While staying on the topic of the last thread, which was why it is important to have a complete concealed carry rig, as opposed to just a holster, today I am going to discuss why waistline or belt carry, makes the most sense to me. Belt carry is the most popular way to carry a concealed handgun, and for good reason. It keeps the firearm in place, is comfortable with the right rig, conceals well for most, and offers a rather fast draw time. With a proper rig, you can also conceal a full sized handgun without too much of a problem, provided you are wearing appropriate clothing. If keeps the handgun easily accessible in case you need it, and doesn't require you to cross over any of your own body parts, or flag, with the muzzle of a loaded firearm. But it is not the only way to carry a firearm, some of the other options include pocket carry, shoulder holsters, ankle carry, and I will explain some of the pros and cons of each of those.
Pocket carry is the only way that I carry a pistol aside from waistline carry, and is a viable option for the most part. Now, when I am talking about pocket carry, I don't mean just take a pistol and jam it in your pocket with your keys and cell phone. You still should be using a holster for pocket carry, and a number of manufacturers make pocket holsters. I am partial to the Desantis Nemesis for this role, as it stays in the pocket during the draw. A pocket holster provides two functions, first, it protects the trigger to make sure no foreign objects can interact with it, and second, it helps break up the outline of the pistol. If you are wearing skin tight jeans or pants made of very thin material. pocket carry probably won't work for you, because the pistol will print (be visible through the fabric). Also, if you are going to pocket carry, the pistol should be the only thing in that pocket, put your keys, cell phone, knife, wallet or whatever else goes in your pockets somewhere else.
But, pocket carry allows you to still have a rather fast draw time, and you can have your hand on your pistol without alerting anyone (something you can not do easily with belt carry). And with the right pants it conceals rather well, and can be carried in styles of dress where belt carry is not possible, like business casual. The biggest drawback of pocket carry for me is that it really limits what firearms you can carry. When I pocket carry, it is with a S&W 638 snub nosed revolver, whereas my normal carry pistol is currently a Sig Sauer 220. So, I am carrying a pistol that is harder to shoot because of the shorter grip and sight radius, with less rounds, a slower reload, and a less powerful caliber. But, the gun in your hand when you need it is better than the one at home in the safe, so, if due to how I need to dress I can't carry my preferred gun, pocket carry with a small revolver or semi-auto beats being unarmed. So pocket carry is an option, just keep in mind most pants pockets won't hold a full sized pistol, so you sacrifice in things like magazine capacity and ease of shooting for your carry pistol.
Next is shoulder holster carry, which honestly I have never really had work for me. Some people say they get it to work, and in my experience, that is usually tall skinny people. One of the few advantages of shoulder holsters is that they let you carry even larger pistols than belt carry, especially with a vertical shoulder holster. If you want to carry a Smith and Wesson N or X frame, this is the way to do it (although, those are more appropriate for big game hunting and would be open carried in my opinion). But usually unless you have decently thick fabric in your cover garment, the harness prints through. I also don't like that the holster is not stable while you are carrying, it can move around, and I like my holster to be consistently in the same spot.
My two biggest issues with shoulder holster carry is that first, you need to reach across your body to draw. Now, if you spend a majority of time seated, like working as a driver, a cross draw belt holster or shoulder holster might make sense. But, if someone is already at bad breath distance from you, and you need to reach your hand across your body to draw your pistol, that is a rather simple move for the bad guy to block. And what if he has already knocked you down and is literally on top of you? He can just pin your arm down with a leg or hand, and you can't draw. In that instance, it is easier for him to draw your pistol. But, my biggest issue with shoulder holsters is that you pretty much have to flag a part of your own body with the muzzle of a loaded handgun during the draw. Usually that part of your body is your off-side arm. I am a firm believer in the firearms safety rules, including to never point a weapon at anything you don't want to shoot. I do not want to shoot myself in the arm, or any other body part. So during a high stress lethal situation, I don't want to have to flag any part of my body with my loaded firearm while a chemical cocktail inside my own body is doing things like decreasing my fine motor skills. So, for me, shoulder holster carry is not an option. It looks really cool in the movies, but doesn't seem really practical for real life.
Next up is ankle carry, which also seems really cool in the movies. But is probably the worst of the "mainstream" ways to carry a pistol. First of all, it isn't very comfortable a lot of the time, and can make you feel unbalanced as you walk. Like pocket carry it basically restricts you to small semi-automatics or revolvers, meaning your pistol is going to be harder to shoot, and have a smaller capacity. But the real downfall of ankle carry is the draw method. If you are standing and need to draw, you have to expose the top of your head to the threat, which isn't something I ever want to do, while simultaneously moving your head closer to the bad guy. You also are compromising your balance if you try to bring your leg up to you, which would make it much easier for someone to knock you over, and gain a dominant position where even unarmed they could do significant damage. If you are sitting down the draw is a little bit better balance wise, but you still may have to expose the top of your head. And if you are already on the ground grappling with someone, you can pretty much forget making it to your pistol. Ankle carry can also be hard to conceal, because if your pants leg rides up during movement, you are no longer concealing your pistol. So, ankle carry is not a method that I would recommend.
In my opinion, waistline carry, either inside the waistband, or outside the waistband is still the best option, which is probably why it has been the preferred method since pistols began to be made and be carried a couple hundred years ago. It is the best balance between conceal-ability with a service sized handgun, comfort, and accessibility and speed during the draw. I know that there are several other methods of carry that people have come up with, but for now I chose to stick with the methods outlined above. If anyone has questions about any other specific carry method, feel free to contact me, and I will answer your questions. Thanks for reading, I hope everyone learned something this post, or at least read something that makes them think about concealing differently.
No comments:
Post a Comment