This information was provided by Dave Spaulding, COMBATIVE HANGUN. Author, Todd Green
9-Mar-13 – 11:38 by ToddG
By now you may have heard of the big Facebook
flap regarding a newer training outfit and a video showing someone using an
appendix (aiwb) holster in a manner most of us would consider unsafe. Rather
than beat a dead horse, I’ll refer you to Caleb’s post over at Gun Nuts Media (including
the followup with a
response from the trainer).
Appendix carry is becoming more and more
popular and in some circles it has evolved into “the cool way to carry” completely bereft of any understanding of its benefits
and dangers. I love aiwb carry. It’s the way I carry a gun almost every
single day and has been for years. I teach a dedicated appendix carry class. I
write about aiwb all the time. I even own — no kidding — appendixcarry.com (which
is a dead site at the moment, so don’t bother). But having said all that, I do
not think of myself as an advocate
of appendix carry. Why? Because the potential risk of aiwb is substantial and not
something suited to every CCW holder and police academy graduate in the world.
There are a number of things you can do to
make holstering a gun more safe when carrying aiwb. I’m not suggesting you
absolutely must do every single one of these things. I don’t do them all
myself, candidly. But as with anything, the more redundant safety steps you put
into your protocol the less likely you are to have an accident. And accidents
with an aiwb holster tend to be severe.
Holster
reluctantly. While I
know there are people who’ll argue otherwise, I remain firmly convinced
that no one should ever holster a gun at an unsafe speed. If something was
bad enough to make you want a gun in your hand, keep it there until you can
take a full two seconds to holster. “But I have to handcuff the bad guy,” I hear
all the time. If you think he is such an immediate threat that you cannot spend
two seconds putting the gun away safely, maybe it’s the wrong time to holster
up. Because no matter how bad he is, he’s probably not as bad as a self
inflicted contact wound to the femoral artery region.
Hard
break before holstering. This is
one I actually insist on when teaching, and I’ve had more than a few students who came
close to getting kicked out of class until they made it part of their process.
A hard break is simply an intermediate pause between having the gun at full
extension (shooting position) and going into the holster. If you scan with your
finger off the trigger before holstering, you’re already doing a sort of hard
break. Personally, I bring the gun into my ready position, consciously ask
myself if my finger is off the trigger, and only then continue on to the
holster. (credit to Tom
Givensfor driving this point home for me years ago)
Look
before holstering. This
one is so obvious it doesn’t need much discussion. Making sure there is nothing
obstructing the holster that could inadvertently pull the trigger is a logical
step no matter what kind of holster you’re using. I see students get shirt
tails and other bits of clothing or gear between the gun and the holster all
the time. Nonetheless, I’ll confess that this is a step I often skip even
though I do teach it to students. If I were carrying a different type of gun,
I’d include the look (and did for the first year & 70,000 rounds or so of
carrying aiwb).
Touch
before holstering. Not
something I do or teach, but it has merit. Some people take a moment when
clearing their garment to run the support hand across the holster mouth,
checking for any obstruction.
Lean as
you holster. If you
lean backward slightly, pushing your hips forward, you’ll change the angle of
the gun’s entry relative to your important anatomical parts. It won’t prevent
the gun from going off accidentally, but it will send the unwanted projectile
into the ground in front of you instead of into your lower extremities.
The best description of it I’ve seen so far was by Yute on pistol-forum.com as reported last year.
Cant
the muzzle as you holster. This is
something I learned from Ernest Langdon. Essentially, as soon as the gun
begins to enter the mouth of the holster, pull the grip into your body and
angle the muzzle outward. The gun pushes the holster outward and away from your
body so that an accidental discharge won’t strike your body.
Use an
aiwb-safe gun. This
one always annoys people because it jabs a spear into a sacred cow, but the
simple reality is that some guns are safer when holstering than others. Most
striker fired guns have no safety beyond your ability to be 100% perfect with
your trigger finger every time, and even then — counter to the mantra many
chant online — there have been instances of shirt tails, jacket tabs, etc.
getting inside a trigger guard and causing a very loud noise. A gun with a
positive manual safety (like a 1911) or a hammer fired gun that is holstered
decocked (like an HK P30 or SIG P220-sereis) provides a second redundant safety
factor. However, it’s important to remember that this is an additional safety
factor, not an alternative one. Just because your gun has a safety doesn’t mean you can
holster at warp speed without thinking. Again, please don’t comment “OMG u dont understand Glock u shouldnt own a gun.” I’m
not saying it’s impossible to carry a striker fired gun safely in an appendix
holster. It simply has less margin for error than hammer fired guns.
For what it’s worth, my personal step by step
process when holstering my current carry gun (a 1911 with an ambidextrous
safety) is:
- Come
to a hard break at my ready position. Thumb goes under safety lever,
activates safety, and then goes back on top of lever.
- Consciously
verify — visually and by feel — that my finger is away from the trigger
guard in a register position along the frame.
- Clear
my cover garment with my support hand.
- Strong
hand thumb moves from safety lever to hammer, blocking it in place
(cocked) so if the trigger is somehow pulled I can trap the hammer and
prevent a discharge.
- Trigger
finger moves up from register position to block the ambi (right side)
safety lever, preventing it from disengaging into the FIRE position
accidentally.
- Lean
back slightly.
- As
gun begins to enter the holster, pull the grip into my stomach while
angling the muzzle outward.
With a double action hammer fired gun,
obviously I skip the steps for the thumb safety. Putting the thumb on the back
of the hammer and pressing down with the thumb to holster the gun provides
enough leverage to prevent the gun from discharging even if something gets
inside the trigger guard usually (though I wouldn’t press my luck, pardon the
pun). With a striker fired gun, since there is absolutely nothing in the
process that protects me if something other than my finger weaves its way into
the trigger guard, I add the “look at the holster” step. (and it’s certainly
smart to do that no matter what gun you’re carrying; I’m not suggesting my
behavior is a perfect example)
That whole process takes less than two
seconds. But even if it
took three, or four, or ten, it beats becoming famous as the guy who bled to
death on the floor of the local range.
Appendix carry is great, unless it kills you.
Counting on nothing but your personal infallibility to protect you as you ram a
light- and short-trigger gun into your waistband as fast as possible seems like
a bad idea to me.
Train
hard & stay safe! ToddG
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