I figured I'd take some flak for asking the question but it was on my mind. I should be receiving my AIWB holster today so I'm sure I'll figure it out sooner or later.
Just seems to me that with strong side carry the holster is supported on the belt/pants even in pants down mode. With AIWB your holster rides right where your pants open or at least may be hanging on the open end of your belt. Seems like this might get tricky and I wasn't coming up with a good method to keep things concealed.
When I carry using a Wilderness belt I loop the tongue of the belt back over the holster and secure via the Velcro. This seems to hold the holster upright well enough as long as I hold it while lowering or raising my pants. I can usually hold the holster and button my pants up again without too much trouble.Originally Posted by Irelander
"A man's character is his fate."
No flak here. That's a question many (including me) have probably wondered, but I don't recall it making it into a thread.
This forum is about sharing info...whether it's reloads, or unloading.
Complete with photos... what works kinda depends on your rig.
Thanks for the info. I will be picking up some blue sleeping pad foam from Walmart soon. Thanks for the tip.
And just for balance' sake, I'll offer a negative viewpoint about AIWB as a carry mode, in favor of hip carry.
I notice that most people using AIWB carry are dressed very casually, that is, with an untucked sport shirt or loose T-shirt.
Many of us in professional work simply can't dress that way most of the time. In dress clothing (tucked-in fitted dress shirt, slacks), AIWB carry is simply out of the question. "Tuckable", you say? That's a joke with dress clothes in the non-permissive environment (NPE); there's an obvious bulge under the shirt and in the contour of the pants at the waist. A proper cover garment such as an open vest or unbuttoned sweater conceals a hip holster easily in dress clothes, but not an AIWB rig.
I also notice that almost everyone who endorses AIWB carry seems to be fairly thin.
Though I'm not fat, I find AIWB to be somewhat physically uncomfortable, due to the butt of the gun poking into my abdomen whenever I bend over, even with smaller guns like J-frames. We're made to bend forward at the waist, and having an object at your waist that interferes with that movement is inconvenient, sometimes significantly uncomfortable. Hip carry, OTOH, causes no problem with forward bending.
Lastly, I also find the draw to be less secure from AIWB than with hip carry, in the sense that the gun is less readily accessible, since with AIWB carry the stocks always seem to end up tilting a bit toward the strong side, and they also always seem to sit a bit too low for a proper instantaneous firing grip; this just doesn't happen with a quality holster when carrying behind the hip.
In contrast to a concern many have mentioned, I've never even given a thought to the "gun pointing at your genitals" issue, since a proper holster that covers the trigger guard, coupled with proper holstering technique, takes care of that.
Some of us older guys (curmudgeons!) who've been doing this for several decades may admittedly be reluctant to adopt new stuff that we consider to be just "gun fashion", but AIWB carry has more downsides than benefits for me, even though I've tried to give it a fair trial with different guns, both revolvers and semiautos. It doesn't work as well for all-day, every-day CCW, especially in dress clothing, as does behind the hip carry, whether OWB or IWB.
"Therefore, since the world has still... Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure, Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good." -- A.E. Housman
Wow, that was an excellent counterpoint, thank you! As time passes, it's easy to forget the time and effort it took to finesse my way past the obstacles you mention. If it weren't for the concealment problems I was having with strong side carry, I wouldn't have bothered. Now I can't imagine going back, even with tucked in dress shirts. Although I do miss my Milt Sparks holsters...
The answer, it seems to me, is wrath. The mind cannot foresee its own advance. --FA Hayek Specialization is for insects.
Not so sure on the first point.
On the second, I am going to hazard a guess and say that you appendix holsters had snap loops for an attachment?
I agree on professional clothing part. In regards to comfort on bending, that's true, but to me it is offset by superior comfort in other positions. For example, I spend a lot more time laying on a couch (ashamed) than bending during the course of a day.
I wouldn't say I'm too terribly thin and I can pull off aiwb now and with some extra weight. Being smaller certainly affords more leniency in selection and placement though.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
No, actually steel spring clips custom made by Matt Del Fatti, and Lou Alessi's APX (nylon 1.5" clip); on the latter, I mentioned to Lou (this was years ago) that it always seemed to end up tilted toward the strong side, and he said he'd never heard of that happening to anyone with the APX before, so it's probably rather uncommon.
"Therefore, since the world has still... Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure, Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good." -- A.E. Housman
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