Need to rethink how I carry, moving to the surface of the Sun

With my impending move from NH to TX, I’m going from a place where a cover garment can be worn year round to the furnaces of hell. I’ll still try to wear a light shirt as cover when I can, but I suspect it will be difficult for a large part of the year - at least during daytime.

I currently almost always wear jeans and carry OWB. I’m thinking it may be time to look at cargo pants and shorts with pocket carry? I would think something up to the size of a G26 would be doable.

Those of you that live in hot climates, how do you cope?

Untucked shirts get it done in GA. And that leaves room for a lot of viable options from sub-compacts to service pistols. Your garments
and holsters may change but your choice of pistols may not have to all that much. I know a former Mil guy in south GA that carries 5" 1911s almost exclusively year round and rarely uses IWB. Straight drop OWB and an open unbuttoned shirt. He makes it look more stylish than my sloppy untucked T's and fishing shirts.

No problem. I lived in the inferno for decades. My solutions for casual wear was:

1. Light weight floppy shirt - Columbia, Magellan, etc. make them. They are very light and have vents for cooling. Academy Sports has good prices.

2. Under the shirt, some sweat, hot weather friendly t-shirt. Not form fitting. Glock 26 in an OWB. Don't use a blocky, huge Kydex monster. OK, as a civilian I wasn't that worried about a surprise grab. Maybe I should have been but that's life. That's style of dress is very common and it's not all gun folks.

It is a very common for gun folks in the know. Yes, you can wear the floppy shirt over the IWB or AIWB but my body don't like them. I also, don't like a draw that takes two hands. However bigger Glocks, 1911s, other semis are carried like this by my LEO friends.

Cargo shorts and a pocket gun works but I didn't want to diminish the oomph of the gun unless dress restrictions required it.

Hydration is your friend. @HCM might chime in for the law view. You don't have to go to pocket carry because of the heat.

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Originally Posted by HeavyDuty

With my impending move from NH to TX, I’m going from a place where a cover garment can be worn year round to the furnaces of hell. I’ll still try to wear a light shirt as cover when I can, but I suspect it will be difficult for a large part of the year - at least during daytime.

I currently almost always wear jeans and carry OWB. I’m thinking it may be time to look at cargo pants and shorts with pocket carry? I would think something up to the size of a G26 would be doable.

Those of you that live in hot climates, how do you cope?

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You need to redefine "cover garment."

Untucked button up or polo shirts and IWB/AIWB are the way go go. Pocket carry when those are not feasible.

Some wear jeans and western boots year round but they are winter wear for me. Light Khakis or shorts most of the time. I've given up on cargo pants to avoid the "5.11 Tuxedo."

@Gadfly

Living in Houston, I carry 99% of the time IWB in jeans/chinos with an untucked oxford. In the summer I sometimes mix in shorts but still carry IWB and mix in more casual shirts. Seems the same to me as when I carry up north except that I can't rely on a jacket to cover up a larger gun (so for me/my shape/how I carry, a G19 is about the max I can get away with).

All solid suggestions above. Im going to put a plug in for JMCK IWB holsters-for me, Tony has cracked the code. I can get a GEN5 19MOS w/ACRO and TLR8 to be pretty low profile with one; untucked shirts over a tshirt, holster and single mag pouch in between. A 26 with a 19 mag reload has worked also. I don’t do AIWB, but plenty for f folks make it work with a 19, 26 and 48 to name a few.
I have also pocket carried, and if in a vehicle for awhile, trip, etc., a second gun in an ankle holster.

Forgive me when I repeat myself. I live in the KCMO area. While not Texas hot, we can have 80 degree + temps with 80% humidity and any given day from Late April thru September. It is not that hard to dress around a full sized defensive tool. (G19 or bigger).

I am very disinclined to compromise my defensive capabilities by defaulting to pocket carry as my primary defensive system because it is "too hot" for a daytime cover garment.

If I was going to pocket carry, I would be inclined to default to a std pocket v. a cargo one as the magic of pocket carry is having your hand on the gun. Folks have their hands in their std pockets all the time. Folks do not have their hands in cargo pocket very often.

1. Purpose designed belt.

2. Purpose designed OWB holster as that is your preference.

3. Wicking t-shirt (Any big box store/underwear brand will do 85% of the work at 30%-50% of the price v. Under Armor etc.) Washing them with Oxyclean will keep the stink down. Realizing that undershirts are a consumable is helpful as well.

4. Square bottomed cover garment ( go to a thrift shop now for a proof of concept shirt to figure out fabric weight/cut/fabric pattern you like.). Some people like to get fancy with "Mexican" Wedding Shirts, "Cuban Wedding Shirts", Guayabera Shirts, Hawaiian Shirts, CCW designed shirts by 5.11, LA Police Gear etc. Wicking Polo closed front shirts etc.

5. Old school pro move is to sew a washer in the tail corner of each side of an open front/button up shirt to help with it lying flat and swinging open when presenting the weapon. Some brands like 5.11 even had a pre sewn slot for the same on models past.

6. Concealed means concealed, it does mean invisible to the trained naked eye at 1 meter.

When I moved away from OWB to AIWB, I came to realize that I do not need to size up most of the time to effectively conceal as I am on the cusp of L/XL. Comfortable is a desired feature, sloppy/baggy is not IMHO/YMMV.


T shirts 2 for 18 ish
https://www.amazon.com/Hanes-Mens-Sp...s%2C872&sr=8-8

Let us know what you do and why you did it.

Best of luck on the move.

Are you going to be outside all day or moving into a 17th century house? I wear jeans, tank top undershirt and a t-shirt in the summer heat, humidity, and all! Because there's never prolonged period of time when I'm in the outdoor heat. Home = AC. Car = AC. Any store = AC. Really the only place there isn't an AC is the 30 second walk from building to the car. Unless I'm mowing the lawn or taking my dog for an extended walk in the mid day humidity I don't think I ever break a sweat and the summers here are 90+ with high humidity most of the time

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Nothing like a match or class when it is 100 or so degrees! For IDPA, I'd have a lightweight fishing vest from Academy and the moisture wicking t. You are outdoors for quite a bit.

SUN SCREEN. Took a class and saw the instructor from the PNW who was a nice red haired pale skinned dude become a lobster!! Ouch.
Hydrate! Nothing like the whole body disabling cramps - let only a life threatening heat event. Saw that on a poor guy who has serious burns as a kid. Left him with skin that didn't sweat and over he went.

Sun glasses - continued exposure to bright sun contributes to retinal light damage. Worked for a year on a guy who was expert on the issue. Learned from that.

Hat, Hat! Always wore a ball cap. When out for a long time, got a cap with a back neck flap.

I've had the cramps in my arms driving home before I paid super attention. Eric Lamberson on his blog talks about how when he got home, he went fully body and went over. Insidiously, they can come on later as a surprise. I had my arm curl up in agony which my wife and kid thought was quite funny. That was earlier on and a good class or match almost demands hydration.

Go to the dermatologist! Get a check up regularly.

Otherwise, going from the building to car is the usual exposure. Don't mow the lawn in full sun. I ended up hiring folks who were acclimated and brought jugs of water. Too old for that. Like now, I have guys shovel the snow.

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Originally Posted by JHC

Untucked shirts get it done in GA. ...fishing shirts.

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And in AL, ......plus Hawaiian shirts, and "performance shirts" like the fishing shirts, that also support the untucked paradigm, but have this wonderful wicking characteristic for your sweat that keep you cooler. I live in Blackhawk 1700's when I am not in the office...

You also need performance undershirts if you wear them, cotton will just be hot, the ones that wick moisture are lifesavers