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Alternative Concealment Option

Most of us who carry handguns on a daily basis, whether armed professionals or responsible citizens, use some type of standard, strong-side hip holster. These holsters get the job done, are fast, and abundant. Additionally, most folks initially learn to use a handgun with a hip-mounted holster. Unfortunately when it comes to concealment, the hip holster doesn’t always work for everyone, especially for those in warmer environments where minimal concealment clothing is worn. A possible solution is the use of an inside the waistband (IWB) holster mounted in the appendix area. Without trying it, most think this carry option would be uncomfortable; however, with a compact/sub compact handgun it’s actually as comfortable as a hip-mounted holster. The major advantage is concealment. When worn correctly, the gun “prints” much less than it would if it were on the hip. For instance (for an average sized person) if you place an IWB holster and gun on your hip compared to the same setup in the appendix area when wearing an un-tucked tee shirt and jeans most would find the appendix option much more concealable. As for ease of drawing and speed, with a little practice this is a viable option and proficiency takes little time to master. From a tactical standpoint, when standing at an ATM machine, seated in a vehicle, or other common everyday tasks the draw stroke from the appendix area is fast, requires less exaggerated body movement, and gives you easy access to your gun.

By Adam Painchaud
Director, SIG SAUER Academy

We had a great conference in Salemburg this year, over 100 students on a cloudless 75 degree day.

I ran two full classes thru Practical Concealed Carry for Law Enforcement and couldn’t have been more impressed with the skill and motivation of the 40 officers I had on the range.

Here is the afternoon session running some identification drills.

Another great conference by the guys at MLEFIAA. plenty of rain and plenty of mud, but the students were enthusiastic and perfectly willing to put up with the weather for some good training. If your in New England and involved in LE Firearms Training this is a must make event. I can’t imagine there’s a stronger value in training.
Already looking forward to next year!

Bill Leanos: MPTC Advanced Firearms Instructor Certification
Ed O’Leary: LEOSA recerts
Cliff Alves- TBA
Frank Korn: MPTC Select Fire Instructor (2 days)
Ulf Petersson and Peter Fredriksson: Point Shooting a Handgun
Marty Gannon: Movement, transition, malfunction ,extraction drills
Rance DeWare: Downed Officer/Civilian Extractions
John McGregor and Joseph Hoebeke: : Alternative Shooting Positions-Rifle
Michael de Bethencourt: Secrets of the Concealed Carry Snub
Ron Glidden: Stopping the School Shooter
Mike Boyle: Combat Shotgun/
Rich Verdi: Concealed Carry for L.E.
Fred Leland: TBA
Matt Temkin: Offensive Shooting

As with virtually every SIG Sauer Academy class, the dreaded one hole drill!

This class was pretty heavy on Federal Agents and some motivated ones at that, here they are practicing their press outs.

Our thanks go out to the gracious staff at NEALEA for being such accommodating hosts. We had a great group of armorers go thru and hope to be back on site for another update next year!

Rich Verdi

If you’re taking the time to read this blog or take any advanced firearms training, it stands to reason that you take an interest in your personal safety, and feel that carrying a concealed firearm will help keep you safe. I couldn’t agree more, but I also feel it’s as important to explore some of the things that are in our head as often as we explore the things in our holster.

The concealed carry mindset needn’t revolve around paranoia or a constant worry about potential threats. The concealed carry mindset simply involves a realistic appraisal of the facts and circumstances that make up the world around us, and the process of making adequate preparations for those possibilities.

Unfortunately many of us become far too caught up in the equipment, and let’s face it, the equipment is really cool. We read the magazines, peruse the forums and spend way too much time and money on guns, holsters, grips and other gear, and is that gear really going to get us thru the night? While I don’t think it’s nearly the most important factor, it certainly is part of the equation, though, so let’s talk briefly about equipment.

At the core we need a reasonably sized service handgun in an adequate service caliber that we can shoot well and that runs with absolute reliability. Perhaps that is too oversimplified,  but the discussion of the proper handguns for concealed carry would fill an entire article. We need to carry the pistol in a comfortable, concealable holster that will allow us long term, discrete carry so that the pistol is with us when we need it. Along with the pistol we should be carrying at least one reloading device. Ancillary gear should always include a white light, perhaps an edged weapon and a cellular phone. SIG Sauer Academy Director, Adam Painchaud, is very fond of the expression “One is none and two is one.” Adam uses that expression to reinforce redundancy and it’s one I’ve taken to heart. My personal carry gear includes two of everything I talked about above, although I only carry one cellular phone.

Once we get past the gear, we can move on to the more important parts of the issue. We have to make an honest appraisal of our ability to deploy the gear we’ve chosen to use. Have we dedicated the time and energy necessary to make sure that we can do what we need to do when the ball goes up? At the very root of what we do is the mastery of three areas;

1) Manipulation – Do we understand how to operate the little machine in our hands and can we do it reliably under stress? We have to handle all the levers and buttons, reload it quickly and smoothly and do it all when the chips are down. Can we deploy our ancillary devices and do they all work for us under stress.

2) Shooting – Here’s the meat of the issue. We can buy all the top shelf kit we can want… the best pistol, get all kinds of “tactical” training but if we don’t keep the sights on the target undisturbed as we press the trigger to the rear we aren’t going to hit our intended target and we will not positively resolve the issue. There are plenty of instructors who are quick to dismiss basic marksmanship, I just don’t happen to be one of them. Have you done enough training and practiced long and hard to put yourself in the best possible position to make that tough shot when you need to?
Remember, everyone wants to be a Ninja, but you have to be a shooter first. Even a real Ninja will tell you that.

3) Fighting – Please don’t conclude from the areas above that I don’t think tactics are important, of course I do, teaching them is what I do a great deal of the time. Once we’ve equipped ourselves adequately and have learned how to put the bullets where we need them we have to seek out high quality training on the subjects that will keep us safe. There are many top-notch schools doing great work all over the country, seek them out and absorb the material like a sponge. Once you’ve gotten that specialized training, practice as if your life depends on it, because it certainly may.

The concealed carry mindset involves a great many factors, it’s much more than reading magazines and wringing our hands over whether we should carry 9mm or .45 ACP. It involves us realizing that a credible threat exists to our safety and the safety of those that we love and taking all the steps necessary to mitigate those threats. Once we’ve positively evaluated those steps we can maximize our efficiency in all areas and truly have our concealed carry heads screwed on straight.