pocket carry J-frames.


Thanks again...Bob

When you walk, doesn't it bang into your knee?

Like I said, fantasies. And you also don't know what happened at Lubys - so your fantasy is even more screwed up.
Carry on mall ninja.

Yep.

Knowing when to draw is half the skill.