Tilted Weaponry: Everyday Readiness

Disclaimer:

This thread applies specifically to the topic of everyday readiness for those of us that carry weapons. I encourage those that arm themselves with their Five Fingers or iPhone or hokey ancient religion to read up.

A few nights ago my boy KirStang and I were talking about concealed carry while wearing a suit. He mentioned the obvious problems of that skinny dress belt (to which I told him many leather companies have solved because plenty of people in suits carry guns). He mentioned that he wants use a pocket pistol because he is tired of carrying a Glock 19 with a TLR-2 flashlight (with a frickin' LASER) on it in, IIRC, an IWB light-bearing holster. I found that incredibly amusing because I never carry a weapon-mounted light on me as a part of concealed carry. I carry the same pistol, a Glock 19, using a similar style holster. I'm almost never in a suit-suit (despite the fact that I dropped a ton of cash on them my last year of college = FAIL), so concealed carry is always done in my usual goofy civilian attire. Kool-Aid t-shirt, jeans, etc. Decided that I don't need a gun with tons of widgets.

Anyway, I got to thinking: what is he preparing for with that setup? Does he really need a pistol with a flashlight and an aiming laser at the ready while he’s sitting at a desk in a suit? What about while he's walking down the street to get lunch? Where is he at, what does he do, who is gonna attack him? How do you gauge enough and too much? It’s a simple combination of assessments: threat, comfort & hassle assessment and profile.

Threat: What am I going to run into? Carjacker? Some dude with an AR-15 going postal at work? Does the package I’m contemplating carrying have the ability to neutralize that threat quickly?
Comfort & Hassle: Will I be able to consistently implement this package without it sucking too badly? If you have an elaborate or cumbersome package in mind, be realistic about your desire to wear it.
Profile: Can I get away with this package in public without it drawing too much attention? Given that open carry of a handgun is for morons, consider the viable holster options for your individual circumstances.

Training makes all the difference. If you were a boy scout, in the military or have two brain cells to smash together, you can see how some dudes on the various gun and EDC forums are complete retards with their huge tactical manpurses and thousands of dollars invested in guns but zero gym time or medical/survival training. If you can't do 50 pushups in a row or run 2 miles without dying, you might want to work on that before you strap on a handgun and pretend to be Clint Eastwood. Same goes for knowing how to use a tourniquet and pressure bandage on someone who has been in an epic car cash, has a gunshot wound, etc.

Training shows you…

- How to figure out what you really need as far as size, quantity, etc. so you can carry smaller items and fewer of them.
- How to figure out how to use what you’ve got in different ways so you can carry less specialized items and more general purpose items.
- How to use things in your environment so you don’t have to carry everything you need to perform X task on you.

Examples of this in action? How I decided on what handgun and knife I'm carrying. It was a super long, super retarded process.

Handguns:

I used to carry a gigantic H&K USP 45 with an extra magazine. Really bad cherry choice. Hell, it was designed as an offensive pistol for guys that can’t/don’t use an assault rifle. For a guy with my build, it was a challenge to conceal. Didn’t matter that I could shoot it like a death ray; I didn’t like carrying it because even when I had it buried, I felt like any type of torso movement was going to "out" me to whatever crowd I was around at the time.

After deciding that the .45 was way too big, I went the opposite way. I started carrying a dinky S&W 37 J-frame .38 Special revolver. Very light and reliable but with less power and range than I wanted. It's a hard gun to get good with and doesn't inspire confidence. I wasn’t super comfortable with how I looked on paper at 7 yards, the low capacity (5 shots) and I didn’t like the awkward reloads with the speedloaders (I’ve tried a variety of techniques but speedloaders will never be magazines).

I now carry the ubiquitous Glock 19. Shooting-type heroes have referred to it as the perfect handgun, the one Jesus Christ himself would carry. Not too big, not too small. Popular with cops, government types and security companies. Inexpensive. Shoots the most common handgun caliber. Holds 15 shots. Everybody and their grandma can figure out how to work it.

