Ultimate Concealment

[Deaf Smith]

You will find that if you use a larger size pistol for your body size, and try to conceal it under a shirt, it will print. This is especially true of such weapons as the Beretta M9, or Glock 21. STI wide bodys are the same way. And it's mucho true if you bend over to pick something up, or the wind blows against that side of your body.

The trick to carrying under the shirt has a formula.

1) Thin IWB holster (no NOT carry it Mexican style as any altercation where there is a struggle may cause it to fall to the ground.) I find Kyndex holsters work very well for this.

2) Reasonably thin weapon. Single stack simi-autos are the best for this. Glocks 9s and .40s work but they are a bit thick. 1911s, Smith 3913s, Kahrs, Sig 239 (just, the slide is rather thick!), etc...

3) Light guns. I've found heavy ones kind of unbalance you on that side, plus if worn for several hours it gets kind of hard on the hips/kidneys! Ligher ones work much better overall.

4) Shorter barrels. Yes you can carry a 5 inch 1911, but try sitting down! Short 3-4 inch tubes are better for actually doing something other than standing still all day!

5) Use darker color t-shirts! Especially avoid see through ones. Get t-shirts that are kind of think and are not see through. Dark color guns show up with thin light color t-shirts.

6) Get rid of those 'love handles'! Yes they hamper things. And if you add weight lifting to get a larger chest size, you will have a dandy hollow area for a good size IWB holster to conceal under a t-shirt.

7) Happly, a regular mag pouch can be carried on the other size in front of the hip. Why? Cause the t-shirt conceals it and other people think it's a cell phone! It's harder to print and much easier to grab an emergency reload if needed.

And that is why I carry a Glock 27. Not real thin, but acceptable. Light, short, and a kyndex IWB holster.

Trick: I make sure I don't bend over to pick something up with my left hand (I'm right handed and of course my gun is on the right side.) I can use my right side as I lean to the right to pick an object up and thus it won't print. That's another reason to be flexable!

Deaf

 

[allenjp]

Just curious, what is "Mexican style" and why do you call it that?

 

[thardey]

Just curious, what is "Mexican style" and why do you call it that?

Stuffed in your pants, with no holster, often in the front "appendix carry." It's popular among gangs for some reason.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Because if they use it and then have to ditch the weapon there is no holster to tie them to the weapon.

There's a lesson there.

If you're gonna carry, for chrissakes use a holster. It does affect perception if for whatever reason you are under arms and find yourself searched.

 

[Deaf Smith]

The term 'Mexican style' goes way back. Askins and Jordan wrote about it in the 40s and 50s. So did Skeeter Skelton.

Yes stuffed in the pants sans holster.

The faults include:

1) Unstable. The weapon shifts around a bit and is not only hard to grasp quicly with a proper firing grip but in any struggle it can and probabley will fall to the floor.

This also leads to the users giving off 'tells' as they now and then sort of feel to make sure the gun is there and not about to fall out.

2. Unsafe. Due to no cover of the trigger guard such guns as Glocks can and have fired when they dropped down the pants.

3. Snag prone. Any high front sight or sharp rear sights or safeties can snag on any clothing as you try to draw.

4. Yes it's a good guy thing to have holster and mag pouch. This indicates the user is not real worried about being found with a gun, and thus more likely to have a CCW.

The gang bangers do try to ditch the weapon and any evidence. What is more they don't think of reactive 'quick draw' or presentation. Usually if they use the weapon it will be with deliberation (they draw first, and without warning.)

There may be times when you have no choice but to carry 'Mexican style' but if possible avoid it.

Deaf

 

[allenjp]

Stuffed in your pants, with no holster, often in the front "appendix carry." It's popular among gangs for some reason.

Interesting that some would call it "mexican" because it is popular among gangs. I am married to a Mexican woman (who happens to be more proficient with a pistol than I am), and have known many, many Mexican people who have nothing at all to do with any gangs.

As for it being a term that goes back to the 40's and 50's, I am sure that the "N" word was in very wide use at that time too, but since it is offensive, most decent people don't use it anymore. I would suggest we use a different word for this too, because believe me, it is offensive.

If you wanted to call it "cholo" style, that might be more appropriate because that word denotes a gangster.

"Mexican" and "Cholo" are NOT the same thing...

 

[Deaf Smith]

Interesting that some would call it "mexican" because it is popular among gangs. I am married to a Mexican woman (who happens to be more proficient with a pistol than I am), and have known many, many Mexican people who have nothing at all to do with any gangs.

The term 'Mexican carry' goes back way way before the '40s. Jordan and Skeeter WROTE about it in the 40s, not invent it. It goes back to the 1800s. I have no doubt it was popular in Mexico to carry a gun that way, and thus it was called 'Mexican carrry' for that reason.

