Most of us ask ourselves the “What to Wear?” question at least once a day. This can be an especially daunting question to answer for those of us who conceal carry a firearm on a daily basis. These days, the pervasive idea when concealed carrying is, you should always carry the same firearm, in the same holster, in the same place each time to be the most effective. To be fair, this probably is the most efficient way to carry. When you need it, you know right where it is and muscle memory should help you draw and aim it where you want it as speedily and as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, this causes you to “dress for the gun”. This may, or may not, be ideal for the situation(s) you are dressing for during that day.
I would like to take this opportunity to look at choosing the gun/carrying position, to match your attire for the day. I know…heresy!…lol.
First, let me say, I am no expert. I’m writing this from the point of view of “this is what I do”. I’m not recommending anything to anybody, again, this is just how I do it. Also, as I said before, if you want to be the absolute fastest, most accurate shooter, always carrying the same firearm in the same holster in the same place on you is good advice. If you are willing to trade a little bit of that speed for the luxury of wearing what you want, read on.
I basically have 3 different styles of clothing that I wear. The first is what I think is called “active wear”. These are sweatpants, sweat shorts, and those knit type “basketball” shorts along with a T-shirt. The second is what my wife jokingly calls my “fancy shorts”. These are mostly cargo and pleated shorts that are worn with a belt and a T-shirt. Jeans with a T-shirt falls into this same category/carry style…any pants I can wear a sturdy belt with are the same “style” as far as how I concealed carry. The third style is basically anything worn with a collared over-shirt or jacket.
There’s a saying that goes something like “the gun that is with you is better than the gun at home”. If you don’t conceal carry a handgun because it would cause you to dress in an uncomfortable or inappropriate way, that’s a problem that should be addressed. I believe in a kind of reverse Murphy’s law…If I’m carrying a handgun, I probably won’t need it. The time I’m not carrying one is when I am most likely to need it. I’m also driven by the thought that if something did happen to me or my family because I wasn’t carrying, I don’t know how well I could live with that.
The first style of clothing to discuss, active wear, was a challenge at first. This type of clothing was the one where I would leave the gun at home most often. My exclusive Every Day Carry (EDC) gun at the time was a Glock 27. I have several In The Waistband (ITW) style holsters, but the gun was too heavy to wear with one of those holsters. I could never get the waist tied/cinched up tight enough to not have my shorts hang way down and look unnatural. The gun would also tip out away from my body and “print” or “show through” my shirt so you could see it. This left me with the option of using a “Belly Band” style holster. If you’re not familiar with this type of holster, it’s band of elastic about 4 inches wide that goes around your belly and has a holster built into it. It’s worn at your waistline under your pants and shirt. I used this Belly Band holster for a while, but there were 2 issues with it.
The first was the band is elastic, so it does not breathe. Normally, I wear this clothing style when it’s warm out, and I got pretty sweaty, pretty quickly under it. The other issue was you had to be very careful holstering your gun in it. The holster part of the band was soft, so you had to ensure nothing got in the trigger guard when placing the firearm in the holster. If you were wearing it and trying to do this, it was difficult as your hand and the gun were in your line of sight to the holster. I found it was also a challenge to put the Belly Band on with the gun already in the holster. It got to the point where it was a chore to put it on and between that, and the sweat issue, I would rarely wear it.
When we moved into our Retreat property, I bought a Taurus 605 .357 Magnum revolver because we have rattlesnakes all around the area. I wanted to be able to use Snake Shot cartridges, and I had some concerns they may, or may not, always cycle a semi-automatic pistol. I did some research and felt a revolver with the Snake Shot cartridges was simply going to be the most reliable way to go. I always buy a IWB and OTW holster for every handgun I buy and while I was shopping, I watched a video about a new type of holster called “Sticky”. It doesn’t have a clip to connect to your belt or pants. It’s made from a material that when placed against your skin doesn’t move.
The Sticky holster was a game changer for me as far as wearing active wear and concealed carrying. You wear it at your waistline, under your underwear, next to your skin, and it just magically stays in place. It takes a little getting used to. I found where it wants to ride is little bit higher and a little bit further forward than I would prefer, but it stays in that “pocket” almost no matter what. I have power walked 4 or 5 miles, and done the “jog” across the street when traffic is waiting on me, with only minimal adjustments needed. The beauty of that is I can put my hands on my sides/hips like I’m catching my breath and make minor adjustments to it if needed and nobody is the wiser. This combination of revolver and holster really disappears under my shirt with my body type (5’8’’, med build).
I did have an issue using this holster with sweatpants. All my sweatpants had a loop to tie off instead of just strings. I could have cut them, but I knew I would lose the strings into the pants (as has happened before). When tying off the “loop”, it would always slip back a little, and the sweatpants would be just a little too loose to trust the Sticky to stay in place. It usually would, until it didn’t…lol. I purchased these things called “Single-Hole Cord Locks” that slipped over the strings and would lock in place and hold the string tight. I found using one would still occasionally slip, so I use two and they hold the string, my sweatpants, and the Sticky holster all tight in place.
There is at least one other brand of holster like this that I have seen, but I have not tried it. It’s called the Black Clipless IWB/Pocket Holster. I also don’t know if this combination gun/holster would work with a pistol. My Glock won’t fit into the holster I have for the revolver, so I haven’t tried it. A pistol will tend to be heavier and blockier than a revolver. If you want to carry a pistol in this type of holster I would say try it. Make sure the company you order from will allow returns in case it doesn’t work for you.
