I keep my duty belt by the bed. Easy to put on quick and has most of what I hope I never need.
I keep my duty belt by the bed. Easy to put on quick and has most of what I hope I never need.
The last few days I have been carrying an HK USP Compact. There is a GLOCK 19X on the nightstand.
Last week I carried a S&W 629 with a 3" barrel, just because I felt like it.
Immediately came to mindOriginally Posted by JBP55
I don't have a gun on or in my nightstand, but I keep a G17 in a quick access safe that is bolted to my bed frame and opens right next to my pillow for an easy grab in the dark.
My carry gun is a G26.
In addition, I always have a P3AT in my pocket, especially around the house. When I leave I add the G26 so my P3AT becomes a "New York Reload".
A stock Glock 17.3 topped with Heinie Classic target sights and loaded with 147-grain Gold Dots (and another magazine full of 147-grain Gold Dots if/when I feel like it) gets it all done―nightstand, "house gun", CC, and OC.
Last edited by the Schwartz; 02-04-2020 at 10:56 AM.
''Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.'' ―Albert Einstein
Full disclosure per the Pistol-Forum CoC: I am the author of Quantitative Ammunition Selection.
So, I wanted to add a bit - but here is the summary: tl;dr - 2011 in 9mm = Competition and occasional CC; 1911 in .45 = Regular CC and nightstand duty; Snub in .38 = BUG and lazy/easy CC
For further elaboration:
In competition I shoot the STI-hybrid.
To keep things simple - On the streets, I generally carry a 1911-pattern pistol.
I somtimes carry the STI, but I more often carry a 5" 1911, because it is slightly more concealable (for me). At night that 5" gun, a Kimber TLE/RL II, comes out of the holster and goes on the nightstand. When it does, I attach a TLR-1 light and swap out my 7 or 8 round carry magazines for 10-rounders. The Officer's Model was my father's and is mainly a backup to everything else, because it's only 100% reliable with hardball.
My revolvers are backup/deep(er) concealment/2AM dog walking guns. If the dog needs a late night run for the squirts, I'll throw on my shoulder holster with the Colt Cobra in it or slip the J-Frame in the pocket of my coat. In deep winter/road trips, a J-Frame in the pocket of my outermost garment, 1911 IWB.
If I'm feeling super lazy, I'll stick the Cobra in an IWB rig and tuck it behind my hip. It conceals stupid easy and is lighter and less of a hassle than the 1911. However, I still prefer to go with the fullsize gun when possible and usually convince myself to do so. About the only time I don't, is if I'm planning to basically be in the house all day.
After 13 years of regular CC, I've tried the following guns in the following order:
1) Ruger P95
2) 1911 (various)
3) Snubs in .38 with both alloy and steel frames (various)
4) Medium-Framed .38s and .357s in 3" and 4" barrel lengths (various)
5) Smith 3rd Gen (3913)
6) Smith M&P9 FS and M&P9 CORE
7) Kahr CW9
8) Beretta 92FS
9) Browning Hi-Power MKIII
10) HK P30 (LEM)
After all that experimentation - I discovered that the 1911 + Snub combination works best for me. Ironically, this is a combination I hit upon in my first 2-years of CC. At the time, I knew it worked really well, but I had a lot of money tied up in 1911s. Being on a tight budget and needing to help pay for my wife's master's degree, I sold the 1911s and thinned the revolver herd and started a 6-7'ish year cycle of trying to find a set of replacements. Fortunately, I ended up with a bigger budget and was able to just go back to what worked in the first place.
Moral of the story - if you find something that works well - don't get rid of it and then spend a while chasing it to find something close, you're unlikely to accomplish that.
