OBSERVATIONS FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR ON “WINTER” AND CONCEALED CARRY

Hi All,
 
Before I get started I want to send a thank you to my trainee and good friend Bill from Big Texas Designs. He and I shared a training session last week and kudos to him for both his high standard of safety and his accepting of the small set of drills and smart practice I offered.

In case you didn’t know it, Bill is the designer of the web site and the “web master” and also my instructor in most things computer. He has a distinct advantage on the practice front and that brings me to the second part of this preface. Bill “posts” all of my notices and rants and practice times. When I slip and say “I posted “ such and such on the site; make no mistake I didn’t post SQUAT! Thank God Bill does it for me and even though most of my trainees know I’m a computer dummy I want to give Bill a huge pat on the back and thanks because the site blows me away every time I go on. I am very proud of it and thanks for Big Texas Designs and Bill’s conscientious maintenance of the web site.

Now…… we have had sort of a WINTER in Texas this year. I hope every one of you have taken advantage of it in helping you learn how to carry a concealed handgun. It’s still cool enough to get some knowledge of the basics of what works for you in concealed carry options. Don’t fool yourselves folks, hot weather is right around the corner, and you’ll have a whole different set of concealed carry criteria shortly.

Here are some of my personal observations about carrying in our winter:

• Cover garments are much easier and more plentiful choices in the weather we’ve had.
• I have carried every type of handgun other than a 6” barreled .44 Magnum and a Thompson Contender during our “winter”.
• I have had no problems other than with long tailed shirts in strong winds, keeping my handguns concealed.
• I did learn that I needed to replace my favorite gun belt (after all it is over 12 years old from Don Hume)
• I replaced it with the same model  and added a 5:11 belt (from Pro Defense store in Webster) in black to better “accessorize” with.
• I found that carrying one spare magazine in a pocket on the off side of my jacket worked but created extra cleaning chores as far as the magazines themselves. Carrying two in a magazine carrier on the belt on the off side, balanced better but was definitely noticeable after long periods of time weight wise for the entire “rig”.
• So far the most easily carried and concealed handguns for me have been (in order of conceal ability and ease of carry) are my Smith & Wesson 2 ½” barrel Model 19 .357 Magnum, six shot revolver in a Don Hume pancakes holster w/ thumb snap, and my Glock Model 22 40 S&W in a JIT Slide from the same company. (1 or 2 HKS speed loaders for the revolver and same count magazines for the semi auto)
• My normally worn Wrangler jeans were the best platform, pants wise. All slacks and 5:11 tactical pants would cause me to adjust at some point, especially if getting in and out of cars a lot. Belts made no difference here.
• Clint Smith is right, the gun should be “COMFORTING”……none of my handguns were comfortable to carry for extended periods of time. The Ladies have distinct comfort advantages with gun purses
• I wore an Army field jacket, wrangler jean jacket, ranch or work coat, sport coat, hooded sweatshirt, and long sleeve shirts of varying types. All concealed the handguns well.
• As it gets warmer, I’ll switch to t-shirts and vests or long sleeve denim shirts or Hawaiian style shirts with Under Armor shirts underneath.
• I’ve lived in Massachusetts and Colorado and now Texas winters, and as far as carrying a concealed handgun in that environment winter wise, there is absolutely no difference that stands out to me. It will always be easier to carry concealed in the Winter months so dress accordingly.

Two more points of interest:

1. I noticed at the latest Gun Shows I mentioned that the supply of “police” trade ins that were at one time abundantly displayed on vendors tables has dwindled and seems to be drying up. I would venture a guess that we WILL see more “trade in” Glocks hit the tables as their new product improved models come on line, but the revolvers and semi autos from all manufacturers were almost non existent on vendors tables.
2. For Ladies, Clint Smith and his wife have a Concealed Carry video for you. Heidi Smith is a fully qualified Instructor in her own right and does a great presentation in this video. I will use it in my training classes from now on and I learned from it. You can get it from FMG video/publications on line and they have it and another new video on Concealed Carry Options in the Thunder Ranch Series of video instruction. I recommend them all and I have and use several of them and plan to acquire more as time goes on.

Some of the DVD's of choice are...

• Concealed Carry for Ladies
• Concealed Carry Options
• Defensive Handgun
• Defensive Firearms
• Defensive Tactics

If you haven’t gotten a chance to look at the offerings on the (new) Sportsman Channel on Comcast channel 131
Tuesday afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00 you should watch and enjoy Guns and Ammo T.V., Handguns, and Personal Defense T.V. Lots of product coverage (new & old) good information and Instruction from , the top of the ladder guys like Clint Smith, Tyger McGee, Mas Ayoob, and others. They replay these shows at varying times and Thursday night has a block from 8:00 on just not the same block as Tuesday. There is a wealth of good info on this schedule of viewing so please take advantage of it especially if you aren’t spending much time practicing or catching up.

PRACTICE SESSION UPDATE:

I WILL BE ATTENDING THE FIREARMS / RANGE PORTION OF 
TCLEOSE / PSB INSTRUCTOR SCHOOL FROM APRIL 19th - 23rd.

I will be at College of the Mainland, practice sessions** on :
April 1, 2010
April 15,2010
**If you hold a CHL you may register for these sessions on the College website (Beginning on Page 15 of PDF Catalog).

Thunder Ranch Training Series available from FMG Publications 800-628-9818

Enjoy……..Eddie