What's up guys? Today I want to talk about five things I wish I knew before I started concealed carrying. Now these are just some things that I experienced and had to make adjustments for. There are a plethora of other things that you should know going into this, but here are the main five that affected me personally and affected my experience going into the world of concealed carry blind. I also want to hear some of y'all's thoughts on the topic because we all experienced this transition into the carry world differently. So the first thing I want to go over is comfort versus performance. Now this can be a pretty big debate, so I'm going to elaborate on what it means to me. When I first got into searching for a gun to carry, I was told that you want something that's small and conceals easily. There's some validity to that, but for the most part, I disagree.

The first gun I bought was a Sig P 365, and though this was a great conceal gun, it wasn't the most practical to shoot for me. At least I have some pretty big hands and that made it very difficult to grip the gun entirely. I always had a bunch of fingers or hands sticking off of the gun, and this led to a lot of frustration and confusion when learning, and I was basically creating a huge learning curve to learning how to shoot more proficiently. I honestly didn't know what I didn't know. A few months later, I got a chance to shoot a full-size gun and this was pretty eye-opening. The ability to grip the gun more positively and a softer recoil impulse really changed the way I looked at shooting. From that day forward, I started experimenting with other guns and ended up buying a Glock 45, and this gun made it super easy to start focusing more on developmental skills as opposed to can I grip the gun from more than three strings of fire?

Having that ability to take my mental capacity to focus on skills as opposed to just holding onto the gun really skyrocketed my progression to where I am right now. I'm not saying I'm a great shooter right now, but I am a lot better than what I used to be and I'm striving to be better. So with that being said, if I'm ever in a defensive shooting situation, I would much rather have a gun that I'm confident with and proficient with as opposed to a gun that just conceals will. Being outgunned is one of the last things you want to happen. I carry a gun that I'm more comfortable shooting with as opposed to more comfortable in my waistband, if that makes any sense. I'm not going to lie and say that it's more comfortable carrying a full size gun. It's not, but at the same time, having more gun underneath the waistband does help with concealment.

Concealing a large size gun or a full-sized gun is not as hard as most people bring it out to be. Will my MMP conceal better than a 365? No, but this conceals very, very well, and I'm honestly probably not going to go back to a micro, so going into the foreseeable future, I'm probably just going to carry a full size. Most of the time it's going to be this gun and different configurations, whether it's just the gun itself or with the weapon mounted light. As you can see right now, I don't have the light on there for most of my everyday carry. I keep it just like this. If I'm going into the city and it's dark, I'll put the light on it just in case, and if I'm going somewhere where I'm not familiar with or a little sketched out about, I'll actually grab my other holster where it's going to have the light attached and it's also going to have a spare mag on it, but just everyday carry for going to work running errands.

Honestly, just doing anything outside of thinking about defending myself, it's going to be just like this because it's light compact and really easy to deploy, and if you're going to carry a full-size gun, you're going to have to adjust your wardrobe just a little bit and that's actually the next thing that I wish I knew before I started carrying. I didn't know and no one had told me that you will have to adjust your wardrobe. It's not going to be a lot, but you are going to have to make little changes to maximize comfort with whatever you're carrying. Now, I'm not saying I had to throw away all my previous fits, but there are some things I did need to adjust to maximize my carry experience. The first thing I had to learn was there are some belts that are great for carrying and some belts, so that just won't cut it.

I carry in the appendix location and the majority of the weight from my gun is in the front and with the belt that I usually wore up to this point was this flimsy cotton belt. I mean, I'll show you guys on the screen. It really isn't meant to carry any weight. The only thing it's supposed to do is keep your pants up on your waist and the way you tighten it is by feeding the little tail end of cotton or fabric or whatever it is. I have no idea what it's made out of through the double loop and then feeding the other end back through the one loop and cinching it until it's tater on your waist. I don't know if that was confusing or not, but that's what I used primarily through the end of high school all the way through college and then right before I started carrying.

So after purchasing my first gun, I quickly found out that this was not going to work, so I started doing some research and I came across a company by the name of Core Essentials. These belts are pretty cool because you have the ability to size them to your specific needs. They ship the belt uncut and with instructions on how and where you should cut them according to your own waist size. I ended up cutting mine a few sizes bigger so that I could compensate for the extra length when carrying. And another cool feature is that these belts have a ratcheting system. The belt is lined with a track system that the belt buckle uses to fasten and adjust the size of the belt with just a push of the button. This was super convenient because I was able to tighten or loosen the belt depending on what I was doing that day.

