Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Car Carry and CC

I’ve had my permit for a couple years now and am still refining carry methods. Currently I’m using a Mitch Rosen Upper Limit with a Walther PPS at a 3 o’clock and it is very comfortable, even sitting in a car. I usually wear an untucked flannel or fleece with it but can conceal well with just a large T-shirt. Previously I tried other gun/holster combinations and generally positioned the gun more at 4 o’clock. To me this was pure torture sitting in a vehicle.

I imagine the majority of folks are carrying IWB and typically at 4 – 4:30. Do you unholster when driving or just sit with your pistol digging into your back? Driving around was simply a pain figuratively and literally. Not leaving the gun holstered could increase your odds of an AD when trying to inconspicuously holster/unholster without drawing attention, or make you look like a perp on a security camera. Just curious ….

One day I was in the Frontier for a 4 hour trip. I carried my G17 at 4-430 in a Vedder IWB. That screwed my back and hips up. If I plan on a long trip, I will wear a cross draw, but that is just me.

Exactly. Most people probably only carry when away from home which usually means driving somewhere.

BTW, I have seen some wallets so thick they could barely be closed. Heard a lot of back issues like you experienced are also caused by driving with a fat wallet in the back pocket.

AIWB at 1:00-1:30 for me; no issues sitting in the car, on the couch, or working in the shop. That 4:00 carry bothers my back too, and 3:00 just prints too much when leaning down and/or reaching for something, worst part of that is the people who see it are behind you.

3 o'clock for me in a Galco IWB. Never had a problem while driving but I get sciatic pain once a day on the level of taking my breath away and that is just from getting old. Wallet in front pocket or left pocket so I don't show the world my CCW and I carry a big pistol.



I cover it all up with a Columbia Omni Shade fishing shirt.

Try 8:30-9:00 with butt forward... I have carried that way for years, especially when driving. I use a REMORA IWB holster and it can be easilt switched from right side to left side with little effort...

Very easy to draw with either hand and no seat belt to contend with. The butt being forward doesn't dig into the seat so the slide isn't pushing into your kidney...

My 1911 and Glock for whatever reason doesn't bother me at all when in a DeSantis Speed Scabbard at the 3:30 position...but that is a OTB holster.

Bob

Stopped carrying my wallet in my back pocket back in the 1970s when it almost crippled me....putting your gun in the wrong place will do the same...

http://www.kansas.com/living/health-fitness/article1099239.html

I just got back from a 2400 mile trip, and carried my handgun, (a full size 9mm) the whole time. Carried at 3:00 in an Askins Avenger style holster. I drove in a Toyota Tundra, and while it get's old, and I'm old, no more pains that I would have w/o a gun. Wouldn't have been convenient to access my gun, but that's also training, use the left hand to release the belt and draw with the right. I also carry a back up gun in the carrier between the seats.

I carry my Springfield Armory EMP-4" In a Milt Sparks Summer Special, at 3:00 All day, every day

When my pants go on, my pistol goes in the holster. Sitting or driving is very comfortable for me.

I also moved my wallet to a shirt pocket years ago.

Virgil B.

Carrying a Glock 17 at about 4:00 isn’t the least uncomfortable while driving. It just seems to fit in that spot, despite contact with the seat. I guess its being a flat surface over a large area helps spread the pressure so you don't get any part of it digging in.

Drove from TX to Wyoming, up into Montana, over to SD and back down to TX with a Glock 19 in a CrossBreed super tuck at 4'oclock and never bothered me at all. But, we're all built different and what works for me may not work for you.

Car carry is one of several reasons I prefer 3 o’clock carry. Even in a seatbelt drawing is very doable.

But what if I have a digital watch?

As a lefty I'm screwed - there's no good option. I suppose I could buy a euro car...

..why is that...you are at an advantage... The area where your gun is isn't hampered by seat belts and you can shoot left handed out the drivers window to targets from the 10-1:00 o'clock position...

The driver's door blocks the left arm/elbow from getting to the gun. It can be done, but it involves leaning right and forward and into the steering wheel. Any type of cover garment over the gun presents the same problem - awkward and slow. The next time you're driving try an imaginary draw.

In my pickup is a pouch holster attached to a heavy steel "L" shaped frame that sits on the floor and is
cable-tied to the seat frame. It holds the butt of a 1911, an SP101, or a Lightning .38 or Buckmark,
right next to my leg, halfway between hip & knee. When I get out, it's easy to move the gun from the
truck holster to the holster on my belt. While driving, it's right there. When parked, anybody looking
in can see the empty holster, meaning the gun is with me, and I might be anywhere. I can tell the LEO
right where it is, with my hands on the dash, and he can see it, and give me instructions. On the road,
it's both more comfortable and easier to get, than wearing it. I don't pick up hitchers, and if I stop to
help, I put it in my worn holster, before I get out. Not all will agree, but in the truck, my 1911 is in
Condition Two. Cock & Safety don't take that long, when it moves to the belt.
One hand cocking seems better than working the slide, and I can do it while it's in the truck holster,
before it clears the pouch.

I don't always carry on my person in the car but when I do, it's in the same fairly high ride holsters I carry out in the woods, same guns, too. I carry either a S&W 329PD in a Bianchi thumb break strong side holster or a Ruger 4-5/8ths inch barreled super blackhawk in their 1L "Lawman" holster, both on my pants belt. The seatbelt tucks them in close and very comfortable ... I forget they're there.

Likely as not, though, traveling alone my gun is in my day pack on the passenger seat .. window rolled up, door locked. That pack doesn't slide around, the back material is rather sticky: I'd have to wreck with impact great enough I'd likely be disabled anyway for the pack and gun to leave the seat.

Never cared much for ankle holsters except for this. Left foot.

Well, I work as a police officer so I drive a vehicle for 8 hours with a duty belt and gun. Off-duty, I never carry off my body. I want my gun on me, period. I can be out all day with the wife and have no issues with carrying a handgun. Usually it's a Glock 26 in an Aker Flatsider holster carried in the 3 o'clock position. Same position as my duty P220 is carried when I'm working.