A company called Skyline Toolworks LLC is manufacturing a neat little gadget that does away with the hassle and bulk of a holster, although there is a time and place for holsters, this inexpensive widget is well worth a test run @ $22.70 after tax, shipping, and dealer preperation.
If your already carrying a concealed weapon, or going to carry a concealed weapon, I find this little device very effective. It's called a Clipdraw and it attaches to virtually any handgun by one means or another.
I use the Clipdraw with my Taurus MillenniumPro P111, and even my Beretta 92 FS. With these guns the Clipdraw attaches to the side of the pistol by using a 3M double sided tape. Now before you freak out and say your not going to trust your $300.00 to $1700.00 pride and joy to a piece of tape, trust me, I have been using this product for almost 2 years in weather that ranges from sub-zero temperatures, to days when the heat index has been 112, and I have never had the tape fail due to heat, cold, or persperation. However there is one thing you have to look out for, and that is when you clean your weapon, some of the solvents will release the tape from your pistol (Gun Scrub will take it right off).
For Glocks and S&W revolvers Skyline Toolworks LLC, makes a "Bolt On" version of the Clipdraw.
One manufacturer (Kel-Tec) makes its own version of the Clipdraw. It attaches to the back of the gun similarly to the way Clipdraw attaches to a Glock pistol (See picture above). I use this product too, with my Kel-Tec P32 and find it works just as well as the Clipdraw.
There is only 1 draw back (No pun intended) that I find with both of these products, the way they are made leaves a semi sharp edge on the clip that if you carry with your gun in the back (Like Mel Gibson did in Lethal Weapon) you will find that a group of small holes will appear at the lower back of your shirt, this of course assumes that you are wearing your Clipdraw under your shirt, like I do. I solved this problem by appling a small amount of epoxy compound on the end where the semi-sharp edge resides and rounding it off, no more holes.
No, I am in no way associated with Skyline Toolworks LLC, or any other manufacturer, However I do highly recommend the products refered to in this blog.
If you are packing heat now, or if you are thinking about carrying a concealed weapon, there are a few things that you might want to consider.
First thing, do it legally, nothing is going to build a more memorable moment than to get stopped by the local constabulary for a moving violation like speeding. and have the officer find your specially tuned, fully loaded 45 caliber, 1911 Colt auto-loader, with pachmayr sights, and custom scrimshaw grips, tucked neatly into your Galco shoulder holster. The judicial system just might take it upon themselves to set you up with a blind date named Buba, down at the local calaboose. Won't that be special.
Besides the weapon choice you'll be making, you need to decide what you will do if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to pull your hog leg out in anger. I don't mean that you should go over a thousand scenarios, practice everyone of them until you have honed your skills to a fine edge. Because if you do that, when the time comes, the one thousandth and one scenario that you haven't practiced, or even thought of will be the one you'll have to deal with on the spur of the moment. What I mean is, you must make yourself mentally ready to defend yourself and or your family if the need arises. Knowing under what circumstances you will unholster your weapon and under what circumstances you will use it. Remember, just because you draw your gun, doesn't mean that you have to fire it. The mere presents of the gun may be all you need, and just because you draw and fire it, doesn't mean that you have to shoot someone. The required effect may be reached by shooting at the ground or some other non-person that is close to the predator in question. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean for you to riddle the neighborhood with bullets, after all one or two well placed shots will likely do the job. You see, most criminals are like bullies, they look to prey on defenceless people, they don't want a fight, they want to get what their after and get away.
Lets look at your choice of weapons. There are many concealable pistols for you to choose from, semi-automatics, revolvers, big guns, small guns, big and small caliber, long barrel, short barrel, the combinations seem endless. The answer is up to you, but if you choose only one gun, it needs to be right for you, and your needs.
Big pistols with big calibers offer more protection in as far as if you hit some punk with a large caliber bullet, it usally only takes one shot. Some of the old timers will tell you, nothing smaller than a 45 cal. will do. The down side is of course its harder to conceal a canon. I can't think of anything more embarrassing then to be walking around the grocery store and have some soccer mom with two kids by her side, start pointing at you and screaming, "He's got a gun", what do you do next, I don't know, its never happened to me, (knock on wood) and I'm going to do my best to make sure it never does. So if you choose to carry a hand canon, be sure your wearing the right attire to hide it.
Small guns are much more versatile, in that they can be hidden in a lot more places, such as in your belt, in your pocket, in a pocket holster, and, well use your imagiation. The down side is that it might take more shots to accomplish your goal, which is to take yourself and or your family out of harms way.
I personally don't want to spend the amount of money it takes to practice with 45 caliber ammunition, practice doesn't make perfect, but it sure helps. So I found the perfect compromise for me. I carry a 9mm Beretta model 92FS (15 in the magizine + one in the tube) for my large frame carry weapon, and a Kel-Tek P32 with extended magizine (10 in the magizine + 1 in the tube), for my small frame concealed carry weapon, which I seem to carry more and more as time goes by (easier to conceal). And when I'm in the mood for something in between I prefer Tauras's 9mm Millinium Pro, but there are a lot of good choices out there.
Now about the bullets themselves, this can get tricky considering the lawsuit crazy country we live in. Right now my 9mm ammo is something fairly new on the market called IQ. This is what is called smart ammo, hence the name IQ. What these bullets do, is they determine the makeup of the object that they hit, within a nanosecond, and if it is solid, they stay in the same configuation they left the barrel of the gun in, but if they strike something softer, (like human flesh) they separate into 2 or 3 pieces that fan out from the point of impact causing serious trauma in several different areas.
Notice I said right now thats what I'm using. I'm seriously considering changing to what some of the local law enforcement agencies use. Why you might ask? The fact that we all seem to be more open for a lawsuit for almost any reason now days, (don't beleive me, ask McDonald's about hot coffee) because there are more and more people out there that want something for nothing, and don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. I don't want to dust off some maggot, and have his (or her) idiot relatives drag me into court and get a huge settlement, because their bottom feeding attorney convinced the jury that the ammunition I was using to drop the moron like 3rd period french, was cruel and unusual punishment and I am the real criminal.
I know that there are a lot of people out there that will disagree with me on one, two, or all of these points, but I look at it this way, an opinion is like an anus, everybody has one and they all smell pretty much the same.
I'll leave you with this, whether their dying of lead poisoning, you have to ventilate'em, fill'em full of wholes, shoot'em, dust'em off, kill them, draw down on them, weigh'em down with lead, or empty your gun in them etc.... Be sure you've chosen the right gun, the right bullets and the best way for you to carry them, and you'll have the teeth to win the fight. You may have to go against your nature and get plain "MAD DOG MEAN", your life may depend on it. And remember, in a fight, if your losing, your not cheating hard enough.
