Have you ever had a tough time deciding how to carry your handgun? Ever wondered which positions offer advantages, or what the disadvantages might be? If so, this article might help you out. We’re going to examine some of the various ways that handguns can be carried and lay out the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
Not only are there an infinite number of choices of handguns we can carry, but also plenty of choices as to how to carry them. We’ll cover some basic options here.
Choices, Choices…
Outside The Waistband (OWB), Inside The Waistband (IWB), Appendix Inside The Waistband (AIWB), Small of the Back (SOB), Ankle, Crossdraw, Shoulder Carry…there’s quite a list of possible locations to mount a holster.
With most people, it takes some experimentation to figure out what is the best location to carry a defensive handgun. To complicate matters, there are hundreds or thousands of holsters on the market, all vying for our hard-earned dollars.
For me, it was dominant side, Outside The Waistband at the three o’clock position. There’s where I carried my revolver on duty (yeah…I’m that old), so it made sense to carry my pistol there while off duty too.
As fate has it, old age began creeping up. And when I say creeping, I mean with all the finesse of a Cape Buffalo that just had its nose smacked. If I carry a sizeable pistol on my right hip, my hip hurts. Plus the pistol prints more easily.
What is “Printing”?
“Printing” means that when we are carrying a weapon, it makes an outline on the garment that we’re using to cover it up It’s a bulge or print that lets others know that we are carrying a weapon, or at least that there is something underneath our clothing. That’s not what we want to have, instead preferring to keep the fact that we are carrying a weapon secret. The first clue I want a bad person to have that I’m carrying a weapon is when I have it pointed at them. Because, after all, surprises are so much fun!
Modes of Carry
AIWB
The nice thing is that, if one method of carry isn’t working out, we have a number of others to try. And so I decided to try carrying Appendix Inside The Waistband. I did it for a few reasons. First, all the cool kids are doing it. After all, they can’t all be wrong, can they?
All joking aside, it offers a few attractive advantages. It took the pressure off of my hip. It conceals well, as my shirt often goes over the pistol and lays relatively flat, which reduces printing. Also, since it’s inside the waistband, it’s more concealed than a holster on the outside of the waistband.
Finally, I can lift my shirt to draw the pistol with minimal movement. Neither of my elbows has to be raised significantly as I had to when carrying on my strong side hip. With that technique, I had to raise my right elbow fairly high in order to draw the pistol, which drew attention to me as I drew the weapon.
AIWB allows me to keep my elbows fairly low, drawing less attention to the fact that I’m accessing a weapon. So far, it’s working out pretty well after a couple of years.
Are there any downsides? Of course. At times, the pistol and holster combination digs into the area between my groin and hip, causing discomfort that demands the rig be adjusted. If I’m sitting in a car or other seat, this can be more pronounced.
Also, I don’t care to have a loaded weapon pointed at my….shall we say, my Very Important Parts (VIP). Yeah, I know, pistols these days have several internal safeties and they don’t just go off by themselves. But still…those are Very Important Parts, nonetheless! And I can’t get that gold rule of firearms safety out of my mind: Never point a weapon at anything you’re not willing to destroy.
I normally use DeSantis IWB holsters for my pistols. For my H&K USP Compact, I use a DeSantis Insider Holster. For the Springfield Hellcat, I use DeSantis’s Inside Heat holster. I also use the Inside Heat for my Glock 43X.
Other IWB Positions
Appendix isn’t the only Inside the Waistband position of carry. Some people place the holster in the dead center of their front, pointed directly down at the Very Important Parts. It’s great for concealment and gives the handgun a central location, but it’s not for me.
Others place the holster at the three o’clock position, which is directly on the right side (or nine o’clock for those who are left-handed). I’ve found that one to be uncomfortable, but it works for some folks.
Still others move it slightly behind that spot, putting the holster further back in the four or five o’clock spot. The issue with that for me is that I have to reach further back to access the gun, which makes more of a production out of drawing the weapon. However, it gets the handgun back far enough, which can reduce printing because the grip of the handgun rides back along the kidney and doesn’t stick out far.
The Small of the Back (SOB) position is great for concealment because it tucks the handgun into the natural valley that’s created by the spine. The handgun just kind of melts into that space, and typically, people’s eyes aren’t drawn there frequently.
Some carry Inside the Waistband in this position, while others carry Outside the Waistband.
While it’s effective for concealment, I have a few issues with this position. First, to draw the firearm, you must reach way back, which can take extra time. And during a lethal force encounter, fractions of a second can mean life or death.
Another negative point is if you’re knocked down on your back. Two bad things can happen here, with the first being that the handgun is sandwiched between your body and Mother Earth, ramming the gun into your spine, which can have negative effects. And in this state, it’s nigh on impossible to draw the weapon, especially if the criminal miscreant is on top of you.
