winter EDC

[zeke]

Some of the things i have learned living in the winter cold and always carrying concealed since legal, although others experiences may differ.

1-There's cold and then there's cold. It is quite common up here to go a week or more where the temps don't get above zero in the day, and minus 20's (f).
2-A pistol buried under multiple layers of winter clothing is very slow to get to. Especially sitting down.
3-Pistols carried in coat pockets are great, till you go inside some where/some place where it's too warm to wear your coat. Or you get older and more forgetful.
4-Some are endeared to 38 sp with good reason. Up here, have a preference for something that starts with a 4 and has enough umph to defeat multiple layers of winter clothes and big people. This is reality up here.
5-wether advisable or not, pistols get left in vehicles overnight. Have done this myself after medical visits in the winter.

Of course people's situations/opinions differ. If i lived in the hot area, would want to know how my preferred methods worked after sitting in a hot car all day in peak of summer. Especially if my preference was loaded with hotter rounds.

 

[cd228]

I'd look at the locals and/or the PD.

Most Police Agencies that I've seen carry the same round and weapon year round. Your common duty rounds Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, Hornady Critical duty pass tests designed to simulate heavy clothing, which IMHO is more common in cold weather. For example NYPD used to carry 124gr Speer Gold dot +p+ year round to include winter foot beats. I don't know what they currently do, I stay out of the city as of late.

I also like to look at what the local outdoorsman carries into the woods. If everyone going hunting starts packing a .44, I would too.

We've also seen DoD putting money into temperature insensative propelents. Some of the requirements for the newer sniper rounds reflect that. NDIA had some slides on it a while back. Older powders were found to have significant changes in pressure/velocity due to temperature. As mentioned above your carry pistol will probably be significantly warmer than ambient temperature. if you are concerned, chrono some rounds to see if there is a difference.

On the flip side, if you wear gloves, do some drills in glove and see how that impacts your performance.

 

[BB57]

I generally switch to a .357 Mag revolver in the winter, usually a Model 66 or 686+, sometimes an SP101 of Taurus 605. And it may be either IWB or OWB depending on the situation.

Partly it’s due to wanting something with a bit more poke in the winter due to potential assailants with heavier clothing.

Partly it’s due to me being more likely yo be out and about in the woods.

Partly it’s due to having grown up and spent 45 years in the severely cold frozen north, where a cold soaked semi auto can be a bit less reliable, even with due regard for and proper attention to extreme cold weather lubricants and lubrication.

But mostly here in eastern NC where winters are mild and a vest suffices most of the time, the cover garment allows for some different and larger carry options.

 

[diyj98]

I am in the "boring club" that carries the same gun 365 days a year. I see no real reason to "rotate" guns. IMHO that can lead to confusion, unfamiliarity and delays in deploying a firearm in a stressful and important time of need.

I think that's a very good point. I posted something similar on another forum a few years ago, and received several lectures about how proper training would eliminate all my imagined problems. I can very well see how a no safety handgun one day, then a safety down for off (1911 and others), then a safety up for off (third gen S&W and others), could cause muscle memory confusion in a life threatening situation.

 

[Doug M.]

Listen, this is Western NY here. The way we dress in the winter we can conceal an AR with 30 rd mag. We don’t need no stinking reloads.

**
Do your politicians allow such a platform?
The worsening gun laws is one of the main reasons I may never go home again. Washington has become bad enough.

 

[WardenRoss]

Back in the day I used to practice outside in the winter. I tried to practice with my guns as I would normally carry them. Not extended sessions, but usually with whatever loadout for that particular weapon. I wanted to check my abilities when my hands were cold or I was cold. Under those conditions running an airweight 38 snubby could be a challenge. Reloading with loose rounds with frozen hands was much slower. Speedloaders were a great help. Recoil was felt more. I also found I was more likely to fumble with reloads, dropping ammo in the snow on occasion. Because of that, I tended to carry more ammo in the winter time. I still do to this day. It is the first reason I offer to those that "script" their self defense shootings, saying "you don't need more than X amount of shots." I don't carry extra ammo generally because I expect to shoot a lot. I carry it for malfunctions and for the times under stress where I may drop ammo in the snow, or at a dead run.
I also discovered that it was a lot easier to shoot a semi auto with cold hands. Especially the Glock. Easier to reload and to keep running at speed. They were less cold to the touch than the aluminum frame guns. I also favor the NY1 trigger for its feel and heavier pull. I shoot it as well as a standard trigger. I feel I have more of a margin of safety with the heavier pull with cold and numb hands. My snubs are 95% of the time used as back up guns, if and when needed as such. In the winter they usually are in an outer coat pocket.
I was and am fortunate that I have a place to shoot outside year round. Shooting under all weather conditions can give one a better insight as to what works and doesn't work. If you live or operate in places where it can get brutally cold, I highly suggest you practice under those conditions. Even if you can only do it a few times.
Just my observations, FWIW.

Great post!

I would add that going to the range and practicing in the pouring rain should be experienced.


,

 

[cracker57]

OP, thats me,
lots of good points given, I also don't believe in EDC rotation and I don't think having a summer gun and a winter gun is rotating.
Also both guns are draw and shoot guns no safety. both are carried the same way IWB at 3:30 4 oclock. This is a challenge to draw sometimes depending on the clothing, thats why we practice.
The range I use is semi outdoor, 3 walls and a roof, there are heaters aimed at the shooter but I never turn them on.
as mentioned I don't worry about my gun catching a cold as its being hugged next to my body, I believe as with all relationships if I take care of it, it will take care of me!

