The only time AIWB covers your "junk" is when sitting, kneeling or squatting. Having to draw from the latter two positions seems improbable, but sitting, for example in the driver's seat of your car, is not. If you wear the gun on your hip it is going to get trapped by the seat back and seat belt. How safe is that? When standing and walking it doesn't expose any more of - just a different part of - your body than other methods.

This will sound counterintuitive to some, but the light bulb came on for me with regard to appendix carry when I realized I needed to loosen my gun belt one notch.

With 4:00 carry, I kept my belt very tight for zero movement, but with appendix carry, I need a little bit of give when sitting.

With a stiff gun belt, this should not present any retention problems, as the give happens laterally, not vertically.

Random thoughts:

I consider carrying behind the hip, farther than about 0330, to have its own real-world safety issues. Some of these issues become far worse with small-of-back carry.

I have seen folks point their handguns at their own bodies while drawing and/or re-holstering, with holsters positioned all the way around the clock. If the finger finds its way to the trigger, at the wrong moment in time, great harm can happen, whether the holster is forward of the hip, on the hip, or behind the hip.

The decision of whether it is OK to momentarily sweep one's leg while drawing from AIWB is, obviously, a personal choice. Proper discipline of the trigger finger is the key to remaining healthy, and I believe the tactical advantages of AIWB, plus proper discipline of the trigger finger, to be a valid equation, for me. I will not try to convert anyone to AIWB carry, and if asked, will recommend it be done with an external-hammer weapon.

Hammer-fired guns, with accessible hammers, have a type of fail-safe, in that one can train to keep the weapon-hand thumb on the hammer while re-holstering, to provide instant tactile feed-back of a problem if the hammer is down, and actual restraint in the case of a Condition One weapon. Some AIWB practitioners will only carry hammer-fired pistols.

I have used, and still use AIWB, with hammer-fired weapons, primarily revolvers, since the Eighties. AIWB has normally been for secondary weapons, because I like to keep my primary weapon near 0300, because that is where I carry my duty pistol 40 to 50 hours a week, and consistency is a good thing for actions that may be done under stress. My newest AIWB is a JM Custom Kydex George for the SP101.

I do have a couple of AIWB holsters, that I like, that fit Glocks. These are only for unusual circumstances, thus far, and, keep in mind that AIWB is not my go-to reactive carry position, anyway, so I am unlikely to be doing an emergency draw while seated. I can re-holster without muzzling myself. Even so, I would not be using these Glock AIWB rigs, EVER, if I had doubts about my trigger finger discipline during the draw.

quote:

Originally posted by mosquito:
This will sound counterintuitive to some, but the light bulb came on for me with regard to appendix carry when I realized I needed to loosen my gun belt one notch.

With 4:00 carry, I kept my belt very tight for zero movement, but with appendix carry, I need a little bit of give when sitting.

With a stiff gun belt, this should not present any retention problems, as the give happens laterally, not vertically.

I'll agree with that statement 100%. I attempted to carry appendix when I first got my Incog Eclipse for my 43 and said no way is this going to work after trying to tie my boots. Fast forward 2 months and figured I'd give it a try again. Somehow something clicked and I realized my belt is typically too tight for that carry location. It seems odd to say but you need to allow the gun room to move while carrying appendix. I also found that pulling up my belt/pants prior to sitting made a huge improvement for me and allowed the grip to get in front of my gut vs poking it. I'm trying to find a rig now for my 19 that allows the attachment of the inforce aplc (whenever I can find one) and is tuckable. I wear a polo shirt to work and need to be able to tuck it.

I will say this though. I don't see being able to carry appendix while doing an excessive amount of bending over (i.e. Mulching lawn care etc) but I may actually go or it a ahot tomorrow.

All I need to know about appendix carry I learned from Google.

I went through several holster and gun combinations and finally settled on carrying my favorite gun - HK 45C - in a 5Shot Leather SME.

It's all day comfortable, and totally concealable.

I am 6'1, 215.