Gun for conceal / carry

carrieo888

Why would you carry? Why do you feel the need?

When seconds count, the police are minutes away.
Better to have and not need, than need and not have.

And you never need a gun, til you need a gun RIGHT NOW. (My hubby also likes to say, "an armed society is a polite society." Perhaps a wee bit too much, but I get his point.

RamTX22

1) Revolver or semi-auto pistol?
2) Caliber?
3) Brands?

I carry a .380 Bersa Thunder, In my opinion I would go with a minimum of .380 caliber, something that you can conceal easily but still packs enough power. I also have a Taurus 709 slim 9mm . as far as revolvers, ive never owned one so im partial to semi-automatics

sdereski

just curious: Why would a person feel the need to carry a concealed weapon? It's such a foreign concept to me. I realize that people will probably be upset by my questioning it but I just do not get it.

Do you fear attack all the time?

Me too! I was thinking...'man, sure a lot of folks on here in law enforcement.'

totally foreign concept to me..

Ledgehanger

I am considering getting a conceal/carry gun (which seems to me to have distinctly different needs than an open carry that I might carry out in the wilderness somewhere). I have not gotten one yet, but there are a couple that are intriguing that I am considering. The points I'm keeping in mind:

- If I can't conceal it easily I won't carry it, and it won't do me any good.
- If I don't shoot it - often - it's liable to not be helpful if it's needed, and could be worse than not having one.
- For any gun in the house, everybody in the house has to know how to use it and actually be semi-proficient - for safety reasons if nothing else. (I have an uncle who was accidentally shot as a kid.) As such, they have to be able to handle it as well - youngest & smallest is 12 year old daughter.
- It has to be both affordable and reliable.
- In Texas there are two "versions" of conceal/carry. If you qualify with a revolver, you can only carry a revolver. If you qualify with a semi-auto, you can carry either a revolver or a semi-auto.

With that said, there are two guns that I'm considering strongly (though I will have to read the rest of this post to see if I should expand my sights). Both of them have single-wide clips, so they hold 7-8 shells. I'm willing to carry an extra clip - and if I can't be done in 14 shots, I'm probably toast anyway. :laugh: Still, if it's important to you to have more shots before you have to reload, neither of these would be your weapon.

The Kel-Tec PF9 is a gun my dad has. I had a chance to go shoot it a few months back, and I found it to be quite accurate and easy to use (within the limitations of its size). It's also very small and easy to conceal carry. It is a 9mm weapon designed as a light, flat conceal carry weapon.

The other one I'm considering is a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield - a fairly new offering from S&W that is also designed as a light, thin conceal carry weapon. It is available as either a 9 mm or .40 weapon. (The 9mm version has both a 7 and 8 round clip, while the .40 has both a 6 and a 7 round clip.) It is a little heavier than the Kel-Tec - 19.0 ounces w/o clip versus the 12.7 for the Kel-Tec. The extra weight comes from a slightly thicker and slightly taller frame - though it has the same length barrel.

FWIW.

brianyeager

Wondering why someone would carry a concealed firearm... Can't speak for anyone else, but I live on the border of US & Mexico (El Paso, TX). The city we border with is Ciudad Juarez. It just happens to be the most violent city in the world. The drug cartels carry AK 47's, M16's, etc.

Thus, a Glock 26 with a red dot sight is my choice.

Jay_Jay_

I open carry a Beretta 92FS 9mm, its definitely not a conceal gun. But i've put about 1500 rounds into it and have only jammed once with a ****ty brand of ammo. Accurate as hell indoors and out. The dream gun i'd like to own one day is a custom carry kimber .45.

Nailrep

This is what I carry, a little Taurus snub nose 38 special. It's light, holds five and packs a punch.

This is essentially like the Lady Rossi .38 I picked up yesterday. Shot it for the first time. Really fun. It's too small for my boyfriend though...

I almost bought that gun, but went with a S&W.

So what changed your mind? I'm just test driving at the moment, haven't actually decided to keep it yet. I need to try it out a bit more, as I only had time to shoot two rounds yesterday which wasn't enough to really determine if it's a keeper. Though it felt great and had a nice smooth action with just the right amount of kick.

It was timimng actually. Nothing at all wrong with the Taurus. The one thing I would mention about these two guns....If you are planning to do alot of target shooting, the gun heats up really fast. By the time I had shot 100 rounds with my S&W, I had a blood blister on my thumb. So for target shooting, I borrow my hubby's gun - it's also a .38 revolver (old police service gun of his fathers) but with a 4" barrell. Didn't have the problem with his gun.

Nailrep

This is what I carry, a little Taurus snub nose 38 special. It's light, holds five and packs a punch.

This is essentially like the Lady Rossi .38 I picked up yesterday. Shot it for the first time. Really fun. It's too small for my boyfriend though...

TIMING...Geez!

I almost bought that gun, but went with a S&W.

So what changed your mind? I'm just test driving at the moment, haven't actually decided to keep it yet. I need to try it out a bit more, as I only had time to shoot two rounds yesterday which wasn't enough to really determine if it's a keeper. Though it felt great and had a nice smooth action with just the right amount of kick.

