Transcription
Contrary to popular belief, concealing a gun undetectably on your body does not start with buying the next new holster, accessory, or piece of gear. It also does not start with buying the same holster that worked for your favorite influencer. And it does not just magically get easier with time.
Good concealment is a skill. It starts between your ears for free. Don't rush into buying holsters, not even ours. You want to start by learning the step-by-step process of concealing a handgun. And that knowledge will serve you well through even a lifetime of holster and gear changes. And because concealment mechanics are principles, they can be observed, demonstrated, and even repeated. So that means that you can figure out what holsters and carry positions work for your body type with even less trial and error. And you can also use these tools to help your friends, family, and even students get better concealment, too. And the process even works even if their body types are different. So, in this video, I'm going to go over our top five concealment tips to get you on the right track towards carrying with knowledge and confidence. So, let's dive right in.
You must first find your specific body's concealment sweet spot. And this is actually much easier than you might think. You simply stand up, look down onto your body's landscape, and identify what parts of your midsection protrude out further and which parts taper inward. Quick tip. If you throw on a properly fitting shirt, you'll notice that your body's natural peaks tend to hang up on your shirt and your body's natural valleys allow the fabric to drape over them. The areas where you have more fabric drape is likely where you're going to find your body's concealment sweet spot. And of course, if you would like more help on discovering your concealment sweet spot, we have a video for that. Exactly.
Second, and this one might seem kind of obvious, but it's actually one of the most common mistakes that we see. Make sure you're tightening your belt enough. If your belt, whether it's an Enigma or something more traditional, is too loose or even too stretchy, it won't be able to activate the concealment features like your holster wing or wedge. Without pressure coming down onto the face of the holster, we can't manipulate it in one direction or the other. If you're using an Enigma or even a traditional belt mounted holster, you'll find that it's tight enough when you can no longer physically move the holster from side to side.
Third, once you identify your body's concealment sweet spot, you'll want to identify any lingering printing problem areas and explore solutions using something called the poke and check method. Keep in mind that in order to achieve good concealment, we want to make sure we're getting enough grip tuck and grip rotation. So to use the poke and check method, you simply poke on your printing problem area and observe or check to see what happens to the rest of the holster. So for example, if I poke on the edge of my grip where I'm observing some printing, you'll notice that the muzzle end of the holster sort of lifts away from the body. So this tells me if I were to place a wedge here, I could get my grip to permanently sit in closer to my body, thus eliminating my grip printing issue. Now, if you're like me and you like to wear tighter fitting pants, you might find that the addition of a wedge creates an unsightly below the belt printing problem. Don't worry, we have made a video and guide that specifically helps solve that particular printing problem, and you will find that either linked above, up here, or down in the description box below.
Fourth, consider the size of your gun in relationship to the size of your available concealment space. It's certainly possible that the gun you've chosen actually exceeds your concealment sweet spot. If your gun takes up more than 50% of your available concealment space, then you'll want to watch our video about concealing specifically a giant gun. Although the principles kind of remain the same, there are some specific tips you can tap into when dealing with bigger challenges, literally.
Fifth, and finally, don't give up just yet. If you're feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, you're absolutely not alone. You may be dealing with a particularly challenging gun size, body type, or even clothing selection. And you might even need more individualized help. So, if that's the case, we'll get you squared away in one way or another. And even if you're not a customer of ours yet, consider joining our concealment oriented corner of the internet. You can ask questions here in the comments section. We might have a specific video for your specific issue. You can join our private Facebook group of over 30,000 people where you can search for answers or you can even make your own post inquiring about your specific concealment issue. And you can even join our next live enigma tuneup class. You don't need to own Filster products in order to attend our tuneup as an audience member. And in that class, you'll have the opportunity to ask myself and Dakota Adelfia questions in our live Q&A chat and learn while watching others troubleshoot on camera. There really are an endless amount of resources that we provide here at Filster because we want you to succeed in your concealment journey. Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned carrier, we're here to help along the way.