And 'gangs', drug or other wise, as preceived today, weren't even here in the '40s (well not THOSE gangs anyway, 'gangs' have been a feature of man since they first started tribes, ust as in the 1930s we had the bootleger gangs and bank robbing gangs.)

Deaf

 

[Grenadier]

As for it being a term that goes back to the 40's and 50's, I am sure that the "N" word was in very wide use at that time too, but since it is offensive, most decent people don't use it anymore. I would suggest we use a different word for this too, because believe me, it is offensive.

There is nothing offensive about the term "Mexican Carry" or "Mexican Style Carry."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2_51/ai_n8591504

 

[thardey]

There is nothing offensive about the term "Mexican Carry" or "Mexican Style Carry."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2_51/ai_n8591504

Interesting article.

 

[allenjp]

There is nothing offensive about the term "Mexican Carry" or "Mexican Style Carry."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2_51/ai_n8591504

The article helps to define where the term came from, if in fact the article is true, and in that aspect I stand corrected. However, just because that may be the reason the term originally came about, many newer folk today probably use it in a derrogatory way. I wrote a post asking why it was called that, and two out of three responses I received had to do with that style of cary being popular with gangs, and shady characters because it was easier to ditch the gun that way. Neither one of them referenced this origin of the term until they were made aware of it by others.

Whether or not the term is offensive is a decision I think is best left to the people referred to by the term. Are you Mexican? If not, I suggest you ask someone who is, if they would be offended by that term. I am not, but I know many who would be very offended by it. And the reason is simple, it is a term used to describe an inferior means of carrying a weapon, or the "poor man's way" if you will. To refer to something viewed as inferior by a racially or ethnically specific name is going to offend some people, count on it.

 

[thardey]

To clarify, I wasn't referring to the gangster bit of trivia as an answer to why it was called "Mexican carry" -- I was referring to popular culture to give an example of a style that you might be familiar with.

It was also a remark that there seems to be little redeeming features to carrying without a holster, and I couldn't understand why this was still used only by gangsters.

I got my answer - it was the same reason that the Mexicans did.

 

[allenjp]

To clarify, I wasn't referring to the gangster bit of trivia as an answer to why it was called "Mexican carry" -- I was referring to popular culture to give an example of a style that you might be familiar with.

It was also a remark that there seems to be little redeeming features to carrying without a holster, and I couldn't understand why this was still used only by gangsters.

I got my answer - it was the same reason that the Mexicans did.

This statement doesn't make sense to me. The article referenced said that people in Mexico started carrying that way because gun belts and holsters were illegal to posess or wear, and they could more readily hide their weapon that way if they needed to.

How is that similar to why gangsters carry that way now?

To my knowledge concealed carry holsters did not exist at the time this term was coined. Now any gangster can perfectly legally buy a concealed carry holster. In my mind there is no similarity between the two groups, nor in their reasons for wanting to carry a weapon in this manner.

This is why it is STILL interesting to me that when I asked why it was called "mexican style" you and another responded referencing how popular it is for gangsters to carry this way...

 

[thardey]

Because if you need to ditch the weapon, there is no holster on you (often harder to ditch) to alert the authorities that you were carrying.

On many of the threads, "Mexican Carry" is also often called "gangster carry" - When I think of people carrying without holsters, most often, in our current culture, my mind goes to gangsters.

I didn't know the origin of the name "Mexican Carry," nor was I trying to explain it, since I didn't know it.

Both the article, and today's usage, identify "Mexican Carry" with "Illegally carried." Since it was illegal for Mexicans to carry in the time that the article referenced, and since the widest use of pistols by people who aren't legally allowed to use or carry them today are gangsters, well, then there's going to be a connection.

Perhaps I should have said

Stuffed in your pants, with no holster, often in the front "appendix carry." It's also called "gangster carry" because gangsters carry it that way for some reason.

I just didn't figure this was going to be a racial issue.

 

[allenjp]

Fair enough...

BTW had any nice trips to beautiful Cave Junction lately...?

 

[thardey]

Fair enough...

BTW had any nice trips to beautiful Cave Junction lately...?

I'll be passing through on my way to the coast next week. I haven't been to the caves since I was 6, though. I need to do that again. You know the area?

 

[allenjp]

I'll be passing through on my way to the coast next week. I haven't been to the caves since I was 6, though. I need to do that again. You know the area?

Lived in Grants Pass and Medford for about two years back in 2000 & 2001. Worked at the Lithia Dodge dealer in Grants Pass (or Grunts' Puss as we used to affectionately call it).

The coast is nice, but I just couldn't hack the rest of it. I'm a Socal boy at heart. I still have two sets of aunts & uncles, and one set of grandparents up there.

I only remember that Cave Junction was about the most backwoods hick places that I've ever been to...but the caves are cool.