Safety concerns about pocket pistols
I am used to carry a Glock 19. Glock has severl safeties including a trigger safety. This trigger safety gives me a piece of mind in helping to prevent accidental discharges.
I want a pocket 380 such as LCP, TCP, P3-AT (most do not have a manual safety or a trigger safety) or a snubbie.
Can someone explain how safe these are to carry in a pocket holster?
Are the only safety devices usually the DA long trigger pull?
If it helps, think of it as a double-action revolver. It has the same external safety features. In the LCP for example, the hammer is still forward while the round is in the chamber. It doesn't come back until you begin the trigger pull.
Carried in a pocket holster that protects the trigger, you should be able to carry it responsibly.
Agreed. I carried the LCP for a long time, but actually got tired of the long trigger pull. I switched to a Sig P238. I carry it in a pocket holster that covers the trigger and have the manual safety engaged. Since I made the change to a gun with a safety, it's of course important to practice drawing while disengaging the safety.
I have a P3-AT. The trigger pull is so long on it I have no worries while pocket carrying or my normal clip carry. The pull is so long, that while some family was down a cousin thought it was broken because he had not pulled the trigger all the way back. A good pocket holster should take away all your concerns as the trigger will be fully covered and there would be no way for anything to "accidentally" get in and pull the trigger.
I carry a Seecamp that has no external safety. The trigger pull is pretty long and firm.
I carry it in a pocket holster that covers all of the trigger.
My other pocket gun is the Sig P-238. It is single action only so to fire you either have to have one in the chamber safety on, or rack the slide.
The safety is VERY firm and positive, but I still haven't found the pocket holster that covers both the trigger and safety.
Plaxico Burris carried a Glock, gangsta' style, with no holster and shot himself. The trigger safety didn't save him.
I have carried the following in a Mika Pocket Holster:
J-Frame
Glock 26
Kahr PM9
I have not found much to be concerend about, regarding safety, when one uses a pocket holster that covers the trigger and nothing other than the firearm is in the pocket. Also, I would not look at the Trigger safety on a Glock as much of a safety. If your finger, or a tube of Chapstick depresses it, the gun will fire as intended. Because of their inherently long and heavy trigger pull I would look at a Double Action Only Revolver, like the 442/642, if I had safety concerns such as your's.
Before I got into Glocks I had concerns about their lack of an external safety as my previous single and double action autos had them and that little trigger thingy just didn't satisfy my concerns (still doesn't). Once I got my mind around the notion that my revolvers had no external safety, and they were safe, I got relaxed with Glocks. Any holster needs to cover the trigger and, for pocket carry, NEVER put anything else in that pocket. Some guy in Lynchburg, VA shot his leg in a pizza joint last fall, just read a post about a off-duty LEO doing the same while reaching for some change and we all remember Plaxico (though I don't think he had a pocket). Just like a revolver, the pocket guns rely on a long and hard trigger pull as their safety.
I carry a Smith & Wesson 442 in a Desantis Nemesis pocket holster. The 442 revolver has a shrouded hammer so it is DAO (which is my safety) and the pocket holster covers the trigger guard to avoid accidental discharges.
All guns and all manner of carry require you to be carefull. About two weeks ago while carrying my LCP, I reached down and pulled up my pants to make it a little easier to step onto a trailer. When I hiked up my pants I inadvertantly pulled the LCP out of the holster and felt my finger on the trigger. Thanks to the long trigger pull I did not have a ND. Learning occured.
Today while reholstering my 1911 while wearing bibbs, the corner of my bibbs almost got fouled with the trigger. If I had been carrying my Glock it would have been even scarier.
It's not only a long trigger pull, it's a rather hard pull compared to the G19. I've had some soft pocket holsters for the LCP, and feel better about the harder leather ones and those that firmly hold the gun in place. Some of those soft ones are too flimsy for me.
The long, slightly heavy trigger is the safety - same as a revolver.
1. Use a holster that covers the trigger.
2. Carry NOTHING else in the gun pocket.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
You should be just fine.
If you carry a G19, find a good holster and pocket carry a G26, even add a NY1/2 trigger spring. Also lets you put those G19 mags to work as well.
And remember it's not the gun that is safe, it is the user. Regardless of the safeties its keeping that trigger guard empty unless the gun is pointed at something you are ready to destroy.
I carry my LWS 32 in a pocket holster. No issues at all. The trigger is completely covered and removal requires that my index finger push the holster away from my gun when rem.oving it from my pocket
I carry the SIG P238 cocked and locked in an RKBA pocket holster as BUG in confidence.
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