What helps me most with getting a good grip aiwb is driving my thumb into my gut. Wearing an undershirt and keeping your thumbnail trimmed is a really good idea. I find it a little easier to not snatch 1911s, because my thumb hitting the safety (locked on by the holster) is my cue to reverse the direction of my arm.
I try to make myself do all my clearance SHO using the Vinh method. If a shirt doesn’t work well for this I seriously retire the shirt.
Ignore Alien Orders
I like the method of draw by raising the pistol/strong hand to meet the support hand clearing the garment, then punching-out from there. I'll need to give that a try.
That said, my own goal for re-holstering is to do so as smoothly as possible with no sacrifice in safety. For me that means keeping my thumb on the back of the PPS slide to monitor the cocking indicator and guiding it back into the holster at a rate that that would allow me time to react to any movement of the cocking indicator.
Getting the muzzle and bore axis properly indexed with the opening of the holster seems my biggest challenge, and the best place for me to shave some time off of re-holstering. At least with my holster, once aligned the pistol drops in with little resistance - slamming it home at that point might shave a fraction of a second but IMO totally negates any added safety from monitoring the cocking indicator.
So your thumb goes between the frame of the gun and your body when attaining your grip for an AIWB draw? My thumb goes to a ridge on the inner top of the holster, which I use as an index of sorts, and then naturally is positioned on top of the thumb safety as I draw. I guess I would do it your way if using something other than a 1911.Originally Posted by JAD
During the most recent class I attended I was the only one using AIWB carry and I noticed I was taking a little longer to re-holster than the people carrying strong side. I'm okay with that though and don't want to rush it to keep up with others. I like your comments about how to re-holster smoothly, though I wonder why you feel a need to shave time off?
No, we do it the same way. The Watsons I've been using have a thumb safety that is exposed but abutted. I drive my thumb behind the slide.
Try this that I posted before ---
Place the palm of your strong hand at your belt buckle (12 o'clock ) and slowly move it around to where you wear your holster . You will see the hand angle change as you move it around your belt .
When you reach the place you wear the holster , look at the angle of your hand and try wearing the holster at the same cant .
Just in the indexing process where it sometimes takes me a second or to get that drop-in alignment. I just need to practice that alignment a bit more....
Gotcha.
If I were using anything with a hammer, I would push my thumb down on the hammer as I draw as to not disengage the safety prematurely. With a striker gun, such as a Glock, I get my thumb down between the holster and my abdomen, unless the holster sits very low and doesn't allow for that.
(not to speak for JAD)... My thumb is on the hammer when re-holstering, but I don't see a need for it during the draw. The position of my thumb during the draw doesn't really make it likely that the safety will be swiped off prematurely.
Reply With Quote