Knives:

I used to carry a 4” CRKT Crawford/Kasper folding knife. It's large and heavy enough to use as a hammer. Too much knife for carrying every day, so I stopped carrying it. Now I carry a Bladetech MouseLite folding knife as my general purpose cutting implement and rides in that useless 5th pocket on my jeans. It does everything I need and is a third the size. That and it doesn’t make me look like a serial killer when I use it in public to open those annoying blister packs that everything is sealed in these days. For a "Get off me, bro!" knife, a fixed blade Benchmade 176 SOCP is in Kydex at appendix. Fixed blade knives are more betterer knives for self-defense / weapon retention shenanigans.

Manpurse:

I don't carry one. I'm a pretty no-nonsense dude and thus I don't carry a ton of shit on me. I don't have an Indiana Jones-style manpurse made by Maxpedition. Off-body carry of a handgun is one of the 7 deadly sins and if I really need a tactical diaper bag loaded with road flares and duct tape to make it through my day, I'm in the wrong fucking neighborhood and should probably be wearing my plate carrier and carrying a real weapon instead of a hidden handgun. I carry those knives, a tiny-but-blinding Maratac flashlight and a Glock. I do carry a "second wallet" with keychain flashlights (white, red), small compass, Bic mini lighter, USB flash drive, a few super-sticky band-aids and one of those tiny Leatherman tools with scissors. If I'm ever in a situation where I need more than that, I have my vehicle, my apartment and my parents house loaded down with enough stuff to last for several days as well as reenact the super macho blasting spree from Predator. If whatever I'm dealing with (Canadian invasion, zombie apocalypse, current girlfriend on the rag) prevents me from getting to those three places, I'm probably already fucked. Part of any good survival plan is knowing your limitations. I don't have dead drops in 6 cities. I know that makes me a complacent sheeple to some, but I spend most of time away at work anyway, bitches.

Big Things I've Learned:

- I'm going to use a regular flashlight, duct tape/zip ties and my booboo kit a million times more than my handgun.
- Having a cutting tool puts you a million miles ahead of everybody else in life. I don't go anywhere without one.
- If you're carrying a $1000 handgun and haven't checked the tire pressure of your spare, you're a fucking moron.
- If you're not making room for food and water in each of your kits, you're not considering your real threats.

...

Ambitious Tilted Weaponry Question:​

How has training changed your everyday level of readiness, both mentally and physically? Were you super overboard at first and have since decided that you don't need an extra 9 magazines for your .460 Rowland? Were you the opposite and left unequipped to deal with a problem when it presented itself? How has training and experience changed what you consider "ready?"

 

I first started carry with a 4.25" Commander sized 1911. It was accurate. But heavy. And Low capacity. And during draws from concealment in IDPA matches I'd fuck up the grip safety and not be able to shoot. Training issue? Probably. But I moved away from the 1911 (8+1) towards a 9mm since it was less expensive to train on, and ammunition at the time was actually available.

I tried the P30S, good gun, and I'm very accurate with it, but the extra 0.5" grip length makes the gun uncomfortable to EDC.

Now I carry a Glock 19, sometimes with TLR2, sometimes with out. *MORE IMPORTANTLY* I carry a flashlight, *always.*

Here's my risk assessment: Daytime in law office, risk? Low. Is there a possibility that a disgruntled client may try to bust down the door and kill all my dear paralegals and legal assistants? Yes. We've had violent unhappy clients before. But the chances are low.

Last guy to leave office and walk to the parking garage by myself? Risk assessment, medium. Office is in downtown near the border of the bad parts of town. Occasional miscreants are seen. Here's where the flashlight comes in to play: I can use it when I look underneath my desk for dropped pens/papers/screws/etc. I can use it to highlight my location when crossing the street in the dark. I can also use it to identify any potential threats. It also doubles as a blunt force weapon. In other words, it's pretty fuckin' Utilitarian. I've used my EDC Flashlight (Surefire E2DL) enough times to justify the slight hassle that comes with tucking it in to my pocket.

I also carry a SOG Flash II. Envelopes need cuttin. Recalcitrant beef jerky packages must be dominated with overwhelming sharpness. I use it often. It's also part of my EDC Package.

