I have been carrying a pistol for most of 65 years or a bit longer. There was a period when I was in the Army that I did not have a pistol. During the 6 years I lived in Africa the only time I carried a pistol was when we were on leave back in the US. When I was a teenager I usually had a .22 sixgun somewhere on me. The first one was an H&R 9 shot double action. There were no concealed carry laws in those days and I was too young to qualify for them if there were. One night I was riding with a friend and 4 or 5 guys in a car tried to run us off the road. I am not sure if they were angry or looking for a fight or what. My friend who was driving got ahead of them and they chased us. After bit I leaned out the window and put a couple shots into their radiator. They decided they had some other place they needed to be and made a really quick turn away from us. I learned that it is good to have it on you when you need it.

For years I carried a Derringer in .38 Special, either in my boot or in my pocket. It came in handy more than once. Coming home from work one evening, as I pulled up by the house a coyote jumped out of our back yard where my dog was. I stepped out of the car and shot at the coyote as it ran past. And hit it in the back leg! The coyote did not stop to argue with me and I was surprised how fast it could run on 3 legs! I used that little popgun a couple times in confrontations with people but never had to fire it.

I also carried a 5 shot .38 Special by a fairly new company called Charter Arms. I got my carry loads from Tom Ferguson of the San Antonio Police Department. I used a 148 gr. Hollow Base Wadcutter loaded backwards with the large hollow base in the front. He told me about using it on a man in a gunfight in a hotel room and how well it worked. The only thing I ever shot with that pistol was a rooster who stuck its spur in my calf. But it stopped the rooster.

Over the years I have carried concealed a Colt 1911 .45 ACP ... a Colt Combat Commander 9mm ... an Astra Cub .22 Short ... a Raven .25 ACP ... a Beretta Model 950 .25 ACP ... a Colt Officers ACP .45 .. a S&W Model 10 4" ... a Freedom Arms Model 97 .45 Colt/ACP with the ACP cylinder .. Colt SAA .45 ... Charter Arms .38 Special ... Star BM 9mm ... Star PD .45 ACP ... a custom Ruger Vaquero .45 Colt by Gary Reeder ... Ruger Blackhawk .357 ... Ruger Blackhawk .45 7 1/2" ... a S&W Model 340 .357 and others I am sure. Right now I have a Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper .22 in my belt.

I have never worried about the weight of the gun I carried. If it was heavy I figured out a way to do it. Suspenders are a Friend!! And you can hide them under a shirt or a vest. Most guys can hide a 7 1/2" single action if they take the time to think it out and try different things. I had a lightweight vest designed for hiking and hunting that worked well, even in warm weather. And while it is best to conceal as much as possible, most people would not notice it if you had a dead skunk on your belt. I walked around one day with a 1911 stuck in my belt in open view. In 3 or 4 hours I had only a couple people notice it. I stood talking to group of ladies and only one of them noticed it. She did not mention it until we were where the others wouldn't hear and then she asked me about it.

There were times when I couldn't carry a firearm but I always had something handy. In Mozambique I had no firearms but I did have weapons. One day I was giving a Mozambican Pastor a ride home. He noticed I had a knife mounted on the transmission hump in my truck, near my hand. He said, "Papa Jim. You have a knife!" I replied, "Yes I do." He said, "But you have Jesus." And I said, "I have Jesus and a knife."

That sort of sums up my personal philosophy of self defense.

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Ele era velho.
Ele era corajoso.
Ele era feio.