Pocket carry is a good option to have a weapon until you find that pocket beginning to play the parts washer full of grit.
The error is to make a pocket of a holser-and-case combination: put a little pistol in, carry it in the pocket every day, and expect it to perform as it will when it first came out of the bench. Pocket guns are in a high-debris habitat and the smallest autos and snub revolvers are associated with tight clearances in which contamination is important. When the only practical approach is pocket carry, due to either clothing, occupation or a way of life that cannot accommodate a belt rig, the arrangement is forced to be treated like gear, not like a peripheral device.
On top of one another lie two avoidable issues. The first is debris. Fibers, dust and grit are gathered at pockets and that matter flows into openings where it causes the greatest harm. One of the shooters told of a Colt Mustang that had a “click” on the range due to pocket lint accumulating in the slide channel at the firing pin where the hammer strike was softened and created only slight hits on the primer. That type of failure is particularly educative as it does not resemble a typical “feed” malfunction; it is a loss of reliability that can be disguised as bad ammunition until one opens the gun and checks inside. Pocket lint also gains entry into barrels, actions, and magazines, and the smaller the system, the less pollution it requires to sluggish a spring, to drag a striker, or to provide a drag to a slide.
The second one is carry discipline within the pocket. Having a pocket should not be a junk drawer, but most people would have a pistol, keys, coins, and phones. That gives snag points and pressure points that jam the draw, but the pocket contents get scraped into the gun more as well as the step. The advice directed at regular carriers is clear where only a holstered gun should be placed in the pocket since other objects may obstruct it and alter the position of the gun. Physically, the same rule limits the quantity of abrasive material thrown into openings and determines the extent of movement and scraping of the pistol on fabric.
The mechanical solution that can support the safety and reliability is a proper pocket holster. It holds the trigger in place, stabilizes the position, and restricts the amount of direct contact with the action. Holster design is important: sleeve-type holsters have the disadvantage of collapsing and making the reholstering process more difficult, and of coming out with the weapon; harder holsters that fit loosely tend to stay in place and have the gun indexed. General pocket-carry directions are also stressful on the part of the dirty pockets and that the pocket and pistol cleaning is often included in the procedure and not as an added feature.
Fit matters, too. When the grip is high and prints, it is common to reposition the gun a number of times in the course of the day and this increases movement, abrasion and transfer of lint. The workaround that should be done is modifying the pocket to fit the holster more snugly and steadily. A long-time pocket-holster tester explained that a tailor had re-cut the pocket to make it deep enough and shaped to fit the pocket holster to lessen the movement during the drawing stroke. Consistent placement is not merely an improvement of concealment, but a reliability habit since the re-indexing is reduced to a minimum and the exposure of the rubbish is more predictable.
Training is the last one as pocket carry increases friction and tight angles which penalize loose technique. An already damaged grip is a draw that is going to turn into a correction-fest on the road to the target wasting time and raising the chances of fumbling fabric or dragging the holster. The advice on errors in the drawstroke is to note that one of the most frequent mistakes made is to get a poor firing grip when still in the holster, and pocket carry increases the likelihood of this error occurring since access is limited anyway. The dependable pocket gun is the one that is carried in a special pocket, in an actual pocket holster, that has been examined and washed frequently enough so that lint will never have a chance to vote.
