EDC tips:
1. Carry the same gun every day. No “carry rotation.”
2. Carry the biggest gun you can, consistent with your clothing and any other factors.
3. You can almost always carry a bigger gun than you think you can.
4. Pick a carry gun and dress to accommodate it, rather than accommodating the gun to your existing mode of dress.
5. If you carry a semi, make it a 9mm. 40 and 45 have more recoil and less capacity and don’t do anything different to the bad guy than 9mm does. Same rule for revolvers: carry .38 spl.
6. This goes double if you carry a compact. G30 and Shield in .45 are too much. Compact 10mm is ludicrous. .357 in j-frame is way over the top.
7. Cheap holsters flop around, can lose the gun, and can cause bigger problems. Throw Uncle Mike in the trash and get Desantis, Galco, etc. Avoid cheap gunshow kydex and get Neptune or similar.
8. Shoot your carry gun.
9. Whether you shoot it or not, every six weeks, strip, wipe out and oil. Halve this interval if your EDC is a 1911.
10. 1911s need to run wet. Light grease is OK on 1911 rails and locking lugs. Something like Pro-Gold; avoid heavy wheel bearing grease. Before you shoot it, wipe grease out and replace with oil. Or split the difference and use 90 wt synthetic gear oil.
11. Use only OEM magazines on pistols. Exception is Mec-Gar on Hi Power, Berretta.
12. But if you carry 1911, throw away the mag that came with the gun and try Ed Brown, Wilson, Tripp, etc.
14. Test a new or new-to-you EDC gun 500 rounds, along with the EDC magazines. Do it all in one setting, get it good and hot and dusty. Double this if you carry a 1911.
15. Do what the lawmen do: test your EDC magazines, then set them aside for carry. Use range beaters at the range.
16. When practicing, don’t load full mags and just shoot. Grab half a dozen range beaters, load a few rounds. Practice mag changes. Punch ‘em out and let ‘em drop and slam a new one in.
17. The thing on the side of the gun is a slide stop, not a slide release. Reload by reaching overhand and racking the slide. This is a surer method and will work with any gun. Competitors like the slide stop because it saves them a fraction of a second. You want certainty.
18. Play CQB airsoft. This is a humbling experience and will teach you how much you don’t know, and how easy it is to get killed.
19. If you have to think about the gun when you’re shooting, you’re not ready to save your life.
20. If you must carry a revolver, carry three, for New York reloads. Reloading with speed strips or speed loaders is impossible in a short range firefight.
21. Always carry a spare magazine. Two if you’re running single stack.
22. Put a long gun in your car. It’s good for set piece situations like a flat tire on a remote road. But know that in the city, things happen fast; you’ll be fighting with what you have on you.
23. Don’t stick your EDC in center console, glove box, under the seat. If you get separated from your car, you’re out of luck. See 1986 Miami FBI shootout.
24. Sitting in your car: Gun under jacket, seat belt on, it takes forever to get your gun out. If you’re suddenly accosted, game’s over before it starts. Rig a dedicated car gun so you can deploy it in one second.
25. Bullets are bullets. I carry Q4318 NATO. A bullet either hits a vital spot and penetrates, or it doesn’t. Don’t waste money on the expensive stuff. Absolutely avoid the new generation of trick bullets.
26. Small semis like Shield and P365 like warmer ammo to ensure functioning. Three inch 1911s can be finicky, too. Test.
27. Shoulder holsters look badass in movies. On the street they’re bulky, hot and uncomfortable.
28. Inside waistband appendix carry, if something goes wrong, will cost you your gonads. Or your life, if the femoral artery is struck. You’ll have one minute to contemplate your choice of holsters. No one can save you.
29. Don’t put stickers on your car that say “Terrorist Hunting Permit” or “Protected by Smith & Wesson.” This tips people off you’re armed, and is bait for car burglars. Don’t wear hats and t-shirts that say “Second Amendment Citizen” or “Cold Dead Fingers.” Crooks will know you’re armed. And this stuff might not look good if you have to use your gun.
30. Open carry is idiocy on several levels.
31. Always sit facing the door.
32. If you EDC, don’t drink a drop. You want to be able to say your last drink was when Millard Fillmore was president. No pot smoking either.
33. If you carry a G17 and a G19, depending on dress, carry only one type of spare magazine, a G17. This prevents mix-ups.
34. Know your local laws.
35. Know that if you do have to shoot somebody in a public situation, your big worry will be some other EDCer or off duty lawman shooting you, thinking you’re a crook or active shooter.
36. Give much thought to what you’ll do right after you pickle somebody. Cameras are everywhere; if what you say is different from what they see, you might have a problem.
37. Do not be a bit surprised if you hit the bad guy many times with solid chest hits, and he doesn’t even notice. It ain’t like the movies or the keyboard commandos would have you believe.
38. If you’re limited to 10 rounds, the temptation is to make them more “powerful,” like 40 or 45. The fallacy here is that energy is somehow additive, and/or that the heavier rounds do more to the bad guy than 9mm does. On the contrary, everybody shoots 9mm better rapid fire than they shoot the bigger stuff; rapid effective placement is even more important when limited to 10 rounds.
39. You’re in the cell phone store; two thugs come in. One’s carrying a pistol, the other a shotgun. Hit the shotgun man first.
40. When you strip your gun for periodic cleaning, don’t re-use the round that was in the chamber. Cycling it several times can cause bullet setback. Toss it in the range ammo box and start fresh.
41. Keep it stock. People buy a new gun, like a Glock, and immediately install “upgrade” parts. Reliability goes down. Sights would be the exception.
42. The gun that feels best in the hand when you pick it up is not necessarily the one you shoot best in rapid fire. This is counterintuitive but can be true. Shooting rapid fire is the test.
43. Use the proper sight picture and technique for slow fire, to learn how to shoot. When you carry, learn “flash sight” technique.
44. Stay in Cooper’s “condition yellow.” Especially in banks, gas stations, and other places that are targets for hijackers.
