Dressing For Concealed Carry In The Winter.

[Smoke]

Normally I carry on my hip under a cover shirt. If I'm going to be outside for a while I tuck in the shirt and carry under only my jacket.

I spend a good bit of my "workday" outside and I'm required to open carry and with all the junk I have to carry I don't want to wear a coat at all so I layer up but that's uncomfortable if you spend any amount of time indoors

My question is how do you carry when you're going to be in and out with your jacket on and off throughout the day?

 

[SilentKnight]

Reload in the strong side pocket. Helps swing the jacket away for a clean draw. A good long vest is versatile. Takes practice.

 

[Sgt.Peck]

You could get a warm vest. Woolrich makes some nice ones and then there are some microfiber choices from Land's End, or L.L. Bean for example..

 

[Arik]

Are you in some kind of uniform or do you wear dress attire? They make jackets with a slit on the side specifically for firearms. However typically these are not dress type jackets. You normally find cops wearing them.

I tried Googling it and I get to broad answers. Hopefully a resident police officer here will chime in with what I'm talking about.

 

[sawlog]

get a cowboy rig that has your gun holstered half way down your leg!!
lol. im glad we don't have to open carry here, that would be a pain in the winter.

 

[Smoke]

Are you in some kind of uniform or do you wear dress attire? They make jackets with a slit on the side specifically for firearms.

At work I'm in uniform. My employer has those coats but it's too much to wear over a duty belt and vest so I layer up from the inside

 

[CoMF]

I just drop my M36 in my left jacket pocket while I'm out walking the dog and then put it back in its IWB holster when we're back inside. Good thing Carhartt jackets have deep pockets.

Seems to work well when I have my outerwear zippered up. When I'm wearing it open, I just stick with IWB.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Normally I carry on my hip under a cover shirt. If I'm going to be outside for a while I tuck in the shirt and carry under only my jacket.

I spend a good bit of my "workday" outside and I'm required to open carry and with all the junk I have to carry I don't want to wear a coat at all so I layer up but that's uncomfortable if you spend any amount of time indoors

My question is how do you carry when you're going to be in and out with your jacket on and off throughout the day?

I'm confused. Are you open carrying or concealed carrying? First paragraph says one thing, second says another . . .

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Everyone has their personal issues with concealed carry compromises. Easy answers include pocket carry, sometimes ankle carry (eek! ), tuckable IWB holsters (a great concept), etc.

The very simplest answer, if you are carrying concealed and it's not cold enough for a coat, is layers of clothing and a good vest. If the plan is to NOT open carry the vest never comes off, indoors or out. Even easier, perhaps, is a concealed carry vest. I have several vests designed for holding guns inside the vest itself that do NOT scream "I'm a concealed carry vest".

Experiment until you find the right method that works for you.

 

[DevilDog72]

As stated a couple times above.... trial and error. I don't think if you are required to open carry why taking the coat/jacket off in doors has a real dilemma attached to it. I may be confused as well..... I am after all a newly minted senior citizen, just say'n.

Good luck with this...............

 

[Old cop]

I've been fully retired since '05 so work dress is no longer an issue. That said pocket carry 100% of the time works for me. Jacket pocket until inside then transfer to my slacks or jeans front pocket.

 

[ContinentalOp]

Not sure if it'll help, but I just wear what I normally wear, an untucked shirt, and if it's cold enough I wear a jacket. My jacket is short enough and has enough "looseness" that I can do the same draw as I would without the jacket. I like to keep things simple and consistent.

 

[Smoke]

Sorry I said that wrong

My dilemma is this; off the clock I carry concealed. I normally carry on my hip under a cover shirt. If I put on a coat over that then I have 2 things to move before I can get to my gun.

So if I'm going to be out in it I tuck in the shirt and just conceal under the coat but I can't do that if I'm going to church or somewhere where I'm expected to take off the overcoat when I get there.

Other than the fact that I can't cover up my gun the reference to my work had more to do with the layers than the OC

Tonight is going to be really cold so I'll have on Under Armor under poly pros under a sweat shirt under my uniform.

I could do that off work and just wear my street clothe but I'd look out of place outside and I'd roast inside so I don't think that's a solution

So how do you keep your gun concealed but accessible and on your person when wearing multiple layers of clothing and taking some layers off and putting them back on?

 

[Wingmaster]

I work outside. I wear a tucked in tee shirt and a sweat shirt over that with a coat over that. When it warms up enough to take my coat off my sweat shirt still covers my shield in a belt holster.

I live in Wyoming where it won't warm up enough to take my sweatshirt off until about June. then I go to a IWB with an untucked tee shirt.

Wingmaster

 

[ISCS Yoda]

So how do you keep your gun concealed but accessible and on your person when wearing multiple layers of clothing and taking some layers off and putting them back on?

For decades I simply pocket carried a small pistol or a J frame revolver. I believe the times we live in call for more firepower so I have switched to K frame snubs or compact 3rd Gen pistols.

I have been wearing vests every day for many, many years, and since I never take the vests off indoors the guns residing on my belt, OWB or IWB, are totally hidden. Coats come off; vests don't.

Summer? Lightweight vests.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Well, this advice may only apply to me, and my wife says I'm crazy, but that's another conversation.

I live in the bootheel of Missouri, where many days in the fall, winter and spring we can enjoy all four seasons in the same week, sometimes in the same day, so wearing a coat in the morning and a t-shirt by afternoon (or vice versa) is not that uncommon. We actually did that this week and last week a couple days, and got some heavy wet snow on top of our almost blooming tulips to boot.

I wear cargo shorts 24/7/365 (Well, since I retired. When somebody told me how to dress, I wore long pants only when required, but the carry options were still pretty much the same.) I usually wear an untucked dri fit style shirt, long or short sleeve. If it's cold and I want to carry owb or iwb, I wear two, with the inside one tucked in. If I pocket carry, which I do when it's hot, it doesn't matter. When it get's really cold, I wear a quarter-zip pullover on top of that. I've got some medium and heavy weight dri-fit, fleece, the really heavy ones made by 5-11, some really light ones that are the weight of a t-shirt, you get the picture. Get hot, take a layer off. Get cold, put a layer on. No full zip coats to have a flapping zipper get in my way. Always the same procedure to draw. Grab the hem(s) with hand near pistol, sweep hems up to and over pistol, release hems and establish grip, draw. Never changes. May not work for everybody, but I've rolled that way for about 30 years now . . .

 

[amcline82]

AIWB so my shirt will cover it. And that way the jacket is a non issue.

 

[gunner]

Shoulder holster

 

[BAM-BAM]

I carry a 3913/14 95% of the time.........................IWB at 4 O'clock

Casual in cool weather I use a lot of LL Bean flannel lined Hurricane Shirts...untucked ..... buttoned or unbuttoned.

Colder weather....... unlined leather Bomber jacket with ..............

base layer and sweater or collared fleece ...........

dress shirt and sweater vest (maybe add tweed sports coat)or.......

base layer and a "nicer" quarter zip "sweatshirt" with collar.....



Generally breaks down to base layer ..... gun...... warmth layer and windbreak layer.