It was timimng actually. Nothing at all wrong with the Taurus. The one thing I would mention about these two guns....If you are planning to do alot of target shooting, the gun heats up really fast. By the time I had shot 100 rounds with my S&W, I had a blood blister on my thumb. So for target shooting, I borrow my hubby's gun - it's also a .38 revolver (old police service gun of his fathers) but with a 4" barrell. Didn't have the problem with his gun.

MassiveDelta

bump for research...Looking to get a CC permit and weapon soon

MissB0949

Bump for later

FrenchMob

You 'mericans are lucky to even have the choice to CC. Up here in ultra-liberal hell called Canada, I practically have to beg to simply own a gun, and having to transport it to a gun range is another bend-over session.

I recently got a S&W M&P9 and love it. Also have an older .22 revolver, but that's more of a nostalgia piece.

MassiveDelta

You 'mericans are lucky to even have the choice to CC. Up here in ultra-liberal hell called Canada, I practically have to beg to simply own a gun, and having to transport it to a gun range is another bend-over session.

I recently got a S&W M&P9 and love it. Also have an older .22 revolver, but that's more of a nostalgia piece.

Oh Ray its not easy to get a CC permit everywhere. Iowa just changed there law to "Shall issue" Rather that "May issue" So they must issue a CC permit unless they have a damn good reason not to. I should have done it a long time ago but have put it off I better get it done before the new legislative session

carinnaj

I have a Kel-Tec P3AT (.380) ... don't know much about guns but I like it, it was what my uncle recommended and he knew all about guns... fwiw

would recommend for a woman, for concealed carry, anyway. It fits in my jeans pocket and not noticeable at all, even in pretty tight jeans when I was 142 lbs. I don't find it hard to shoot.

ESVABelle

Springfield XD40 Subcompact. I have the extended mag, but then it's not as comfortable in my hand. Where I used to work, I was trained by firearms specialists. Where I live now...I'm glad to have a gun just for peace of mind. There was a shooting in front of my house a few months ago. If someone is going to shoot at me, I'm gonna shoot back.

SueGremlin

Thanks to those who took the time to explain. It is something I will never truly understand, my mind is in a completely different universe. If that makes me an "ultra liberal" then so be it. It is so far from my thing.

It seems really nuts to me. But whatever makes you safe. As long as it doesn't affect me I don't care what you carry.

livinginwoods

My husband seems to sell a lot of Glocks for CC. Not sure what I want yet. I keep changing my mind when he gets new guns in but I saw a bra holster recently where a small gun can fit into my cleavage...I like that.

harristim88

yeah a .22 round would hurt a normal aggressor or even stop if hit in the face or other critical areas. BUT people under the influence of an extreme amphetamine/stimulant or a Hallucinogen being hit in the chest or face sometimes would have little to no effect of stopping an attacker. from working in law enforcement as part of a direct drug based type of group i have seen first hand the crazy things that happen when someone is on the above substances. exp pcp. meth. and most recently bath salts.

their was an incident here where two men got into an altercation one of the men was high on pcp and other stimulants he picked up a snow shovel and struck the other man with it when he did the other man pulled a .22 revolver and got two rounds off one striking the attacker in the chin busting it and sending frags just about everywhere from the roof of his mouth and bits on bone and teeth threw and out his cheek and the other hit him in the collar bone it did little to stop him he kept beating the other man a transit police officer showed up after telling the man to drop the weapon he did not and was shot in the back with a 9mm round and the guy barely stoped his attack the officer then fired one more shot killing the man,

i also seen a training video of a man that picked a kid up and started walking into a pond with him the police told him to drop the child he didnt the man was shot in the leg and just like the above didnt stop and was actually shot again after releasing the child for trying to get a weapon from his car. it was later found out that he was high on lsd

crisanderson27

bump...lots of good info in here

crisanderson27

You 'mericans are lucky to even have the choice to CC. Up here in ultra-liberal hell called Canada, I practically have to beg to simply own a gun, and having to transport it to a gun range is another bend-over session.

I recently got a S&W M&P9 and love it. Also have an older .22 revolver, but that's more of a nostalgia piece.

Oh Ray its not easy to get a CC permit everywhere. Iowa just changed there law to "Shall issue" Rather that "May issue" So they must issue a CC permit unless they have a damn good reason not to. I should have done it a long time ago but have put it off I better get it done before the new legislative session

I live in Arizona.

Buy gun, CC.

Its that easy.

ejohndrow

there was an incident here where two men got into an altercation one of the men was high on pcp and other stimulants he picked up a snow shovel and struck the other man with it when he did the other man pulled a .22 revolver and got two rounds off one striking the attacker in the chin busting it and sending frags just about everywhere from the roof of his mouth and bits on bone and teeth threw and out his cheek and the other hit him in the collar bone it did little to stop him he kept beating the other man a transit police officer showed up after telling the man to drop the weapon he did not and was shot in the back with a 9mm round and the guy barely stoped his attack the officer then fired one more shot killing the man,

They showed us something similar to this in A school after going through the NLW/ OC Course, weapons week. Etc. It's always good to be aware of any possible outcome-especially with these crazy bath salts episodes happening lately.