In order to get your hand on the pistol, you will have to clear a covering garment, pocket, waist pack or purse. Here again, a pocket pistol’s small size can cause complications, because it can become “lost” under a heavy coat or in a pouch. Weare’s recommendation to be deliberate especially applies to getting the things that conceal the handgun out of the way. Use enough force to provide plenty of clearance for your shooting hand to access the firearm. You already have less gun to grab, so make sure you can get all of it. Depending on where you carry your pocket pistol, it may require more motion or effort to make it accessible than with a larger handgun carried in a conventional belt holster. Be aware that presentation could take more time with a pocket pistol, and plan accordingly.

Weare stresses you should never mix keys, coins, extra magazines or other items in the same pocket with your handgun as they can interfere with presentation at best or make it impossible at worst. In a stressful situation you could even mistake your cell phone for your pistol if it’s in the same pocket.

Always use your support hand to clear a covering garment or open a zipper. If you’re carrying in an ankle holster, trapping your pant leg between both hands will prevent it from binding as you pull upward. Once access to the handgun is clear, it’s important to keep your support hand and arm stationary, positioned behind or beside the firearm, as you withdraw it from the holster.

“These guns have short barrels, and if you’re not careful, you can accidentally cover yourself with the muzzle,” cautions Weare.

The same also applies to re-holstering. Never let your hand or other body part pass in front of the muzzle when placing the firearm back into the holster. While that seems easy enough to accomplish, it requires special emphasis when using a pocket holster. McNeese says to avoid trying to re-holster a handgun with the holster remaining in your pocket. The holster can shift, and you can end up pointing the firearm at your body. Removing the holster so you can work with it in front of your chest, with the muzzle of the handgun constantly pointing downrange, is the best method.

McNeese recommends to first transfer the handgun from your shooting hand to your support hand. Reach into your pocket with your shooting hand and withdraw the holster. Stage it on a nearby surface or hook it somewhere on your clothing where it is easy to reach. Return the firearm to your shooting hand. Finally, carefully use your support hand to bring the holster to the gun while keeping your fingers above or below the muzzle, which should remain parallel to the ground and pointed downrange. It’s as complicated and awkward as it sounds. Accept the compromise and proceed slowly.

Session 3: Deal With The Faults
The physical attributes that make pocket pistols so attractive for concealed carry also limit our ability to use them effectively for self-defense. First, there’s the problem with accuracy. Pocket pistols have short barrels. Short barrels have short sight radiuses. Short sight radiuses make precise aiming difficult. And it doesn’t end there. Combine a short sight radius with small sights that can be tough to discern even in broad daylight, and you’ve arrived at the perfect recipe for misalignment.

“You have a very small gun with a very short barrel. There is very little margin for error,” says Weare. Even if you manage to align the sights perfectly and keep your entire focus on that little bump near the muzzle, you can still miss. You have to maintain the handgun’s ideal relationship to the target throughout the trigger press, without introducing movement that can cause it to shift. The typically long, heavy, double-action trigger pull common to pocket pistols can make this seem impossible. Resist the urge to quickly power through the pull, and instead apply steadily increasing pressure to the trigger for what Gunsite calls the compressed surprise break. If you can have patience for your pocket pistol in just one area, this is it.

There is no secret to shooting pocket pistols accurately. “For a lot of people, a pocket pistol is only going to be effective to 5 or 7 yards,” he observes. “If you practice a lot with it, you may be able to get out to maybe 15 yards or 25. When you get to 25 yards, you’re really going to have to put a lot of stress on the sights and the trigger press. At that range, you are going to be challenged.”

The lower downrange performance levels of pocket pistol cartridges make shot placement on a threat more critical. A 90-grain, .380 ACP or 125-grain, .38 Spl. load from a pocket pistol produces roughly half the muzzle energy of a 180-grain, .40 S&W or 230-grain, .45 ACP load from a full-size handgun. Modern bullet designs make the most of every foot-pound, but the stopping power of a pocket pistol cartridge is still significantly lower. Hitting the vital areas of a deadly threat is a must when employing a pocket pistol. Even then, says Weare, it may require several rounds to stop an attacker.

“Hit ’em where it counts, as many times as it takes,” he stresses. “There’s no substitute for shot placement, especially with a pocket gun.” Remember, however, most pocket pistols have a reduced capacity of five to seven rounds. A few misses and a couple marginal hits, and you could suddenly be faced with an empty gun while still fighting for your life. Carrying a reload, whether it be an extra magazine or a speedloader, is almost as important as carrying the gun itself.

Session 4: Take Time Together
Finally, make it a priority to spend quality time with your pocket pistol at the range or in repeated dry-fire practice at home. This is the chance to work out your differences. Here’s some valuable advice gained through experience: You’re the one who will have to change, and the sooner you do, the better off you’ll be.

Take presentation, for instance. The night a criminal knocks you to the ground and pulls a knife isn’t the time to discover that you can’t reach your pocket pistol when you’re lying on your back.

Some challenges to using a pocket pistol, like trigger manipulation, will become easier to deal with the more you practice. While you may think of your pocket pistol as a backup, both McNeese and Weare recommend practicing with it as often as you would with any other handgun—if not more. Becoming complacent with your pocket pistol is a good way to make mistakes and develop bad habits, so focus on each step of the presentation sequence and every fundamental of marksmanship. Don’t assume just because you’re effective with a full-size handgun at 25 yards, it will be a cinch to get good hits with a pocket pistol at 5 yards.

Pocket pistols have a lot to offer, but they require a lot of attention in return. The more time you spend with your pocket pistol, the more intimate you’ll become with its strengths and overcome its shortcomings.