Glock 19--15rd mag in, with a 17rd on my weak side with belt. 32 rounds. Shit goes south (armed attacker, multiple attackers, breaking contact from a more heavily armed rifle toter, etc.) and I feel comfortable enough with the 19 to properly deploy it so I may see another day. When I look at my mom's S&W .38 snubbie, I can't help but feel undergunned, and that it's only enough gun for a close range confrontation with one, maybe two people. Same with my brother's Walther PPS. The PPS is *much* more comfortable to carry than my G19, but it only holds 6+1 of .40 S&W, and thus does not cover a broad enough swath of contingencies.

I also carry my chapstick. And a Cell phone. And my wallet. And Business cards.

Used to carry a multi-tool. But I'm probably too much of a tool to really justify carrying that. I have deployed it to great success, repairing helmets, staplers, assembling furniture, cutting recalcitrant packaging, etc. But it's the size of a magazine and with all the shit I carry I'm already over the top.

YMMV.

Oh. And if you're going to be serious about carrying a lethal weapon you owe it to yourself to be able to run, jump, and move without serious difficulty. You probably owe it to yourself too to be at least minimally proficient in emergency first aid.

 

Two cool posts.
I don't carry but lots of good info in here to think about.

 

my everyday knife is a winchester something (i traded some dude a really fucked up guitar for it), and my "classmate goes postal and needs holes poked in him" knife is a coldsteel safemaker 1 i believe. i'm eternally grateful that they don't let us carry pistols here but if i could choose one it would probably be the aforementioned glock because it is dumb-proof and it's the one i have the most experience with.

 

Yeah my current EDC setup is glock 19 in a galco IWB holster, spare mag, SOG Aegis folding knife, Preon 2 flashlight, and a small swiss army knife on my keychain.

Some of the changes I have made over the last few years are:
- For about a month I tried lugging around a leatherman charge AL in my pocket with the pocket clip attached. I'm not even really sure why I did it, it was probably due to my weird obsession with always having a saw closeby. Could be a northwest thing because of the trees everywhere. After awhile I realized I never used the leatherman, my little swiss army knife on my keychain with its scissors, bottle opener and screwdrivers got all the jobs done. So I ditched the leatherman and put it in my hiking backpack.

-I bought a imitation kydex raven holster for my glock with the tlr-1 light attached off ebay (it's pretty good quality too). I was going to be cool just like the guys on the magpul handgun videos !!! With this holster I would always have a weapon-mounted light with me !! Then after using it for awhile and thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that if I was going to pull my handgun out from concealment it would likely be because someone was trying to mug or attack me. Given such a scenario, I likely wouldn't take the time to switch on my light since the distance would be so close that the "blinding them" tactic would probably not be useful and additionally target identification wouldn't require a light (the classic "give me your wallet and phone" would be my target identification). So I went back to my galco iwb holster without the light attached.

-My first "carry gun" was the usp compact 9mm. But I got tired of having to screw around with the paddle mag release and the safety/decocker. I liked how the glock was much more simple.

-I really enjoy the SOG Aegis knife and the Preon 2. Both of them are so lightweight and thin that I forget I even have them with me. The flashlight comes in quite handy up here during the fall/winter when the sun starts going down at 4:30pm.

 

i agree. i still dont have a carry permit

 

Concealed carry is near impossible in Canada, so EDC is limited to knives and survival items. Currently I carry a Leatherman Skeletool, which is much more compact multi-tool compared to the rest of the selection. I end up using the knife, pliers, and bottle opener/carabiner nearly everyday. Just the right amount of tool.

However I'm looking to switch to a rescue-type knife like the CRKT M16-13ZER. Does anyone know of any other rescue knives that can be open just as quickly?

 

Candle,

Just about any major folding knife manufacturer's product line will feature "quick open" knives with thumb cutouts, thumb studs, push crossguards, etc. It's all up to your personal preference. I don't like push crossguards myself because they seem prone to uncovering the blade tip in my pants (yowch!) and the textured steel tears the hell out of whatever fabric in comes in contact with, wearing a hole in that area. I prefer cutouts or studs.

 

Pretty easy to obtain concealed weapon permit in PA. S/W 38 all black, pretty!

