EDC: Monday Morning Carry 1986 Edition

If you thought that EDC loadouts were a bitch in the 1880s, let's move forward 100 years and take a look at what life was like in the 1980s.

Despite reruns of Miami Vice or Magnum PI, daily CCW was still a strange concept for most gun owners at the time. The Concealed CarryEDC had not yet exploded upon the nation and if you lived in one of the few jurisdictions where it was legal, the guns, knives and other equipment available was very kind of lacking from a concealment perspective — our tools have definitely evolved in the last 30 years.

Revolvers were giving way to semiautomatic pistols, but polymer framed pistols, compact .380s and modern JHPs were still viewed with skepticism.

Heck, materials like Kydex, G10 and Titanium and like were essentially rarities (and that's assuming you could find any “tactical” incarnation of the former two at the time at all).

EDC: Monday Morning Carry 1986 Edition

Today we will look at 3 of our more common “EDC Loadouts”, circa 1986.

Put down the Rubik's cube, rewind those VHS tapes, crack open a can of Dinty Moore's beef stew and crank up some Journey!

Monday Morning Carry EDC Loadout 1: 1911

This is a basic carry setup with a Springfield Armory 1911-A1. Back then, 1911 style pistols were still being made in the same configuration we'd known for the previous 60 years. If you wanted an improved trigger, safety, etc, that was all done on your dime and your time after it left the factory. SInce this was at decade or more before we all had the internet, you were left at the mercy of your local shade tree gunsmith.

If you were lucky enough to attend one of the few tactical training schools open to the public at this time, that usually meant Gunsite. There you could pick up a Galco OWB with their logo stamped on it in the pro-shop.

A two-blade Case Trapper with yellow handles took care of most of your cutting chores and maybe you packed a boot knife in a boot sheath.

Monday Morning Carry: EDC Loadout 2. Beretta M92

A few guys who had been toting 1911s for a few years probably swithed out to the Beretta M92 once the military gave its blessing to the M9. Sixteen rounds of 9mm sounded more impressive to some than 7 rounds of 45 ACP, especially after Lethal Weapon hit the theaters.

The knife here is a Boker stag handled lock back. The second gun is another Beretta!

This particular BUG (Back Up Gun) is the 950 Minx chambered in 22 Short and was most often just slipped in a pocket. The diminutive cartridge makes this a pure “get the f^*% off me” gun and not a serious fighting pistol. Still, I would not want to get shot with one.

Monday Morning Carry: EDC Loadout 3. HK P7M8

This is probably the only pistol in the lineup we still fall back to today — we were carrying it as recently as two years ago (albeit in a Kydex rig).

The P7M8 is an almost perfect pistol straight from the factory (when they still made them). The squeeze cocking lever allowed it to be carried with a round chambered and no external manual safeties. The fixed barrel, low bore axis and outstanding trigger give it match gun accuracy.

Trouble comes into paradise if you try to shoot more than 50 rounds at one time. The pistol gets too hot to hold.

Backing it up is a Pacific Cutlery Manila Folder. The holster is a Galco Miami Classic shoulder rig that holds two spare magazines.

Does any of it make you feel nostalgic?

Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of this broadcast.

Can Genesis hang onto the top spot this week with their former lead singer Peter Gabriel snapping at their heels? We'll know how it all turns out by the end of the countdown.

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