The second style of clothing I wear is pretty much anything that I can wear a stiff belt with. It’s just a belt, nothing “designed” for concealed carry or anything, just a belt that is about 1 ½ inches wide and stiff enough to support the weight of a holster attached to it. This includes cargo/pleated shorts, cargo/khaki pants, jeans and jean shorts. For this style, I carry in a Tier 1 Appendix holster with extra magazine carrier. I’m sure there are other brands out there, but this is what I have and use.
When I first bought this holster, I hated it. I weighed about 30 pounds more than I do now, and I had never seen anyone set it up properly. First, let me address the weight issue. Even if you are overweight, you can appendix carry. There are multiple videos on how to do it on YouTube. If you are overweight, it is even more important that the holster be set up properly for you and your body type. There are lots of videos on how to set up one of these types of holsters, and they can show you much better than I can try to explain in words, but the long and the short of it is you use spacers at the bottom/back of the holster to press the bottom of the holster out which pushes the top of the holster/butt of the gun into your stomach. There is also a spacer type thing on the right hand side that is pressed in by your belt which pivots the holster/butt of the gun into your side. It sounds like a lot of “pushing”, but when you get it set up properly it conceals the handgun very well and is actually pretty comfortable. I had to play with and adjust it 2 or 3 times until I got it just right. I have worn this set up for 12 to 14 hours some days with no real discomfort. This setup hides under a T-shirt quite well as long as it’s not a “form-fitting” T-shirt.
I know there are some people who would never carry a loaded weapon pointed at their “privates”. I understand completely, and didn’t carry a round in the chamber for the first few weeks I was wearing the holster until I saw a video on how quickly a person can sprint across 20 feet while another person was drawing their weapon and time and time again, there was no time to rack the slide to load a round and aim it before the person is on top of you. I was also convinced by the argument that as long as the trigger is completely covered, the gun can’t just “go off” in the holster. You do have to be very careful when you holster the gun, but I don’t find it difficult to put this holster on with the gun and spare magazine already loaded in it, so I’m not regularly holstering and re-holstering my handgun in it, so it’s not really an issue for me. The key thing is to, when holstering the gun, make sure your T-shirt doesn’t get caught in the trigger.
The third style of clothing I wear is when it gets cooler, and I can wear an overshirt or jacket. This style of concealed carry is probably going to get me the most grief from readers, but I love my Shoulder Holster. I do wear a shoulder holster that has the gun pointing down as opposed to pointing backwards. Even with the trigger covered, I don’t feel safe with a loaded gun pointing at other people. When it’s pointing at me?…I’m okay with that, but pointing at others?…nope. That’s just how I feel about it.
I’m torn on telling you the brand of this holster. I love the fit and feel of this holster, but I had issues with both orders I made with them. I ordered one for a Glock 27 and the other for another handgun I have. On one order the magazine pouches were too short, and on the other, the holster was too short for the gun I ordered it for. Both had to be remade. One was at Christmas time and took 5 weeks to be remade, and the other was not during the holidays and took three weeks (after several emails back and forth). I doubt this is typical for Falco Holsters, but it is what happened to me with my orders. And again, now that they are correct, I love these holsters.
I only use the holster for my Glock 27 for daily concealed carry. It has the handgun on one side and 2 backup magazines on the other. This setup really balances the weight on either side very well. Since I’m not very tall, I don’t attach the sides to my belt with the provided clips. I’ve actually removed them from the rig and found, for me, it works better that way. I don’t get straps pushing out my cover shirt when I bend over or reach up.
I wear this setup any time I can get away with an overshirt or a jacket. I have a few short-sleeve and long-sleeve shirts I can wear as an overshirt. I also have several flannel shirts that work as well. A jacket can usually cover an inside, and sometimes even an outside the waistband holster, but the shoulder holster is, for me, much more comfortable to wear.
As a side note, and I guess as a 4th carry style, when I am working around our Survival Retreat, I normally wear a “duty belt” (an inexpensive, velcroed one) with a Leatherman, a small flashlight, a mini-Sharpie, a Baofeng UV-5R (as there are a few neighbors within radio range, but the only cell phone connection is inside), with the .357 revolver in an Outside of The Waistband (OTW) holster on it. I carry the revolver with the first 2 rounds loaded with snake shot. I am far more likely to run into a snake or other critter I can dispatch or run off with the snake shot than I am a two-legged critter out where we are, but I do have the other 3 rounds of .357 hollowpoints, if needed. By wearing all this on a belt, it can be easily taken off when not needed and put back on when needed. I can also wear it over any type of clothing, so no matter what the weather, or what I’m wearing, I can still have my “utility belt”. It’s sooo much easier to take all that gear on and off in one motion as opposed to putting each item on and taking each item off individually. Once I take the belt off, I do secure the firearm appropriately.
I wanted to mention that I do practice drawing from all of these holsters and carry positions. From each holster/position, I draw the handgun and bring it to my chest, and push it out from there. This way only the draw from the holster to my chest is different for each carry holster. But from my chest to the firing position is the same no matter which one I’m using.
I hope this gives everyone some ideas on different ways to concealed carry depending on what you’re wearing. There are lots of different holsters giving lots of different options on how to concealed carry. Start with what you wear most often and think of a creative way to hide a handgun with it. I tell people you can learn to do anything on YouTube, so look up the pros and cons of different styles of concealed carry and decide if one looks like it will work for you…then try it out!