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#1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: October 24, 2010
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 3,318
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Pocket guns by class
Snub 38
Snub 357 Pocket 380 Pocket 9mm Pocket 40/357 Sig Pocket 45 GAP There is no true pocket 45acp yet. Your choice? I'm usually a pocket 9 guy with a lasered Kimber Solo. If I have bulky pockets I might switch to a sp101 or g26. In my back pocket is my Seecamp 32 always for failover. |
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#2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: August 22, 2012
Posts: 1,031
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There were a few articles about the recent pocket gun proliferation brought on by the glut of new gun owners, often inexperienced, wanting a gun to have on their person but not wanting to take the effort to dress appropriately around it.
We've had 25s, 32s, 380s around for decades, but they've never been as popular as now, and gunmakers haven't been churning out entire model lines of compact 380s and 9s as of late. It's often very hard to hit a sweet spot on one of these guns that has good recoil, good accuracy, and a good trigger--while remaining small. The ones that stand out are the P232, baby 1911 Sigs (238, 938) Seecamps, Bobergs, Colt Mustang, Walther PPK/S, and a few others. All of these are tiny enough, but good enough to carry as a reliable and accurate firearm. On the other end of the spectrum you have all the Rugers, Kel-Tecs, Tauruses, and other nasty plastic little guns that have crappy sights, crappy triggers, mean recoil, and iffy reliability and accuracy. The Bodyguard, P290, Nano are somewhere in between size-wise and trigger wise. Some love them, some hate them. Same goes for QC. Baby Glocks are fat. The PPS is great, but on the biggish side. The G36 is almost as big as a G30. The Shield is a good compromise, but all of these are on the larger and no-longer pocket gun category. If you bother to holster one of these, might as well go bigger (unless you're a small person, like my wife, then these tend to be perfect). |
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: December 20, 2009
Posts: 42
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The Rohrbaugh 9mm is also a great pocket carry piece.
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#4 | |
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Join Date: December 20, 2008
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Posts: 2,863
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Winchester 73, the TFL user that won the west |
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#5 |
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Join Date: May 7, 2011
Location: Michigan
Posts: 132
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I am very happy with my LCR in 38. I can fire it all day long with normal 38's and get good accuracy at close range as it's designed for. I have put hundreds of rounds through it with 0 reliability issues. It may not be as accurate and easy to shoot as my S&W 66 but my LCR is always in my pocket, my 66 is generally on my nightstand. During the winter I do carry my 66 in a holster that fits perfectly in my winter jacket's inside breast pocket but I would only OC it any other time.
I also have a "Michigan pistol" mossberg 500. I should get a really big jacket and CC that. If the muzzle is in my pocket it's a pocket gun, right? |
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#6 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: December 20, 2008
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Posts: 2,863
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Quote:
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Winchester 73, the TFL user that won the west |
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#7 | |
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Join Date: October 4, 2007
Location: All the way to NEBRASKA
Posts: 8,722
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Also, our criminal class has never been so well fed as in recent decades...... |
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#8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: December 2, 2007
Location: Missouri
Posts: 8,306
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I have options in three of the classes.
Pocket 380, Ruger LCP, a true "pocet pistol" The gun you can carry when you can't carry a gun! Pocket 9MM, KAHR CM9. Pocket carry in a DeSantis Nemesis, same as Elsie. But also, and more often carried IWB in a Theis holster. Pocket snubbie, and my latest purchase, Ruger LCR 38 Spcl +P. Surprisingly concealible in a DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster. Interestingly, all three of these 100% reliable, and accurate pocketable handguns cost less total than one Rohrbaugh R9 I haven't tried pocket carry with my Springfield XD40 Sub Compact. Seems too wide, and heavy when fully loaded for that type of carry.
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#9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: February 17, 2013
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Posts: 273
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I've pocket-carried a Smith 640 .38 Special daily for over twelve years. If anyone has ever noticed it, nothing has been said. Cops may have spotted it, but probably figured I'm so damn old and crippled up that I need protection. And they are right.
Don't write off the snubby. There are lots of ways to carry one concealed. And I think it was Bill Jordan who said, "If you don't get it done with the first six, six more probably won't help much.
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#10 |
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Join Date: January 7, 2013
Posts: 74
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I really am glad I have a Kahr PM9 and a Desantis Nemesis. It is a perfect combo for the summer in the inside front pocket of cargo shorts.
The outer pocket either empty or with something it it easily takes care of any printing. |
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#11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: July 24, 2005
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 768
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Pocket carrying a Kahr CM40 is a breeze. The PM40 is the same size.
