My wife, daughters and I just got back from almost 2 weeks of vacation last night. 7 days at a cabin in Blue Ridge, GA, and 5 days at Kure Beach in NC. Did lots of fun stuff, including a day at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA, a day in Chattanooga, TN, lots of checking out the little towns around Blue Ridge, several days at the beach, lots of GOOD, fresh seafood and touring the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington, NC (I'll start a separate thread in GD for the battleship tour, it was cool as hell but really doesn't belong here). In addition to my Glock 26 that I usually carry IWB, I took my Ruger LCP to pocket carry when going places where the G26 might print too much with physical activity.

Let me start off by saying that this was my first experience with pocket carry. I haven't had the LCP very long, only long enough to verify reliability and function. I didn't have a proper holster for it, so I carried it simply dropped into my pocket with a handkerchief covering it up to help prevent it looking like there was a gun in my pocket. Most of my shorts are loose enough that the handkerchief wasn't really necessary, but I wanted to do it just to make sure. I made sure that I never put anything in the pocket with the LCP, except the handkerchief, to prevent anything snagging on the trigger and having an embarrassing (and possibly painful and/or fatal) ND.

Overall, it worked out very well. I wasn't really fond of having just the LCP, but overall it was a very low threat environment and the LCP should have taken care of any business just fine. The gun concealed very well and I had no issues with printing or anyone noticing it. If I wore tighter clothing, it probably would have been an issue but, when not working, I like my clothes loose and baggy, which helped immensely. The only place I had to ditch it in the car was at the Georgia Aquarium, where they were using handheld metal detectors and checking all bags and purses before entry. I was suitably impressed with how well it worked out.

This morning, I ordered a DeSantis Nemesis for it. While it will never replace my G26 for general carry, it definitely has a place in my carry rotation, for those times when I want to carry a gun but normally wouldn't, because of dress or other issues. I've never had a gun small enough to effectively pocket carry before and this is a whole new experience for me. Leaving aside the inherent issues with the LCP (weak round, very small gun, pathetic sights, might not be very effective if really needed), it was good to be able to have a gun when I otherwise wouldn't have been able to have a gun.

Before I got the LCP, I questioned the need for something as small (size and caliber wise) as the LCP. Now, I'm praising Ruger and KelTec (who, IMO, really started the affordable, tiny gun craze, with the P32 and P3AT, which Ruger then copied and probably works better than the original) for designing and producing the guns. I'll even put up with the blued finish and the increased maintenance issues because the gun is so useful in it's place. When used with "alternative carry methods", they truly do allow you to have a gun when you wouldn't otherwise have a gun.

Bub75

They never do when all you do is sit in the basement.

My Rohrbaugh is my carry gun on days I go to work. What that means is I can easily slide it out of my pocket and into my console when I arrive at work and slip it back into my pocket for lunch and running any errands after work. I keep it in a Bulldog holster, so it looks like any phone/PDA type of holder.

When I'm actually leaving and returning to my house, I put on a holster and usually carry the P2000SK, but work doesn't allow firearms in the building, so pocket carry is very convenient.

Thanks to our legislators in TX, we can now leave our guns in our cars and our employer can't do anything about it.

That is why I carry a LCP also, OP.

A very well-written statement.

Yup, another good point is that, if you are pocket carrying something small, it is easy to slip it out of your pocket and stash it somewhere if necessary. This is exactly what I did at the Georgia Aquarium. When I saw that they were wanding people and checking bags, it was a simple matter to slip it out of my pocket, stash it in the glove box, and carry on. If I would have had my G26 and holster, it would have involved removing the G26 from the holster, loosening my belt and pants, removing the holster and then finding somewhere to stash it. Simple, easy, at least reasonably effective. Like I said, it will never replace the G26 for everyday carry but there ae times and places where it works better.

