What I'm Carrying Now
Courtesy Dennis M

[This post is part of our series, What I’m Carrying Now. If you’d like to submit a photo and description of the gun, holster and gear you’re carrying in the new world in which we live, send it to us at [email protected] with WICN in the subject field.]

Dennis M. writes . . .
In these uncertain times I keep it simple. A GLOCK 43 in a DeSantis Mini Scabbard OWB holster. Zippo lighter. Microtech UTX-70. Fenix flashlight. And, of course, Purell hand sanitizer.

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46 COMMENTS

  1. With the exception of the Glock, it all makes sense enough.

    I wonder if anybody makes a holster for hand sanitizer?

    • It’s a great MacGyver weapon. I recall the guests at Abu Ghraib used to wad toilet paper & saturate it with hand sanitizer to make little throwable alcohol bombs.

      I can only assume that’s what the zippo is for.

    • “I wonder if anybody makes a holster for hand sanitizer?”

      I suppose a flashlight, cellphone, or magazine pouch will suffice as a functional substitute…

      • I don’t own any orange knives. I thought it was the lighter he mentioned. Oh wait! Microtech UTX-70. Right, but I said “knife.”

        • I like the steamline design, and I do like auto knives, but I’d never trust one to be the only one I carry. I used to carry a small Gerber Mini Covert Auto and I do love it, but it’s more for small stuff like opening packages and such. Still, something is better than nothing, but at the price of those knives, I’d opt for something different every time.

    • Why? You can order them on BladeHQ. Don’t let some fucking writing tell you what you can and cannot carry, or some stepper try to tell you otherwise either. Besides, who TF is going around checking knives?

      • If you’re in the wrong town you can get locked up for the wrong type of knife. I don’t know if there are places in Virginia like that but don’t stray into Maryland.

        I like bladeHQ. I would just be cautious carrying an illegal knife, as opposed to owning it for the sake of liking it. Frankly, the benefit of an automatic knife is almost all in cool factor. A good but conventional assist-opening knife will deploy just as fast.

        (I recommend the Gerber F.A.S.T. draw if it’s still around. Not only could it be bought at a damn fine price but it had a neat little hidden feature where if you know how to take it out of your pocket it’ll open up just as you remove it thanks to the position of a little knob on the blade.)

        • Yup, its not worth a misdemeanor for carrying a novelty knife. Lots of good alternatives and sturdier options like the gerber fast knife you mentioned.

      • As others have said I’d recommend everyone simply use bleach. Water it down and carry it in a spray bottle.

    • It’s fairly easy to make hand sanitizer. You simply use rubbing alcohol that is rated at 90 % or higher along with aloe vera gel. Mix together at a 2 to 1 ratio i.e 2/3 cup alcohol to 1/3 cup aloe vera. If you can’t find rubbing alcohol then go to a liquor store and buy a bottle of Everclear which is 190 proof (95%) alcohol. You can even drink the alcohol you don’t use if you’re desperate enough.

      • Swap the proportions around to 1:3 or 1:4. Just as effective and easier on your skin with one part ETOH to three or four parts Aloe Gel, as well as making your ETOH stash last longer. Benz K wipes are effective too, and sometimes easier to find.

  6. Dennis….why the tape over the tension screw?

    Does it come loose? Scratches an itch you dont have? Curious.

    I like the 43….dont like springs in my knives.

    Nice kit. I recommend a spare mag. Or two.

    • “?..why the tape over the tension screw?”
      Looks like a bandaid-fix until he gets some blue loctite on it? Makes me wonder how well this leather holster maintains passive retention. This one seems to have some mileage on it and I’m guessing that retention screw is torque all the way down.

      • May be…..my Desantis Thumbreak Mini Slide has not budged….so I would be surprised.

        Maybe he just loosened it up so he skin that smoke wagon quicker…..ha.

    • I keep the tension as loose as possible so the screw is almost not screwed in. It sounds silly but I want a fast draw. It has worked for me all these years and I don’t like kydex if that makes sense.

      • It does. I’d put some fingernail polish on that sucker, though.

        That tape would drive me crazy.

        I too prefer leather. My favorite for the 43 is thumbreak mini slide. Great holster.

        I have a Kydex iwb for it as well. I wish Bianchi made the #3 Pistol Pocket for it.

        Thanks…

  7. You should wear gloves and use the sanitizer to clean the gloves until you dispose of them. However, I use Clorox wipes. Use overkill whenever possible.

    • At my local Kroger and Walmart, people are simply dumping their masks and gloves on the ground after shopping. Literally putting their items into their cars, pulling off the PPE, and dropping them by the dozens right there on the parking lot asphalt. Every day. Never did anything of the sort in the 20 years both stores have been in business, until now. People are pigs.