 

[Oldsalt66]

Wearing socks with sandals?

Yes, white socks and sandals.

We call that wearing "our winter boots" and they are properly worn with a tee shirt and shorts.

Gotta stay warm when the temperatures plummet to below 70 degrees for a few days each year.

 

[chief38]

The only thing I want to add here is that I will state the age old saying......

"Beware of the man who only has one gun". Yes, I have more than one, however I only CCW one.

 

[BB57]

I think that's a very good point. I posted something similar on another forum a few years ago, and received several lectures about how proper training would eliminate all my imagined problems. I can very well see how a no safety handgun one day, then a safety down for off (1911 and others), then a safety up for off (third gen S&W and others), could cause muscle memory confusion in a life threatening situation.

It’s a valid point - especially for people who don’t shoot the, often enough to get and stay proficient.

It’s one of the reasons I switched mostly to DA/SA pistols when I started carrying a .357 Mag in the woods and in the winter.

After shooting and carrying 1911s and Hi Powers for decades, when shooting under time pressure, I’m far more likely to find my thumb on top of the safety on my C75D PCR, Beretta 84BB, 80X etc. but it doesn’t hurt anything or slow it down.

 

[Arm]

Well, I think it's to much ado about nothing. When you have to draw it it will hit at your aim point....remember the temp it put out when ignited.....make sure you did do a proper sight in the rest will take care of itself. Ever been in combat? If so you know what I am talking about. Relax.

 

[Smoke]

Colorado sucks because it snows in June. Colorado is nice because in the middle of December It can be ( and currently is) in the 50s.

I was in a training class several years ago and while racking the slide on my 6906 I accidentally engaged the safety during one of the courses of fire.

When it happened I went into brain lock and could not figure out why my gun wasn't firing.

Long story short I bought an M&P9 within a day or two and haven't carried a handgun with a manual safety since that day

 

[ISCS Yoda]

My winter EDC is the same as my summer EDC.

S&W M649 .38 Special only
Walther CCP 9mm
CZ-75 Compact 9mm

In the right pants they are all pocket guns if I want them to be but they are also all IWB or OWB guns, depending on my basic clothing. Coats for cold weather are not a part of the decision- making process.

Then, again, wearing a heavy coat here is seldom an occurrence.

But, should I find myself in a cold weather clime in actual winter, and presuming a favorable firearms jurisdiction, nothing will change.

 

[Birdhunter6]

Here in Northern IL, during the winter months I occasionally carry a 4" K frame, or a G19 owb under my coat.

My regular edc is a pocket carried 640P or a G43X iwb, (or both if forced out of my rural comfort zone).

The importance of occasionally shooting outdoors in your cold weather clothes and GLOVES can't be over emphasized.

 

[Terry G]

CZ97b in a shoulder holster in Winter only because getting my CZ P-01 from an OWB holster is too slow with a heavy coat on.

 

[mm93]

I switch guns each year between warmer months and cooler simply because I can carry a bigger gun in the winter when I'm wearing more clothing and coats.
In the winter I carry my Model 59 S&W or my 1964 Colt Commercial .45ACP. In warmer months I switch to a compact 9mm in my Kahr E9 single stack that's easy to conceal.

 

[petepeterson]

S&W M649 .38 Special only
Walther CCP 9mm
CZ-75 Compact 9mm

"Beware of the man with 3 pistols with 3 different operating styles, because he knows how to use 3 different pistols."

-petepeterson

 

[ISCS Yoda]

"Beware of the man with 3 pistols with 3 different operating styles, because he knows how to use 3 different pistols."

-petepeterson

1. Point and shoot.

2. Release safety, point and shoot.

3. Condition 2, point and shoot.

It ain't that hard.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I might add that I have carried an assortment of handguns over the years, including 1911-style single actions (ick) and S&W TDAs (actually, my faves, and I'm thinking about going back to a CS-9 and/or a CS-45—but the 6906 has been carried concealed, too).

When you've been shooting handguns for decades the one-gun rule sort of fades after you've mastered dozens of different models. The only reason I limit myself, presently, to the three I identified (and it's mostly just the first two) is because I practice with those. If I switch to a CS model I'll put the other pistols in the safe.

IT AIN'T HARD IF YOU CARE!!!

 

[Doug M.]

I was in a training class several years ago and while racking the slide on my 6906 I accidentally engaged the safety during one of the courses of fire.

When it happened I went into brain lock and could not figure out why my gun wasn't firing.

Long story short I bought an M&P9 within a day or two and haven't carried a handgun with a manual safety since that day

*
A good point to remember, and probably more generalizable than most will want to admit. I have been issued 2 3rd generation S&Ws, and both were decock only. I think that was sound. I am not a fan of the bass-ackwards up to fire safeties. They are heinously unnatural to me and made worse as I have smallish hands. If I were to get a 3rd gen or Beretta 92, it would be DAO. Most of my serious pistols are Glocks or M&Ps, and a couple 1911 style pistols. I sometimes qualify with revolvers, just to say I can.