Bub75

Well, I got my DeSantis Nemesis yesterday morning via FedEx. I immediately got it out of the bag, unloaded the LCP and played with it, then loaded the LCP back up and pocket carried it all day. In fact, it's in my pocket as I type.

The Nemesis adds some bulk to the LCP. The combo prints in my pocket, but the shape of the mass in my pocket is indistinct. In other words, you can tell something is in my pocket, but not what it is. It just looks like miscellaneous "pocket stuff". The holster really seems to break up the outline of the LCP very effectively. The Nemesis also keeps the LCP upright and properly positioned in the pocket. My pockets weren't so big that I had a real problem with it without the holster (I never reached in my pocket and found myself grabbing the muzzle, for example), but it did move around some, so the Nemesis does help quite a bit with that.

One thing I found that I'm not so sure I'm fond of. The outside of the holster is covered with a "sticky" type of plastic, similar to the shelf-lining stuff and the rug anti-walk runners. Theoretically, the plastic is supposed to keep the holster anchored in the pocket. In practice, it doesn't seem to work out too well. If I draw the LCP and don't take care to shove the holster off the gun with either my thumb or my middle finger, the holster comes out with the gun more often than not. Not a big deal, I've just been practicing pushing the holster off with my middle finger while drawing and haven't had any further problems, but it's something to be aware of if you're not familiar with pocket carry.

One thing I really like is that the holster covers the entire slide. Since the slide is blued, this should help keep rust and corrosion of the blued steel slide to a minimum if I get sweaty while carrying, which I anticipate happening quite often. Given that the entire outside of the holster is covered in the rubbery, grippy stuff, this should water (or sweat) proof the holster quite effectively, also decreasing rust and corrosion. If it seems like I worry too much about rust and corrosion, I do. While a little surface rust on the slide isn't a big deal, looks aside, if there is rust outside, there is also likely to be rust inside, and rust inside can and does compromise reliability. Since I started using Johnson's Paste Wax on my blued guns, I haven't had any trouble with rust, but every little bit helps, right?

I'm going to try it out tonight when I go back to work. I haven't actually qualified with it, so I can't actually carry it while working, but I'll try it out before leaving the house. I've been off work for 2 1/2 weeks for vacation, so tonight is going to suck HARD! I honestly don't think it will work out very well, since my uniform pants are tighter than what I wear off duty and it will probably print real bad. If it does work, however, then I have another decision to think about- qualify with and use the LCP as my backup in my weak hand pocket, or stick with my Glock 26 on my body armor? Decisions, decisions! I'll probably stay with the G26, but we'll see how it works out. Overall, for those times when I need a gun REALLY CONCEALED and can wear pants baggy enough to effectively conceal the gun, pocket carry seems to work out a LOT better than I ever thought it would. It's not the end-all, be-all for concealed carry, but as I said above, for occasional carry in certain instances, it seems like a good solution.

Bub75

It's all about your pants/shorts pocket size/design I've found.
It's only my baggier cloths that do that for me, all my work pants and jeans work great and the holster stays in the pocket.

Thanks for the advice, MillerSHO. As soon as it cools down some here, I plan on trying it with some of my jeans. They aren't as baggy as my shorts, but they aren't exactly tight, either. I honestly don't know how it will work with my jeans. I think they are tight enough that the LCP will print excessively, but I'll try it out. Also, I've been playing with the holster enough that it seems to be loosening up a little. It doesn't seem to stick to the LCP as tightly as it did at first. Maybe it just needed a little breaking in? I don't know, but I can say that, overall, I like pocket carrying the LCP.

Bub75

yupper.  IMHO, this is the best CC device there is.  anything else will show.  I have a Taurus ST Steel, 5 shot snubbie and I just got a blackhawk inside the pocket holster for $9.99 all day at Walmart's.
works like a champ, tough to see a lump there.   I wear generous cargo pants and its tuff to see the lump there.  Try the printed pattern cargo pants, this will conceal even better!  Good luck.
billy boy