Just wondering if anyone on the forum ever carries Mexican style?

Just for gits & shiggles I stuffed my Beretta 92 Mezkin style in my belt today and it's actually working out very well. With a tight belt the gun is staying put, it's really not uncomfortable, and concealing just fine.

i don't do that, but being left handed i often carry a holster at a right angle on a belt not at the right side, but near to the belt buckle on the right side. Prefered way in some respects.

Yep, on occasion.

Occasionally, when I unass my office to go get a diet Dr. Pepper and a bag of trail mix, I'll go heeled in the beltline, just so I don't have to slide the IWB on, as its usually off when I am sitting or driving.

Yes, that's my standard carry using a "Clipdraw" belt clip. I have two Kahr's for CC, a CW9 and a CM9 and both have a clip on them. The clip goes on the pants waistband and under the belt.

They ride at 8 o'clock for me (left hander) and stay in place nicely. I tried IWB holsters and anything that added width to the pistol made it less comfortable. With this the width of the pistol itself is all I have stuff in my pants. Well, among other things...

Ditto. S&W 6946 just to the right of my belt buckle. Did the same thing for years without the clipdraw, or with various revolvers with a clipdraw.

Yep, everyday. This for the revolver:


Nothing for the Colt Gov .380, it stays just fine.

Clipdraw is one of the all time slickest inventions!

Yeah, quite often with a 1911 or HP. The K9 moves around too much for me without a holster, so I avoid that. Too easy to get by with that gun in an OWB mini scabbard anyway, but if I'm wanting to make sure I'm really discrete the VMII works well. PF9 with the clip carries well in a pinch - but these days I'm not comfortable going with so little gun.

I did 25yrs ago (in my 30" Wrangler days) with a Colt Officers model from time to time. THEN I bought a Milt Sparks Executive Companion (old factory, made by Milt w/o the sweat guard) and discovered I could carry a full sized 1911 in total comfort all day w/o worrying about my pistol squirming around or becoming dislodged. I never carried w/o a holster again, other than occasionally walking out to get the mail.

I do.

I have . . . and a couple times I forgot it was there.

No more.

I do on occasion. Auto's work better for me, but they stay where they are just fine. Haven't had a lot of luck with revolvers. I think it's used more often than most people realize. Especially on the street.

No.

No...

Yep.

Just got back from SW and I threw the 30S down the front.

Awaiting my IWB fron Stealthgear to arrive.

Absolutely not. Ever.

..since the 1970s...did today with a Combat Commander.

When I was visiting out west in 2013 and 14 mostly carried a S&W 57 4"...rarely had a holster on. Just slipped inside the waistband butt forward behind my left hip...gun just disappears..

Only reason I started using a holster in 2007 is that when I started carrying a Commander with a front night sight it started wearing holes through the seat of my jeans under the left rear pocket...

Bob

I do it sometimes with my 1911. With a good belt it stays put and is real easy to draw.

Yeppers. I prefer to carry on the left side like that when I'm driving. I can cross-draw my Glock in a blink, and when I get out my shirt covers the pistol. I also am leery of not carrying enough gun. I feel vulnerable if I don't have my Glock 20 where I can get to it immediately.

Quite frequently. I haven't found an IWB holster yet that I like, and I've tried a bunch. If I can't OWB then I usually tuck it in at about 5:00.

That's early.......grin

Very

somehow stuffing a glock with a round in the chamber in the front of your pants without a holster gives me the shivers.

Not since reaching intellectual adulthood. A holster's primary function is to keep the trigger from inadvertently being pulled. The clip draw type items do not fulfill this function. I guess I am just a pessimist that places too high a value on my nutsack.


mike r

Often with a clip-draw and zac trigger cover...it can be done with only the zac cover but I'm used to the way I do it:

Edited to note I only carry behind the hip this way...would probably work true mezkin but I prefer behind the hip.....

I have a friend who is a tow truck driver he has carried a J frame Mex for years

Me no

Hank

More often than not.

Here is my perspective:

I don't generally carry a primary weapon without a holster. The average gun toter never gives it 2 thoughts, but most fights are physical long before bullets go to flyin'

I have had more than a few occasions to end up physically fighting with someone, while armed with a service weapon.

