Outlining some of the problems with carrying and shooting from a pocket. Short of it is don’t expect more than a few shots if you fire from the pocket, especially with an autoloader.
9 thoughts on “Pocket Carry”
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The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Outlining some of the problems with carrying and shooting from a pocket. Short of it is don’t expect more than a few shots if you fire from the pocket, especially with an autoloader.
Comments are closed.
Thanks for the link.
It was an interesting experiment. For all the talk of it, I have yet to find anyone who fired from their pocket either as a test or in an emergency. Till now, anyway.
Now we know what is likely to happen!
Hmmm, I don’t know if there’s any way I could get the right angle for a shot with my PF9 without raising my leg! Not a shot I wish to contemplate…
It’s strange that you post this now, because I was wondering about this two days ago Literally, wondering exactly what would happen if firing a semi-auto from a pocket. Awesome:)
From Carteach0:
“Forming a generalized conclusion from very limited data, it seems that firing an auto from within a pocket is a recipe for trouble.”
As a self-proclaimed expert in bad ideas, I’m going to go ahead and anoint pocket-firing as a really bad one.
Not withstanding the apparent risk of getting an injury known as a “Glockxico” plus powder burns, it would seem like the difficulty of getting an accurate shot would alone outweigh the benefit of getting a shot off.
Good info to have on mind the next time I’m carrying my .380 around town in a spare pair of pants.
Not to mention that fact that the muzzle blast would set your pants on fire if you touched off a .357 round inside your pocket.
Less than a foot away from your toolkit, too.
No thanks.
Obviously it’s not an optimum shooting situation, but as I was walking home a few nights ago, with my hands in my coat pockets, on a dark street upon which there have been several muggings recently, I got to wondering about it. I suppose in some cases, getting off at least one shot quickly might be the only chance one has—say, if someone has a gun pointed at you, taking your hand out of your pocket might not be an option. Purely from a hypothetical standpoint, since I live in NJ and all I carry is a small folding knife.
Pants were used in the testing for a few very good reasons.
1) The blue jeans were a fairly tight fit, with a lining, so simulated a worst case scenario in firing from a pocket. Many jackets would present the same case.
2) They cost $3 at Goodwill (g). Jackets cots $6.50.
I would not and was not suggesting firing from a pants pocket carry. While the danger of fire is very small, there is the danger of shooting very important parts of your own anatomy!
The point of the testing, as I explained in the article, was function. Would a pistol operate properly when fired from a pocket? I found some answers I can agree with.
Is shooting from a pocket a desirable defensive solution? No, it’s not. But I can imagine situations that would demand it, without straining my imagination at all. As I posted…. sometimes a split second is all there is, when even a full second is just too long.
As I commented on your original thread, firing from the pocket was one of the selling points of the Smith Bodyguard and Centennial models.