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Concealed Carry Corner: Three Tips To Make Carrying Concealed Easier

Talyn

SAINT
Founding Member
There are even more new individuals to the concealed carry market so naturally people are asking for tips to become more comfortable. Let’s take a look at a couple of things that are easy tips to make carrying concealed easier.

Three Tips To Make Carrying Concealed Easier

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Best advice...lose weight. I drive 10-14 hours/day and my IWB holster just doesn't get along with my inner tube at any o'clock while driving...pocket holster for this fat man.

Have to agree here. When I started carrying 20 years ago, it was easy. I weighed 20+ pounds less than I do now. My first carry piece? A full-sized XD 45. CONCEALED. As you increase your weight, the discomfort level of having something on/in/around your waistband increases the pressure and hurts. Stay slim and you have less issues.
 
^ Gear selection really becomes more of an issue on both sides of the bell-curve......issues of comfort and concealment are not limited to those of us who are bigger around the mid-section or with higher BMI - those at the mirror-opposite end of the spectrum have similar issues, too. Women, while they are an increasingly focused-upon segment of the market, still today stand among the minority in terms of gear design considerations, and they often face unique issues, too.

There's a lot of fine-tuning that needs to happen, and often this over time not only as the shooter begins to better understand what works and does not work for him/her, but also as new gear comes into play (i.e. the development of the stand-alone or integral wedge, the utilization of concealment wings/claws, an understanding of "the keel principle" and unique setups such as the PHLster Enigma [and its much less well-known predecessor]), and as their own knowledge of gear and gear setup grows.

The article cited by @Talyn (who seems to have a talent for bringing excellent pieces of knowledge to our Forum community! (y) ) is a great primer, but as concealed carriers continue down the path, seeking additional knowledge and know-how from vetted sources like the Primary & Secondary Forums/FB Groups as well as YouTube pages like PHLster's (PhillyEDC) will become important to their continued quest for both breadth of knowledge as well as depth of knowledge -


Demonstrating this advancement, remember above where I wrote that folks on either of the diminishing sides of the bell curve can have issues? There's also instances where their exceptional body-shapes can mate-up just-so with a piece of gear that also rides at the edges. One of the videos above shows the reasons why for many people, rigid "sidecar" type holsters don't work well, interestingly, for many who are of very slender and flat-belly'ed builds, these holsters can offer exceptional levels of concealment, and do not incur nearly as much of their design penalties as they empirically "should."
 
Hi,

This muzzle pad from Dark Gear sure made my EDC much more comfortable.


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I think @TSiWRX recommended these. It sure makes my kydex IWB very comfortable.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
I got a nylon vest. Throw the Hellcat in it. no lint issues at all. I can throw another one on the other inside if I want, but not as comfortable. Used to use a belly band, but the vest is much nicer. If you worry about carrying an unholstered gun, get a Hellcat with the external safety. No external on mine, just offering options.

My guns are all stock. They don't go off in your pocket. Dropped a Glock 4 feet on concrete...nothing. Someone said they tested Glocks from way up drops and nothing...they don't go off in your pocket.

Used to carry a snub, S&W Scandium. Gave up on 5 shots. Not in your life in a dem run world. 5 shots are almost useless nowadays.

 
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^ Gear selection really becomes more of an issue on both sides of the bell-curve......issues of comfort and concealment are not limited to those of us who are bigger around the mid-section or with higher BMI - those at the mirror-opposite end of the spectrum have similar issues, too. Women, while they are an increasingly focused-upon segment of the market, still today stand among the minority in terms of gear design considerations, and they often face unique issues, too.

There's a lot of fine-tuning that needs to happen, and often this over time not only as the shooter begins to better understand what works and does not work for him/her, but also as new gear comes into play (i.e. the development of the stand-alone or integral wedge, the utilization of concealment wings/claws, an understanding of "the keel principle" and unique setups such as the PHLster Enigma [and its much less well-known predecessor]), and as their own knowledge of gear and gear setup grows.