I've worked on cars with the belt on, I built a booth with it on. I've gone on hikes with it on. I've even raced go-karts with it on, so I can only say positive things about the core essentials belts and I stand behind the products, but this isn't the belt that I'm running anymore. Well, not most of the time anyways. Some of you may know the U-S-P-S-A Grand Hunter Constantine. He developed a new carry belt a few years ago. I believe that in my opinion, was a breakthrough in the carrier world. I personally have the Hunter Constantine and the tier one concealed collaboration belt, but both are identical to each other. Whether you get the one from tier one concealed website or from Hunter Constantine's website, this belt is the perfect blend between St Sturdiness and comfort. The front of the belt is reinforced and rigid like most carry belts, but the back of the belt is elastic.

I really like this because instead of having to adjust my belt throughout the day with the core essentials belt, this belt adjusts for me on the fly. Another cool thing about this belt is that you can adjust the size. So yes, it's elastic on the back, but you can also adjust how tight that elastic is and if you get the tier one concealed version of the belt, you actually get three loops as opposed to two on the side. So you can use these hooks to adjust really quick how loose and how tight you want it, but on the tier one concealed, you actually get three loops so you can have a little bit more customization at your expense. I'm not going to make this a full review of the Hunter Constantine belt, but if you're worried about having any discomfort when switching belts wearing no more, you have options.

The next thing I started paying attention to was the type of pants I was wearing. Again, I didn't have to stop wearing what I had, but I noticed something very interesting and I didn't have to spend a dime to discover it. About 50% of my jeans and pants had some sort of elastic incorporation or band inside the waistband area, and this allowed the pants to stretch one to two sizes larger if need be. And this was perfect because when I put a gun on my pants didn't necessarily feel tighter or constricting. I had a lot of breathing room because they would stretch between one two sizes higher, so I started strictly wearing pants, jeans, and shorts that had some sort of elastic in it. I love wearing jeans and outdoor pants, and there are a ton of brands that cater to this need slash one.

For example, Wrangler, American Eagle, Hollister, and even some Walmart brands all have this stretching material to produce max comfort with or without a gun on you. So make sure you're looking around and start paying attention to the materials in your clothing so you can maximize that comfort factor. Again, the last change I made to my wardrobe was wearing shirts that weren't as tight. Printing hasn't been a huge issue for me, but it was definitely harder when I wore shirts that were a little bit more form fitting. You can still wear your normal size. There's no need to really size up unless you just like that look, but you might want to start wearing more relaxed cuts as opposed to too athletic of a cut. I wear mostly large shirts and sometimes extra large if I'm wanting maximum concealment, but relaxed clothes as well as clothing with patterns really add to that concealment factor.

The third thing I wish I knew going into the concealed carry world was that no amount of money or upgrades was going to make me a better shooter. I bought a gun for my protection and my family's protection and my friend's protection, and having an army definitely made me feel almost like a superhero, but that was false confidence. Every time I went to the range, I would go and I'd be missing or the gun would be slipping out of my hand, not falling out of my hand, but I didn't have a good grip on it and it kind of brought me back to reality. Just because I have a gun doesn't mean that I can just, I'll have the ability to defend myself at the time. That's something you have to practice and really put in work to work towards. At the beginning of my career, you're watching a lot of people on YouTube or Instagram or wherever you're watching your content and you're seeing these guys, they're running quarter of a split on the shots and their first draw to shot is 0.9, which is subsecond, which is still wild to me.

I'm not near that. You start wanting to be like them, so you start looking at what they're running and you see trigger jobs. You see certain sites, you see stippling jobs, you're seeing people putting tungsten guide rods with different spring weights, and I got sucked into a pay to play mindset and I was neglecting the only thing I needed most, and that was simply just time behind the gun. Now, I'm not saying you can't buy these things, but you do need to understand that these things are not alternatives to experience learning. The fundamentals of shooting and being able to display these skills on demand regardless of what's in your hands, separates you from a competent shooter from a, I can sometimes shooter. This plays into conceal carry because the more you upgrade a gun, the more unreliable it could possibly be. I'm not saying that a ported Glock with a trigger job, slight serrations and a 12 pound spring won't run reliably. I've seen some crazy guns run really fast and consistently, but as a concealed carry citizen, I highly recommend you train for at least a year with stock firearms, so you really lock in good gun handling safety and fundamentals. Factory guns are made with reliability in mind and it's your safest bet if you have to use them in an emergency situation. Now, I'm not trying to be a hypocrite. My m and p isn't stalk.

