minimum for daily living

[1stCivDiv]

Wow!!!  How refreshing to find a shooting forum with some sense!  I dont know how many of you look at other forums but their list of MDL require you to carry a full tactical backpack and there are no dissenters...they all agree.  Thanks to DownRange.TV and Best Defense for keeping it real!

My MDL is primary IWB, tactical folder, cell and two mags.  I also take pictures semi-pro so I look for camera bags that provide "options" if I am going somewhere that may need additional tools.

[Walkeraviator]

I carry my firearm, 1 mag, a knife, and alight.  And all of it fits nicely in my cargo pockets or on my belt.  My Jeep carries my hiking gear all the time.  So since I park my feet literally 20 feet from my actual desk when i am at work, if SHTF I have everything from shelter to first aid.  IN addition, I keep a box of ball ammo in there just in case.  And as soon as I can afford to do so, I will always have a full size handgun since my compact carry gun has its limitations.  I believe in teh use of yoru vehicle as a good base of operations if the world implodes.

But as for daily walking down the street, I dont need a battle dressing...Its called Field Expedient...my t-shirt can plug a hole just as well as a dressing.

[ECHOONE]

I live in Fl. Im a Vet,I'm well aware of what can happen when you least expect it!For the eye rollers who don't believe you need the gear! I truly hope you never do,but I hope at some point for your own sake you better prepare yourself for what could be.

1 Semi Auto,(if I know I'm going into an unfirmilar area or a bad area a BUG)
1 Reload
1 knife
cell phone
tactical light (if I know I'm going to be out during the evening and night)

  My SUV has my main bug out bag packed and ready to go in the rear cargo area.Since I enjoy hiking I also have a hiking pack back there with all necessary gear and provisions for a minimum of 3 days. So I never feel like I don't have enough gear at hand if needed in a pinch.You never know when the bg is going to show up,just like you never know when mother nature will remind you she's in control of things,it doesn't take much to be prepared,but it sure does hurt when your not! Don't worry when your out of ammo or when you don't have what you need because you were rolling your eyes at how ridiculous I sounded being prepared,I still help you out! But I'll be the one smirking!

[Combat Diver]

+1 Echoone

I usually carry my 5" 1911 (9 rds), one spare 8 rd mag, two folding knives, cell phone and surefire light.  Used to have a lightweight Officers but shot it slower and not as accurate.  This is just being prepared.  I've been down range many times (still am) and when I expect a fight I have over 100rds of pistol ammo, 200-400 rifle rds and grenades plus body armor and everything else a soldier carrys.

CD

[Lawrence Keeney]

I carry most of that stuff, but it's in my jack bauer bag in my truck. Im a news photographer, so people are used to seeing me carrying around a bag of gear.

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

I live in Fl. Im a Vet,I'm well aware of what can happen when you least expect it!For the eye rollers who don't believe you need the gear! I truly hope you never do,but I hope at some point for your own sake you better prepare yourself for what could be.

1 Semi Auto,(if I know I'm going into an unfirmilar area or a bad area a BUG)
1 Reload
1 knife
cell phone
tactical light (if I know I'm going to be out during the evening and night)

  My SUV has my main bug out bag packed and ready to go in the rear cargo area.Since I enjoy hiking I also have a hiking pack back there with all necessary gear and provisions for a minimum of 3 days. So I never feel like I don't have enough gear at hand if needed in a pinch.You never know when the bg is going to show up,just like you never know when mother nature will remind you she's in control of things,it doesn't take much to be prepared,but it sure does hurt when your not! Don't worry when your out of ammo or when you don't have what you need because you were rolling your eyes at how ridiculous I sounded being prepared,I still help you out! But I'll be the one smirking!

