My expert opinion on EDC after 5 days of carrying

[BEX]

Just to be clear , I am currently just an expert on how it feels like to carry for 5 days. I claim this expertise because this is for me day 5 of carrying. This is my first time ever of carrying.


I prepared for this in a couple of ways, first in reading, reading and more reading. The bulk of it right here on the forum.

I read through all the old threads I could find on caliber choice and settled on 9mmP.

I read through everything I could find on make and settled on either Glock or CZ.

I read through lots of threads on size and this was quite easy , the biggest that you can conceal, this was for me G19 size.

At this stage I purchased a gun and aplied for the license, a CZ P07

Next I studied carrying position and quickly gravitated to AIWB.

I started reading through threads about holsters and got scared of all the boxes full of unused holsters and decided that I want to learn from the mistakes of others and after lots of reading and lots of youtube videos on the subject I knew it had to be a purpose built all Kydex AIWB. It still took some time to decide on Quantum carry which I Imediately ordered.
I also picked up during all this reading that I should order a good gunbelt and some snapcaps, so I did.

When I recieved my Gun Belt and holster I started wearing them to get used to the holster and work out how to conceal it. i can tell you that an empty holster is not comfortable, without a gun in it it is more pointy.

So we arrive to 6 days ago when I finally collected my licence card.
In the gunshop the salesman told me I would probably need a holster and pointed towards a rack with an assortment of holsters of which I have seen a lot in those "boxes of holsters", so I just pulled up my shirt and after checking it slipped my new handgun into its ready and waiting holster. It felt good, there was no uncomfortable feeling. I got a couple of boxes of range ammo and a box of SD ammo.

I carried the rest of the day, and though the position and weight was fine and it was concealed below a shitr and a jacket it felt that everybody was looking at the gun and at any moment someone would point and say "he has a gun". I have read about this feeling and have tried to prepare myself for it, but you are going to have it. I think carrying the empty holster for a long time helped to trim down the time it took to get used to it, but it still took 3 days before I started to relax. At day 5 now I am not constanly thinking about it any more. No one at work has noticed it and even my wife didnt realise I was carrying untill I told her. To be fair, I had a bad cold and was getting less hugs than usual.

The next thing was one of the biggest hurdles for me, carrying "one up". Holstering a loaded pistol feels like it goes way against 35 years of hunting rifle safety training, so I tried to prepare myself for it mentally by talking to a friend that EDC's , going with him to a range and getting instructions from him on the basics. Even so , the first time loading a round into the chamber, decocking and holstering is something you want to do in a safe place with lost of time so you can do it slowly and THINK about what you are doing.
I first did it with no ammo around, only snap caps, and I can tell you it sometimes feels like you need 2 more hands to hold the mag , catch the round as you practice extracting it to make safe while holding onto the pistol. It feels like you need to put the gun down while loading the round back into the mag etc, you feel dumb. If you have not had any instructions you are going to teach yourself bad habits in no time. I have teached myself how to design , build and fly radio controll planes and helicopters, so I am not a nincompoop, but I would not have tried carrying with zero instruction.

Another notable thing was going to a public toilet. While carrying the empty holster I almost had it drop into the toilet at home once which made me realize that I would have to work out how I would go about my bussiness in a public toilet. My gunbelt has enough length so that I could make another hole close to the tip that I can engage when I sit on the toilet with my pants at my knees, with my gun sitting snugly on my right knee. After finishing bussiness on the toilet I hitch up my pants with right hand holding the holster doing the button , tuck in shirt and tighten belt. I spent some time practicing this beforehand, so when I had to to it the first time with the gun in the holster it went pretty smooth.

Shooting was quite easy for me as I have my own range on the farm and I can shoot any and every day I want to.

First I decided to blast through 50 rounds the first time I went, loading first only 1 round in a mag , then 2 rounds in 2 mags , then 5 rounds, slow fire and lots of mag changes , reholstering frequently and in the end I just had to do a full mag as fast as I could. I did it just to get used to handling the gun, firing, holstering etc. I could relax more while handling the gun at home after this.

After that I started to put up a paper target at the end of each day and fire 5 -10 aimed shots and try to get a good group in the bull. I am reading up on the forum on how to practice and will get around to what SSP and BigT is recomending in other threads on the subject.