I have an apex trigger set to about 4.5 pounds and I'm currently testing a new tungsten guide rod with a spring rate of 13 pounds. Once I put about 500 to a thousand rounds through this gun with the new spring without any issues, I might consider carrying it like that, but for the most part I really advocate for leaving the stock stuff on here and not really changing any internals if you're going to carry this every single day. The fourth thing I really wish I knew and I wish someone had told me about was rotating your ammo. For the longest, I was chambering the same round into the gun every morning before heading out to work or to see friends or family, and before you guys come at me, yes, I unload my gun every night because I dry a fire about every day, so I take my ammo out, I put in dummy rounds and I'll dry a fire for about 30 to 40 minutes and then I'll put my ammo back in and typically I'll rack it right before I go to bed, but if I forget, I rack it before I leave the house.

Anyways, I didn't think anything was wrong with chambering the same round over and over and over night after night, but one day I noticed that the nose of the bullet seemed to be pushed further into the casing. I felt to understand that a bullet hitting the feed ramp excessively was going to cause a setback. Bullet setbacks aren't too big of a concern if you don't let it get too bad, but the worse the setback, the more likely you are to damage or induce excessive wear on your firearm. People say you can blow up your guns if you fire a bullet with a setback. I have yet to see that in person, but I'm not going to say it can't happen. I just know it can really beat your gun up if you consistently shoot them. So check your ammo and your carry gun regularly if you are loading and unloading your firearm on a regular basis.

This seems to be a no-brainer to most firearm owners, but when I was new to this world, I can honestly say I didn't know this. I guess everyone just assumed you would know something as simple as that, which is why I went a long time without understanding that concept because no one told me. Another thing you should always keep an eye on is if you sweat a lot like I do, that sweat and moisture can actually get into your magazine. The gun is pressed up against you all day, and the way that I carry, it's not this holster, but the other holster that I have, it has a spare mag holder or a carrier, and the magazine is literally pressed up against my body. So if I'm sweating profusely throughout the summer, I will notice some discoloration in the casings, which I guess is just the moisture, constantly soaking the casing of the bullet.

I don't know much about how bad you can let it get before you shouldn't shoot it, but when I see discoloration on my bullets, I just end up changing them out. Last, and certainly not least, honestly, this should probably have been number one, but I wasn't going in any particular order. These are all important, but knowing your responsibilities as a concealed carry citizen, I feel like a lot of us got a gun primarily to protect ourselves and our loved ones, but a gun isn't enough. We live in a world where you can be heavily penalized for simply defending yourself, so you really need to pay attention to the laws in your state, city, and county. Understand what your local laws say about self-defense. Now, you can go about conducting it. For example, there are some states that legally require you to have a carry permit, but there are also other states that implement constitutional carry and no permit is needed.

I actually lived in a city where they literally had a law requiring every resident to own a firearm. I know that sounds crazy, but it was actually a law. It wasn't enforced, and no one was ever sent to jail for not having a gun, but it was literally on their rule book and it's a funny law, but it was pretty cool at the same time. I honestly wouldn't mind moving back there, but maybe not right now. You also need to understand when it is and isn't appropriate to employ a firearm in a self-defense situation. I see far too often online and in person where people are talking about how they would use their firearm in a certain situation, and I notice a lot of the time I actually disagree with how they go about employing their firearm in a defensive situation. Yes, I want you to win the fight at hand, but most importantly, I want you to win the fight after the fight, and that's the law.

Do your research, watch videos, read articles, study, and understand the ins and outs of using your firearm in a defensive situation. It's a lot of information. At first, I was pretty overwhelmed at the beginning, but there are amazing resources like U-S-C-C-A and Active Self-Protection that really break down the legalities of self-defense shootings. I'm not an expert, so just take my words lightly. There are other better knowledgeable channels to help you navigate through having a good mindset when it comes to removing yourself from sketchy situations. But yeah, that's all I have for you guys today. These were the five things I wish I knew and was educated on when I first got into concealed carry. If you have anything you would like to add or disagree with, let me know below. I do read y'all's comments. I'm noticing that my videos are getting a lot of views and I try to keep up with the comments the first day that they go up, but three, four or five days later, it's hard to go back because I'm so busy with work and working on other content to make for you guys.

So again, this channel is for me to just kind of have an outlet and educate beginners or even people that have been in the firearms industry longer than I have on my thoughts and opinions and takes on certain things. Not saying I'm the best out there, not saying I know at all. I'm still learning. There are a lot of things I haven't experienced. There are a lot of things I haven't shot. There are a lot of things I haven't tinkered with, so it's been a pretty cool journey, and so I really appreciate you guys watching. I really appreciate you guys engaging with me, and I hope you guys stick around for the long haul. I'll see y'all soon.

Credit: Concrete Cowboy