Curious as well! I'm 5'10" and 160 soaking wet. Use a kydex IWB Shield 9 at 4 o'clock with untucked shirts. No matter what I try, still cannot get comfortable, especially driving.

As an ex chubby guy, ok, fat guy, it's much easier for me now that I'm thin. When I was fluffy my pants were always riding down below my gut and falling off my ass as soon as I pulled them up. OWB was the only way I could get anywhere near comfortable and covered with an untucked shirt.
Losing weight made carrying exponentially more comfortable than ever. I carry appendix now and while I feel the gun there it's not bad at all and easy to get through the day. In the truck it's a bit less comfortable but a little readjustment fixes things.

I can do appendix and 4 o'clock but placement is important. I remember a few times carrying at 4 that I got to work, closed my office door and dropped trou instantly because my gun wasn't quite where it belonged and hurt like hell by the time I got there. Experiment with small fore/aft adjustments.

5'11" 165 29x32 On shirts

LLbean Has what they call traditional fit ( a little wider around the waist) https://www.llbean.com/llb/sho...=589-GN1&csp=a&pos=3

Orvis has what they call classic fit again the same thing.
https://www.orvis.com/p/angler-s-polo/2mj5

Tommy bahama shirts cover good too.

I've never a problem returning anything.
From any one of them.

Comptac now has a memory foam backing option that can save your hip https://comp-tac.com/sport-tac...-and-fabric-backing/

Thanks for the replies, there's some good stuff in here.

My wife picked up a pair of 32x32's for me at Costco that fit pretty nicely, and I wore them and carried around Ikea this afternoon with the family and felt pretty comfortable, despite having to hike my belt up a half dozen times.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick:
Body shape is more of a deciding factor than waist size. If you were cut horizontally across the waist, you are either round, oval or a flat oval. Round can do OWB at 3:00 much easier than someone that has a flat oval body shape. Anything but round, have better luck carrying appendix or 4:30-5:00.

Ok, this makes a lot of sense. I am the flat oval type, and it sounds like I'm going to have to try out appendix carry with a thinner pistol. I tore cartilage and tendons in my right shoulder wresting in high school and it didn't heal properly, so reaching behind my back really hurts. Oh, and between sports, weight lifting, injuries and being ridiculously fat, my right knee is pretty much shot - squatting is not an option for me when I need to pick something up.

I think I should probably start looking at shoulder holsters for a G17/G19 for next fall, and in the meantime, I'll check out some of the gear suggestions for stuff to go with my G42 for the warmer weather we're coming into. Looks like a horsehide belt with a stiffening liner needs to happen. I need to figure out something for a magazine carrier, though. The idea of adding anything else IWB at this point is a total turnoff.

Try these out for mag pouches. About as thin as you can get.

https://www.mastermindtactics....shop/elasticmagpouch

Maybe consider a new belt, one that does not have holes, so you don't get the dilemma of one hole too tight, one hole too loose.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
Try these out for mag pouches. About as thin as you can get.

https://www.mastermindtactics....shop/elasticmagpouch

Maybe consider a new belt, one that does not have holes, so you don't get the dilemma of one hole too tight, one hole too loose.

Oooh! That definitely looks like it’s worth a try. Thanks for the link, I’m going to order a few.

Good point on the traditional belt style. I know when I was paying attention to belt threads some years back, the Wilderness Tactical Instructor belt was highly recommended here. Is this still the case, or is there a better option available now?

My NexBelt has been great, with a ratcheting adjustment system. No belt holes.

6'2" 170lbs here.

I wear a thick leather GUN belt made out of bullhide and typically carry a Glock 42 at the 4 o'clock position, outside the pants. Some days I will carry a 5" 1911 in the same spot. They are both carried in good quality leather holsters made for that gun, and that gun only. Not some giant plastic job that fits 150 guns, none of them very well.

I don't carry flashlights, 10-12 magazines, another gun on my ankle, a tourniquet, a mirror for signaling, a magnifying glass, a random AR mag, nor water jugs on my person, either.

Hope this helps.

Glock 48 is noticeably easier to carry than my 19.
Buy a good belt and a very high quality appendix holster. What you are looking for is one that doesn't deform no matter how much bending/twisting force you put on it. The reason is this: if you wear a gun with a Glock-type trigger that is pointed at either your femoral artery or your man-bits when you bend over, and then you bend over a lot, you want something that will not deform around the trigger and make it go BANG!
For the magazine, buy a S15 mag and drop it in your left side pocket with one of those in pocket mag carriers that orient it properly and keep out the dust bunnies.

Luck,

Bruce

A good belt is about the most important piece of gear for CCW. Kramer gunleather makes a really good horsehide belt that looks decently classy. If you don't mind looking tacticool, the wilderness instructor belts are pretty good and way cheaper than a good leather belt.

For me, a tucked in T-shirt and unbuttoned and untucked button up covers just about any reasonable OWB at 3:00 as long as it has some cant to it. I'm 5'11 and 200lbs, no not skinny, so your milage may very.

You're a 34x32 now or before? Because I'm a 34x32 and no one has ever accused me of being "really big". I'm 5'11" and between 165 and 175.

I'd switch to an infinitely adjustable nylon belt. Leather belts are a tyranny of the hole placement. Get something like a Graith/Shivworks nylon belt or any of the dozen other good options and you'll have much, much more precise fit of your gear to your waist.

I've been carrying a full-size 2011 AIWB for nearly a year now with a 20 round spare and it's been working great. Proper specifically designed AIWB holster and a slim, infinitely adjustable but rigid belt makes a giant gun go away. Rig is very comfortable, too.

As someone who carried on the belt at 3:30ish for years, I find AIWB way more easy to conceal than at the hip because I don't have the torso thickness to hide the gun like big fellas do. Like you said, bending over was a real chore with any gun, save a micro, and left the butt printing really bad. No such problems with AIWB, at least printing wise.

I was a 34x32 for about a month. It was another in a long list of sizes that I wore in the last year and a half that no longer fit. I haven’t been this size since I was about 17, and I wasn’t carrying a gun then. So, finding myself in uncharted waters, I figured I’d ask for some input.

I posted my heaviest weight and pants size earlier and thought better of it. If you saw it, you saw it, but if you didn’t, I definitely qualified as “really big.” In short, serious health problems that resulted in first ballooning and now shrinking.