All posts tagged Walther .380

Outside the pants carry, how well can you conceal?

I’ve been on the mission of trying to find gun holsters that I can wear that are not IWB because I’ve had too many times where i got a bruise and it took weeks for it to go away.  If i got thrown around in a fight IWB is more likely to hurt you in my opinion, but for some situations it’s about the only way a thin guy can carry.   Now that I’ve grown  older and packed on a few extra pounds, I’ve been trying to see if I can get away with summer carry outside the pants.   Paddle holsters, especially the Blackhawk Serpa holsters protrude too far outside my body for me to conceal them with just a t-shirt.  I’ve been wearing an Eotac Style 103 for Spring Season, but once it warms up I can’t carry with my Blackhawk Serpa any longer.

I’m trying some of these Woolrich Elite CCW shirts, they are really, really impressive.   I think Woolrich got hurt pretty bad by the split up a few years ago, but the Woolrich Elite shirts i recently picked up have been really nice to wear to family and social events.  Since the 1911 is one of the thinnest built handguns I own, I have been trying one of these Galco holsters that is a locked in place by your belt and sits right up against your body.  I always prefer paddle holsters because they are easy to get on and off, but for CCW they just don’t cut it in the Summer.  My Colt 1911 is getting use to this configuration and I’ll report back as soon as I get the chance.

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Summer CCW options when it comes to wearing shorts

We all know that much of what we see being made by  5.11 tactical and Blackhawk, Woolrich Elite and Eotac are suppose to be concealed carry, but they really are all still tactical looking.   Much of what i have seen that was suppose to be in the Covert Carry products from 5.11 all looked like a Cop should be wearing them and if it’s got 5.11 on them, I don’t think there are too many big time criminals that don’t know what 5.11 clothing looks like.   I’m still amazed at the fact that 5.11 covert carry pants do not work very well with any kind of pocket carry and the inner pockets are practically useless for anything other than a wallet or money.   Woolrich Elite shorts are by far the best,  we’ve carried a few other tactical shorts in the past, but we got tired of the complaints about them riding up and not being true to size.

One thing we have liked about carrying the Woolrich Elite product line is most of our customer base have come over from wearing 5.11 tactical clothing.  We plan on carrying some of the 5.11 tactical apparel in the very near future, but we will be picky about what we carry due to so many complaints about inconsistencies about sizing and shrinkage.   I’ve tossed a few 5.11 tactical shorts because they rode up on me so bad that I was in danger of being cited for obscenities.   Woolrich Elite style 44908 are the lightweight cotton ripstop material that will give you some ability to carry gear or pocket carry

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Don’t burry your weapons under clothing

I think there is a point that people really can get carried away with the CCW point of view.   There were a few wacky incidences that occured over the years where a gun owner got himself or herself into a gray area and really invited trouble.  The whole open carry debate can be a powder keg amonst many on our side of the aisle, but not invited problems is something we should be trained to think about.   Don’t put yourself in a situation where the method in which you are carrying is going to make you stand out.   For example, we have a lot of customers that carry full size autos that want to carry their firearms in jackets and they always want to know which vests or jacket it will work in.    If this is what you want to do, go ahead and do it, but if you are standing out on a football field at your kids football game and you are the only person wearing a jacket and it’s 70F out, you are going to be out of place, and may invite problems from a smart ass anti-gun person that knows you may be in a grey area by carrying a gun on school property.

I have stated several times that some of the toughest people I know don’t always carry firearms, and many of the best trained shooters are carrying j-frame revolvers.   This has slightly changed in the last few years since there are some reliable .380 pocket guns coming into the market.   I really don’t have much experience with these, but since many of them are new, it’s sometimes a good idea to just sit back and see how well the products hold up and what their reputations are.   There is not always a real need to get too exotic with gun holsters.   A good pocket carry gun could have 6 or 7 rounds of .380 or 9mm and depending on your body size, you may even be able to get a .40 S&W gun in there.  Pocket carry is probable one of the most comfortable ways to conceal a firearm and won’t restrict much of your movement.

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