 

Are you sure three knives are going to be enough? You could easily fit a Leatherman w/pouch on your belt. Maybe a knife on a lanyard around your neck and one strapped to your ankle? You know, in case you need to access a cutting tool from the fetal position or you wake up with your wrists handcuffed to your ankles.

 

Brother!

Well, what isn't pictured is the wakizashi that I carry at 6 o'clock as a backup and for weapon retention situations. Thing makes Mick Dundee's pig sticker look like a toothpick. I've also been known to carry a Vietnam tomahawk in my man purse and some shurikens in my acid wash jean jacket.

As was stated above, I only carry the two smalls knives, as pictured. Giant CRKT rides on my cool guy belt now, even though a folder is a pretty shitty choice for a BFK. I don't feel it necessary to carry a Leatherman Wave on my belt because it's huge, heavy and I've found a smaller tool is almost as good. As such, I carry a tiny Leatherman Squirt in my pocket. It has a knife and scissors as well as those tiny screwdrivers for fixing sunglasses and adjusting the FailOTech. As far as being bound, I carry a handcuff key on my keyring and it isn't too hard to get out of zip ties if you practice.

No, I haven't been laid in years. No, I don't have any friends.

 

No way. The neck is reserved for tethering to my Keltec P3AT. And my ankle's for carrying my ACOG/DOC incase I need to mount it on to my Glock19 for long range shots.

 

I moved to a quiet little town outside the small city I lived in for all most of my life- since this town is the safest and most cop friendly in the county, and since the city made all its cops post their home addresses on the city website, I see two cop cars parked at from my side porch- the rest of the town is pretty much the same, there are cops everywhere, and this is their home- as a result my EDC has shifted to more practical than tactical- Its a midsize swiss army knife instead of a cold steel voyager, and usually at least two lights, plus the car kits that have the usual basic tools, entrenching tool, machete, - really, it shifted from what is on me to whats easily carried in the vehicle. as for a weapon, we have legal car carry for all, and once again in most scenarios I am fairly close to the glove box or trunk- should I feel the need, and if all hell has truly broken loose, I have at my disposal a Draco ak pistol or a masterpiece mac -clone, both of which make great sense pretty much only if all hell breaks loose and one needs a close quarters or vehicle defense weapon... but mostly its a sig p230 in .32 that lives in the glove box, cause I would rather put small holes on target than miss and make big ones in the sky.... currently the wife and I are planning to get our ccw's , and for me I acquired a ruger sr9c, after trying everything else, it just fits my hand better than the glock 19 that everyone, me included , will eventually buy- Beyond that, I also have to admit I love my argentine bhp- its a beauty, and runs great, and with the detective slide its amazingly small.... so I suppose the evolution has been toward what works for me, and fits my hand even when it may not be the caliber or exact weapon that is more expedient....

 

I always have a full ready kit in the truck and carry a nebo redline flash, a talon blade, a kershaw lock blade and the Springfield 3.8 .40sw with extra mag and a firesteel on my person. My bag always has 550 cord, 300 ft of topline static, 300ft of low vis static, harness, carabiners, belays etc, clean water tabs, food bars, first aid supplies, belt saw, extra firesteel, homemade wet tinder, emergency heat blankets and caffeine tabs. There's more in there I just can't remember what all I have. For rope, I'm using BlueWater II 11.6mm. It's a bit heavier but I prefer the larger rope but have considered switching to 9 or 10mm to lighten up a bit.

 

Uh... at the risk of coming off like our boy Walt (aka The Staid 'Stache), I'm a little curious as to why you mentioned all that climbing gear. I mean, I've got rappel rated snaplinks on all my rucks and can do up a Swiss seat given a few minutes to figure which side of my body my ass in on, but I totally don't have coils of dynamic line or figure eights and friggin' Jumars sitting around the house for Armageddon because, well, I can't climb out of a hurricane or a week-long power outage. I spent a few years in Norf Cackalacky... do you know something I don't about the Triangle? Just know that I live to the north and... uh... I've got some SCUBA gear. I'm all for the mobile human thing, but if I can't boot it out there, I probably don't wanna go there during an emergency.

