New Member & New CO Permit Holder

[HighAltitude45]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to give myself a quick introduction. I am new to the USA Carry forums and I am also a new 1st time CCW permit holder. Because of this I may be asking a lot of questions here at the beginning of my time on these forums. I know as a first time permit holder I have a lot to learn about the CCW lifestyle and laws (more of the smaller laws not typically covered in CCW basic classes). My permit is issued from the state of Colorado. I am currently Carrying a Springfield XD Mod 2 Subcompact 45 ACP with an Aliengear IWB holster.

With all of that said and out of the way, I would like to ask all of the veteran CCW holders for any advice you can give me as a first time permit holder. What do you wish you knew when you first started carrying? What tricks have you learned while carrying? How do you carry (one in the chamber or not, IWB/OWB, etc)? Or is there something else I may not have thought of?

I am striving to be the safest, most well prepared, and responsible CCW Permit holder I can possibly be: and I know that means being a lifelong student of this new lifestyle. Thank you in advance for any and all advice you can give me to achieve this goal!

 

[BluesStringer]

....I would like to ask all of the veteran CCW holders for any advice you can give me as a first time permit holder. What do you wish you knew when you first started carrying?

I wish I knew how little attention is paid by most of the public to printing etc. I carried concealed for most of the 37 years after turning 21 (in WA State and AL mostly, with a short stint in CO too). In the early years, I thought everybody was going to be able to tell I was carrying. I got made one time at Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is located), but I dressed kind of carelessly with a jean cut-off vest that my arms were too skinny to fill up the arm-holes in, and someone caught a glimpse of either my shoulder holster or the grip of the gun that was in it. Long, drawn-out story about how the cops handled the report, but suffice it to say, I won. LOL

What tricks have you learned while carrying?

Have a good holster and a dedicated gun belt to carry/distribute the weight. Highly recommend the gun belt include the Loop part of a Hook 'n Loop (Velcro) strip sewn into the inside waistband of the belt. Whether or not you know at this point how you might use such a contraption, you will likely wish you had ordered your gun belt with it installed somewhere down the line, especially if you continue to carry IWB.

How do you carry (one in the chamber or not, IWB/OWB, etc)?

Always one in the chamber, absolutely. I started open carrying a couple or three years ago, so always use one of several OWB holsters that I own. I still conceal occasionally depending on where I'm headed, but I still use OWB holsters even then. IWB holsters really exacerbate my sciatica, and OWB holsters are typically faster to draw from anyway. To me or my wife, an OWB holster always prints very noticeably, but other than that one time in Seattle Center when I wasn't even wearing a belt holster of any type, no one has ever said a word to me about what that bulge is under my shirt, and only one person has ever said anything to me about my weapon while I was OC'ing. People are mostly sleep-walkers who pay attention only to things necessary to get from point A to point B without hurting themselves, and even that's only some of them. Take care of your own comfort and ability to get to your weapon should you need it, and don't worry about which method of carry hides the weapon "best" all that much.

Or is there something else I may not have thought of?

Since you didn't mention your level of expertise with guns in general, or level of defensive handgun training, if any, that you've acquired, the #1 piece of advice from this "veteran CCW holder" would be to seek the best shooting academy in your area that you can afford and take as many levels (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) of classes as you can squeeze into your (hopefully) busy and exciting life, with hours and hours and hundreds of rounds of practicing what you learned in between each level, and then refresher courses every couple of years (at least) after you've completed all levels. Very few people will ever take that advice the way it is stated. You probably won't either, but the point is, train and practice to the furthest extent you can afford and/or stand. There's no such thing as too much training or too much practice, and the more you get, the more responsible and prepared you'll be when called upon to clear leather (or Kydex or whatever) in a defensive gun battle to save your own, or someone else's, life. Just like the gun itself, hopefully you'll never have to use it, but it's better to have and not need it than need it and not have it.

Good luck!

Blues

 

[bofh]

Welcome to the forum. I second all of Blues' comments.

Get some training. There are a lot of unknown unknowns for you as a new handgun carrier and permit holder. This is a quote from a recent post in a related thread that bears repeating:

Shooting groups at the range is target shooting and only very little translates into self defense applications. Target shooting is good for practicing sight picture/alignment and trigger control, essential components of all shooting sports. However, there is much more to using a handgun in self defense. Can an untrained person successfully defend himself/herself? Sure. However, the success rate drastically increases with some training. Get some training.

Many self defensive shootings are at close range, such as 5-7 yards, some are at breath distance (1 yard and less), and some are at further distances (10-30 yards). Learning when to draw your firearm without landing in jail afterwards and how to draw your firearm without shooting yourself or getting shot by the threat are essential components of any defensive handgun training class. Point shooting at breath distance and properly lining up your sights at any other distance is another component. Shooting at a moving threat while moving toward cover, toward or away from the threat, or just to make it harder for the threat to shoot you is another component. Proper reloading and malfunction clearance is yet another component. Drawing your firearm from various positions, including while sitting in the car, is yet another component. One-handed shooting and firearm manipulation would be yet another.

Most of these skills can be learned in a 1-2 full-day defensive handgun class with a good school. These skills should be frequently practiced afterwards. None of these skills depend on the make and model of your firearm, other than a few differences in operating controls (e.g., manual safety vs. no manual safety), action type (e.g., single action vs. double action), and handgun type (revolver vs. semi-auto).

..., in a self defense situation, you should be shooting while moving toward cover or toward/away from the threat, potentially not shooting at all and just running toward cover, shooting from behind cover, or shooting from the kneeling or prone position when pinned down. This is all situation dependent. You definitely should not just stand there in your Weaver or Isosceles range stance and slowly shoot at the threat. That will likely get you killed. M.O.V.E = Motionless Operators Ventilate Easily.

 

[bofh]

Note that there are a lot of good YouTube channels that offer very valuable information. While these videos tell you the what and how, they do not give you feedback on what you are doing wrong and on how you can improve. Only hands-on training classes will do that. Also note that while there are slightly different schools of thought at each firearms training school, there are a lot of outright myths perpetuated on the Internet by self-proclaimed firearms experts with YouTube channels. A few good YouTube channels:

Tactical Response
Reid Henrichs
USCCA
SIG SAUER Academy
Gunsite Academy

Also, always train and practice with your everyday carry setup. Train and practice with the same gear that you are planning to use while not at the range.