Results of the appendix poll

[GJM]

I asked the following question:

If you carry AIWB, do you also use another position? The two choices were essentially, yes (meaning they carry appendix exclusively) or no (meaning they carry or train in other positions).

I didn't provide further guidance on what or what not constituted "exclusive." The poll ran ten days on three leading forums -- PF, M4 and TPI.

Here were the results:

On PF, 74 people responded, and it was split 37/37, or 50/50.

On TPI 76 people responded, and it was split 46/30, with 60.53% carrying in multiple positions and 39.47 % reporting they carried appendix exclusively.

On M4, 89 people responded, and it was split 60/29 with 67.42% carrying in multiple expositions and 32.58% carrying appendix exclusively.

I was frankly surprised how many people reported carrying appendix exclusively, as much of the world, as typified by LE, IDPA and USPSA Production, is not appendix friendly. Conversely, I suspect a number of appendix devotees might also be surprised by how little of the appendix world carries appendix exclusively.

In a number of conversations, I have come to realize that this is an extremely controversial subject. Here are some variations:

Many people believe that carrying a pistol in more than one position is likely to lead to drawing to the wrong position in a fight.

Many people who carry appendix and OWB, equally believe that they will not have a problem finding their pistol.

Folks who think appendix is dangerous, and wouldn't use it, but are equally committed to only carrying in one position.

Folks who think open versus concealed in the same position is really two different positions.

Folks that, for example, carry in a fanny pack, considering that a different carry method. Other folks not considering fanny pack a different position than, for example, appendix.

When you try to drill down into whether carrying two positions is an issue, there isn't much hard data, and much of what you hear is anecdotal. It would be interesting to try to test this. Then when you have that data, quantify the penalty in time to the extent there is one, and then figure out if it is something that can be trained.

[orionz06]

Does this account for the Yes and No responses for the same thing (AIWB as much as allowed)?

[GJM]

Does this account for the Yes and No responses for the same thing (AIWB as much as allowed)?

I am not sure I understand your question. I suspect most "polls" have issues, this one included.

Solely because of the nature of doing anything "exclusively," I would guess more folks reported they carried exclusively, when they carried in other positions, than folks who reported they carried in multiple ways and really carried just one way exclusively. However, I don't think this materially changes the result that a significant percentage of people do or try to carry appendix exclusively, and an equal or greater number of folks carry multiple ways.

[orionz06]

The responses to the poll in the comments were interesting to me. Folks who carried AIWB all the time except where not allowed (games, work) would answer yes. Some would also answer no. While I don't find the results surprising I do think a third response option would better weight the data.

1: Yes
2: No
3: AIWB as much as rules/work/duty allows.

People who would answer #3 were guessing as to which of the previous options they should pick.

[JustOneGun]

I asked the following question:

If you carry AIWB, do you also use another position? The two choices were essentially, yes (meaning they carry appendix exclusively) or no (meaning they carry or train in other positions).

I didn't provide further guidance on what or what not constituted "exclusive." The poll ran ten days on three leading forums -- PF, M4 and TPI.

Here were the results:

On PF, 74 people responded, and it was split 37/37, or 50/50.

On TPI 76 people responded, and it was split 46/30, with 60.53% carrying in multiple positions and 39.47 % reporting they carried appendix exclusively.

On M4, 89 people responded, and it was split 60/29 with 67.42% carrying in multiple expositions and 32.58% carrying appendix exclusively.

I was frankly surprised how many people reported carrying appendix exclusively, as much of the world, as typified by LE, IDPA and USPSA Production, is not appendix friendly. Conversely, I suspect a number of appendix devotees might also be surprised by how little of the appendix world carries appendix exclusively.

In a number of conversations, I have come to realize that this is an extremely controversial subject. Here are some variations:

Many people believe that carrying a pistol in more than one position is likely to lead to drawing to the wrong position in a fight.

Many people who carry appendix and OWB, equally believe that they will not have a problem finding their pistol.

Folks who think appendix is dangerous, and wouldn't use it, but are equally committed to only carrying in one position.

Folks who think open versus concealed in the same position is really two different positions.

Folks that, for example, carry in a fanny pack, considering that a different carry method. Other folks not considering fanny pack a different position than, for example, appendix.

When you try to drill down into whether carrying two positions is an issue, there isn't much hard data, and much of what you hear is anecdotal. It would be interesting to try to test this. Then when you have that data, quantify the penalty in time to the extent there is one, and then figure out if it is something that can be trained.

This depends on what you call anecdotal and what you call science. "Hey I heard about a guy" is anecdotal. "I stood around for years and kept seeing this happen over and over under a certain set of circumstances", not anecdotal but not calculated to an exact percentage or package in a way you can accept as a real occurrence.

If you want traditional science you could look to the area of sports. Perhaps some of the sports medicine people could point us to some studies? This stuff has been studied. What we're talking about is not that much different than say shooting a basketball or a sprinter coming out of the blocks? There are reasons they work on the consistency down to the geek level, they want a gold medal or millions of dollars.

Us, we just want to live through something that ultimately is not real to many of our conscious brains. That's not to belittle people. I used to be one of those that had that thought process. Sometimes our priorities are different and so our training is different. I can tell you that someone trying to kill you will rearrange a person's training priorities. What I thought was not important before became vital after.

As for the time penalty I wonder if many people have defaulted to not worrying about the penalty because it is just as easy to have one draw and never get the penalty thus sidestepping the whole problem?

[DocGKR]

The problem with the pole is the many folks like me, who now carry AIWB 90+% of the time, yet had to answer "Yes" to carrying in another position, even though that rarely occurs in a CCW context...

[orionz06]

The problem with the pole is the many folks like me, who now carry AIWB 90+% of the time, yet had to answer "Yes" to carrying in another position, even though that rarely occurs in a CCW context...

Yup.