Things to consider for CCW beginners.
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farscott
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My little contribution: The type of holster you choose can dictate what type of pistol you carry. If OWB is desired, long slides or barrels are harder to conceal. IWB allows longer barrels and slides.
Another tidbit: Gun thickness can be more important than length. For example, I can easily conceal a full-size 1911; however, I cannot easily conceal any of the double-stack polymer pistols, even the little Glock 26/27. The thicker grip frame of the Glock prints while the slim 1911 grip frame does not.
One more: Make sure your carry gun(s) has no sharp edges. If it does, your flesh and cover garments will pay.
My last tidbit: An S&W J-frame makes one heck of an "always" gun. Not too expensive, good calibers, and easy to carry. If I could only have one, a Centennial is my choice.
Another tidbit: Gun thickness can be more important than length. For example, I can easily conceal a full-size 1911; however, I cannot easily conceal any of the double-stack polymer pistols, even the little Glock 26/27. The thicker grip frame of the Glock prints while the slim 1911 grip frame does not.
One more: Make sure your carry gun(s) has no sharp edges. If it does, your flesh and cover garments will pay.
My last tidbit: An S&W J-frame makes one heck of an "always" gun. Not too expensive, good calibers, and easy to carry. If I could only have one, a Centennial is my choice.
YammyMonkey
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Things I've noticed:
Sharp checkering on a frontstrap can sometimes snag your cover garment and make it hang un-naturally, just be aware of it as a possibility. Usually happens to me when getting into the car so I just adjust in the car and no problems.
If it's windy out, hands in the pants pockets can keep your cover garment from flying up over your head.
If you're just starting out, make sure your wife/GF/whatever knows that you're carrying and knows the consequences of exposing your gun. My wife was trying to show some friends of ours something on my back, or something to do with my pants, don't really remember what, and lifted up my shirt exposing my gun in a parking lot. Fortuantely nobody else noticed, the wife got a good scolding. All I heard about it from my friend was "So, I see your permit showed up."
Wear your rig around the house a lot and try lots of different positions. I started off thinking appendix carry would be the best, but ended up carrying at about 9:30 (shoot lefty) once I tried everything out for a while.
The leather squeaking will go away eventually, and no, nobody really notices.
For using a public toilet, when seated, keep your waistband just above your knees on your thighs, keep your feet about shoulder-width apart and spread out your knees to keep tension on everything. If you must you can buckle the belt around your knees, but I've been able to keep everything in-line with just a little knee pressure. Right handers would be more likely to need to buckle unless they run the belt through the pants the "girl's" direction with the tail of the belt pointing to the right instead of left when all buckled up.
Sharp checkering on a frontstrap can sometimes snag your cover garment and make it hang un-naturally, just be aware of it as a possibility. Usually happens to me when getting into the car so I just adjust in the car and no problems.
If it's windy out, hands in the pants pockets can keep your cover garment from flying up over your head.
If you're just starting out, make sure your wife/GF/whatever knows that you're carrying and knows the consequences of exposing your gun. My wife was trying to show some friends of ours something on my back, or something to do with my pants, don't really remember what, and lifted up my shirt exposing my gun in a parking lot. Fortuantely nobody else noticed, the wife got a good scolding. All I heard about it from my friend was "So, I see your permit showed up."
Wear your rig around the house a lot and try lots of different positions. I started off thinking appendix carry would be the best, but ended up carrying at about 9:30 (shoot lefty) once I tried everything out for a while.
The leather squeaking will go away eventually, and no, nobody really notices.
For using a public toilet, when seated, keep your waistband just above your knees on your thighs, keep your feet about shoulder-width apart and spread out your knees to keep tension on everything. If you must you can buckle the belt around your knees, but I've been able to keep everything in-line with just a little knee pressure. Right handers would be more likely to need to buckle unless they run the belt through the pants the "girl's" direction with the tail of the belt pointing to the right instead of left when all buckled up.
When I'm using a public toilet and carrying IWB, I remove my gun and place it on my pants, which are held under slight tension by my knees. This prevents it from falling out on the tiles and also puts it in a much more tactically useful place.
neoncowboy
Member
So what about holster selection?
I see holsters that some people love, nice, high quality holsters with a good reputation...that just don't work for other people.
I don't have a shop here, but moving to Georgia (near Atlanta) in a few weeks...can I expect a shop to carry a selection of these nice, handmade, leather holsters? Do I get to wear them as part of the shopping process? If after a few days it isn't working, can I return it? That seems like a lot to ask of a retailer.
