BULLET POINTS
CONCEALED CARRY WHILE RIDING By Scott High
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here is a question we get asked from time to time usually by newer permit
holders, so we thought we’d answer it here. What is the best handgun to concealed carry while riding? The answer is we don’t know. I know what I carry, and it’s the best one for me, but the only one that can answer that question is you. The first step in choosing a firearm should be deciding what your realistic budget is, keep in mind you usually get what you pay for. Most shops have layaway or you can save up, but I don’t think personal protection is a good place to pinch pennies. Inexpensive guns tend to suffer from reliability problems, and have fewer accessories like holsters, sights, and extra magazines available. When you have decided your price range you should decide how you are going to carry. In Tennessee, permit holders have the option to open carry, but concealed is my preference. I don’t want to mess up a good ride because I have to explain to the officer that do I have a permit, or have a little old lady veer into me because she’s staring at my evil sidearm. However you decide to carry, a secure holster is a must, watching your shiny new handgun bouncing and sliding down the road because you just stuck it in your waistband or cheap one size fits most holster would not be good or safe. Once you have decided how you are going to carry it and what your budget is you can begin the search. Deciding on a caliber isn’t as important as it used to be, modern ammunition has just about made that question irrelevant. There are really good personal defense rounds available for almost every caliber out there and the differences are getting smaller all the time. You can pore over all of the dimensions, statistics, and photo comparisons you want, but there’s no way to really know how the gun will feel in a holster or in your hand until you actually try it. I like to go to a full service gun shop with a range on site like our page sponsor Tennessee Gun Country. You can rent several different guns and even the same gun in different sizes and calibers and spend some quality time with each one to see which ones you like and can shoot well. Most of the popular handguns from quality manufacturers come in at least 3, sometimes 4 sizes. There are no industry standards that define what a full size, compact, sub compact or micro gun should be but here are some general guidelines. Full size, or duty guns are usually the biggest, and also usually the
easiest to shoot due to the longer sight radius, added mass to help control recoil, and increased magazine capacity, but because of their size they are much harder to conceal. Compacts are usually slightly smaller than full size in every dimension, in fact, most compact guns are just chopped down versions of their full size brothers. Shorter barrels and shorter grips with the smaller magazine capacities but similar in almost every way. Some even share internal parts with the larger versions. They are a little easier to conceal than a full size and they are still very easy to shoot well. Sub compacts in most cases are different guns and not just cut down versions of larger guns. They have smaller magazines and shorter barrels and they are usually much lighter so recoil can start to become a problem depending on the caliber you choose. The subs are very easy to conceal and can be carried almost anywhere on your person you would like. Shooting them well isn’t difficult, but they do have a shorter sight radius which makes distance shooting more of a challenge to do well. The smallest are the micro compacts. These are sometimes referred to as “Pocket Pistols”. There are some really good pocket guns, and no you don’t have to carry them in your pocket but you can. If you have larger hands some of these guns are too small, they have very small magazines, the short barrels make them hard to aim so some don’t even bother with sights and the light weight can make recoil a problem, but the biggest knock I hear against the micro compact guns is magazine capacity. There are countless studies that show most personal defense shootings happen inside of 21 feet and 3 or fewer rounds are fired so magazine capacity doesn’t seem to be as important as some believe. So the short answer to the question “what is the best handgun to concealed carry while riding?” is whatever you are most comfortable with!
The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Thunder Roads® Magazine Owners/Publishers. Any content provided by our authors are of their opinion, and are not intended to malign any religion, ethic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
JUNE 2021 ThunderRoadsTennessee.com
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