The punchline is that when you are rolling, physically fighting someone, stuff goes flying.

As a weapon retention instructor, I can tell you that this is actually old news.

When you get punched in the face/knocked down, if you have (had) a gun simply tucked in a waist band, odds are more likely than not, it will not still be there.

It is bad enough rolling, bare knuckling it out, but the last thing I want to do is to have to have a brutal ground fight AND be struggling for a loose gun.

Could also be an optimist depending on how you look at it.

I don't think anyone is going to argue that it's more secure, but I don't think it's necessarily that precarious either. Last time I changed the wife's oil I forgot I had the gun in my pants, and I didn't lose it. I wasn't fighting anyone, although from the swearing it might have seemed that way. It's a compromise, like anything else. I also try to avoid going around and getting punched in the face but YMMV .

Occasionally, not much anymore though as I have more holsters than handguns anymore.

I have for years, but I am rethinking that decision.

early on, I had the safety on my 1911 get swiped off a couple of times, so I went to condition 2 only for messican carry, which is obviously a concession.

that, I could live with, but I will not discount advise from a few people on the boards here, and Mackay is one of those people.

i'll be looking at IWB holsters now.

Most people try to avoid getting hit in the face or anywhere else in a fight, but that is the reality of physical fights.

While you may think carrying w/o a holster is not any more precarious than with one, even when fighting, this leads me to believe that perhaps you have not actually been in a physical fight while trying to retain a loose gun. It has very little in common to changing the oil on a car.

The fact is that you don't get to choose the fight that comes to you, you just get to deal with the fight that is presented to.

That may be getting sucker punched from the side, by thugs playing the "knock-out game", or being jumped by 2-3 dudes who want what you have. That happens far, far more often than standing 10-20 feet apart exchanging shots with another duelist.

This reminds me a lot of guys who insist on not wearing a helmet when they ride a crotch rocket at break neck speeds, because they have "never needed one yet".

Mackey, if going into a fight would you rather have a Glock, M4 or a shotgun?

If the price of admission to this discussion is having fought someone while carrying a gun, I'll have to beg off.

I understand what you are saying and appreciate the advice as it's always good to reconsider the way you do things. I think I usually try to calculate my percentages conservatively. But based on my own experience, and being the only one here who knows how tight my belt is, I haven't heard anything in this thread that's going to make me abandon my clipdraw anytime soon.

JMC, I have a similar device and it works well. I use mine with an HPG chest pack.

I guess I am a little paranoid but when choosing a holster for CCW I prioritize like this:

1. protect the trigger
2. retain the gun
3. place the gun where I can get a full fighting grip before I draw
4. place the gun where I can access it no matter what I am wearing
5. comfort.

I carry AIWB in a Centermass holster when concealed and in a Safariland ALS at work.

I think we have to abandon the idea that we can anticipate how and when the fight will occur.


mike r

I'm sure that the level of security (or lack thereof ) with mex carry is different for different people. No argument here asserting that it's just as secure as a holster. We also don't all go about our day in the same situations. For instance, when I stuff the 1911 in my waistband while doing my chores at home or attending other business in relatively secure areas, I'm not too concerned about getting blind sided and grappling on the ground - although I also don't go around oblivious to my surroundings. But that's just me where I am. We all have to exercise some judgment unless we live a life of absolutes in everything (must be nice). To be sure, a good holster is always more secure. And even at that, there are different levels of security in holsters.

I'm not Mackey, but it would depend on the "fight". Clearing a building would include a shotgun for me, with the M4 being a very close second. Fighting in general, I would choose the M4 100 out of 100 times.

All fights end up on the ground. If you don't have a strategy for maintaining positive control of your weapon and the direction of the barrel and availability of the trigger, you're in for a rude lesson.

I would prefer to have friends.

Friends that brought their M4s/rifles.

And an exit strategy.

Yep, but you forgot explosives and CAS.

No price to this conversation my friend. We are just debating/discussing merits and points of view. I seriously doubt you are going to change your way of doing things because some total stranger has a different perspective.

