IWB with shirt in pants: can you get to your gun in time?

[vito]

Personally I have not found IWB a good way to carry, and with a shirt worn outside of my pants I'm not sure what advantage, if any, IWB has over OWB, other than the shirt can be a bit shorter. But I have seen many pictures posted showing members of the forum wearing an IWB holster and their shirt tucked in. In that case the IWB holster is clearly better than OWB for concealment, but can you get to the gun in time? I've practiced sweeping back my t-shirt, or other shirt, to fully expose my OWB holstered gun, and I think I can do so very quickly and at least as effectively as drawing a pocket holstered gun. But a shirt tucked into my pants or shorts, with a tight belt to keep my pants from falling down, would present a pretty substantial obstacle to getting to my gun. For that sudden appearance of a thug in a parking lot, or walking down a street, etc, the delay in getting to the gun could be fatal.

This all reminds me of the videos of a knife wielding assailant getting to an armed defendant faster than he could draw and fire his gun if closer than 21 feet. I just don't see how I could pull my shirt out of my pants, draw and fire my gun quickly enough to be successful when attacked.

 

[The Big D]

In my many years of gun toting experience I rarely encountered the need for quick drawing.

Thinking back, I estimate 90% of my gun "use" was NOT preceded by a rapid draw. (And I daresay my use was far more frequent than anyone other than other LEOs.)

I now carry (warm weather) IWB with a tucked shirt most days and am absolutely confident in so doing. In the last month I have survived the mean streets of DC, Boston, NYC, and Baltimore so my plan is thus far successful.

Be safe.

 

[Arik]

While I never tuck my shirts in I think one of the problems is that practicing at home you are more careful than you would be in real life. Practice at home by yanking that shirt like you're going to rip it.....and you probably will......but you'll get to that gun much faster. Unfortunately you're practicing will resul in destroying some shirts.

Besides that, if you see the thug and he's already too close that tucked in shirt won't make a difference. His actions will be faster than your reaction

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[feralmerril]

Whats the odds here? You are walking down the street or in a store minding your own business and some thug see`s you and runs full speed to cloths line and/or gut you? In my school days I did have a few demons blind side me but fortunately for us both we didnt pack in school. if you are CCing, I would think most any event that comes up or that you happen to step into there would be something going on to give you a few seconds advance alert. Sure we all have heard a story or two where some nut at a subway station or whatever went berserk and ran through a crowd stabbing as many people as he could.
With all this talk of CCing etc, stop and think. It really is just in the last relatively couple years that laws allowing it are getting popular. No one wants to point that out especially members of gun chat sites.
Maybe Detroit and a few other later day hot spots are worse than they were 40 years ago but for the most part I dont think this is bagdad just yet.

 

[Protected One]

Whats the odds here? You are walking down the street or in a store minding your own business and some thug see`s you and runs full speed to cloths line and/or gut you? In my school days I did have a few demons blind side me but fortunately for us both we didnt pack in school. if you are CCing, I would think most any event that comes up or that you happen to step into there would be something going on to give you a few seconds advance alert. Sure we all have heard a story or two where some nut at a subway station or whatever went berserk and ran through a crowd stabbing as many people as he could.
With all this talk of CCing etc, stop and think. It really is just in the last relatively couple years that laws allowing it are getting popular. No one wants to point that out especially members of gun chat sites.
Maybe Detroit and a few other later day hot spots are worse than they were 40 years ago but for the most part I dont think this is bagdad just yet.

Agreed. Even Detroit, though worse, has not deteriorated to that level yet.

I think most attacks have a margin of time for the victim to sense something is "off". Rare (at least from reports) is the "untelegraphed" attack. All we can do is train the best we can, knowing that no matter what, there is ALWAYS the possible scenario that we WOULDN'T be ready for.

 

[Maze 686]

I always use a cover garment or a untucked shirt.

