If You Carry, How Did You Feel When You Started?

[Meketrefe]

I felt tired and could care less about having a gun, I wanted a bed. LOL
The reason I started carrying while on night patrols in the service and I don't remember anything else but being tired all the time.
Too many guard patrols during the night and no much sleep.

[thughes]

First couple of weeks I carried without one in the tube until I was finally convinced that I wouldn't accidentally pull the trigger somehow. At first it seems that everybody is looking at you, this is normal (quit tugging at your shirt!). Eventually you get comfortable and the feeling of paranoia goes away. In the colder months when I wear a winter jacket I stick the BG380 in an inside pocket of my coat and pretty much forget about it. When I hip carry I am always aware that the gun is there, not so much from a comfort perspective but more so that I need to be cognizant of keeping my right hand/arm free to access it (carry the groceries on my left side, keep the GF on my left side, etc.). I have always been situationally aware for the most part, just more so when carrying. It's true what they say: once you get used to it, you will feel naked without it.

[EvilD]

I Felt like Ares, god of war!!!








Just kidding, was 27 years ago, i don't fukkin remember.

[masterswimmer]

I also started without one in the tube, but that changed very quickly. I'd say within 2 weeks 1 was chambered and cocked, locked and ready to rock.

My comfort level escalated rather fast. I don't believe I was ever afraid of printing or showing. Ever since I was a young'en I practiced slight of hand so I basically learned that most observers aren't very observant.

[dwa12479]

I popped my cherry with a G19 to the grocery store and to pick up my daughter from gymnastics. It was late November so I had plenty of clothing on, but couldn't resist the urge to pull down my cover garments every 8.3 seconds. I was sweating bullets most of the time at the store thinking that it was plain as day to everyone that I was carrying. Then I got to the gym and had to wait around with other parents in close proximity for the girls to finish practice. I was as fidgety as a Gitmo captive waiting for his turn with the towel and bucket. It took about a month to get really comfortable carrying. Today I barely give it a second thought, it's become as natural a piece of my daily apparatus as my keys, wallet, and cell phone.

As others have said, train often. I like to unload and practice drawing, acquiring the front sight adn target, and dry firing in the basement after the kids go to bed. I want that motion to be completely natural through muscle memory.

[Robin'son]

Hmmmmm, seems that if it had been some how traumatic, or an otherwise emotional experience, I would recall it, but seeing's how I don't remember, it wasn't.
Robin

[Cory]

I open carried regularly while I was in the service overseas, at age 19. It's safe to say that I was pretty alert, and having an M9 with me all the time (outside the wire I had a rifle too, but inside the wire it was just my 9) was like a security blanket.

I came home and was still hyper alert, but felt like I didn't have that defensive capability that I was used to. It was unnerving to NOT carry. When I turned 21 and got my permit I began to carry concealed for the first time. I did the rookie shirt tug thing a lot. But it was honestly comforting to know that if the enemy came knocking while I was out and about with my better half, that enemy could be dealt with swiftly. Carrying felt like a return to how things should be. I feel vulnerable without it.

[RandallOfLegend]

When you carry, try a lot of positions on your hip. The "clock" that most people use is not quite accurate, and different for everyone. I found a hip carry at the seam of my pant leg to be more comfortable for driving and less problems with printing. If you have more side fat then moving to the first edge of your back wallet pocket (near the hip) might work better. This is generally what people call "3:30 to 4:30". There is a strange spot on my side where it fits perfect, like my ass and hip were made for it. But I had to do a bunch of adjustment to find it.

Practice "printing" with a plane color cotton shirt. If you go to woven materials or patterned shirts (like 3 button dress/golf shirts) you will find it hides better.