Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
Beeeeeeeee Esssssssss!
I used to be pretty fat. Back around the beginning of this year I was up around 285-290lbs pretty consistently. I’m also pretty tall at around 6’2″.
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “I’m a big guy, I can conceal anything!” It’s a line of crap. When I was fatter, my waistband was tighter, and that made even buttoning my pants tough, not to mention trying to conceal a pistol.
Say I wanted to carry inside the waistband behind the hip with my old trusty Glock 19. If I didn’t want the entire grip bulging out, and I wanted the pistol to actually be concealed, I HAD to wear an unbuttoned, untucked shirt to break up the outline of the pistol.
Appendix carry was out of the question, because my gut liked to peek out over my beltline, and there wasn’t a place for a pistol in that area.
Now, 60ish pounds later, I can stuff my Glock 17 in my waistband in the same place I used to carry my smaller Glock 19, and it conceals under a T-shirt. This is because as I lost weight, my waist got slimmer, and it changed the way my shirts hang over my upper body, allowing me to conceal easier now that I’m thinner.
In a proper holster I can rock that same Glock 17 in the appendix position under the same T-shirt.
I can only imagine that as I lose more weight, carrying concealed will only get easier.
So, fat guys, stop fooling yourselves. It’s not easier to conceal when you are fat. It’s just more miserable.
I think you’re confusing the ABILITY to conceal with METHODS of concealment. I was that size (bigger, actually) and I carried a Glock 35 in a Comp-Tac C-Tac IWB at 3:30 no problem, concealed with a T-shirt, polo, etc. Tucked or untucked, it didn’t matter. Drove for 16 hours wearing it. With a proper belt and holster and buying pants one size larger it can easily be done. Yes, appendix carry is out of the question (my question is why you would carry that way anyway and have a loaded pistol pointed at a major artery, but that’s another discussion for another day.) Just as short guys can’t reach the top shelf at Wal-Mart, overweight guys can’t carry appendix. Big deal. Embrace your limitations, and press on.