IWB vs OWB for HOT weather carry?

[made2cut]

Always IWB for me. If it's too hot for a T-Shirt I'll use a folded hanky behind the holster for extra comfort and sweat protection.

 

[Frandy]

I went OWB recently with my Smith 640

When not carrying my 1911, I was carrying my Smith 640 IWB. But I'm 5'6" and 152 lbs (this week, anyway!), and I really don't like the bulge under my belt. So, this week I picked up a Wild Bill paddle so I can wear it in warm weather with my favorite shirts, untucked. Feels great, conceals just fine, and nobody the wiser. (When I do carry my 1911, it's in a Sparks Summer Special.)

Here's the 640 in both holsters:

640 IWB (Galco)

640 OWB (Wild Bill)

 

[Srigs]

My choices are Smartcarry and Highnoon Holsters IWBs.

 

[Ezekiel]

Who are you calling scruffy? I think I look rather nice.

Forgive -- is that you? -- but said ensemble screams gun.

My profession brings me into contact with dozens, maybe even 100 folks, repeatedly, in 40+ hour work weeks.

Perhaps they just don't care, which is fine, but I wouldn't consider such carte blanche that they do not know.

"Most of us here would know", is my guess. To each their own.

 

[carnaby]

Perhaps they just don't care, which is fine, but I wouldn't consider such carte blanche that they do not know. "Most of us here would know", is my guess. To each their own.

Yeah, we might know, but that's cool. Ordinary un-gun-aware folks wouldn't have a clue. It might cross their subconcious that he likes vests, but that's about it.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Ezekiel said: Forgive -- is that you? -- but said ensemble screams gun.

Yes, it is.
Screams. To who? You? Screams suggets a rather obvious appearance. My experience suggests just the opposite. You suggested I must look scruffy and unkept with a baggy shirt to obscure anything OWB. I disagreed, an offered an example of an alternative. And these garments certainly do not take on the appearance of a photographers vest.

Perhaps they just don't care, which is fine, but I wouldn't consider such carte blanche that they do not know.

"Most of us here would know", is my guess. To each their own.

Were you and I to meet in person, you might conclude I were armed. I did point out that you would probably be the only one in the room who arrived at that conclusion - you implied that "You know what to look for". I must conclude you walk about society looking at people trying to figure out who is so armed.

People just don't do that. You might. But people generally do not try to determine if everyone they encounter is armed. If that is the standard you are trying to overcome, deceiving everyone, it is impossible. Everyone with pockets on a pair of slacks could be secreting a weapon in it. Now, if by conversations with others I advertised my interests, then I might give someone reason to suspect such a thing. But I don't, and I doubt the reason I don't raise suspicion is because they just don't care. I have worked armed alongside some very anti-gun co-workers who either through career-advancement or simple maliciousness would go to HR with a complaint if they knew.

I made the decision several years ago that I was going to train with what I carried daily. That meant either I trained with a subcompact or J-frame that was in a pocket, no decent light, and reloads stuffed in my other pocket, or none at all. After a year of training sessions at our monthly study group and shooting the NTI event stages with a J-frame, I concluded this wasn't acceptable to me. Nor I was content to resign myself to leaving the $2000 I had invested in leather, good equipment, and any one of several better handguns at home in my safe just to walk around with a $300 compromise. I could bring it out for play, but I was fooling myself if I thought it was training. If it wasn't going to be what I had available if I faced a confrontation, its not training.

I relate it to swimming. I can tread water with the doggy paddle. But I wouldn't call it swimming. It keeps me from drowning, but I wouldn't want to swim laps in the pool with it. I consider a subcompact or J-frame in a pocket the equivalent of the doggy paddle. It works, but its not what I'd want if I had to use it.

Until I swim a 500 meter only using the doggy paddle, I might think it is acceptable. Until I trained with limited gear and tested it, I was deluding myself of its true effectiveness.



I mentioned it here before, and I'll point it out again. You are self-conscious about obscuring your arms, and are worried about who might notice. Through my support group meetings I know folks who have an ostomy. I suggest they are more self conscious that you are about who might notice their appliance. And they have no option to leave it at home; they must go through their daily lives with it.

The last time you saw a man, or woman, walking down the street with a vest on, did you suspect they might be obsuring an ostomy appliance? I'll say this much - these folks aren't as suspecting as you that everyone they meet similarly attired suffers the same condition.

