Ever truely "made" someone?

[atxtj]

I try to be pretty perceptive to people around me and have kind of made a little game between the wife and I trying to make people just for fun (and it keeps your awareness up). You'll see bumps and bulges that you think are pieces, one time my wife spotted crossbreed clips (she's got eagle eyes!) , but tough to be sure. Today I was shooting at Reds in pflugerville and while chatting with a buddy outside, a man with his wife walked out of the shop. The wind picked up as he left the door and blew his shirt open to expose a govt model carried owb appendix carried! "that can't be comfortable when sitting", I though. He buttoned his cover garment and walked on as he should. I just smirked kinda wishing my wife had been there. Have you ever been certain someone you saw was carrying?

[speedsix]

...often...but we pay attention...most folks don't...

[mescobar_rpls]

I have only seen one gentleman outside of a gun store that I knew was carrying. I was at Dirty Martin’s in Austin for lunch about two weeks ago. In walks the man with a photographer vest on. He sits at the bar and orders lunch. I spotted the bottom half of his nylon holster at his 9 o’clock. When I saw it, I thought “well, I am glad at least two of us are pack’n”.

MEscobar_RPLS

[TexasGal]

Saw a guy in a restaurant where I was eating dinner. He was using a pager pal and the gun kept bugging him when he sat down. I guessed he would be changing that method of carry shortly.
I find it's easier to spot someone not from being able to see any telltale sign of the gun, but from watching their tactical awareness behavior coming and going from their cars, etc.

[jeffrw]

I can't say I ever have. Even if I did notice a little bump along someone's waistline, there are many other things (e.g. cell phone) that could be.

[Keith B]

Yep. Just last week a man in a sport coat and slacks. He was sitting at a table across from me and I could see his ankle holster for his snubbie. He also had a prominent angled crease in the back of his sport coat as he sat eating lunch with his female companion. Looked a lot like a 1911 length and angle. I think he saw me eying his ankle at one point and as I left he spoke and said hi, and I smiled and nodded a hello back. He looked very familiar and believe he was a detective from one of the local police departments, but couldn't see his belt to see a badge to verify for sure. He may have also recognized me as I attend some different crime seminars for local business leaders in the area hosted by local departments or federal agencies and there is always a contingent of detectives at those.

[knotquiteawake]

just last week I was getting lunch at Subway and as I walked in I saw the guy in front of me in line had a huge gun shaped bulge on his right side at the 3 oclock, then I noticed the guy next to him was open carrying, then two more guys walk in, both with conspicuous bulges on their right sides, then another guy comes in open carrying. They were all wearing either t-shirt and jeans, or polo shorts and slacks. Upon closer examination of the polo shirt on one of them it looked like law enforcement. This was in Arlington, I think there's a police academy around the area where I was getting lunch. It threw me for a loop when I saw the first guy. He was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

[knotquiteawake]

Also, there's this guy at Church I see every sunday he's got a fanny pack right at his 4 o'clock. The fanny pack never leaves him. I even saw him at the store once, heavy looking fanny pack at 4'oclock. I'm guessing he carries.

[The Annoyed Man]

A few times I've seen bulges that could easily have been guns, but the give-away was the hawaiian shirt and the constantly scanning eyes.

Honestly, I consider the whole package when I'm taking that stuff in.....what's he or she wearing? How is he or she acting? That stuff is as informative to me as the bulge is. After all, if the person did a good job of concealment, even an aware person might not pick up on it. So when I see certain clothing styles and the way the shirt is worn...stuff like that....then I start looking for a telltale bulge. I seldom notice the bulge first. And as always, I'll concede to myself that it could be nothing more than a cellphone or other benign object. Unless it is REALLY obvious, you just don't have any way of knowing for sure.

One of the other guys who is a member of my Wednesday morning business referrals group always carries a commander sized 1911 in a Fobus paddle holster under a sport coat. He doesn't seem to care if anyone notices the prominent angular bulge in his jacket when he leans forward at the table. I tease him about it regularly. As far as I know, he, my wife, and I are the only ones who carry there.

[remington79]

A couple of years ago I noticed someone at Sportsman's Warehouse carrying. I took an interest because of what he was wearing. He was wearing navy blue BDUs and a shoot me first vest. So I told my wife "How much you want to bet he's carrying?" So we watch him for a minute and sure enough when he leans over to look at something there is the bulge/outline at the 4-5 o'clock. That just reinforced to me that that is one of the worst places to carry. Anytime you sit or lean forward or in this case even when you squat down to look at something it shows. If he didn't have the vest on I probably wouldn't have paid as much attention to him.

[remington79]

FYI: The bulge and shape was so bad when he leaned forward and when he squatted down I was able to tell he was carrying a 1911.

[karder]

I was in Yuma, Az a few weeks ago and I was sitting at a restaurant across from a group of guys who were all carrying. A couple of the guys had their holster's playing peek-a-boo with the bottom of their shirts. The thing that drew my attention to the group in the first place was that 3 of the guys were wearing 511 covert shirts. When I noticed the shirts, I starting looking to see who was carrying. The guys wearing the 511 shirts were well concealed, but the guys in t-shirts were printing badly. Ironically, the 511 shirts made me look though.

This last weekend, I went out with a mix of friends, family, and a few couples who I did not personally know. 7 couples went back to my home afterwards and upon arriving, my brother-in-law asks if I mind if he takes off his carry holster. I tell him to go ahead, and he reveals a Sig 238 in a Fobus. My brother then takes off his M&P shield in a crossbreed. I take off my Kimber crossbreed setup. One by one, all the guys remove their carry weapons and it turns out every guy in the group was carrying, and no one had noticed anyone else in the group.

We all were enjoying the variety of guns that were there. Sig 238, M&P shield, Kimber Pro Carry, Ruger LCR, Walther PPS, Walther PPK and even an NAA wasp. We were a very strongly pro NRA, conservative bunch of guys, so it was not that surprising that everyone was carrying, but it was interesting to see the variety of guns that were being carried.

[steve817]

I was at a Kroger in Arlington a few years before getting my CHL and as I was walking down the aisle a man was kneeling down to get something off of one of the lower shelves. When he did his shirt pulled up an there was what appeared to be a Glock. When he stood up, his shirt didn't go back down so I kind of stood between him and other customers further down the aisle and quietly said "Sir" when he looked up I patted my own waistline at about 4 o'clock and he knew exactly what I was talking about. He pulled his shirt down and said "thanks" then we both kind of chuckled and went on our way.

[The Annoyed Man]

Best catch I have ever made was at tractor supply - saw a guy in a pair of white golf shorts and kept seeing a red dot on his pocket. Took a second to realize he had a laser of some kind on in his pocket. Once it clicked what I was looking at it was obvious he was pocket carrying a glock with some kind of laser sight. As I passed him I looked at his pocket and told him his batteries were going to run down. He turned white as a sheet and stammered a thanks.

Priceless!