Also, when wearing a handgun in the SOB, it’s difficult to bend over without advertising to the world that we are carrying a firearm because the shirt rides up, exposing it.
Finally, driving or sitting for any length of time with the handgun pushing into the lower back is rarely any fun and usually proves to be quite uncomfortable.
On the plus side, you might be able to surreptitiously draw the weapon without the bad guy seeing what you’re doing if his attention is divided among several subjects. Depending upon the angle, you might reach back without drawing attention to yourself to draw the weapon.
Ankle Carry
If you want to really conceal a small pistol or revolver, ankle carry can make a handgun disappear like magic. Of course, you’ll have to be wearing long pants that are loose around the ankles to make it happen, obviously, so the wardrobe is slightly limited.
The caveat is that the gun is then slow to access, because you have to bend down (an awkward and vulnerable position in most emergencies) to draw the firearm after lifting up the pant leg. If you’re facing an attacker, this isn’t the greatest position to be in.
It can feel odd, too, as if you’re wearing a weight on one of your ankles. But if you really want to appear to be unarmed, this is a pretty good one to use. Personally, I don’t use it often at all because of the drawbacks. For my S&W 642 .38 Special, I have a Bulldog Extreme Series Ankle Holster, which is a good quality holster for the job.
Shoulder Holsters
When Miami Vice was a regular show, lots of people got into shoulder holsters. All of those detective shows made them popular. With some people, it proved to be a fad, but shoulder holsters do have their place. If I’m wearing a suit (a rare occasion), I normally drag out the shoulder holster. It’s not something I wear very often, because shoulder holsters aren’t necessarily the most natural-feeling rigs to parade around in. They feel like…well, a harness. Because that’s what they are.
The upside is that, if you’re wearing a suit jacket or other cover garment, they work well and you don’t need a belt.
I use the New York Undercover Shoulder Holster from DeSantis. I have it set up for my Glock 19X, although you can get holsters for other handguns and attach them to the rig. It’s reasonably comfortable and does the job well, and its construction is very sturdy. I also hear good things about Galco shoulder holsters.
Cross Draw
Cross draw holsters are a rarity in my circles, but several holster makers still make them, so they’re alive and well. Some advantages of the cross draw are that they make drawing from the seated position (such as when you’re in a car) easier; reaching across our body while seated is simply easier than trying to reach a pistol on our dominant side.
Also, it’s possible to reach under your cover garment and get a hand on the grip of the handgun without a threat seeing what you’re doing; he won’t necessarily know that you have a pistol under there. We can’t do that with a strong side holster.
Some cons are the possibility of your being disarmed while in the process of drawing because you have to move the handgun across your body as part of the draw, and it can take a bit longer. Also, as part of the draw, you might inadvertently sweep people that you did not intend to with the handgun because of the angle of the draw stroke.
Pocket Carry
Sometimes the smaller pistols lend themselves to pocket carry. During such times, a pocket holster should be used to eliminate the possibility of anything getting into the trigger guard of the handgun and pulling the trigger.
The pros of pocket carry are that we won’t have a handgun around our waist to be detected. It can be very convenient to drop a small handgun into a pocket.
The cons are that it might be slower to draw from the pocket, and there’s a chance that the gun could snag inside the pocket on the draw, depending upon what sort of handgun we are using.
Sticky Holsters offers a holster for J-Frame-sized revolvers with a barrel up to 2.25 inches long. It fits into the pocket and the outer covering helps the holster “stick” in the pocket without being pulled out when we draw the handgun. They also have a line of holsters for other handguns. These holsters are inexpensive (the J-Frame holster goes for $27.99 as this is written) and of high quality.
Aside from keeping the handgun safe in our pocket, these holsters break up the outline of the handgun, adding to concealment.
Drawbacks and Benefits
Every one of these carry positions has negatives and positives. It’s up to us to sort out which ones matter the most to us and figure out the best carry options that will work for our needs.
I’ve offered my views on this subject and made it sound like my choices of carry are the best. That’s because they are the best…for me. Other people have different needs, body types, and circumstances. So what works for me might be out of the question for you. These days, we have a wide assortment of options as to how to carry our handguns. Chances are, there is a mode of carry that will appeal to your needs and wants. Expect some trial and error and don’t be surprised if you wind up with a box full of holsters (some heavily used, others barely used) from both failed and successful carry ventures.
Some holsters are inexpensive, while others are costly. Bear in mind that we usually get what we pay for these days, so count on spending a little money. That said, there are some very reasonable prices on quality holsters, so don’t be dismayed. Just do your homework.
Once you’ve decided on a mode of carry, engage in extensive, safe practice drawing from the holster.
And remember — half the fun is getting there!
