Roy's Daily Carry Gear
9mm and .380, among other things
In 2016 we ran a “What do we carry?” feature...
In 2016 we ran a “What do we carry?” feature in Handgunner. In looking back, I wasn’t surprised to note my daily carry stuff has changed a bit.
As I said then, with the loons and terrorists out there, I’ve taken to being more seriously armed. Daily carry today means a Kimber Solo in 9mm (pocket, or belt carry in a Purdy Gear holster, shown) and at least one back-up mag in a “Snag Mag” pocket carrier. Now, instead of the NAA Pug .22 Mag. mini-revolver as a back-up I used to carry, I always have a Ruger LCPII in a pocket holster, with additional magazine in a Tauris custom pouch.
Roy’s primary carry guns tend toward 9mm autos, with the .380 as back-up. Modern .380
ammo is very effective so the .380 shouldn’t be ignored any longer. A long gun of your choice
may make sense if you’re on the road and it’s legal for you. Lights and possibly a tourniquet is a good idea too.
People tell you having a reload is a waste of time, as the odds of having to reload are virtually zero. But the odds of having a gun malfunction are good and a spare mag to move to makes sense then. I also tend to have a Streamlight 250 lumen Microstream light, and a SureFire 650 lumen Stiletto — for a bit brawnier beam. But living in the very dark “country” means I tend to use lights often. There’s also some sort of pocket folder clipped to my right pocket, but it tends to vary from test knife to test knife.
If I’m driving anywhere, there’s always a cut-down Winchester Model 94 .30-30 with me, augmented with nine rounds in a butt cuff, six more in a trap in the underside of the buttstock and five rounds loaded in the mag tube. I cut the barrel down to 16.25″ and took 1″ off the butt too. It’s compact and powerful and doesn’t cause the hysteria and hand-wringing people tend towards when a black rifle is seen. I can easily hit an 8″ paper plate with it at 100 yards, and a .30 caliber 150 at about 2,000 fps gets the job done. There’s one at each door at home too for attending to those sometime critter emergencies. Note the Silencio ear plugs. If you have time, and you’re going to a centerfire rifle, put the plugs in. These are like the old “Sonic Ear Valves” so allow some level of normal hearing in, but shut at a shot. Not perfect by any means, but much better than nothing — and you retain your hearing at a critical time.
I learned, during my police career, when you do need a gun, you need it now — and it needs to as potent as possible. A back-up gun makes sense too.
www.surefire.com
www.streamlight.com
www.purdygear.com
www.taurisholsters.com
