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Open Carry and Seat Belts

Mungo

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
66
Location
Cary, North Carolina, USA
imported post

I'm new to OC. I like doing it and helping to bring awareness to the privilege of carrying openly.

I'm constantly frustrated by my seat belt! I'm not a big guy and I'm right handed. My side arm holstered constantly catches, rubs, squishes up against the seat belt connector when I drive. It's annoying to the point I'm considering a cross draw set up.

How do LEOs with these big utility belts drive? How do other OC'ers drive?
 

MT GUNNY

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
309
Location
Kalispell, Montana, USA
imported post

1 Don't Wear the Seatbelt

2 use the nextBelt Latch to the right of the Normal one.

3 adjust seat till it don't interfere

4 Modify seat belt

5 change Carry Position

6 paddle style Holster for easy position changing prior to entering Vehicle.

Iuse a IWB and Paddle style Holster and have no Problems, then again I dont use aSeat belt.
 

Flyer22

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
374
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
imported post

I generally don't wear a seatbelt. On the rare occasions when I have worn a seatbelt over my hip holster, I haven't noticed any problems.

You might try wearing your holster empty to see if it's the holster or the gun that's causing the problem. You may havetoput a rag of some sort between the gun and the seatbelt latch.
 

shad0wfax

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
1,069
Location
Spokane, Washington, USA
imported post

I think your best bet is to try a different style holster. Check out some of the In the Waistband crossdraws and strongside draw holsters meant for belly carry. Check out paddle holsters and belt holsters withsnaps that would allow you to slide the gun forward from the 3 o'clock position on your hip towards the 12 o'clock position of your body. The IWBs with belt snaps are nice for this, and are almost as convenient as a paddle.

Many LEO's use a specific type of duty holster with a small (1/2" to 1" offset) which places their firearm 1/2" or 1" away from their body. This allows them to use a seat-belt normally by placing the belt between their body and the holster. A side benefit is that it makes the firearm easy to draw without the need for them to remove the seat-belt. (EDIT: Most LEO's also have a seperate duty belt that is thicker and wider and rides higher on their body than their pants belt would.)

I'd try one of those options.

lucas_flesher wrote:
[SNIP]
Iuse a IWB and Paddle style Holster and have no Problems, then again I dont use aSeat belt.
Flyer22 wrote:
I generally don't wear a seatbelt. On the rare occasions when I have worn a seatbelt over my hip holster, I haven't noticed any problems. [SNIP]

Not wearing a seat-belt in a car defeats the purpose of carrying a firearm to defend your life in case you are attacked. The chance that you will be involved in a motor vehiclecollision is far greater than the chance you will need to fire your firearm to defend your own life. (EDIT: In most places in this country at this time. Perhaps if you're serving over in Afghanistan or Iraq this would not be true and if you cruise the worst neighborhoods in Detroit alone just for fun this would not be true.)

The chance that you will be seriously injured or even killed if you are in a collision increases markedly if you do not wear a seat-belt. The vast majority of traffic fatalities occur when a person is ejected from their vehicle. Seat-belts go a long way at preventing ejection. Air-bags alone are not enough. They were designed for use in conjunction with seatbelts and are a supplemental restraint system (which is whyit says SRS on your dash/steering wheel if you have them). Air-bags do nothing to keep you in your vehicle. They only lessen the probability of injury in a head-on collision.

Not wearing the seat belt is a terrible option. Using the wrong latch for the seat-belt is also a terrible option. The seat-belt was engineered to save your life and was designed to be used a certain way. Changing the location of where it secures could potentially cause the seat-belt to injure you in an accident. Modifying the seat-belt is also a terrible idea.
 

Sonora Rebel

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
3,956
Location
Gone
imported post

Cross draw... slightly forward on your left hip. 'Carry that way all the time... for years. No reason not to... You ain't Hopalong or Hoot or quick draw McGraw. 'Also makes the weapon accessable when seated.

Anybody who don't wear a seat belt yet carries a pistol is goofy as a bed bug.
 

JDriver1.8t

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2008
Messages
678
Location
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
imported post

I position my paddle at 1:30 and sit down. This allows me the best positioning for short drives. For longer drives I unholster and reholster in a holster that is not on my body, but stuck in the center console area.

If no passengers, I do this:

DSC03047.jpg
 

jbone

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
2,230
Location
WA
imported post

If felling a liitle confined I may stick it under the seat on a nice clean soft towel or in the center console when driving, and arm back up at destination. Not so much on short drives but a lot on long drives.
 

shad0wfax

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
1,069
Location
Spokane, Washington, USA
imported post

If you want to drive around without a seat-belt on, be my guest. Just don't hit me head-on please. I don't like lethal human missiles coming through my windshield. I still think you're foolish if you aren't belted in;even if you're a perfect driver there's always some other idiot who isn't that rear-ends you while you're parked at a red-lightand sends you through your own windshield.

I've been in several car accidents. Two were my fault (single-car accidents, one with a serious citation issued), one wasno-fault (broadsided a muley on a very icy interstate), and threewere someone elses fault (with citations issued at all three.) Of those six accidents three of them would most likely have been fatal had I not been belted in. (In fact, one of them was so bad I should probably be dead now even though I was belted in.)

I can say with near certainty that seat-belts saved my life twice and probably saved my life a third time as well. I am 100% certain that seat-belts saved me from serious injury in every collision except for the one with the mule deer. I never even had a scratch or a bruise in any of the accidents I was in. Seat-belts are cool like that.

As diesel556 pointed out, driving without a seatbelt on in Washington state (where I live) is a primary offense and is thereforegrounds for a traffic stop and subsequentticket. (Although it's not PC for searches.)



P.S. I don't drive like I did when I had the at-fault accidents anymore. I was younger then and thought I was invincible, rather than incredibly lucky.
 

deepdiver

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
5,820
Location
Southeast, Missouri, USA
imported post

I usually carry in a 2:30-3:00 position and whether IWB or OWB I don't usually have a problem in a vehicle. I sometimes have to adjust the seatbelt so that the holster is between the lap belt and shoulder belt portions, but I have thus far, be it in sedans, SUVs, pickups, or sports cars been able to adjust my holster and sidearm to be fairly comfortable and reasonably drawable from the driver's seat. I do sometimes have to be a little careful about taking off the seatbelt to not get tangled. Granted, that could be a problem in a panic situation.
 

FoGKeebler

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
45
Location
North Richland Hills, Texas, USA
imported post

Mungo wrote:
I'm new to OC. I like doing it and helping to bring awareness to the privilege of carrying openly.

I'm constantly frustrated by my seat belt! I'm not a big guy and I'm right handed. My side arm holstered constantly catches, rubs, squishes up against the seat belt connector when I drive. It's annoying to the point I'm considering a cross draw set up.

How do LEOs with these big utility belts drive? How do other OC'ers drive?

LEOs use a belt extender. its about 3 inches long or so. it connects to the latch on the seat. you then fasten your seat belt to it.
 
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