 

[rockstar.esq]

Bullfrog, you have the right idea in my book. I do my best to conceal my Sig P220 IWB (an Uncle mikes neoprene pouch) with a loose tee shirt. I have never had anyone even look askance at me once. I don't pretend that police officers and security professionals trained to notice such things aren't going to. I think there is a huge difference between a "questionable outline" and a wet tee shirt contest. Frankly, the prevelance of PDA's Cell phones and other uber gear on the publics waistline leaves a great many options as to what that "print" could be. The primary thing many should consider is body movements. Stoop, don't bend. And make sure your SO doesn't put their arm on the small of your back. I have to chastise my SO frequently for this transgression which would make printing significantly worse with an OWB rig. Final point, Neoprene won't wick moisture like leathers will. Buy your pants an inch larger and comfort will ensue.

 

[wbond]

Smarty Carry roasts my nuts.

I live in WA State and its not even hot here (yet) and my nuts are roasting over an open fire every time I wear my Smart Carry.

The only comfortable rig I've found thus far is a cheap fanny-belly pack made locally in WA State for gun totin. I bought it for $20 at my local gun store and it feels great and doesn't scream gun because it's not black and people around here do sometimes wear fanny packs. It's nice and cool and comfortable. This $20 fanny pack is much better than the big name brand gun fanny packs I bought before (cheaper too).

I'm still looking for an IWB holster that rides higher than my Smart Carry. The Smart Carry puts the gun butt inside my pants under my waist band. I hate that because I can't grab the gun and the barrel ends up crushing a nut or weeny when I sit down. Ouch! Hot, sweaty, and crushed!

Can anyone recommend an IWB holster that rides higher? I'd like to try half way between my front and my side. Suggestions? Guns are Firestorm .380 and Ruger SP101 .32 Mag. I don't have to use same holster for both. I can buy two holsters. Suggestions?

 

[BullfrogKen]

rockstar.esq said: I don't pretend that police officers and security professionals trained to notice such things aren't going to.

Neither do I. I just make sure they don't have cause to.

I could mention one of my previous employer's sites in a 6000 person office complex in McClean, VA that I visited as required that had really tight security. And I don't mean a 65 year old retiree security. The complex employs professionals servicing government contracts for the NSA, FBI, CIA, or any other acronym you can rattle off . . . not like Ehrlich Pest Control servicing, but intelligence gathering, defense analysis stuff . . . employing people in Cuba, Iraq, all over the globe . . .

Every visit I comfortably walked up to the staff behind the desk, said "Hi and Good Morning", got my clearance passes, and walked right on by to my destination armed as I am now, with a OWB Commander, 6P, 4" fixed blade and OWB spare magazine.

I've sat in lounges with Colonels and Generals smoking Hemmingways for hours in places I was prohibited arms, and my status as an armed man was never suspected. I've had conversations with police officers in places and states where concealed arms were prohibited or illegal, and didn't get questioned, hassled, or otherwise examined.


I don't intend to come across as boastful or haughty. I've merely been fortunate to study under masters of deception and guile, and wise enough to listen and learn as a humble student. I don't speak from theoretical exercises or "deep carry" practices with subcompacts. I carry OWB, the same way, every day, the same equipment.


If it were an issue, I think it would have become one by now.

 

[Old Dog]

BullFrogKen, I'm with you. I wear a variety of vests (mostly Columbia, Woolrich, Banana Republic, Coronado Leather -- even the photojournalist/safari "shoot-me-first" style vests) ... Generally speaking, NO ONE is looking for folks packing. Comport oneself with a mature, normal Joe Citizen demeanor ... no one cares what you're wearing, and few (other than maybe the enlighted "gun culture" folks) would ever suspect people in their midst are actually packing concealed handguns.

Vests simply do NOT "scream" gun-packer.

 

[Still 2 Many Choices!?]

IWB's for Summer

OWB for cool nights or Winter. I prefer OWB with my Glock 23 in a Fobus paddle holster, as it is faster to access, but don't feel too disadvantaged carrying it in my Uncle Mikes IWB holster. My Taurus PT-145 ONLY gets carried IWB and gets carried ONLY with certain clothes that don't cover the 23, YMMV.

 

[Dravur]

Hot weather carry

As someone who has a spare tire, or, even a spare tire store around my middle, I can say that carrying in hot, humid weather has me concerned as well. So, in that vein, I have had my P7 hard chromed, and am in the process of ordering a sharkskin belt, holster and mag carrier from Rafter S.

I figure it this way. I sweat like Bill Clinton in a room full of interns and the Hildabeast outside. I figure, there is no way, short of a Milt Sparks plastic lined holster that I wouldn't get my gun soaked. Hence, the hard chroming.

I am gonna try this for now and see what happens. If my sweat takes out the hard chroming, I am going to get a job with Robar.

Im out.