Pocket auto with full grip?

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Pocket Carry

In Texas the law was changed to "reasonable attempt to conceal". You can can carry a 1911 OWB and as long as the shirt isn't tucked and it physically is covered , it can bulge out with no problem and be completely legal, so no need to pocket carry, unless it is BUG
 
ku4hx said:
Not really. I'm 275 pounds or so and I pocket carry all the time with either my Glock 42 or my Ruger LC9s. The trick is the pockets and the "cargo" type pants and big man's jeans I favor quite often are ideal. I'd guess a pair of spandex something-or-others might be a bit of a problem, but I just don't have that particular worry with my size and wardrobe.
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Let me qualify that. "Unless you have chicken legs, It's impossible to pocket carry as person in their 20's with an athletic build from hiking, running, cycling, etc. and still dress with the times, look professional at work, and wear clothes that fit properly without a ridiculous bulge in your front pocket"

Seriously though. If one cannot shoot a .380 half way decent without a full two hand grip and isoceles stance. I suggest the OP seriously needs some more range time and maybe some grip/forearm exercise to help with recoil control. I can easily shoot the bodyguard with .25 second splits on a drill on idpa targets at 10-15yds and the p238 i can run even faster. Your not shooting matches with it. How fast do you think you need to be able to shoot in a defensive situation? Chances are if your deploying a pocket pistol your gonna be shooting through your coat pocket or point shooting from point blank and trying to get out of harms way. If your shooting a pocket pistol farther than that chances are your either playing hero or you really did something to piss someone off. If you live in a state like MA and shooting farther than that chances are your going to end up in jail because the state prosecuter is going to argue that you had room to get away. Perfectly aimed target shooting goes right out the window in a defensive situation.
 
moojpg2 said:
Let me qualify that. "Unless you have chicken legs, It's impossible to pocket carry as person in their 20's with an athletic build from hiking, running, cycling, etc. and still dress with the times, look professional at work, and wear clothes that fit properly without a ridiculous bulge in your front pocket"
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:rolleyes:
 
Yeah, I agree with R.W. - it's not mutually exclusive unless we put a bunch of qualifiers and demands in the way. I manage to look professional (field service engineer!) and travel all over looking nice in "business casual" and other types of attire and pocket carry a Colt 1903, Ruger LCR, Even a Glock 42 with extensions all the time.

I'm reasonably fit, 6' 3" 185ish and have no problems carrying guns with a full grip in my pocket...I can even pocket my Beretta Px4 SC with snap grips with the right pants.

Not for everyone but then few things are for "everybody" especially if you are completely inflexible and not willing to dress for carrying and adapt your clothes and equipment to the end result. Some degree of flexibility and adaptation are usually needed or even simple things get complicated. As far as tell tale bulges go I think folks that carry concealed are way too paranoid.

Folks just don't notice and when I first started carrying I was certain my Wife or one of the anti CCL folks in my neighborhood would spot "The Bulge" a mile away but learned that no one is looking at my pockets...no one is looking at my waist or when I Appendix carry no one is looking at my junk.

Seriously I have pocket carried some *way* too big guns like a Colt Officers ACP and *no one* noticed. It can be done - maybe not by everyone without compromise but a full size grip gun can be carried in the pocket by many.

VooDoo
 
Vodoun da Vinci said:
Seriously I have pocket carried some *way* too big guns like a Colt Officers ACP and *no one* noticed. It can be done - maybe not by everyone without compromise but a full size grip gun can be carried in the pocket by many.

VooDoo
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I can stuff relatively larger guns in my pockets, but the problem is drawing it out quickly and having it in my hand ready to fire. For instance I can squeeze my Glock 36 in some of my pants pockets, but it absolutely will not draw as fast as a .38 snubnose or a pocket .380.

I know a guy that did the pluck and reposition. We did simple "quick" draws from our pockets facing against a wall with unloaded guns. It was no contest which "pocket" gun was ready to fire much, much sooner.

If a shooter has to pluck their gun out of their pocket then reposition the hand to get a firing grip, that disqualifies a gun as a pocket gun in my opinion.
 
Agreed. I guess in a nutshell what I'm trying to say is that if we will not compromise, adapt, or even consider altering our dress and equipment to accommodate specific types of carry with specific types of guns we'll end up leaving a lot of viable alternatives on the table.

Body shape/size/age/fitness, where we are gonna carry and what, and what we are gonna wear and where we are gonna carry our gun and what kind of gun it will be dictate that we must adapt and alter things - we need to jiggle the handle and compromise to find the "best" way of doing it for each individual.