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#12 |
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Join Date: April 12, 2006
Location: NKY
Posts: 12,463
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Pocket gun gets thrown around a lot, but guns the size of a Ruger LCP or smaller are the only guns I consider "pocket size." As a result, the LCP gets carried a lot.
I also own a S&W 637 and a Ruger SP but they are simply too thick to pocket carry and conceal in my opinion. A snub in your pocket pretty much looks like a snub in your pocket.
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#13 |
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Join Date: December 30, 2010
Posts: 1,581
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My pocket .45 is an XDs. Lighter than the 9mm XDs.
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#14 |
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Join Date: August 10, 2002
Posts: 2,108
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Here's one to keep an eye out for......Boberg 45S
http://community.bobergarms.com/phot...context=latest http://community.bobergarms.com/phot...context=latest |
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#15 | |
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Join Date: March 2, 2013
Posts: 132
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#16 | |
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Join Date: January 27, 2013
Posts: 37
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Pocket guns by class
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#17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 9, 2009
Posts: 718
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I agree with krezyhorse, the term pocket gun gets thrown around pretty loosely. The LCP/P3AT size guns are pocket guns. I might carry a hammerless snub 38 in a coat or hoodie pocket and call it a pocket gun. But because it can be fired more easily from inside the pocket. Most of the 9's and 40's mentioned are small, but I wouldn't consider them pocket guns.
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#18 |
Senior Member
Join Date: April 16, 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 1,891
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I LOVE my Kahr P380... it's tiny, lightweight, nice trigger, nice sights, easy to shoot, and most importantly... easy to conceal and carry.
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#19 |
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Join Date: February 11, 2011
Location: Ozarks
Posts: 92
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Code:
A snub in your pocket pretty much looks like a snub in your pocket. |
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#20 | |
Junior member
Join Date: October 4, 2007
Location: All the way to NEBRASKA
Posts: 8,722
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Doubt me? Try this: http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html |
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#21 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 15, 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,566
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The DAO pocket 9's are great guns. It takes a little practice but they can be pretty accurate. I actually can shoot accurately faster with my LC9 than my 642 revolver. First shot is about the same but the follow up is more accurate with the 9. The 642 is a little more comfortable to carry, it's a little lighter.
You will need trigger time with a DAO whether it's a revolver or semi. It'll never be as easy to shoot as a good 1911 or 92FS. |
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#22 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: July 20, 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 10,446
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Quote:
![]() Colt Cobra .38 Special and while it would require a bigger pocket, this one does too ![]() S&W M66-2 .357 Magnum As to the OP, there are a few common categories that were left out. These include .32 Snubs (including .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, and .327 Federal), .22 Snubs (both Long Rifle and Magnum), .44 Snubs (Charter Bulldog, Taurus 445), .22/.25 semi-autos, and .32 semi-autos (9x18 Makarov is close enough to .380 that I suppose we could lump so-chambered guns in with the .380's). I, personally, prefer a .38 or larger snub. Most of the .22-.380 semi-autos offer modest, if any, capacity advantage over a snub revolver and I trust the .38 Special's power, or more specifically bullet weight, more than that of a .380/9x18 or smaller semi-auto. Also, my past experiences with very small semi-autos and my knowledge of physics and the factors that can cause a semi-auto to malfunction make me distrustful of 9mm or larger semi-autos which are small enough to be pocketable. |
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#23 |
Senior Member
Join Date: October 24, 2010
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 3,318
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I tried to leave a few hairs to split.
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#24 | |
Junior member
Join Date: March 14, 2013
Posts: 51
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Quote:
J Frame Smith, Mod. 60, .357 magnum, snubby, in a Galco IWB holster. I don't wear the holster, I stick it in my pocket so that the hardware doesn't wear holes in the pocket. I bobbed the hammer. Fits fine in most any jacket, but this goes in the leather motorcycle jacket, and doesn't look like I'm smuggling potatoes. |
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#25 |
Senior Member
Join Date: February 17, 2013
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Posts: 273
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A concealed-hammer snubby, like any of the Smith Centennial series, in a good pocket holster, is just about impervious to lint and crap in the pocket, won't snag on the draw, can't drop a magazine, won't go out of battery if rammed against an assailant in an extreme close-up encounter...well, I could go on, but all this has been covered to death in lots of threads.
Plus-P .38 Special with decent projectiles has a long record of getting the job done, and I trust it. Yankee Mike Mike Victor.
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"Don't let macho be your epitaph." ---Ed Lovette |
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