CompVest wrote:The only comment is about center of the back carry. One is you don't want to fall on your back if you have your gun there and two it isn't the easiest or quickest place to draw from.
And, for safety reasons, few and far between are the ranges that will let you practice drawing from small-of-back; ditto for shoulder holsters.
My two pieces of advice are:
1. Put intended function first, not comfort. Everything about carrying is a trade-off, and when you first start carrying you're always going to be aware of the gun, no matter how you carry it. IMHO, it's far better to get accustomed to carrying to meet your intended function--presumably self-defense--rather than trying to find the most comfortable carry method (and gun) you can find.
2. Physiologists say that it takes about 3,000 perfect-practice repetitions of a psychomotor skill to ingrain it as a technique that can be accomplished with "unconscious competence." The "perfect-practice" part is important because practicing the movement incorrectly not only fails to move you forward, it actually subtracts from some of the good practice that's already in the neuron bank.
Now, that said, think about your combat, or defensive, draw and presentation. The one you'll need to execute perfectly, with unconscious competence, if bad stuff comes down and you
really need it. I think you should decide logically on your defensive draw first, then structure your carry tools--gun, holster, belt, and maybe spare ammo, pepper spray, etc.--around it.
I believe most folks, those who don't have prior experience as a LEO or with advanced handgun training, approach this backwards. They start searching for a comfortable way to carry (see the amazing popularity of the little .380 pistols right now) and only later, if they become interested in further, professional training, do they start analyzing the most effective way to carry based upon a sound and solid defensive drawstroke.
If you haven't had any advanced training, and none is on the immediate horizon for you, you can help yourself make a decision about your defensive draw by looking at books or DVDs by folks like John Farnam, Clint Smith, Gabriel Suarez, Kelly McCann, and Ralph Mroz, or by training institutes like Gunsite, Blackwater, and Shivworks.
In my completely-free-and-worth-just-that opinion, I think there are two "best" carry positions: strong-side hip (no further to the rear than 4:30 for a right-hander, with 3:00 being directly at the side of the body), and appendix carry at about 1:00 or 1:30, and both in such a manner that you can obtain a secure, three-fingered grip on the frame without having to reach into your pants or move anything out of the way except your cover garment. You start moving away from either of these positions, and your combat/defensive drawstroke starts to become mechanically, anatomically, and tactically less efficient.
