Carry Guns

People always ask “what do you carry?”  This is common since as gun people we are all to a greater or lesser extent into gear.  First, a reminder: the gear we carry is vitally important, but your mindset, your tactics, and your skills, are far more important.  Don’t be that person who is a hobbyist and buys all kinds of gear but does not train and does not condition the mindset.  With that said, I will now partake in the EDC ritual and share with you what I currently carry and my thoughts and rationale for these particular items.  I will start off with my carry firearms, which is but one item within the essential tool set that I believe in carrying.

I carry either a Glock 19 or a Glock 26 (very original, I know).  I am generally a fan of full-size or compact double-stack autos.  I also carry a Ruger LCR revolver when I need deep concealment, but most often I carry one of the two autos.  My other recommended autos are the Smith and Wesson M&P line and the Sig Sauer p320 line, for the striker-fired handguns.  All of these handguns are excellent and all have full-size and compact models within the line.  Handguns are entirely personal preference, however, and there are many good ones.  But I do suggest settling on one family of handgun for your carry purposes, if possible.  Most of the big manufacturers produce many size and caliber variables within their lineups, so you can move from big to small gun and still be using essentially the same platform for familiarity.

I always carry at least one spare magazine for my handgun.  The great thing about using the Glock 19 and Glock 26 is that I can carry the same reload for both, as the Glock 26 will take Glock 19 or Glock 17 magazines.  This principle can be applied with the other major handgun platforms as well; if you use the full size model and compact model you can just carry a full size magazine for the reload for either.  For my spare I carry a Magpul 21 round Glock mag and it works great.  It is perfectly reliable, slightly longer than even the G17 mag, of course, but is easy to carry and it is very light since it is only polymer and has no steel liner like the factory mags.

For ammo I use any of the good modern loads for 9mm.  Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, Hornady stuff, whatever.  Use any of the good modern service loads, it matters not beyond that, all that matters is where you place the shot.  My primary deciding factors are point of impact and reliability.

So, there is a rundown of my carry gun choices and the reasoning for my choices.  If you are new to the discipline this advice may help you out, but preference is entirely personal, my main advice is to minimize the amount of weapons that you carry in your “carry rotation.”  Keep it simple, functional, and familiar.