The old "sock in the pants" trick

[Stulanger]

I've been researching ways of carrying my big honkin' Ruger around with me for CC. I came upon this video and thought it was pretty cool. I tried it out at home and it actually worked pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAuNSw8cFGo

[hunter63]

aaaaaah, I don't know......Looks like a tad close to the "boys".....
Good luck.

[Stulanger]

Ha ha! I'm not gonna lie that did cross my mind as well. I knew a guy in high school who shot himself in the wang stuffing a bb gun into his pants. Makes me cringe to think about it.

[Rick]

I would never, ever, not even once, put a loaded weapon down the front of my pants. Not ever! I could lose a butt cheek or even a thigh and not be too bad off. I could stand to lose some weight. But that whole quick draw thingy from the front caused me to pass out. I actually hyper ventilated, squeaked like a mouse and had a short burst of dry heaves before I hit the floor.

[hunter63]

Can't get this one out of my head....
Caution: Bad language.

[canid]

In seriousness though; I'm not a fan of any front IWB carry that leaves the muzzle ever at all near either femoral artery. Empty chamber is fine enough by me, unless the empty chamber is only to permit front carry in the first place.

[kyratshooter]

Back in the 1980s some folks started carrying their competition guns farther forward than the normal appendix carry position and we started referring to it as the "castration carry" position.

With a double action only automatic or one with multiple safety devices you can get away with more "strange" carry positions, but with a Clock or any of the other striker fired single action autos one should really have a holster of solid construction that covers the trigger guard.

I often carry using my belt with no holster, but not with the striker fired single action autos. Too Many "shirt tail discharges" with the single action, striker fired guns for me to be comfortable using those without a holster.

It really beats me how some folks will not carry a 1911 cocked and locked with two safeties between themselves and discharge and will carry a Clock or M&P which has no safety at all.

[TheWaywardOne]

It really beats me how some folks will not carry a 1911 cocked and locked with two safeties between themselves and discharge and will carry a Clock or M&P which has no safety at all.

I have an M&P, you can bet I wouldn't dare carry in in the front of my pants. In that regard I wouldn't put it down my pants at all. I use a paddle holster, and even then when I was getting used to the holster when it was new I nearly had an accident. Finger was off trigger but finger tip caught on the edge of the kydex and bent my finger in against the trigger as I was holstering. I felt it and stopped before anything discharged, but it made me realize how quickly an accident could have happened. Maybe I'll try the sock carry with one of my hunting revolvers. The barrels on them are long enough to bypass everything important, might just take a little skin off the thigh on the other side.

[kyratshooter]

Or hit the femoral artery, or shatter your thigh bone, or peel your kneecap off like popping a lifesaver out of the pack....

Need I go on?

There is no preferable way to get shot!

[crashdive123]

There is no preferable way to get shot!

By a jealous boyfriend of the 22 year old girlfriend when somebody is 96?

[canid]

Even then I'd prefer a hearty handshake and a 'go ahead, if it still works at your age you've earned it, sir'.

[Stulanger]

My Ruger has multiple safeties (thumb and trigger) and is DAO. I don't see what the harm would be in carrying in this fashion as long as you didn't keep one in the chamber which I normally wouldn't do while carrying on my person even in an OWB holster for safety reasons. The chances of an accidental discharge of a DAO pistol with multiple safeties on and an empty chamber would be impossibly slim. Still it's probably better safe than sorry. Getting into the habit of stuffing a gun down the front of your britches might be bad habit to get into. A good solid holster seems like the best all around option. This makes the think though.... The only time I have a round chambered in my gun is when I'm driving through a bad area of town and the gun is in my glove compartment. I'm curious as to how many of you all carry with one in the chamber. Do you think it's safe to do so? *not being sarcastic here* I mean if you're going to have to use your weapon it would take longer to flip off the safety and chamber a round and under stress you run the risk of flubbing the safety and/or short stroking the slide so is it better to carry with one in the pipe? All the years that I've owned guns (until fairly recently) I've never really thought much about having the need to use one to defend my life outside the home but just last night a guy was carjacked in town in the same shopping center where I'm going to take my concealed carry class. So I have to ask myself what would I do in such a situation? Fortunately they didn't hurt the guy but they forced him to drive out into the country and robbed him. It could have just as easily ended up with the carjacking victim being murdered. So would I have time to reach under my coat, flip off the safety, draw, chamber a round and make the decision weather or not to fire before these a**holes got the drop on me? I'm sure that this will be brought up in the concealed carry class but I'm curious what you all think.