      • I’ve seen it in parking lots too. How disgusting. As if keeping a trash bag in the vehicle is so hard. Overkill is one thing when coming to sanitation, but these assholes really think the best option is to just dump them in the parking lot? Just pure laziness and a lack of understanding how to use PPE, even when you have to stretch the limits of proper sanitation.

      • I’ve found that while the prices are lower at shop-rite and walmart, the customers are also lower. While I don’t go for the high-class organic fair trade stores, I have been visiting one that is a bit more expensive than the walmarts of the world and either the employees are doing a better job of cleaning up or the customers are a tad more thoughtful.

        Less people, too.

        • I only visit the virtual Walmart these days.

          Shannon told me about a virtual gun store but have not been able to find a full service one. /Sarc.

      • I wonder how many of those people consider themselves environmentalists? In CA, I’m sure it’s the overwhelming majority.

    • Yep. I wear gloves at work and due to the shortage I’ll even straight up wash my hands with gloves on sometimes. Just depends on what I touch, and if I need to, then the gloves come off and get replaced. Beats the hell out of getting shit under my finger nails and of course my work place has that shitty foam soap that even with a hardcore brush you can’t get a small amount of dirt off. The difference in my hands after a work day with and without gloves is night and day, and this was before the pandemic/glove shortage.

      Now masks, that would be nice.

      • One of the reasons I decided to keep wiping down gloves is I figured they might be hard to get. You can go through a lot of gloves quickly if you change them out after every store. And since I don’t have a proper way to dispose of potentially contaminated gloves giving them the Clorox treatment makes sure there isn’t anything nasty on them. Not even anthrax spores can stand up to bleach.

        • I have a box of gloves, but haven’t used any yet. I simply apply Purell sanitizer to my hands both before and after handling shopping carts, plus I only touch the front end (pulling the cart) instead of the main push handle. Good enough for me.

        • Using gloves at the grocery store is useless unless you’re wiping down every single item with bleach when you get home. You’re touching every item you get with those nasty gloves. I just wipe down the cart first, then everything goes through a decontamination zone at the house. I also only go to the store as soon as they open, after senior hour. I have a box of gloves that I’ve had for years.

          Two weeks ago, my store was out of their cart wipes. I brought my own last week just in case, but they had them again. They also had a full stock of bread and tp that wasn’t single ply commercial grade. Supplies must be catching back up.

        • If you wipe your gloves with Clorox there is a residual and you just periodically wipe them. Depending on the surface if there was virus on it it’s probably inert. We don’t go to the store. We order online and our local chain delivers to the door. Purell is not that effective. You want bleach or Lysol. You can use far more effective disinfectants on gloves than your hands

        • “Using gloves at the grocery store is useless unless you’re wiping down every single item with bleach when you get home…”

          Soap and water works fine. I take things like bottles and use soap and water. Cardboard packages (boxes of cereal, etc) get left in the garage for a day. Produce gets soap and water (rinsed well). Objects that need to be brought in right away (freezer, fridge) but can’t be washed get the lysol wipe or spray.

          The other advantage of wearing gloves in a store is that when you get done packing the car, you can take them off and drop them in the trunk thereby not contaminating everything in your passenger compartment… and yourself if you touch your face while driving.

  8. If you have to tape your retention screw, you probably need to invest in a new holster. That said, kydex would be a better choice. I like leather, but just really no point for this type of carry. The kydex will have better retention, last longer, and not flex at all. Also, spare mags, as others have said. At least one. I have a g43 even though I don’t hardly carry it anymore (backpack reserve) I chose to get some Taran Tactical mag extensions. TBH, as soon as I get one a p365, the g43 is being sold. The new standard is capable of holding more rounds.

    • A drop of clear finger nail polish. Will take care of the retention screw issue and still allow for it’s removal. If need be. Like the idea of a to the point EDC set up. Some of these 8-10 item EDC’s seem more for show than for go. Be Safe out there.

  11. For myself, Never a Zippy. Years ago (when I smoked), I had one leak. The chemical burn on my leg was very severe and very painful. Now I carry a Big (even though I quit smoking years ago). Cheap and easy to see the level of fuel.

  13. Wtf is a glock 43? What calber and magazine capacity? Like everyone other than glock fanboy is susposed to instinctively understand the facacte nonsensical glock nomenclature. Is this the crappy brick in 9mm with a tiny barrel that only holds 10 rds or is that the glock 26 blah blah blah shit guns r us. #cheapcrap. The same shit ugly gun re-hashed 50 different ways but all look alike.

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