Just for clarification, if I am dinking around at my cabin, (which is fairly remote, and I am going to hear or see most folks coming across the flats for a while before they get there)or house, I have no issue with slipping whatever in the waistband.

I just prefer to have a handgun in a proper holster if I am going to be driving/going to town/interacting with the general public.

What pocket holster do you use for the .38 snub? Digging on the "sticky" holsters at the moment for that. Milt Sparks for IWB.

I will actually probably turn it over in my head for a while and think about trying an IWB again at some point down the line. I'm in no hurry to change but I'm not resistant to it either. I do use an OWB for my other main carry gun so I'm not opposed to leather.

I am running one of the new Milt Sparks Manta pocket holsters. Once I get a full year of pocket carry with it, I will give it a straight up review.


There are some really good synthetic/sticky pocket holsters on the market these days. Quite honestly I don't think I "need" Milt Sparks quality in a pocket rig, but i definitely like it. The craftsmanship is typical Sparks. I am betting a daughter or future son in law will inherit this one.

Good enough, and appreciate that.

Any of you mex carry guys ever have the gun work its way upward when sitting down? Years ago I experienced that. Getting in and out of my truck, sitting down at a restaurant I've felt the gun come loose. Never had it fall out but I did have to reposition the gun and that draws attention.

If you ever had the need to pull the gun and then immediately needed your hands, it's pretty tough to quickly shove it back in the jeans - safely.

As Mackay mentioned, going hands on with an attacker is more than likely going to unseat your shooter from your waistband. Years ago while in uniform I had a serious scrap with a tough sumbitch that saw us tearing hell out of the interior of a crowded and unfriendly to me biker bar. We went to the ground and I gained an edge by climbing this big dudes back like a tree and applying a "vascular neck restraint." Frankly I was riding him down like a bucking horse as we rolled around back and forth and I suddenly realized my S&W M686 had fallen out of the thumb break holster and clattered onto the floor about a foot from this guys hands. I was in there by myself with him and about forty mostly drunk guys and gals who didn't have any love for LE. I had a M38 Airweight on my ankle but I would have to let go of my hold to get to it. I realized anyone in there could reach down there and grab my .357. It was a really bad feeling fellows. Loosing your shooter presents a whole bunch of new troubles.

That'd be a pucker factor of about +11...

And that is the point about all of this. I'd pick an M4 or a shotgun over a handgun any day of the week, but we make concessions. A handgun is a concession as is sticking a handgun in you swim trunk waist band whilst stopping at the 7-11 for a Big Gulp.

Good point. Agreed. I'd not want to clear any building alone. Coordinated teams (friends) are essential. An exit plan is essential as well.

But if alone and jumped by thugs or thug in the course of life, in a parking lot or alley, we will be using a handgun... edit: kinda the point Steelhead makes above.

And if all gunfights end up on the ground, how does one fight and hold on to his rifle/shotgun?

Enough good holsters on the market today that I see absolutely no reason not to use one.

Meh....time. Unless you carry continously, sometimes expediency calls for stuffing the gun in the wasteband. Those of us who can do so at times without it being unreasonably less than secure are admittedly more likely to do so. It's not something to strive for, but for some of us, it's not something to completely dismiss.

Yeah, I'd hate to lose the five seconds it takes to put a holstered pistol in my waistband.

Occasionally, Colt SAA with loading gate open to retain position ........

...anyone ever see a badguy with a holster. In the almost 30 years I did LE work I never once arrested someone with a handgun who also had any kind of holster on them. Always in a pocket, waistband or purse. I think once in a paper bag.

Reasons seem to be that a) holsters are bulky and tend to print. b) It is easy to ditch a handgun...not so if you have a holster you need ditch also. Get patted down and you have a empty holster the police will search till they find the gun that goes in it.

While visiting a friend with a big security officers school in Durban, SA, the law stated that one must carry a concealed handgun in a holster. "only bad people carried guns without holsters"....and they didn't even know any Mezkins...

Once in a while I still do carry without a holster but ever since Mr. Chamberlain posted about the REMORA IWB holsters and I bought a couple I don't really have an excuse any more...they slip right in and stay put with no straps or clips...

Bob