Tiny guns

[deputyG23]

If it's not a CZ P-07 (Which is basically any time I have a belt on outside of my home) I find a J frame has begun to outshine my Ruger LCP Custom.

I still like the little .380, But the accuracy of the revolver means more to me than the two extra shots that I can't do much with past 15 yards from the keychain Ruger.

Plus, the RCS pocket shield gives me more concealment for the smith 638.

I think though, that the real benefit of the J frame is that to me, I can have a gun in my pocket, in my hand and ready for use if I sense trouble is imminent. Can't necessarily have my hand on my holstered gun in all situations, but sometimes a J frame in a jacket pocket is a heck of a comfort in a stressful encounter.

I don't play much with the small .22s, but I've been thinking about the .22 LCP lately

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Agree with the J frame filling a specific role as a strong side pocket gun that can be grasped discreetly without alarming the general public.
I carry a beat up 442-2 as a pocket gun off duty sometimes as a backup to a belt carried Glock or K Smith or usually alone when my back cannot tolerate a belt carried anything.
My LEOSA retirement carry guns will most likely be a 3" K Smith on the belt and the 442 in the pocket even though there are numerous bottom feeding handguns in the safe. The smallest semi auto on hand is a Gen 2.5 Glock 27 that works well as a small belt gun but not so well as a pants pocket gun. Too much weight and too blocky for a reliable draw without shielding the back of the slide with the thumb, which breaks the firing grip for me. It is increasingly nasty to practice with as I get older and less tolerant of recoil.

[Bigguy]

That'd be better than the .9mm guns I read about in mystery novels.....

Or the 45MM one I read about in a book I was reviewing.

[45dotACP]

Piggy backing on Bills post............

Sometimes I think we need an injection of reality. There are a lot of reasons to carry a gun. But, the one we never talk about, perhaps don't want to admit, is that we simply like guns. It's easy to convince ourselves that we need to go throughout our lives armed for a cornucopia of reasons. Yet, the reality is the statistical likelyhood of needing a gun is remote at best. It's like driving an exotic car as your daily driver. It won't get you there any better than your Honda Civic, but it makes you feel good on some level. If we're intellectually honest with ourselves, I think there's something to that with carrying a gun.

I carry a gun because of my personal experiences due to my career choices, but that experience makes me a societal outlier. However, even I realize there are times when it just isn't wise. When I first started the CSO gig we weren't allowed to bring personal weapons on sight. I chose to carry my old BUG in its ankle rig, mainly because I didn't care about it if it was stolen out of the car. Well, there were some problems with that. First, I've never liked leaving a gun in the car. Second, I had trouble keeping track of the thing. I'd become so used to wearing it over twenty five years that I'd often forget I had it on. Several times I'd be walking into the building and have to go back to the car because I'd forgotten to take it off. Finally, on one occasion halfway through the day, I was seated in a chair, looked down and realized I was still carrying it. I then decided to just quit carrying a gun to work. I decided the issues of the gun possibly being stolen and possibly losing my sweet retirement job outweighed the likelihood of needing a gun to and from work. If I worked in an NPE where getting caught with a gun was a cause for immediate termination, if not criminal charges, then the carry juice wouldn't be worth the consequential squeeze.

Happily, a couple of months ago policies were changed and now we can carry POWs on site and secure them there. If I'm honest I'll admit my current choice of EDC is more about the feels than the practicalities. I just like it. We need to weight the pluses and minuses in an objective and realistic light. In the end, it may not be worth carrying a hammer to hit that one in a million nail. This doesn't have much to do with tiny guns, but in true PF thread drift fashion, it might be worth discussing.

I have a pretty solid reason to not carry a gun at my job, so I don't.

The legality is a big one...and the thing flying out of my pocket and attaching itself to an MRI machine is a very real probability. Boy would that be difficult to explain to the bosses. I mostly need to believe on good faith that our armed hospital security has a solid qualification course if it came to the unthinkable. Our hospital has had a shooting in an inpatient unit before, but it was while I was still in middle school.

But yes, for the working hours, I'm usually not armed beyond my smartass mouth, a set of car keys and my rudimentary unarmed skillset.

To me, the pocket gun thing boils down to sheer convenience, and a fairly contrived strategery that I would have my hands in my pockets during an encounter with someone whom I have reasonable belief wishes to kill or maim me.

But I practice a lot with the little 638 just to show off to the average range patron how awesome I am at shooting [emoji41]

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[Stanislaw_Sech]

The smallest pistol I am comfortable pocket carrying is a Beretta Nano. If I need something smaller and lighter I would use a Beretta Pico.

[BehindBlueI's]

Boy would that be difficult to explain to the bosses.

"These aren't my pants" seems a popular option.

In all seriousness, I was one of those folks who said, "If they found out I had it, I needed it." Then I get hit by a car in a crosswalk. I then realized things in my pants may come to everyone's attention despite my best efforts to conceal them. Giggity.

[Beat Trash]

"These aren't my pants" seems a popular option.

In all seriousness, I was one of those folks who said, "If they found out I had it, I needed it." Then I get hit by a car in a crosswalk. I then realized things in my pants may come to everyone's attention despite my best efforts to conceal them. Giggity.

When I was a new officer, I thought the same thing. Until around 1995 or so, I got injured on duty in a car wreck with a .32 Seecamp in my back pocket. Working for an agency where BUG’s were forbidden at the time.

[Hot Sauce]

I have a pretty solid reason to not carry a gun at my job, so I don't.

The legality is a big one...and the thing flying out of my pocket and attaching itself to an MRI machine is a very real probability. Boy would that be difficult to explain to the bosses. I mostly need to believe on good faith that our armed hospital security has a solid qualification course if it came to the unthinkable. Our hospital has had a shooting in an inpatient unit before, but it was while I was still in middle school.

But yes, for the working hours, I'm usually not armed beyond my smartass mouth, a set of car keys and my rudimentary unarmed skillset.

To me, the pocket gun thing boils down to sheer convenience, and a fairly contrived strategery that I would have my hands in my pockets during an encounter with someone whom I have reasonable belief wishes to kill or maim me.

But I practice a lot with the little 638 just to show off to the average range patron how awesome I am at shooting [emoji41]

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Do your workplace policies forbid only guns, or all kinds of SD implements?

[deputyG23]

The smallest pistol I am comfortable pocket carrying is a Beretta Nano. If I need something smaller and lighter I would use a Beretta Pico.

The Pico is the only “tiny” semi-auto I ever even considered giving a try.
If the originally promised 7.65 interchangeable barrel becomes reality, I may very well give one a whirl as a carry option for those rare occasions when even a J Smith airweight might be too large.
I have zero experience with any 7.65/380 pistols, large or small.

[gato naranja]

The smallest pistol I am comfortable pocket carrying is a Beretta Nano. If I need something smaller and lighter I would use a Beretta Pico.

My "Nan-X" (a Nano in an APX carry grip frame) is pretty much as small as I can go in a semiauto and still feel like I have control of the thing (this is with a flush magazine floorplate... I no longer care to use extensions). Some of the smaller alternatives are interesting, but they turn out to be bizarre in feel and/or simply beyond my desire - and occasionally my ability - to deal with. Truly "tiny" pistols have lost a lot of their luster for me as I have begun to age out.

Truth be told, I would be happy enough with a good 640 at this point... though twenty years ago, I'd have ridiculed the very idea.

[Lost River]

I think I am due for some new hockey tape on my pocket blaster.