A couple people had expressed interest in this topic, and I have a bit of extra time for a couple days, so here goes:
Bona fides: I am a former infantry NCO and sniper, hunter, competitive shooter, reloader, hobby gunsmith, sometimes firearms trainer and currently work in a gun shop, mostly on the paperwork/compliance side. Back in the day, was a qualified expert with every standard small arm in the US inventory circa 2003 (M2, 4, 9, 16, 19, 249, 240B, 21, 24, 82 etc.), and today hang around the 75th percentile of USPSA classifications. I've shot Cap-and-Ball, Trap and Sporting Clays badly; Bullseye and PRS somewhat better and IDPA/USPSA/UML/Two-gun with some local success. Been active in the 2A community since the mid-90s, got my first instructor cert in high school, and have held a CPL for almost twenty years now.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in every aspect of firearms, there's huge areas that escape my knowledge base, but if you've got questions I'll do my best to answer.
Technical questions
Gun control proposals for feasibility
Industry
Training
Wacky opinions
General geekery
Some competition links (not my own) just for the interested.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhsWamaLY&t=173
https://youtube.com/watch?v=93nEEINflXE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=utcky0zq10E
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
General holster advice would be awesome too, especially since he mentioned pocket carry earlier.
Hmm, this is hard because holsters are probably the least objective aspect of carry. General advice:
A decent holster costs ~$65 MSRP minimum*. Many cost $100-150. Some people can find a good deal, or a cheaper one that works for them, but for most people and most guns, that's the current price range for "reasonable quality". That said, just because a holster costs that doesn't mean it's good. Holster making is very low barrier to entry for people interested in guns, so there's a lot of companies out there and a lot of shoddy products, often with premium pricetags. I try to stick to companies with relatively long histories, over ten years at least. My personal loadout is Ravin Concealment for CCW, Safariland for duty rigs, and Red Hill Tactical for competition.
Avoid anything that says "Blackhawk" on it. SERPAS are the devil, and you need to not use them. I'll fly the partisan flag on this one, SERPA fanboys. Those things are dangerous. Cheap SERPA knockoffs are worse.
Don't be surprised if you have to try a few different holsters to find one that works for you. I went through probably six for CCW before landing on Ravin. It's often a waste of money, but there's just no substitute for actually wearing a thing every day to find out.
*Not pocket holsters, those are like twenty bucks.
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