Opinion
The Glock 19 is Kevin’s everyday carry, EDC. He chose the Glock 19 for concealed carry because of its reliability. He also customized his Glock 19 into the Glock 19 Grey Man by Lone Wolf Distributors. This gave it a custom look, a tungsten barrel, an improved trigger, and other great features.
In addition to the Glock 19, Kevin also carries a small flashlight and a pocket knife.
Kevin has been a USCCA member for 11+ years.
My Glock 19 Pistol
In 1998, my brother was shot and killed, and everyone is saying, oh, no, that’s terrible. Well, he was the bad guy. He was committing felony robbery, and a good guy shot and killed him and stopped the threat.
You know that I’m a big fan of the Glock 19 Pistol, but you know what’s true about Glocks? They all look exactly alike. And if you want to make something your own? Well, you got to make it your own.
Now, I’m not saying I’m the most knowledgeable guy in the world, but I recently stumbled upon Lone Wolf Distributing, which makes all kinds of really cool stuff for Glocks. And I decided my Glock 19 needed an upgrade. So I went online at Lone Wolf and had them make me the slide I wanted. I wanted this color. I wanted WAVY Serrations because I’d been in the Navy, and it reminds me of the ocean. I wanted a tungsten guide-rod. I wanted a combat style slide release to make that a little bit easier to work. And I wanted the lone wolf style trigger that they put in your gun to make it a little bit better, a little bit more accurate. I also had them give me a different barrel. Man, this thing shoots like a house afire. My Glock 19 now shoots better than I can shoot. I’m not the greatest shot in the world, but this gun outperforms my abilities. The point I’m getting at is if you really liked the Glock design of the pistol, the folks at Lone Wolf distributing will make pretty much anything you want for you.
You can go from the Standard Model Glock pistol into something that is almost totally custom. And I really like that because I just got tired of looking at the typical traditional Glock with the black slide. I am gonna put on my glasses, put a few rounds down range and start carrying my new Glock. The Range is going hot!
Pocket Dump
So now they ask me to do a pocket dump to show you what I carry on me every day, and I’m sure this will give everybody something to talk about because the other folks who’ve been here, have been carrying things like trauma kits and all sorts of stuff like that. And you know what? I honestly just go with the minimalist kind of gear.
Handheld Flashlight
The one most important thing that I carry with me at all times is a handheld flashlight. And this one is actually just a simple 60-lumen on-and-off flashlight. That’s all it is. It’s a promotional item I got from the folks over at Cross-Breed Holsters. And you know what? 60-lumens will stop you. You won’t be able to see me if I shine this right in your eyes. And that’s what a flashlight is to me. It is a force option. I keep the flashlight on the offside at all times. So it doesn’t impede my draw. If I need to reach for my pistol, so I pull the flashlight out. If I want to see something, I want to let people know that I know they’re there. So shine a flashlight on them. It’s not a really aggressive behavior, but it certainly takes away the element of surprise. And again, shine it right in their eyes and then move-off-the-X. They’re gonna be attacking to where you were, not being able to see you.
So I love having a flashlight. This one I carry one triple-A battery runs this whole thing because it’s so small, just disappears in the side of my pocket, doesn’t bug me, stays right there.
Glock 19
As discussed above, the big thing, that’s the firearm. I carry hollow point ammunition. You know what? I don’t even care what kind. I don’t even know what kind is in here right now. I believe it is a hundred and forty-seven grain 9mm hollow point ammunition. Almost all nationally made big name ammunition is going to function the way you want it to function. Good quality jacketed hollow points will transfer the energy and will help you stop your attacker. But don’t think it’s going to take one bullet to stop him. Three, four, five shots.
Notice fifteen round magazine. Yep. It’s a Glock 19. Keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction. We’ll make sure we drop the round out and lock the slide to the rear. And you saw the light and laser on this pistol. It is a Viridian X5L. That is a one hundred lumen light with a green laser on the front and you notice that it came on as soon as I drew it from my holster.
The holster is the Galco King Tuck version of the holster and I use a leather SNAP’s on the side. The cool thing about these snaps. These are the pull the dots snaps. They won’t unsnap if you pull sideways. You’ve got to get right on the dot, and then they will snap internally to the holster. A rare-earth magnet operates this system. When we push the gun into the holster it automatically shuts off the light and laser. As soon as the gun comes out of the holster, the light in the laser is on, allowing you to get on target and see your target better and more quickly. I don’t have to think about turning this light and laser system on when I pull it out of the holster it is just automatically there. But just a simple touch of my finger on the button. Turns it on or turns it off. And you can see that we have a strobing light and a strobing laser. Your eye picks up that strobing laser a little bit better downrange. And that’s what I want. High-speed target acquisition. So I know where my rounds are gonna go because the average gunfight inside of three yards lasts only three seconds. I want to be the first one shooting. If I need to shoot.
EDC Pocket Knife
The last thing that I carry with me every single day is a pocket knife. This one happens to be a Spyderco Native 5 Signature Folder Knife. I like it because it’s lightweight, super sharp and it can just grab it by the hole in the top of the blade and fling it open. But I am not counting on this as a weapon of defense unless it is the last-ditch weapon that I’m using. If I have fired all 16 rounds, 15 plus one in my magazine and I still need to fight. Then I got my knife, but typically, I’m thinking a gunfight is gonna be over with inside of five, six, seven, eight rounds or something like that. Because once we start shooting, I’m hoping the bad guy will be moving off. I’m hoping he’s not that determined. But if he is, I still have a 15-round magazine to help me out. I just need to make sure I put those rounds on target.
So that’s about it for my everyday carry pocket dump. So flashlight, firearm with a light, and laser and a pocket knife. That’s all I got. I’m Kevin and I’m a member of the USCCA. Join me and more than a hundred thousand responsibly armed Americans by clicking the link below and joining the USCCA right now.
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So much I disagree within this article that I don’t know where to start. Personally, for a life defense tool, I go 100% for function over fashion. My EDC is also a Glock, but a completely stock one – no trigger work, no aftermarket internal parts, and not wasting my money on fancy paint jobs or wavy slide cuts (On a Glock? Putting lipstick in a pig comes to mind). I like a separate flashlight – when drop your keys at night or need to see the keyhole, you don’t need to be pulling your gun to get a light… Read more »
I too thought “instinctive activation” idea was a great solution to having to actuate a button separate from gripping the frame, similar to why external safety-less pistols are preferable, as its one less thing to have to remember/train to operate, especially in a life/death situation. As a concept the Viridian instant on is a great technology, and I got 2 of them for my Shield edc guns as soon as I became aware of them. Upon actual use, unfortunately, I found them to be lacking in the real-world functionality dept. After a long day of work, running errands, etc., when… Read more »
Geez lighten up Francis. Nice pistol, nice holster and great membership with USCCA. This was a fun read until I reached the comments. If any of you cowboys wants to write an article about how you think we all should be acting… pony up or go back to your FB mosh pit and share your cynicism with the rest of the masses.
I can’t decide if this was written by a Third Grader or by someone trying to look as if they are a Third Grader. This would be a boon for anti-gunners to show just how stupid and ignorant gun people are. And this also gives one a certain impression of the type of person who would join USCCA. Good job, dumbasses.
I’m no legal expert and may be wrong but from things I’ve read, written by experts, modifying your CCW gun can be used against you if you are unfortunately prosecuted for a self-defense shooting. Fancy up your range gun and leave your CCW gun alone.
Never modify a ccw gun. What kind of advise are these clowns giving.