6 Lessons Learned About Appendix Carry
Ohttps://americanhandgunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Appendix-Carry-Lessons-1-e1701980388229.jpgne day, I woke up with a fleeting glimpse of common sense and decided to try appendix carry before continuing to pass judgment. What a novel concept! After some thought, I figured I ought to give it a long-term try. If it was going to be anything like the transition from not carrying a gun to carrying concealed daily, I figured I was in for plenty of trial and error — a short “try and judge” strategy wasn’t going to cut it.
Danger! Guns and Sudafed
No need to worry, though. Our government does a bang-up job of regulating things, so we’ve got the problem under control. I know this to be a fact because the system caught me trying to defeat the controls put in place for my own good.
Holy Handguns! To Port or Not to Port?
Some people swear once you go ported you never go back. Others claim Satan makes his guests use ported pistols while paying double for their ammo. I was an ambivalent “porter” until I spent some quality time with a few new Smith & Wesson Performance Center M&P pistols. Now? Read on and see.
First Look: Revolutionary Chronography
What’s barely larger than an Apple Airpods case, has enough sophisticated electronics to rival the programming of the Space Shuttle auto-landing system and tells you how fast your bullets go? Give up? It’s the new Garmin Xero C1 Pro. That’s a fancy name for a ballistic chronograph.
Sarah and the Winchester Mystery House
You know what’s a real bummer? When you embark on some loony ritual, suggested by a kooky medium to prolong your own life or perhaps instill immortality, and you faithfully execute that recommended “health” plan with vigor your entire life until you … die. That’s the sad story of one Sarah Winchester and the Winchester Mystery House. Yeah, you might recognize the name. She was heiress to the famed small arms company that arguably helped “win the West.” History hasn’t been kind to poor Sarah, with most people believing she was a nutcase. The gist of the story goes like this… Freaked out by the loss of her only daughter, followed by the death of her husband some years later, Sarah moved out west to San Jose. There, she embarked on a lifelong project of building the world’s weirdest funhouse mansion, all to confuse and deter the angry spirits of those killed by Winchester’s small arms. Or something like that.
Big Capacity! New EAA Witness 2311
There’s a new crop of double-stack “1911” pistols on the market: Staccato, Springfield Armory and now, EAA Girsan. The new Witness 2311 family offers double-stack configurations in 9mm, .45 ACP and 10mm. Let’s take a look at the 4.25″-barrel 9mm model for starters.
| The Good |
| Does most of the things a pocket holster should do: protects the trigger, hides the outline of your gun, keeps pocket junk out of the action, and generally stays in the pocket when you draw. |
| The Bad |
| The material is too soft. With a magazine heavy semi-automatic, it tends to bend and rotate in your pocket. |
| The Ugly |
| It can be really difficult to draw when your gun, and the holster, have both turned upside down. |
| Our Rating |
 One Nun. |
The Uncle Mike’s Pocket Holster
Uncle Mike’s Pocket Holster
Suggested Retail Price: $12.95
We wanted to like this pocket holster. It’s soft and squishy, feels great, and is really comfortable in the pocket.
But we didn’t. Like it, that is.
The Uncle Mike’s Pocket Holster takes a universal approach to size and fit. It’s offered in four different sizes as follows:
18744-1Small autos (.22 – .25 cal.)
28744-2Most .380s
38744-32″ 5-shot revolvers; Sigma .380
48744-4Most sub-compact 9mm/.40 autos
So there is no custom fitting for a particular gun. You take your best guess at the right size and go from there.
The material is fairly thick and has a rubbery-suede feel. Is that even a valid description? We’re not sure, but that’s what it feels like. It’s an open top, sealed bottom design and there is a band of non-slip material at about the half-way mark to help the holster remain in your pocket when you draw.
On the plus side…
- The material is sturdy enough that we’re confident the trigger is protected
- The bottom (on our model for mid size semi-auto’s like the Walther PPK) is sealed and does a perfectly acceptable job of keeping pocket lint and leftover Tater-Tots out of the action of the gun. And no, we really don’t keep Tater-Tots in the same pocket as our gun! We store them in our other pocket of course! Duh.
- It’s comfortable. The gun is protected and it feels good in the pocket.
- We had no issues with sweat, or spilled Coke, penetrating the holster material. So hit all the drive-thrus you want – no problem.
On the not-so-plus side:
- This holster, like other Uncle Mike’s models, has very little structure. You wouldn’t think that’s a big requirement for a pocket holster, but when it folds from the weight of the gun, you can have trouble with the whole rig rotating in your pocket. We did most of our testing with a Walther PPK, which, as a steel gun, has some weight to it. Add a full magazine and you have a strong tendency for the grip end to want to follow that gravity rule and find its way to the bottom of your pocket. Not good. In fairness, this problem would not be as severe with a polymer gun like the Kel-Tec or Ruger LCP.
So all in all, we would elect to pass on this one and spend a few more bucks on something a little more substantial. In our next pocket holster review, we’ll be taking a close look at the DeSantis Nemesis Pocket Holster.
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| The instability issue really caused me to fear for my manhood. I found that with normal day-to-day activity, in a variety of pocket styles, the holster had a tendency to rotate so my gun was pointed right at, well, my gun. | I tried it in my purse and didn’t have great success. The non-slip band was not tacky enough to keep the holster in the purse pocket when I tried to draw. I do realize the holster was not designed for this use, but wanted to offer up the feedback to my lady friends out there. |
Read about more carry styles and over 120 different gun holsters in The Insanely Practical Guide to Gun Holsters – available at Amazon.com! Learn more about our Insanely Practical Guides!