Surely there's a better way than to just keep buying $60-$100 holsters until I find one that fits.
I hear about the 'drawer full of holsters' that results from trying different styles and always think it'd be great to try out some of the holsters in that 'drawer' and buy the one that fits me best from whoever it didn't work for. Hmmm, how would that work as a website....?
I see holsters that some people love, nice, high quality holsters with a good reputation...that just don't work for other people.
I don't have a shop here, but moving to Georgia (near Atlanta) in a few weeks...can I expect a shop to carry a selection of these nice, handmade, leather holsters? Do I get to wear them as part of the shopping process? If after a few days it isn't working, can I return it? That seems like a lot to ask of a retailer.
Surely there's a better way than to just keep buying $60-$100 holsters until I find one that fits.
I hear about the 'drawer full of holsters' that results from trying different styles and always think it'd be great to try out some of the holsters in that 'drawer' and buy the one that fits me best from whoever it didn't work for. Hmmm, how would that work as a website....?
Maybe, probably, and probably not. Of course it depends on the shop and what's available in your locale, but the best I was able to find for high-quality holsters in my area was Galco at a sporting goods store. Of course, it's a good idea to try a few different merchants and see what brands are available.
The one time that I did buy a leather holster from that same store, I took it out of the resealable package and tried it on. With leather this doesn't mean much, because there's a world of difference from a new holster and one that's been broken in to the point of fitting the firearm like a glove.
Because of the break-in involved, odds are you won't be able to return it, but by all means ask at the time of purchase. If possible, find a good gun shop, get to the know the guys at the counter. They're more likely to do you the favor than Acme Sporting Goods.
Old Dog
Member
the wardrobe advice ... more thoughts
Sometimes, though, what we wore in high school is not always appropriate for many of us. Untucked and unbuttoned shirts are fine for working in the yard or running out to Wal-Mart, but at some point, some of us need to start dressing like grown-ups. Wearing sport coats, long cardigan style sweaters, or nice vests (especially a qood quality leather vest such as those available from Coronado Leather) is very effective in covering most IWB and OWB rigs (even with a full-size 1911). Weighting down the strong-side pocket with keys, one's small flashlight or a roll of dimes helps keep the covering garment from riding up. Of course, if you're living in Arizona or Florida ... more creativity is called for.
As far as detection ... It's possible that in many places, dressing "up" a little rather than dressing "down" also aids in keeping folks from suspecting you're packing ... dressing like a gangbanger, effective as those baggy garments are in hiding your gun, is not always the ticket to avoiding scrutiny. If you're wearing a sport coat and inadvertently flash your rig (e.g., while getting something out of a pants pocket -- although one should practice to avoid having this happen), most folks would probably just assume you're a cop or an otherwise respectable person (of course, if you dress too nicely, you may get mistaken for an attorney).
Kind of like the difference between driving a six-year-old white Buick (like the one Grandma used to drive) or a brandnew black Escalade with heavily-tinted windows and big shiny "ghetto spinner" wheels ... which is gonna help you avoid scrutiny? A large part of successful CCW is playing to the perception of others.
Sometimes, though, what we wore in high school is not always appropriate for many of us. Untucked and unbuttoned shirts are fine for working in the yard or running out to Wal-Mart, but at some point, some of us need to start dressing like grown-ups. Wearing sport coats, long cardigan style sweaters, or nice vests (especially a qood quality leather vest such as those available from Coronado Leather) is very effective in covering most IWB and OWB rigs (even with a full-size 1911). Weighting down the strong-side pocket with keys, one's small flashlight or a roll of dimes helps keep the covering garment from riding up. Of course, if you're living in Arizona or Florida ... more creativity is called for.
As far as detection ... It's possible that in many places, dressing "up" a little rather than dressing "down" also aids in keeping folks from suspecting you're packing ... dressing like a gangbanger, effective as those baggy garments are in hiding your gun, is not always the ticket to avoiding scrutiny. If you're wearing a sport coat and inadvertently flash your rig (e.g., while getting something out of a pants pocket -- although one should practice to avoid having this happen), most folks would probably just assume you're a cop or an otherwise respectable person (of course, if you dress too nicely, you may get mistaken for an attorney).
Kind of like the difference between driving a six-year-old white Buick (like the one Grandma used to drive) or a brandnew black Escalade with heavily-tinted windows and big shiny "ghetto spinner" wheels ... which is gonna help you avoid scrutiny? A large part of successful CCW is playing to the perception of others.
marklbucla
Member
The CCW instructor also suggested using a spare mag as a weight for your jacket. That's one less thing on your belt.
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