The article cited by @Talyn (who seems to have a talent for bringing excellent pieces of knowledge to our Forum community! (y) ) is a great primer, but as concealed carriers continue down the path, seeking additional knowledge and know-how from vetted sources like the Primary & Secondary Forums/FB Groups as well as YouTube pages like PHLster's (PhillyEDC) will become important to their continued quest for both breadth of knowledge as well as depth of knowledge -


Demonstrating this advancement, remember above where I wrote that folks on either of the diminishing sides of the bell curve can have issues? There's also instances where their exceptional body-shapes can mate-up just-so with a piece of gear that also rides at the edges. One of the videos above shows the reasons why for many people, rigid "sidecar" type holsters don't work well, interestingly, for many who are of very slender and flat-belly'ed builds, these holsters can offer exceptional levels of concealment, and do not incur nearly as much of their design penalties as they empirically "should."
I’ll take that a step further.
Practice drawing quite a bit as well as where you draw.

When I first practiced drawing from the holster while seated in my vehicle, I kept hitting the steering wheel while attempting to simulate shooting out the window.
Muscle memory didnt account for an object in front of my chest.

I then took an old car out to the land and shot out the window after I got down the basics of the draw
 
If y'all don't mind, I'll add a fourth tip: Camouflage your EDC setup.

Because of my physique, I prefer to carry my pistol in an external pouch. However, to the semi-trained eye, a gun pouch looks like...well...a gun pouch, so it's happened in the past that a security or staff person in a store has politely asked me to leave so I wouldn't make other shoppers nervous.

To avoid future suspicion, I've modified my pouch by adding a couple of patches (see attached.) Onlookers think it's a personal medical kit of some kind, so I have yet to be asked to leave because of printing or whatever.
 

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I guess its relative. Currently I pocket carry in a chest pocket on my outer coat and will be able to do so for another 4-5 months. Carrying in a fanny-pack couldn't possibly be faster. However, I have always questioned how fast one needs to draw when it comes down to it....all these guys talk about training for drawing in micro-seconds...I'm not convinced that is always necessary. Every situation is different. I just don't think that fast-draw like Clint Eastwood is realistic...
 
I got a nylon vest. Throw the Hellcat in it. no lint issues at all. I can throw another one on the other inside if I want, but not as comfortable. Used to use a belly band, but the vest is much nicer. If you worry about carrying an unholstered gun, get a Hellcat with the external safety. No external on mine, just offering options.

My guns are all stock. They don't go off in your pocket. Dropped a Glock 4 feet on concrete...nothing. Someone said they tested Glocks from way up drops and nothing...they don't go off in your pocket.

Used to carry a snub, S&W Scandium. Gave up on 5 shots. Not in your life in a dem run world. 5 shots are almost useless nowadays.

You’re wrong on the 5 shots, for what it’s worth.

Average self defense shooting is under two rounds fired.

Also, a Glock can go off in a pocket, if it’s not in a holster. Plenty of examples of it happening.

If you pocket carry, use a holster that covers the trigger guard.
 
POM pepper spray is very easy to carry for those instances when your assailant isn't "shootable" but still needs to be dealt with, and your only alternative is fisticuffs. Pistol, spare mag(s), pepper spray, knife and flashlight if it's going to be dark. That's not too much to carry, and it covers a lot of ground.
 
I guess its relative. Currently I pocket carry in a chest pocket on my outer coat and will be able to do so for another 4-5 months. Carrying in a fanny-pack couldn't possibly be faster. However, I have always questioned how fast one needs to draw when it comes down to it....all these guys talk about training for drawing in micro-seconds...I'm not convinced that is always necessary. Every situation is different. I just don't think that fast-draw like Clint Eastwood is realistic...

I'm sure not every situation would require a super fast draw. Situational awareness can help here. That said, it's not like it never happens so why in the world would you not train for it?
 
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