If we won't wear certain types of holsters, reject specific types of guns, won't alter our style of dress or the pants we wear or the color, and won't or can't alter our body shapes we are gonna have to abandon some concepts of concealed carry. I have carried all manner of things and can draw/fight from that type of carry *but* I have had to train, dress, and equip myself accordingly. Not everyone can/will do that - not everyone can't/won't do that so we get conflict about things like pocket carry which I do very well and can fight from *very* well. But it's not for everyone and certainly not for anyone who can't or won't adapt or change their clothes etc.

Sorry for the excess verbiage. :uhoh:

VooDoo
 
I gotta go with moojpg2 here. My cell phone and keys print plenty as is, and I'm wearing straight jeans. If you're trim and fit, your hips/pocket area is probably the second-widest part of your body outside your shoulders.
 
I'd also add, just get a pocket pistol and a mag extension. A G26 with a +2 mag feels great to me, though I like it with the standard mag too.
 
eldon519 said:
I gotta go with moojpg2 here. My cell phone and keys print plenty as is, and I'm wearing straight jeans. If you're trim and fit, your hips/pocket area is probably the second-widest part of your body outside your shoulders.
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Two words

Cargo pants

get with the times. I can't carry everything modern life has me carrying BEFORE I add a gun in jeans or slacks.

With cargos everything else goes in the "tech pockets" freeing up room for a gun. This goes for pocket or waist carry as either negates the use of the nearest pocket
 
moojpg2 said:
Let me qualify that. "Unless you have chicken legs, It's impossible to pocket carry as person in their 20's with an athletic build from hiking, running, cycling, etc. and still dress with the times, look professional at work, and wear clothes that fit properly without a ridiculous bulge in your front pocket"
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Yep, being on the far end of 68 I can honestly say age has something to do with it. After retiring, I put away all my three pieces suits, "professional" shoes, and all the other accoutrements of modern professional workaday life. Shoot, I haven't even worn a watch since December 2007 and well ... I sleeps when I'm sleepy, plays when I'm awake and when I visit my kids they always remark how much I've calmed down and mellowed out. Basically after 47 years of various combinations of being in school, military service and the ivory tower of modern corporate life I reclaimed my soul and reverted to the man I really wanted to be. And that man wears cargo pants and is enjoying life with no binding, no hard sole leather shoes and no alarm clock. And since my wife retired three years ago, we're just a comfortable old couple.
 
Cant say that i blame u. My point is simply that many people can barely pocket carry and certainly not with a full grip sized gun and still shoot them pretty well. The op needs to spend his money on ammo, practice, and training. Not another gun thst he probably isnt going to shoot as well as he would like.
 
I recently bought a Ruger LC9s for pocket carry. It's just about at the limit of "pocketability" for me, in relaxed fit jeans. I can get all three fingers on the grip using a mag with the pinky extention, though.
 
A pocket gun with a full grip is no longer a pocket gun.

You aren't letting your little finger just hang off in space, are you? Put it to work by curling it under the butt, like this:

standard.jpg
 
I have three 380's that can be used for pocket carry, Colt Mustang, Kel Tec PAT and a Walther PPK. as far as grip goes the PPK IMHO is the best. How about thinking a bit outside the box????? The Kel Tec PF9 fits my pockets very well and is not much bigger than the PPK.
 
My Kel-Tec 380 is a pocket gun if anything is. I can't get my pinky on the grip, but I have large hands and am used to that. However, if I want a full-sized grip I can just put the extended magazine in. It makes the grip plenty long enough for all of my fingers.
 
Tallball said:
My Kel-Tec 380 is a pocket gun if anything is. I can't get my pinky on the grip, but I have large hands and am used to that. However, if I want a full-sized grip I can just put the extended magazine in. It makes the grip plenty long enough for all of my fingers.
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And that's what I like about mine.

It gives me options with just the swap of a mag. Even when not pocket carrying NOTHING is as slim and light on the hip as a p32 framed gun. Getting 11 rounds on tap with that extra grip is just icing on the cake.

Pocket carrying. Put that long mag in your off side picket and that extra capability is there if you need it.

I find the longer grip really speeds up my draw from the waist
 
These always devolve into the definition of a pocket gun. If you wear cargo pants, put your other items like keys in the leg pockets and have a belt that will support 5 pounds without your pants sagging to below your butt then anything can be a pocket gun.
I have some Wrangler jeans with small pockets and a KT 380 will fit but drawing is difficult. I have some Levis that have no problem accommodating a KT PF9 or any of the other micro guns I own.
The pinky extensions add length to the gun as well as weight with the additional couple of rounds and, for me at least, they add very little to the "shootability" of a gun that is designed to be used inside a phone booth. Being accurate at 20 yards with a 380 pocket rocket is not the idea. I'm not saying you shouldn't practice some at 20 yards but the gun is not meant to be used at that range.
 
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