How Fast?

Concealed carry is always an issue.

The prudent person ensures he or she doesn't print, that is, show an impression of the gun under clothing.  Getting it off the strong side hip can almost magically make the gun disappear.  There are options.

Appendix carry is popular now.  I met several NYC cops twenty years ago who carried a Glock 26 completely submerged behind their duty belt.  Appendix carry isn't new.

There is pocket carry in which a J-frame or other small gun in a holster is carried in a pants pocket.  This works best in your weak side pocket, especially if you are used to carrying things in your strong side pocket.  But you need to practice that a lot.

I like ankle holsters.  But they have problems and disadvantages.  You can read more https://tactical-talk.blogspot.com/2014/08/long-pants.html.

Training takes on a new dimension, when the targets shoot back 

Then there is the classic secret agent or the Mike Hammer detective carry, the shoulder holster.  It has advantages.  You can get to it seated or standing, and it doesn't get in your way in the bathroom.  With the proper rig, you can easily conceal large guns.  There is no denying a specific cool factor to it.  But there are a lot of disadvantages.  Well-endowed women may not be able to reach the gun.  Same with large men.  A fellow in high school had such big arms that he couldn't knot his tie because he couldn't get his hands close to his throat.  The bigger problem is that the draw is slow.

I wanted to compare shoulder holster draws to deep cover out-of-waistband and the standard, exposed OWB.  For all these experiments, I'm using my Kahr P9.  It's one of my basic CCW tools.

Shoulder Holster

I used an open, oversized shirt as a cover garment over my shoulder holster.  I ran seven draws, starting with my hands at my side.  My average draw time for seven runs was 3.84 seconds, ranging from 3.44 to 4.17 seconds.  Why so slow?

My shooting hand has a long way to go before it reaches the gun.  The holster has a snap, and my right thumb isn't as young as it used to be.  My gun also hangs up in the leather holster.  I'm addressing that.  Later, I  discovered that turning the holstered gun 45 degrees outboard facilitates the draw stroke.  I need to collect some data on that.

Strong Side Deep Cover OWB

Shoulder holster is a deep carry mode.  How does it stack up to other deep carry modes?  I compared this to wearing an untucked, oversized T-shirt and the shirt I wore for the Shoulder Holster trials.  The draw requires you to lift the shirt out of the way and push back the cover garment so you don't snag the gun.  The best method I've found is the 'Hackathorn rip', in which your hands grab the outer garments with both hands and vigorously pull them up to your armpit.  Once the garments are up and the gun exposed, the dominant hand drops down and completes the draw.  It's not a subtle move, but provides clear access to the strong side gun with a range of garments, think winter sweaters.

My average time for my seven draws from deep cover OWB was 3.12 seconds, ranging from 2.71 to 3.65 seconds.  That's a slight improvement over the shoulder holster.  These times are slower than I expected.  Part of that is not enough practice.  Another component was the T-shirt has an elastic blend of fibers, so the fabric stretches.

Exposed OWB

Lastly, I went to OWB open carry.  The gun was in a leather holster just slightly behind my right side.  It's a good carry position, as coats and baggy shirts drape over the gun.  Not encumbered by garments, it is very fast.  The only faster draw is having the gun in your hand.  Here's my average time on seven runs.  1.86 seconds with a range of 1.8 to 2.05 seconds.  Again, practice will help me shave the time down.

The bigger question is, how fast is fast enough?  With gun games, draw speed is a close second to rapid, accurate fire.  Noted pistolero Walt Rauch once commented that in his professional life in law enforcement, there were only a few times in which he needed to have a fast draw and discharge his weapon to save his life.  The armed citizen may never need to draw and discharge his sidearm. 

The ability to get our hand positioned on the weapon in preparation for the worst day of our life seems crucial.  Speed becomes essential as it is the path to successfully presenting your weapon.