Why Shoot from Concealment at the Range?

Many shooters love to go to the range and might even participate in different types of shooting sports and classes but ultimately the goal is to carry in public.  Self defense is typically the reason people learn how to use a firearm and get into shooting, but they often like it more than expected and expand into more recreational uses.  So if carrying is the main goal of most shooters, how do we go about that in public where we may need to defend ourselves?  

Well that depends on the state laws but even when open carry is allowed most citizens opt for some form of concealed carry in public so they don’t draw unwanted attention to themselves.  

Concealed comes in a few forms, as concealed by law is “hidden from view”.  This means some people may opt for an outside the waistband (OWB) holster with a jacket of some type covering it, an inside the waistband (IWB/AIWB) holster, or an off-body (in bag) carry.  Any one you pick, make sure it uses a safe and quality holster that fits you correctly.  Ideally it should also be the biggest gun you can control and conceal comfortably.    

By far the most popular ways to conceal carry are IWB at the 12 o’clock position, called appendix, or at roughly 4 or 8 o’clock positions.  At the very least a shirt covers this, if not an additional layer or two in outerwear. 

This is the most likely carry position we will be in when defending ourselves, so why then is it the least likely carry position to see on range?

Why you should shoot from concealment on range?

There are a few arguments for why you should be shooting from concealment on range, we will discuss the main ones in this article.

Rangewear vs Dailywear

What you wear to the range and what you wear on a daily basis are likely not the same, they may even be drastically different.  This is especially true for the ladies out there.  

Our rangewear is typically optimized for being outside, protecting us from the elements, and usually includes whatever your preferred OWB rig is.  That could be as simple as a OWB holster and pouch, or a highly specific competition or battle belt.  Either way, it is likely optimized for your shooting purposes.  But is that how you walk around the grocery store?  Probably not.

Regardless of where you carry IWB, it is likely different from your on range OWB placement.  On range most shooters are somewhere around 3 or 9 o’clock, which might be close but still isn’t exactly where you conceal.  A OWB holster might also have some sort of offset making it easier to get a master grip while IWB typically sits more flush to our bodies to aid in concealability.

The biggest difference though is the need to clear a garment.  That might be pushing a jacket back out of the way or it could be lifting one or more layers up and out of the way to get to the gun.  Once you get past the garment, the steps to the draw are the same.  

So if this is the technique that our lives depend on, why is it not the technique that I have 80%+ of my reps from?

If you have ever shot under the stress of a timer from concealed you know it is very easy to mess up that first step, whether you totally miss the garment or it gets caught in your grip it takes way too much time to fix.  

Find your garment clearing technique and master it, your life may depend on it.

Skills on Demand

As you may have gotten from the last section, you want to know how to clear your garment and draw from concealed.  However it isn’t enough to know how to do it, or take that one class and feel capable and comfortable by the end of it.  This needs to be a skill on demand, one that goes right every single time.

The range is where we stress test our gear, that includes any old outfit you might be wearing on a given day.  It might even lead you to changing where you carry or what clothes you wear.  The only way to know is to test it repeatedly and see if this draw is doable every time and is it within a time frame you are comfortable with.

Perhaps you like tight fitting muscle tees, or wear a lot of pencil skirts, maybe you are in athletic wear with no belt loops, or typically in a sharp looking suit.  It might feel silly to show up to the range in that outfit but you’d rather find out how that draw goes when you have the opportunity for a mulligan than when you don’t.

Start out in dry fire.  Learn what you need to do to reliably clear your garment.  Put a MantisX unit on it and time yourself using either the Shot Timer drill, or better yet Holster Draw Analysis, see what a fumble truly costs you.  Once you have a reliable clearing technique, keep doing it in live and dry fire to keep up your skill.  Remember shooting is a perishable skill, so use it or lose it.

Once you are comfortable to move onto live fire, find your standards.  Even better find your cold start standards.  If you always shoot from your OWB rig you likely know your typical par times for some common drills.  You should know those times for concealed as well.  It’s only adding in one more step, so ideally they are pretty close times.

If your draw to first shot OWB is sub second but from concealed is 1.65 then you know exactly what to work on.  It is entirely possible to get your standard times close to each other, it just takes some work to speed up the additional step of clearing the garment.  Plus knowing your concealed draw time gives you a good idea of if you can or cannot do what you need to in the self defense situation you may or may not find yourself in.  In fact Active Self Protection has some data on what you want your draw time to be.

There are a few other skills that are worth knowing concealed time standards on as well.  The famous Bill Drill and Failure to Stop are each notable as measurable drills to find out a response time.  Do what you would typically do with our OWB, maybe that is stand and deliver or perhaps you incorporate some movement to get off the X.  Make apple to apple comparisons and see if the skill and stress of IWB has any impact on your times.

           

Bill Drill and Failure To Stop with Laser Academy Smart Target Integration with TitanX.

Lastly, if you carry a spare mag, and you should, what is your reload time as that typically involves a second garment clearing.  The argument for carrying a spare mag isn’t solely based on more ammo, in fact that is often considered a secondary advantage.  The reason to carry a spare mag is rather than figuring out what is wrong with the first, just ditch that mag and load the new one.  

This secondary clearing is also a little bit different skill wise, your primary hand is already occupied with the gun so this becomes a one hand clear and grab.  You aren’t going to figure that out on the fly, but if you do it every single time you are at the range it becomes an automatic skill.

The more you use your concealed rig the better you’ll be at it, so why not stack the deck in your favor.  Shoot concealed at the range.

Practice, practice, practice