Gun Dick | How To Solve Below the Belt Printing

Gun dick is when the outline of your gun shows through your pants. It's also called muzzle printing, because it's usually caused by the muzzle of the gun poking out against the fabric.

Gun dick is a form of printing. And contrary to popular belief, it can cause problems for both men and women. Avoiding unsightly bulges in obvious areas is a generally good strategy regardless of gender. While you can't control what other people think of you, you CAN control the image you present. And the best way to do that is to get better concealment, which is our specialty here at PHLster.

We'll explore the most common causes of gun dick, and some easy solutions you can try as you're troubleshooting.

The first way to start to solve this problem is by placing the gun on your body in a more neutral position. Sometimes when the gun isn't in quite the right position, or when it's too large, you may be tempted to use excessively large wedges in an effort to tilt the grip of the gun toward the body and get better concealment. While this works to hide the grip side of the gun, it has an equal and opposite effect on the muzzle side. So as you tilt the grip closer to the body, the muzzle can tilt away, causing a bulge below the belt.

Starting with the gun in the right spot, and evaluating from a neutral position, will help you solve the problem of gun dick. From this neutral position, add only as much wedge as necessary to solve the problem -- don't overdo it. See how in the video above.

In addition to putting your gun into a more neutral position you might want to reevaluate where your gun is placed in relation to your peaks, valleys, and bone structure. If you haven’t watched our video about peaks and valleys or followed up by watching our poke and check video, I would encourage you to look into those concepts next.

In this section we will briefly talk about the general "do's and don'ts" of holster profiles for below the belt printing.

You’ll want to avoid holsters with built in wedges if below the belt printing is a persistent issue for you. If the wedge is built into the holster, you're stuck with it. Instead, use a separate holster wedge that attaches with velcro. This allows you to remove it if muzzle printing becomes a problem. A removable wedge can be changed as your body changes, or when you wear more challenging outfits.

Although this is a minor factor, you might also want to avoid holsters with clip blocking on the lower end of the holster, as these inorganic lines may show through your pants and cause visible printing. I’d also recommend against going too far in the “low profile” direction, and discourage you from reaching for a holster that does not have hard material covering the muzzle of the gun.

While any clothing can show muzzle printing, it is worse when:

• Clothing is unstructured or clingy, such as sweat pants, leggings, or suit fabrics
• You're tucking in your shirt
• You wear solid or light colored pants
• You're carrying larger or thicker guns, especially on a small person
• You're using Concealment Mechanics incorrectly
  • Gun not in your sweet spot
  • Too much wedge
  • Not enough belt tightness

If below the belt printing continues to be a problem, even after working with placement, neutral positions, and low profile holster designs, then you might have to start considering different clothing or fabric choices.

*NOTE* This section will only get you the last 15% of the way there, in order for these tips to be effective it’s important that you address the issues we have already covered first.

Stretchy clothing materials like leggings, or stretchy jeans often exaggerate below the belt printing because they tend to form around every curve and corner of the holster. This can also happen with suit pants or dress slacks. Here are a few clothing tips that may help you solve your muzzle printing problem:

• Try pants with a higher percentage of cotton. Generally, the higher the cotton content, the less stretchy the garment will be, and the less it will conform to the shape of the holster
• Try a fitted undergarment over the gun to help “smooth” out the lines created by the holster - but be careful not to use something too tight as this could not only cause pain, but can also direct the muzzle angle into the body like we discussed in part 1 of the video
• Try untucking your shirt, or wearing a shirt with long enough tails to cover the muzzle of the gun
• Try moving your muzzle so it sits behind a seam or fly. Sometimes the double layer of fabric can help visually disguise muzzle printing, especially in more structured fabrics

While these simple tricks work for most folks, they don't work for everyone. If all else fails, you may even consider a radically different carry position, such as moving the gun completely above the waistband. Or you could invest in a smaller or thinner gun.