So you go through the process of selecting your concealed care. Again, the next question becomes, what am I going to change about this gun, if anything, to make it more custom to my needs? So in this video, we're going to go over the top four gun modifications that will make your concealment journey more challenging. But keep in mind that just because something may add a concealment challenge doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't add it. The main thing is to make sure that it's worth the trade-off. So with that, let's get right into it. Adding a weapon light is fairly common amongst concealed carriers. Sometimes it causes concealment issues and sometimes it doesn't. We see four common circumstances where a weapon light can cause printing issues. First. If you're someone who tends to wear pants that fit tighter below the belt, this can actually cause very pronounced below the belt printing.
Naturally. This is a very common concern for most women's clothing and some men's clothing. Second, if you pair a firearm in a compatible weapon light like the X 300 or similar sized with a proportionally smaller body type, you may run into issues where the gun and holster combination is so wide that it actually begins to prevent grip rotation. Similarly to how holsters with attached mag caddies can. Thirdly, a weapon light can make or break your holster compatibility, meaning if you select an uncommon or fresh on the market weapon, light your options for compatible holsters get really small depending on what kind of holster you're able to find. This may or may not impact your concealment results. And finally, weapon lights can limit where you can position the gun on your body because it's wider at the bottom, you can't carry as low or as far off center without hitting your leg.
So basically, you just have less vertical and horizontal margin for positioning because of the space the light takes up. Optics are incredibly common on concealed carry guns these days, and for really good reason, I myself prefer to shoot my optics ready guns versus my iron sighted guns. So it only makes sense that we would want to carry with an optic. However, they're not all created equal. Take the hollow sun, 5 0 7 K and Trijicon RMR, for example. Those are both fairly compact optics designed for compact handguns. Now, compare those to something like the aim point acro. Adding an optic to your carry gun is just another inorganic shape that can become a printing problem area just like guns. The larger the optic, the more of a challenge it may pose for concealment. If you'd like to learn just how much difficulty your chosen optic might add, consider calculating your concealment percentage using this video.
Walkthrough magazine Extensions Magazine extensions are yet another very common add-on to a carry pistol. Usually you'll see someone using their extended magazine as a spare, but occasionally we see them being used as a primary. Adding additional height to your gun will increase the amount of finite space it occupies on your body. And since the body is an organic shape, adding inorganic shapes to it will become increasingly more challenging to hide the longer the line becomes. Furthermore, once the gun starts to exceed our body's concealment sweet spot, we may have to place parts of our gun on our body's natural peaks, which can really only be concealed by creating a larger gap between the body and the clothing or by squishing the gun further into the body if we don't have much or really any natural squish to our body. Adding features like a magazine extension can be very challenging to conceal reliably.
You can also use the concealable percentage principle to determine what your consum difficulty level may be with an extended magazine. Number one, a flared magazine. Well, mag Wells are designed for the purpose of making reloads faster and more consistent. Don't see as many users adding them to their carry pistols, but for the people that do choose to add them, they usually encounter major printing problems. As a result, the magwell sticks out further away from the body than any other part of the gun, which quickly makes it the most challenging part of the gun to hide. Also, you may have a magwell that you don't know about. The SIG P 365 X XL macro and fuse frames all have a built-in flared magazine. Well, although you can still apply basic concealment principles to help reduce printing from a magwell, not everyone is going to be able to make it completely disappear.
Keep in mind that although the SIG frames come with it, you can have it safely removed or reduced at the end of the day. There's absolutely nothing wrong with adding any of these modifications to your carry gun. They're exceedingly common for a reason, but it's absolutely key to keep in mind that there are trade-offs when it comes to adding these things. So it's important to consider which ones may be worth the added concealment or even holster compatibility challenges and which ones are not. Sound off in the comments down below. And let me know if you've added any modifications to your carry pistol, why you made those modifications, and what kind of trade-offs you might've experienced as a result.
Credit: Tessa Booth