1. Wide-body, non-compact, no longer carried, P229: There is nothing “compact” about the P229. It is fully as tall as a P226, if both have their magazines in place. The P229 may actually be just a bit wider, across part of the frame, and maybe across the slide, if I remember correctly. (I do not have a P226, for comparison.) Lopping-off a fraction of an inch of barrel and slide does not produce a “compact,” any more than the stylish 3.5” S&W .357 Magnums, built on what is now called the N-Frame, is realistically more compact than a 4” .357 Magnum. (We now call this the S&W Model 27.) The P229R DAK I carried, as a duty pistol, from 2004, to 2015, was, and remains, quite full-sized.I loved that P229R, but definitely had to dress around it, if I wanted to conceal it, or its non-railed brethren that I also owned.i still have the P229R, but retired it, to to its recoil characteristics when fired with the then-mandated .40 Snap & Whip.
1a. Full-Sized Compact: G17. I reckon that the G34 is full-length, so a G17 is the “full-sized compact” Glock.
2. Compact: G17 or G19x. Yes, I need that long grip frame to bear against the heel of my right hand. Otherwise, muzzle flip will kill* my aging right wrist.
2a. Compact, Left Hand Only: SP101 or G19.
3. Subcompact: SP101, G19 or G26. I train with these lefty-only.
4. Slimline/“Thinline” Pistol: 1911, full-sized, all-steel. Easier for me to conceal than a P229 or a G17/G19x/G19.
5. Pocket: SP101, or, very reluctantly, J-Frame, or, G42.
6. Red Dot Consideration: I am vetting a G45 slide, machined for an Aimpoint ACRO P-1, on my G19x.
From the Thread Title:
7. Nightstand Pistol: No weapons on nightstand. Powerful lights, perhaps, but no firearms.
7a. Strategically-placed, near-the-bed pistols: G17/G19x + Surefire X200b, X300, or X300U.
Finally, there are my revolving pistols, which do not necessarily fit the above categories so neatly, so were not listed, above:
A. GP100, 3” to 6” barrels
B. Ruger Security and Speed Sixes, 2.75” to 6” barrels.
C. S&W Models 64 and pre-10, 2” barrels.
*I do not mean mere pain, but actual, noticeable swelling, with lingering pain, which means new trauma being inflicted. The foundation of the damage occurred in the Eighties, shooting N-Frame .44 and .41 Magnum revolvers with K/L-sized hands. Due to ignorance, I used the “h-grip” to get enough finger on the trigger. If only I could turn-back time, and pre-empt the damage...
Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.
Don’t tread on volcanos!
back to LEM and simplicity for me. P30 during colder months, p30sk during the new mexico summer. Both have the same trigger and sights. Easy to carry and simple to operate. Being a single dad has made me simplify.
Whatever carry gun I had on that day goes on the dresser near my bed with my hand held light. 3 steps past that is my gun safe with loaded 14.5 URG carbine.
When I really got to carrying again, it became apparent that I needed a pistol box near the bed. Not ideal, but with an 8 and 7 year old, kind of necessary. It was an XD9 for a long time because that was what had the best light rail on it. Several months after I traded the XD9SC I had for a PX4 compact, I realized the cheapass WML's I have will fit the rail. So not so long ago it got switched to bedside duty, loaded with the last of some Winchester Defend I had floating around and a spare mag in the lock box with the same.
Full time every day carry piece is the 92 compact with 15 rounds of 147 gr Winchester bonded. I could easily carry my M9, but decided to switch it to full time training/comp duty.
I agree. I have a Glock 26. That's my general-purpose Idiot Medicine. I live in a 10-round Fiefdom, so it holds as much ammunition as anything else. About the only handguns I have with more firepower on tap are the .44Mag (just...no) and the HK USP, and if the difference between 9mm and .45 is going to get me killed, then I'm incompetent and fucking deserve it. Not to mention, there's no way I'm going to carry the USP around the house, but I've taken naps wearing the 26.
It's the same width as fullsize guns, and I don't find the minus-1 finger grip that much of a handicap. I can shoot fast with it, I can shoot far with it. When I'm off at the fishing camp, I can load up my 34's magazines and have plenty of ammunition to deal with the 20-30 minute police response time up there. I'm not a cop, so with apologies to Gramins, if I can't get it done in fifty or sixty rounds, I need to reconsider my life choices.
The only thing it can't do is fit in my pocket. If I can't do it with my 26, I can't do it with any handgun in the fleet.
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