Small of back carry - palm in or palm out?

[Bulldawg55]

I'd like to hear some thoughts on this from people who carry each way.

Sorry, The only thought I have about your carry choices is that I'd never use either.

Mostly carry at 3:45 and seldomly at 12:37.

 

[psyfly]

LordTio3:

Absolutely correct.

I am 67 years old, I am post cardiac surgery and on limited physical activity. I don't do retention drills.

Try not to worry about it so much.

I did recently take a 12 week course in Krav Maga (tailored to my age and health situation) and I feel I learned a lot.

Mostly, don't let anyone get that close if you can help it .

Keep safe.

Best,

Will

 

[LordTio3]

Mostly carry at 3:45 and seldomly at 12:37.

Hmmm... so both the kids getting out of school and the crazy workers on their lunch breaks have been giving you a lot of trouble?

Mostly, don't let anyone get that close if you can help it .

This is THE philosophy. Avoidance and prepardness are key. But sometimes you just can't help it. Then again there are those things we've all got to accept from time to time, like our age and physical limitations. I accept the fact that if 9 guys all jump from behind a corner and attack me, I'll probably lose, so I don't train for that. But weapon retention isn't something I'm ready to give up on quite yet (most cops who are shot and killed are done so with their own weapons). So for that, I advocate palm-in for behind the center-line.

And...

I did recently take a 12 week course in Krav Maga (tailored to my age and health situation) and I feel I learned a lot.

Freaking awesome dude.

~LT

 

[Doyle]

most cops who are shot and killed are done so with their own weapons).

True, BUT the cops who are killed with their own guns are always trying to arrest someone. I have no intention of trying to arrest any one - nor even getting that close. 1st rule in self defense - distance is your friend.

 

[Wag]

I'm inexperienced in CCW, however, I use a belly band and carry at about 3:36 and 20 seconds.

And a good forward cant. It stays concealed very well under any shirt I wear which is moderately baggy.

I hear a lot of tradeoffs going on in the thread which makes me think that you have to weigh the potential difficulties with the advantages of each method of carry. I'm definitely paying attention to the other posters on this thread.

For a long time, I used to think I wanted to carry SOB but the realization that if I ever fell on my gun because someone shoved me, I'd be injured very very badly. Not a viable option for me. Moving it over somewhere to 4:00 to 5:00 seemed to make it impossible to conceal unless I use a mouse gun which I don't have and besides, it still seems like it would cause serious injury.

My hip, on the other hand, might hurt if I fell on it but it's far more accessible to me and it's much easier to move my hip away from an attacker and still maintain the ability to ward off blows in an unavoidable confrontation. The downsides? Pretty minimal and seem to be equivalent, at least, to other carry locations.

--Wag--

 

[Aguila Blanca]

SOB carry is the mark of the inexperienced.
SOB palm-out is the mark of the inexperienced that have been watching too many movies.

Interesting.

A couple of decades ago I was a key witness for the FBI in a white collar crime case. I attended a couple of meetings wearing a wire recorder, and FBI protocol (at least then) was that the wire was installed in the FBI office, and I was then tailed and under constant surveillance by two agents until I returned to the office and the wire was removed.

The FBI agents carried SOB.

 

[orionengnr]

A couple of decades ago...

A couple of decades ago ABS was an option, and air bags were in their infancy. A couple decades before that, selt belts were a new fangled idea. Some of us have been around long enough to understand that times change.

Edited to add...those of us who have experienced a spinal injury and subsequent surgery will never...ever...ever...consider SOB carry. Under any circumstances whatsoever. The mere thought makes some of us shiver.

Oh, by the way, did I mention...ever?

 

[JohnKSa]

True, BUT the cops who are killed with their own guns are always trying to arrest someone. I have no intention of trying to arrest any one - nor even getting that close. 1st rule in self defense - distance is your friend.

The point is that even though cops carry with retention holsters and are trained in retention techniques they still lose their guns to criminals and are often killed with them.

Sure, your job is different than theirs, but if a criminal can get a gun away from a cop he can surely get it away from you too, especially if you've never given weapon retention a second thought.

As regards the last comment you made--the idea that a person can go through life without ever getting within arm's reach of another person is just plain fantasy.

 

[jcvibby]

always palm out

 

[Jake Balam]

I carried SOB when I first got my cpl, both palm in and palm out.


I was miserable, all the time.

Now I carry strong side in an fobus paddle holster, or iwb in a blackhawk cloth holster, much more comfortable.

 

[Glenn Bartley]

If you normally wear your pistol on our strong side (let's use the right side for this example) and you wanted to carry a back-up in a holster in the small of your back you should carry it so you can draw it palm in. Why? Well if it is a back-up think about it, you are under the stress of a situation in which you needed to draw your primary firearm and for whatever reason are now going for your back up gun. Will you remember to turn your hand around, facing the opposite way with palm out, than the way which you just drew your primary weapon palm in, only a short time earlier? Probably not, and that little bit of time for you to realize what you just did wrong, as you fumble to correct, can get you killed. Keep it the same draw for each pistol with the same hand.

There is another reason, and this one applies if you are carrying a solo weapon at the small of your back or if it is a back-up gun. You are suddenly involved in a situation where you (again let's say you are a right handed person) need to draw the weapon that is at the small of your back at 5 o'clock. The thing is, this time, your right arm/hand has been incapacitated, and you cannot draw with it. If you have the pistol in a left handed holster, on the 5 o’clock position of the small of your back, then the butt of the pistol's grip is facing toward your right hip. Try drawing it now with your left hand. Yes you can probably do it but only with some good amount of difficulty. It would be much easier to draw it with your left hand, from that same position, if the grip had been oriented the other way. You could then easily grab it with your left hand palm out (which is the easier movement for your left hand reaching around your back to the other side - try it - your knuckles slide right along your back to the gun). So my suggestion is, right handed shooter, wear it in a right handed holster in that position. Left handed, wear it in a left handed holster but at 7 o’clock.

All the best,
GB

 

[fastbolt]

Another Small-of-Back holster thread?

Well, as someone who used to wear a gunbelt where a thin dump pouch, and then a flat handcuff case, were once located in the small of my back ... I'll never entertain the thought of wearing a holstered handgun in the small of my back. Nuh-uh. No way. Not going to happen.

Sitting in my car caused me increasing discomfort, as did bumping into walls or door jambs. I shudder to think of the potential for spinal injury when a backwards fall onto a hard surface might be involved. and something is against the spine.

Just my thoughts.