Updated 12.15.2023 with a reflection on two years of carrying. If you’ve been concealed carrying for any amount of time, you probably have a a collection of various holsters in different combinations for lights, guns, belts, sidecar setups, etc… When I saw T.Rex Arms had come up with a new Sidecar setup using a flexible…
One of the most common questions I get is what to do once you have your concealed carry permit. Students who have taken a concealed carry class or friends who have just gotten their permit in the mail inevitably ask: Now what? What are my next steps for Concealed Carry? While different people may have…
Updated December, 2023 Back in October of 2021, I picked up a NeoMag Alias, a low visibility belt clip option for concealed carry. I’d previously switched to carrying appendix a few months prior and needed something to wear with a suit that didn’t obviously show the clips. Carrying strong side on a suit was easy,…
Over the past year, I’ve transitioned to running a red dot on my every day carry gun (an HK VP9) and students will often ask whether its worth it to run a red dot on a pistol. One of the reasons I made the transition to a red dot is that I found it to…
In a previous post, I touched on the topic of weapon mounted lights, how I came around on them, and why I was wrong to avoid them. Keeping in the spirit of areas where I’ve changed, or was dead wrong, I want to talk about my first carry gun. When I first decided I wanted…
A question I often get from students is: “Are night sights worth it?” The answer, as with most gun questions is: it depends. But what does it depend on? It depends on factors that only the user can answer. I’ll try to frame those questions below as a way of helping you decide: are tritium…
Car carry is simultaneously one of the more important elements of concealed carry and one of the toughest to train. Dry fire in a car is hard enough to do, between finding a safe direction to practice your draw, setting up a meaningful target to aim at, and not freaking out your neighbors in the…
When I started carrying, I started like most people, carrying strong side. I had a holster I liked, and generally found the setup worked for me. For over five years, I carried at around 2 O’clock every day. I had heard people talk about appendix carry, but I didn’t think it would work for me,…
When I first started carrying, I prioritized holsters that were comfortable to carry. I carried strong side pseudo-appendix at the time, around 2 o’clock, and I gravitated towards holsters that were more comfortable. I found my perfect holster in Black Arch and the Protos was a my every day wear for three or four years,…
One of the topics I hit on with my students is the importance of actually carrying once you get your concealed carry permit. In the state of Illinois, getting a permit is an expensive proposition, between the $150 fee to the state, the price of the 16 hour training, and any shooting you do to…