[Stulanger]

[QUOTE=hunter63;473625]Can't get this one out of my head....
Caution: Bad language.


Me too Hunter. Especially since that guy was using my main carry holster the Serpa. One thing you have to watch for with the Serpa is the little button you have to push to release your firearm is made in such a way that if you're not careful to keep your finger straight while drawing you could end up drawing with your finger positioned on the trigger. That's what happened to this guy.

[kyratshooter]

If you are carrying on an empty chamber why do you need buttons on the holster, finger outside the trigger guard, multiple safeties on the gun or a holster at all?

And do not get too geared up for the CCW class. It is not combat training. It is a half day class on the legal structure and responsibilities of the State of KY with a half hour teaching you the difference between the muzzle and the grip.

Some of the people in the class will be new gun purchasers who picked up their first pistol the day before the class. Some will not know how to load their weapons. There is also always some guy with a Les Bauer 45 who can not understand why a $4k gun is stovepiping.

After lunch you walk out onto the range and fire 12 rounds. You are not allowed to draw and fire. You start with the gun in your hand and fire 12 rounds at a target 12 yards down range. Shooting is not timed. You do not have to use your CCW firearm for qualification. I shot my 12 rounds out of a Ruger .22 Standard which got passed around to several people due to their high quality firearms failing to get them through a 12 shot string.

Make sure you carry a pistol with 3 dot sights, white, red or fiber optic front sight since they normally use the FBI style target which is black and does not give good definition to blue or black sights. Without contrast our sights simply disappear into the target mass.

You will be amazed!

There were 35 people in my class and almost all of them had high quality weapons. There were only 4 firearms out of the group that fired a clean 12 round string without a malfunction. The before mentioned Ruger .22, a 9mm Browning HiPower and two S&W revolvers. It became so retinue that we were taking bets on how many shots each brand was good for. if I remember correctly every woman in the class gave up on their own assorted pistols and shot their course with the Ruger .22.

I attribute most of that to inexperience, limp wristing and lack lubrication. However, it did reinforce my opinion that first time pistol buyers should be steered to revolvers just due to the reliability factor and simplicity in unskilled hands. There were a couple of women that did not have enough hand/wrist strength to operate the slide on the whiz bang autopistol they husband had insisted they carry.

[Stulanger]

"If you are carrying on an empty chamber why do you need buttons on the holster, finger outside the trigger guard, multiple safeties on the gun or a holster at all?"

Krat. I have a great deal of respect for firearms and tend to believe that there is no such thing as being too safe when it comes to handling a gun. I learned that lesson the hard way as a youngster (must have been about seven y/o) when I picked up my grandfather's old .22 snubbie and accidentally fired a shot inside the house. I thought that it was unloaded but it was loaded with shot and I peppered the bathroom wall. I got my *** chewed and my hide tanned good for that one (rightly so). That experience left a lasting impression on me and it took me few years to be able to handle a handgun without getting all nervous. The way I got past it was getting into the habit of carrying my first handgun, an old Taurus 94 .22, loaded with the hammer on an empty chamber so when I got my first auto I guess it just felt safer to carry it without one in the chamber. I don't mind having redundant safety features on my guns and holsters because I've always thought you can't be too careful when handling a gun. On the other hand I can see now that maybe you can be too careful if you have to take a half a minute to deploy your weapon in a self-defense scenario. But, like I said, until recently I've never given much thought to having to carry a gun around on me all the time for self defense.

Thanks for the heads up on the CCW class. I'm sure my Ruger will perform very well. I've put a bunch of different brands of ammo through it and I haven't had a single malfunction. I still need to drift the rear sight as it's shooting a little bit to the right but other than that it's been a fine weapon. Revolvers are great and I've considered getting one as a carry piece for just those reasons.