Every Day Carry (EDC)

The Other Stuff

I’m often asked about my everyday carry gun. I assume since I have access to, and test so many, folks are interested to learn what I trust my life to. My default everyday carry gun is an 80s era lightweight HiPower that Novak’s out of Parkersburg, West Virgina has fully worked over. At 23 ounces it carries like a dream, and I shoot it very well. However, I also, almost as frequently, carry my Wilson Combat EDC X9 and sometimes carry other handguns I trust and that I’m evaluating. Of course, swapping carry guns is not necessarily a good idea, but I do not feel I can offer a trustworthy opinion on a carry gun without carrying the damned thing.

But this is not about guns. Even though I carry a gun every day and often shoot it almost every day, I hope I never have to use it for its intended purpose of self-protection on any day. This is about the things I do carry every day and use almost every single day. Yeah, if I’m up and about and unarmed I feel a bit naked, but its these other items that I routinely need to use on a day to day basis, and I find it hard to effectively function without them. The gun I carry might be the most interesting, but these other things are the most used. And in my case, they have proven to be EDC gear you can trust.

Pocketknife

This knife is the brainchild of two Danish and one American knife maker, and oddly enough it has an origin in a Brooklyn bar. It has a stonewashed, Elmax – powdered carbon – steel 3.2-inch blade, a reversable, tip-up wire pocket clip, green canvas micarta scales, a liner lock, and Giant Mouse makes it in Maniago Italy. Overall length is 7.56 inches, and it weighs 3.9 ounces. This knife feels good in hand and holding it just makes you want to cut something. Pull this thing out at the campfire and you’re going to get some envious looks. It’s a hell of a lot of knife for $225 and I’ve been carrying it every day for more than a year – and it looks like it. I’ve used it for everything from cutting cardboard boxes to splitting a whitetail’s ribcage, and unbelievably, I’ve only sharpened it twice. You can buy one HERE for $225.00.

Flashlight

There are a lot of excellent high quality, high intensity, micro-sized flashlights to choose from. From a personal protection standpoint, I think they’re nearly as important as a handgun, and ideally, you’ll want something capable of projecting at least 100 lumens. A lot of micro flashlights also come with a pocket clip, but I’ve never found that to be a comfortable way to carry a flashlight, except maybe in a vest. Two years ago, Galco began offering a quality leather flashlight carrier ($89.00) for a Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA micro flashlight ($49.00) and I picked both up. I could probably count the days on my fingers and toes it has not been on my side during the last two years. It’s 4.2 inches long and ¾ of an inch in diameter, and it weighs 2.3 ounces. With the leather Galco sheath it all weighs 3.7 ounces. From trying to read a menu in a dark restaurant to attempting to discover what made that noise in the African darkness, you’ll never realize how often you need a flashlight until you have one with you all the time.

Multi-Tool

The multitool has evolved from a simple and compact useful accessory to a miniature toolbox you wear on your belt. There’s nothing wrong with having access to 21 tools right on your side, other than the fact that you’re carrying 21 tools right on your side. You might be able to build a house and swap a motor in 69 Willys with a Leatherman Surge, but it weighs nearly a pound. When I was working as special agent for the railroad police, one of the divisions I worked in gave me a simple, basic Letherman tool. It has 10 tools and is so practical and useful – like most things that are very practical and useful – they don’t even make it anymore. Just yesterday I was in the crawlspace under my house trying to finalize a remodeling project, when I realized the box of tools I was dragging around did not contain the tool I needed. But my 20+ year old Leatherman did. I’ve become addicted to having this thing with me, whether I’m in town, knocking around on the farm, or hunting. The closest modern Letherman to my original is probably the Bond ($69.95).

Notebook and Pen

For years I’ve carried a small 3.5-inch by 5.5-inch notebook from Field Notes. I know all of us modern humans have a smart phone we can use for voice notes or typed reminders; I’ve just not evolved to that level of sophistication. I still carry one of those notebooks for extensive note taking when I’m traveling and working. During my annual month in Africa each year I fill up one of those notebooks. However, on a day to day basis around the house or when running errands, I’ve found the Field Notes On-The-Go Notebooks ($14.95 for six) much more convenient. They come in several colors – I like the yellow ones – and they’re only 3.37 inches by 2 inches, and contain 24 perforated pages. This rugged little notepad will disappear in your pocket along with the collapsable Field Notes All-Weather Pocket Pen ($15.95 for two), that has proven just as handy as the notebook.