So as the self proclaimed expert in the very limited field that I am claiming to be an expert in what do I have that I can teach you?

Only one thing, listen to real experts, people who have real experience and who do real training as their job.

Reading old threads I have seen so many posters arguing the advice given by Big T, SSP etc. Some arguments turn to personal attacks some peter out to nothing , a lot of them get repeated in similar threads or old threads revived and the old argument taken up by newcomers with "new internet knowledge".
If you dig through enough old threads you will find that even the opinions of the real experts may change somewhat over time, but you will also find that theirs are ussually still the best advice for that time period.
Sure , I got a P07 instead of a Glock 19 as per most of the advice, but that was my choice, maybe not the right choice, but I am happy with it and I would not recomend it to anyone.


I am only now starting into this bussness of EDC'ing and have lots to learn, starting with the one thing (that I have realized so far) that I have overlooked in my studies, my spare mag carier. It is not comfortable and I havent figured out how to get it comfortable yet, but it will get there.

[BigT]

Outstanding approach dude.

[John87]

Thank you for your feedback so far. I am also busy preparing myself mentally and psychically for the EDC'ing of my own fa and this info helps a lot.

[mtaute]

[Antonie_Pienaar]

Epic! Thanks for posting. I am exactly in the same boat as you were a few months ago... don't have a farm though where I can shoot freely .

Valuable info given, but all the reading up just makes me want my gun NOW...

I am looking at the Shinobi Katana holster, with Daniels & Quantum carry a very close second.

What belt did you get?

I have been adjusting my thinking a lot lately as if I was carrying a gun, and although it feels stupid at times, I hope that it will pay dividends by the time I get to carry.

Training is a must for me, I am shit scared of creating bad habits that will be near impossible to ditch later on. Will hopefully be able to attend one of the masters' classes as mentioned in your post.

Enjoy the gun!!!

[Kola]

This...

[Steven001]

Great read Thanks for sharing

[Twitch]

Was a great detailed read, and only after 5 days of you carrying. Thanks.
Im also a noob, but i find it easier to slip my holster off my belt with the gun still safely inside before undoing my belt and pants to use the bathroom.

[BEX]

Watch a lot of videos on holsters, I found some videos on youtube where a guy will take his"box of holsters" out and explain for each holster the reason why he is not using it anymore you learn a lot from that. The main lesson being, no matter how tight the budget is, it is always cheaper to buy the right one first time round.

I have been making my own belts for many years as the store bought was never stiff enogh for my liking, I make them from 5mm thick leather as wide as my belt loops allow,
so I though that when the experienced guys say "get a propper gun belt" the advice did not really apply to me, I would be ok.
In the end I had some stuff coming from Jizni anyway and the Army Ant classic was priced at a point where it was similar to my cost of material of my home made belt so I added it and was surprized by the difference in stiffness. So once again, my absolute knowledge was in fact ignorance.

As for getting your mindset right, i used another tool when I first started thinking about getting a handgun. I always carry a pocketknife and used to have a theory that the rate rate at which I lose them was directly proportional to the cost of the knife. I usually lost them in less than 6 months.

So I decided to buy a big "tacticle" pocket knife and treat it like I would a firearm with the objective of seeing if I would be able to get my mindset right to carry a gun. I got a knife intimidating enough that peoples eyes would grow big if they see it. Then I proceeded to carry it for several years, keeping it beside the bed at night , next to the shower while in there , locked away in the safe while traveling oversees and always carrying it when not with no one knowing I have it. Carrying the knife became so much part of me that I was convinced I could get my mindset right to carry a gun. It was an object to focus on, which helped keep me going.

As for the training, I have learned an important thing at work. Farming uses a lot of cutting edge technology these days, so I have a lot of technicians/operators and the rule of thumb is that an technician/ operator will lett equipment deterioratte to his level of understanding and then maintain it at that level believing that it is the highest level atainable.
Training allows you to raise your level of understanding so that you can raise your level of profciency to a higher level than what you could have imagined.

[BEX]

Was a great detailed read, and only after 5 days of you carrying. Thanks.
Im also a noob, but i find it easier to slip my holster off my belt with the gun still safely inside before undoing my belt and pants to use the bathroom.

I tried that, but always ended up wanting to put it down somewhere, i am sure others could give us more ideas on how to handle that situation.