I keep a plastic box in my truck. It has a sleeping bag, clothes and boots, 3 day pack, stove, tent, raingear etc, 4-5 days of back packing food and two 2 1/2 gallon bottles of water, an ax, woodsman's jack  come-along and a good tool box, a siphon, a fishing rod and tackle box and a serious 1st aid kit (bought from a surgical nurse who puts them toghether) with everything from battle dressing to an epi-pen. I also have a box of 9mm, 12 gauge and .270 (which are the calibers I'm most likely to need) and five twenty dollar bills. Sad thing is, this isn't for emergencies. Its just so I can leave town to go hunting or fishing without having to go home to pack. I mean, you have to store the stuff somewhere, why not your vehichle where its handy? Yeah it might get stolen, but that's why you pay insurance. I am rarely more than a mile from the truck, almost always carry a gun and if I can get to the F-150 I'm good for a week or more with no worries. Its not whacked out survivalist paranoia either. Its just a guy who has a large plastic foot locker full of camping gear and chooses to stash it in the truck rather than the attic.
FQ13

[Michael Bane]

I tend to tailor my daily stuff to what I'm doing that day...knocking around on an easy day, pocket pistol in my right pocket, spare mag and knife in my left pocket. Normally I carry my daily carry gun — currently a Para Carry 9 LDA — a spare magazine and 2 knives, one in each pocket. I go to the big city, and I add my regular carry gun and a spare mag, then transfer the pocket pistol to the left pocket with the knife. A light goes in my back pocket. I have a basic first aid kit in my car with combat dressings added. There are some cities I go to where I carry enough hardware to clank.

In the backcountry, lately it's been an open-carried .44 Mag revolver loaded with .44 Specials, backed up by a speedloader filled with .44 Magnum Keith loads and a couple of Tuff Strips with 240-gr Magnum JHPs.

When I travel, I tend to carry whatever gun I'm shooting on the trip. This has lead to some interesting carry choices — .44 Special and .357 single action revolvers, various flavors of 1911s, a variety of polymer-framed service pistols, etc. I tend to opt for off-body carry on the road when I can, because it's easier on complex filming days, changing clothes, absence of concealment garments, etc. Lately I've been moving to standardize on a de-locked S&W 329 revolver loaded with Specials backed up with Magnums. On the road, I'm generally traveling with a pretty large group of people, so my area of highest risk is, IMHO, in the hotel room itself...I like the heavyweight revolver because it delivers a "stop right there" message and gives me some options on loads. A hardcast Keith load like the 255-gr Buffalo Bore, for example, will punch a car door quick like bunny. Plus, road guns generally get beat to crap (you should see the back of Pincus' truck...might as well put the guns in a blender with scrap metal!) and I think a revolver gives me a little more edge in reliability in the face of abuse.

Driving long distances, I'll always go with an extreme crossdraw driving holster for the carry gun and a heavier weight blaster in the console/SafePacker...for example, the regular carry 9mm in a driving holster and a .44 Mag revolver loaded with penetrators in the console...I want the ability to poke holes in metal boxes if necessary...the car already has a dedicated fixed blade knife laced into the driver's side door and a couple of flashlights aboard, both a long-tubed Maglite and a high intensity Surefire/Insight.

Brother Farnam walks the walk...

Michael B

Michael B

[garand4life]

Michael. How do you carry your spare magazine in you pocket? Do you use something to keep the magazine in place or is it just loose in the pocket?

[Rastus]

For trips where I will stay somewhere else at night I like to have an AR with me.  I'll have my normal carry 9MM and at least one other gun...if a business trip type thing I'll have a snubbie for the pocket or if on vacation or visiting family a 45.  AR and 45 have their AAC companions with them if I can ensure they are secure and can stay with me for the trip.  At least 2 mags for the handguns...4 or 5 for the AR to accomodate 193 or 109 or ballistic tip rounds depending on the need.

If world conditions are funky and I'm visiting family by myself 12 hrs away and I may have to stay (get stuck) there, I'll add a suppressed 10/22 and a centerfire with good glass on top...might be the 223, 22-250, 270, 243, whatever...but glass and a centerfire as well as my Yaesu VX-7R that puts me on 2M, 70 CM, 6M and 220 Mhz bands.  If the family goes I always add a PS-90 and Five SeveN plus whatever plinkers (sometimes FAL) the kids may want....and yes there is some ammo prepositioned with family....they are, after all, only an hour outside of New Orleans and 45 minutes from Baton Rouge and I was there for the "Katrina Experience" ---I am not overgunned.

[Michael Bane]

I have a couple of leather pocket magazine carriers that protect the mag from too much gunk...for the life of me I can't remember where they came from. Sorry...

Pocket Concealment Systems (http://pcsholsters.com/magazine_carriers.html) has some larger versions. PCS, BTW, is a great resource for pocket pistol carriers.

mb