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by thejtrain
Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:24 am
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: Concealed Carry Full Size Pistol
Replies: 116
Views: 20350

Re: Concealed Carry Full Size Pistol

mr.72 wrote:Never mind. I shall go back to figuring this out on my own.
Dude, no need to take your ball & go home (EDIT: glad to see you didn't, since we posted simultaneously). The folks on the thread are just trying to be polite & make suggestions & help (and since concealed carry is so personalized, it's very hard to make suggestions about anything other than what one has tried personally), but I think some of us (myself included) may have allowed the four-page thread to distract us from your very first post:
mr.72 wrote:I am about 190lb just a hair under 6' tall and wear size L (42) shirts, 33-34" waist jeans that are not "relaxed fit" but more "regular fit" like 501s. My shirts are not tight but they are not oversized (I can fit into a M ... and some of my shirts are M or even S depending on the maker... so I guess even L's are oversized a little bit). I don't wear a stiff belt routinely. I'm all ears if there is a way to carry my Sigma 9mm with an IWB.(emphasis mine)
I know for myself, I focused more on your description (though mentioning you're a cyclist probably would have gone further than weights & measures ;-) - "athletic" doesn't really mean much given the wide variety of athletes out there, from cycling to running to basketball to football to rugby - an earlier "cyclist" mention would also have given us a better idea of what frame of reference you were using when you mentioned "overweight") and kind of overlooked the bolded section where you basically stated you wouldn't want to wear a belt. If I had focused on that portion instead I probably would have addressed that specifically, and only then added my suggestions on "what worked for me".

Unfortunately, what I would have said (again, based solely on my own limited experience, others here may disagree) is that you'd be very hard-pressed to make a full-size pistol work in ANY kind of WB carry (inside or outside) without a belt of some kind. Just the weight of the pistol alone will make it almost impossible. Long story short, the gun needs something to hang from that isn't going to be going anywhere. (think of the Smartcarry - it's essentially an under-the-pants belt with a pouch attached that the gun hangs from) Will the pants you wear, in the style you wear them, support the weight of the gun without any kind of belt at all? Only you can answer that, since none of us can feel what it feels like to wear the pants you wear. If the answer, as I suspect, ends up being "no", then neither IWB nor OWB is likely to work at all, and it's time to be practical & realistic and consider something else (either carry location or the gun itself).

The only other thought I have would be perhaps the Pager Pal, but the relative "tightness" of the fit of the jeans might preclude that. There's a video on the site you can check out, and I know one other individual here has tried it and found it lacking.

As with everything, YMMV, and we all really do hope you find what works for you.

JT
by thejtrain
Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:03 pm
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: Concealed Carry Full Size Pistol
Replies: 116
Views: 20350

Re: Concealed Carry Full Size Pistol

Don't get too discouraged, Mr.72 - there are others like you & agbullet2k1. I'll echo just about everything he said about what he's found that works. That's really the key - experiment with the gun you want to carry and the clothes you'd ideally like to wear with it, and start changing things (clock position, cant, tucked or un-, etc. etc.) until you find something that works well for you.

I don't have any pictures, and I still haven't carried out of the house (the plastic probably arrived at my house today but of course I'm out of town for work), but I've been practicing at home and from what I & my wife can see I've figured out what works for me. Here are my particulars:
- 6' 2", 230 (on my way to 210 from 267 :thumbs2:)
- Glock 30
- Crossbreed SuperTuck IWB
Like you, I'm not a fan of a) wearing two shirts or b) wearing untucked button-downs, and here's what I've found works very well for me:
- cant the SuperTuck as far forward as possible (so the grip is pointing as far "upwards" as possible)
- wear @ ~4:00
- the firmer (and tighter) the belt, the more it helps the grip really hug your side, rather than "lean out", especially if it's a heavy gun (and whether it's polymer or not, the 10 rounds of .45 in the magwell is a bit of weight!)
- I've found that tucking actually works better than leaving the shirt untucked, as long as you "bloom" it out a bit. Having the shirt tucked sort of "secures" it from draping itself across the grip when you move & bend. The lines & folds & wrinkles that a shirt has when it's tucked helps camouflage it more than a straight-dropped-down untucked shirt tends to do.
- Along the same lines, I'll echo others who've said that dark colors, & patterns or stripes tend to work better than light colors or solids.

Again, YMMV and every person's different. So, try, and try again!

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