"Easiest" CCW Choices/Would like suggestions for concealed carry gun

I hear people all the time who have a permit but don't carry, because it's too hard. Perhaps they're trying to hide a S&W M29 with an 8-3/8" barrel...

There are two carry methods that I've found to be fairly easy, yet give me an effective caliber in a shootable platform.

1. Airweight .38 or .38+P in a pocket holster. The Scandium/Titanium/etc. are lighter, but you pay too much in recoil and price, IMHO. Drop it in the pants pocket, a SpeedStrip in another pocket, and go.

2. Steel or Airweight .38 or .38+P, with a Barami Hip-Grip, in the waistband, under an untucked shirt. I wear an undershirt to keep the gun off my skin. I like the appendix (right-front) position and find it fairly comfortable. I can hid a revolver easily under an untucked t-shirt and carry all day in any temperature.

I'm sure that there are other methods. Note that neither of my two methods requires an expensive belt/holster combo.

Anyone else?

Regards,
Dirty Bob

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

I carry two weapons. I have a 1911 45 in my car and truck with extra clips. But in my pocket I always carry a NAA 22LR revolver with CCI Stingers. It is so small I can carry it in my front pocket without even noticing it is there with 5 shots plus the CCI ammo is enough to help me get out of harms way. One of the things I like about this gun is I can carry it hammer down between rounds so there in no chance of accidental discharge. I am also looking at a R9s in a 9mm to bring me to the level of firepower I feel I need to have in a Self defense situation. But a grand for a gun that only lasts for 500 rounds is a bit steep.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Seecamp .380

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

99% of the time I carry a G27 in a pocket holster. It works for me. It is very, very easy. I carry my wallet, pocketknife and U60 in my left pants pocket, and my gun in my right. In a Nemesis holster. Can't get easier than that.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

I have three levels of carry, from bulky winter clothes to minimal summer clothes. My carry gun changes based on the ability to conceal and have access to. When concealability is easy, I carry a 1911 in .45. When I have marginal concealability, I usually carry an SP101 .357 in an Uncle Mike's #0 with the clip cut off, which fits in my right front pants pocket and allows ease of draw. When concealability is difficult I cut back to a Smith & Walther PPK in .380.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Malpaso said:

When concealability is difficult I cut back to a Smith & Walther PPK in .380.

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:thinking: :huh2:

Ok...

Well...I carry an HK USP .45 compact in winter and a Walther 9mm PPK in summer. Works great for me...

JM-99

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Easiest?

Maybe a Kel-Tec P32?

That's about as slim, light, and small as they come. There's smaller, but arguably, not suitable for defense. .32 is the smallest of the "sub-par" calibers as it is, at least in my world. There are things like the NAA Mini-22 revolvers that are even smaller, but IMO, they're more curiosities than anything else.

Mostly though, it's that people with CCW's who don't use them are paranoid they'll be "made". They don't realize 99.9% of the population is oblivious.

Kind of like a zit, it looks huge and bothersome to you in the bathroom mirror, but it's barely a dot to everyone else. The bulge they see from their concealed piece is invisible to everyone else.

We'll probably have CCW permits in WI this year, it failed by one vote on override of the anti-gun govenor's veto last time. And that vote was going to go for the override, until at the last minute until the govenor "bought him out" with a job (that pays better than state rep.) after his term was up (which it surely was for betryaing his constituency). The slimebag was even a co-sponsor of the bill and wrote pro-carry op-ed pieces for his local paper...

If the veto override fails this year, we will have it almost for certain in 2007. The govenor is a one-termer for sure. If anything, waiting a year and a half might not be too bad, as we'll have to make fewer concessions to the fence sitters in the legislature.

I have a Glock 26 I'll probably be using for most carry, with maybe my P32 as backup. I'd only consider the P32 as primary carry if I were in a situation where my carry was legal, but the repercussions for being "made" were severe, such as the thereoretical "Your (anti) employer, or your life?" kind of senario which is debated endlessly on the various gun-boards...

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Seecamp .32 ACP

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Colt .380 - I'd like to get something else, but this is bought & paid for!

(BTW - no permit required in Alaska)

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Keltec P3at just slightly larger than the P32 and a little more ooomph I don't even know it's there sometimes..Steve

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

All great replies.

Needless to say, A .22 in pocket beatsa .44 in the truck.

That said, I carry a Glock 26 (9mm) in either Lou Alessi ankle holster, or a Galco Summer Comfort (IWB carry).

Most gunfights last perhaps 3 shots. Prolonged shootouts are the stuff of Hollyweird movies. If you need more than 10-rounds of 9mm to solve a "situation", then you're in the longarm realm.