I would think that more people have been murdered in Detroit or Chicago then American troops lost during any given year of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

[Smitty357]

I tend to stay on alert. I train in SD situations on a regular basis. Chances are my weapon will be pulled before the threat is within arms reach of me. Identifying the threat is the key to these situations. Most people panic at the sight of threat, even if its 10 yards away. In this case the threat will be on u within 30ft and u will still be thinking about drawing ur weapon. Train to identify and react. Muscle memory is much faster than thinking and waiting on ur brain to send ur body the "go ahead" signal.

 

[Neumann]

Look up the term "Hackathorn Rip". It's a technique for reliably drawing a handgun carried under a tucked shirt. Basically, you pull it out with your strong hand and continue to pull up with your weak hand to keep it out of the way while you draw.

It's not as fast as drawing from an exposed holster, but it's usually fast enough. In any case, that may be your only option, so be prepared to defend your self manually too. You have to practice, practice, practice until you can do it without thinking.

A similar maneuver is needed to draw from under a closed jacket. In my FCCL course, we were required to draw in that situation for dry fire practice., so I practiced, practiced, and practiced some more. In real life, I usually unzip my jacket when driving, and leave it unzipped when I get out, unless it's below zero or very windy.

 

[ibewbull]

In my many years of gun toting experience I rarely encountered the need for quick drawing.

Thinking back, I estimate 90% of my gun "use" was NOT preceded by a rapid draw. (And I daresay my use was far more frequent than anyone other than other LEOs.)

I now carry (warm weather) IWB with a tucked shirt most days and am absolutely confident in so doing. In the last month I have survived the mean streets of DC, Boston, NYC, and Baltimore so my plan is thus far successful.

Be safe.

I have never had to "slap leather" either hunting on in a defensive scenario.
When I do think of the many times in the past where I may have needed to be "ready". My senses forewarned me and the iron was in hand ahead of time. Once I even shot a skunk in the dark at 3 yards. It was an ambush by the striped vermin.
So I agree with Big D.
Keep your guard up and heed the warnings.
Know how to present your weapon in several ways. Stealth being one of them. Think about Clint Eastwood in Grand Torino.
Then say it...... " OLD GUYS RULE "

 

[islamoradamark]

i always have my shirt untucked this way i look like i always do

 

[forrestinmathews]

I do not tuck my shirt in while IWB. I have pocket pistols for this. In the cold weather I leave my jacket zipped also. I would also caution against leaving a bunch of heavy stuff in coat pockets. It tends to screw up the rip or the flip if its unzipped. Ball caps are excellent covers for larger pocketed pistols. Simply push the hat into the pocket bill first as you enter the store and you're just another gentleman removing his hat as he goes inside. It covers the gun, yet allows great access in the event.

 

[Pasifikawv]

Sometimes activities dictate a tucked-in, collared shirt (work, church, meetings, etc). It is sometimes a choice between a slower draw or not carrying at all. With a tucked cover garment, one must practice properly accessing the firearm and holster. However, once the cover garment is ripped upward, the other mechanics remain the same for strong-side belt carry vs. fully re-training to draw from pocket carry, ankle carry, off-body carry, etc. For comfortable concealed carry, there will always be a give-n-take: size of firearm, type of holster, carry location, etc. For me personally, I like to carry in the same place so my muscle memory for presentation from the holster remains mostly constant. I do often carry IWB and tucked when activities dictate a collared shirt not hanging loose. I am not equipped for pocket carry or ankle carry and generally dislike all off-body carry. Yes, removing the cover garment takes an additional step that adds time, but the alternative of no gun at all or lengthy re-training (and additional equipment) for alternative carry doesn't appeal to me.

 

[feralmerril]

The biggest factor has got to be your build, heigth and weight. That along with what the weather is, what type job you have etc. There are probley more possibilitys and different needs than you can imagine. Today I find it far more uncomfortable to pack than I did years ago when My job called for it. My last number of years on my job I had to wear suspenders or moon everyone. Truth is I have NEVER found it comfortable to pack CC or OC. Live with it yes, like it, no.