S&R dweebs are obviously a different animal.

On the topic of first aid supplies, it is absolutely essential that one supplement their Wal-Mart booboo box with actual emergency supplies like medical shears, CAT tourniquets, Israeli bandages and compressed gauze. The laughable contents of an average first aid kit (band-aids and Tylenol?) aren't designed to handle the kind of things that kill people. And it beats tearing up that dirty t-shirt.

Anyway, as far as everyday readiness with weapons goes, I'm a little unnerved by the amount of dudes that consider themselves "ready" and don't own a rifle. The ~$500 investment in a basic long gun and good ammo is a wholly indispensable to anybody prepping for a zombie apocalypse. Doesn't have to be anything crazy. A bolt action .308 or lever action .30-30 sporting iron sights with modern ammo is all you're going to ever need until the Cuban paratroopers drop in. Now, I'm not suggesting that you hide it under the dash of your Civic, but, y'know, have one at the house.

...

Yeah, tell that to the guy that is going to make you wish you had it on your belt.

Interesting choices for personal defense firearms.

 

Well, yeah, the climbing gear is probably a bit much for an "every day" readiness kit, but since I'm doing (beginner = expensive bullshit)Sartech training it's there. Add to the fact that we're often at the mountains or other state parks, I like to have the rope and kits if I need it for an emergency or I just want to have a bit of fun. I get your point, and I agree with you, which is why I mentioned in the flashlight thread about getting another pack for lighter, every day use. I guess I can be happy that you didn't pick apart my knives or ccw. I mean, we aren't all total dorks who have the product skus memorized for their gear. Also, don't worry about my first aid kit, it's not the scrape and bite bullshit. It's equipped to handle what's needed beyond tiny band-aids and neosporin

 

Just on an aside here, I think most of us know the whole "bugging out to the woods/forest" thing is generally not a good idea and it's better to stay in your neighborhood with the people you are familiar with in case of an emergency.

That being said one thing that I was thinking about, is if the extremely unlikely event did happen where you really SHOULD bugout, personally I would rather be driving to the coast rather than deep into the woods or mountains.

Of course this assumes that the major roads would be drivable, which they wouldn't be. But let's continue this WROL wet dream anyway...

I basically came to this conclusion when I was thinking about how the native americans in my area lived. Virtually all the tribes lived very close to the sea, or at least close to a major river nearby the sea. The temperature doesn't get as cold by the sea and there's quite a bit more food. When I was a kid and visited some family members who lived in a rural area with beachfront property, I was amazed at how much animal life there was in terms of fish, shelfish, sea birds, small crabs etc. Especially when the tide went out.

Of course I would have to find some secluded area where other people wouldn't be competing for the same seafood, but there are large areas of the Olympic Peninsula that are uninhabited that I have visited. Anyway, it would sure beat freezing to death in 20 degree weather and 10 feet of snow in the Cascades.

If I was really serious about this of course I'd put some fishing poles and clam diggers in the back of my car, but this is purely fantasy. It's 4 am and I had nothing else to do

 

A friend just turned me on to a Nat Geo show called "Doomsday Preppers". Seeing it completely changed up my End of the World game plan. Now I don't have to feel bad about not spending all of my money on a years worth of food and ammunition. Instead, I can invest in steak and bourbon while ghosting a few of the local "prepper" group meetings. It shouldn't be too hard to find out who is squirreling away bulk food and supplies. I see these folks as self-sustaining, self-securing caches that I can harvest at my leisure, should I need to.

As an aside, I really, really want a human skull codpiece.

 

You'll need a cheap pickup with scrap metal welded to it first.

 

with regard to my pdw choices....
The draco and masterpiece are both a case of small and easy to move around, enough so that they beat a rifle even with a folding stock- the mpa has the barrel extension so its easier to shoot well, for me, than a pistol, and holds a lot of rounds, something that may matter some day, and the draco shares mags with the ak and sks D(or m, its not here with me and I dont remember,), and ammo with the sks's, and its a small ting that fires a big rifle round that does not suffer enough from lacking a longer barrel to hurt it, aint full house but better than a pistol round....