I've carried a S&W 342Ti, but .38's coming out of the flyweight revolver were a bear to put into the X-ring. The G26 conceals just as readily, and I can put all in the X-ring at 7 yards.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Full size for me. 1911 or CZ-52 in uncle mikes sidekick at 4:30 o'clock IWB.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

lite brite said:

Keltec P3at just slightly larger than the P32 and a little more ooomph I don't even know it's there sometimes..Steve

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Another vote for the P-3AT. I carry in a Jason Shaffer holster in the front right pocket.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

I decided that stopping power was important. Having a .380 or a .32 is unsatisfactory. Even a .40 isn't very good. But it's better. I carry the G27 with no problem and I feel confident that it is the best I can do in a concealable weapon.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

I talked to a police officer who also taught concealed carry classes and he recommended pocket carry. He said the advantage was that you could have your hand on your gun when an unknown person approaches you. He said that people will try to look innocent while they get close to you, such as asking for directions or asking for the time or whatever, then when they get very close to you they will pull out their weapons and demand your money. Then it's too late for you to retrieve your gun from other areas of concealment.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malpaso
When concealability is difficult I cut back to a Smith & Walther PPK in .380.

Jumpmaster said:

:thinking: :huh2:

Ok...

JM-99

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S & W and Walther are co-manufacturing the PPK now. The gun carries both of their names.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

I vote for (a) the S&W snubby (b) in a pocket holster.

While all the guns and carry methods mentioned are good choices where tailored to various individual circumstances, the "Pocket Snubby" has these advantages:

1. CONCEALABILITY: with the right pocket holster, plus maybe something (thin wallet, handkerchief, etc,) to break up its outline, it prints the least under general carry and movement.

2. STOPPING POWER: loaded with good +P hollowpoints, energy levels of 300 to 400 ft. lbs. per shot are achievable. That's about double the per-shot power of most mini semi-autos. Blast and recoil are fierce, but that's a training issue readily managed. Besides, in the adrenalized stress of a sudden confrontation, the human sensory system tends to block them out.

3. CAPACITY: As mentioned earlier, the snubby's 5-shot capacity is generally adequate for most civilian self-defense scenarios. Given Prof. Gary Kleck's landmark research that projects 2 million (plus) annual SD gun uses annually in the U.S., that implies that 98% of SD confrontations succeed by the intended victim/target merely showing a gun. (I'm one of those 2 million+: several times over.)

4. RELIABILITY: the snubby has no safeties/buttons/levers to actuate under all-thumbs stress. Small semi-autos can jam via a less-than-perfect grip, limp-wristing, or odd-angle falling/rolling on the ground, etc. While snubbies can jam from errant coins tossed in the wrong pocket, they usually don't require the fussy gunsmithing/tuning/ramp-throating//lubrication that many otherwise excellent semi-autos do.

5. SPEED: nothing's faster than a Snubby-Surprise whipped from a pants or jacket pocket. No safeties to flick. No re-gripping for a solid hold. Just grab, point... and shoot. Keeps It Simple And Stupid. And only a snubby can be held IN a jacket-pocket and readily shot THROUGH the pocket, multiple times, without jamming. So, you can "cover" an approaching threat without the poor, maladjusted, socially-disadvantaged, misunderstood darlings ever knowing it.

Yeah, a Colt 1911 or Sig 226 (backed up by a snubby or PPK... along with an 870 shotgun or AR-15 nearby) is ideal. It's also impractical for most. The Snubby Compromise is time-tested. It works.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Interesting breakdown TonkinWarrior. Here's how I would rate the Keltec P-3AT in those categories:

CONCEALABILITY: Excelent. Small, flat and light; and in the JS holster very well "camouflaged" even in slacks. This is important to me as a city dweller whose work uniform includes Docker style pants. That's where the light weight helps too.

STOPPING POWER: So much is written on this. I think this is adequate but there are endless arguments about this which I don't want to get into.

CAPACITY: 6+1

RELIABILITY: Probably not as good as a revolver or higher quality pistol. This is a compromise I'm living with. I have personally not had mine fail but I do hear stories.

SPEED: Same as a revolver. Just point and shoot.

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Malpaso said:

S & W and Walther are co-manufacturing the PPK now. The gun carries both of their names.

Click to expand...

Ewwwwww.....

JM-99

Re: "Easiest" CCW Choices?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malpaso
S & W and Walther are co-manufacturing the PPK now. The gun carries both of their names.

Jumpmaster said:

Ewwwwww.....

JM-99

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Normally, I would have agreed with you, but once I handled and dry fired it I was sold. It has great lines, smooth edges and excellent sight pattern. I got great groups off hand at 25 feet right out of the box.