# Carry holster options



## TravlITMan (Sep 6, 2013)

Hello all, and thanks for the site.

I have a couple questions and though I am sure that they have been discussed somewhere, being new to the site and new to guns in general, I know the answers to my questions might be staring me right in the face - but I might not recognize them. For that reason I really like that you have a sub-forum for newbs to post questions. Thanks again.

My questions preamble...

I have thought recently about going for a carry permit. People say I should get a smaller gun for carry, but my Glock17 - speaking ergonomically - feels good in my hand. Today, I have been walking around the house with gym shorts switching to track pants. This is what I wear on a normal day. (OK, I'm a bum.) Over top my T-shirt, I usually wear a unbuttoned baseball jersey.

A shoulder holster would seem right to me, but I know that as the wind flops my unbuttoned shirt open, either the gun or the straps would be exposed.

However, while walking around the house today, I stuffed the unloaded gun into the waist band (back) of my shorts/pants - TV style - with the entire gun sitting over my left cheek; butt of the gun sticking out of the band and easily accessible by my left hand.

I lay on the floor, I sat in my office chair, I even climbed into two of my cars to see how it felt in those positions. Each felt almost unnoticeable. So it would seem that a belt holster of some kind would be the right choice if it were not for these issues:

Gym shorts and track pants do not have a strong 'belt.' There is a good chance for the gun to either fall out of the band or to flop inside - out and expose itself from under the t-shirt - or covering jersey.

In a similar vein, the Glock is not light-weight. If I jostle or jump around, I think again the chances - even if I were wearing a real belt - of it falling free are good.

My Questions...

So, the question is, IS THERE A HYBRID HOLSTER available that would be waist back carried, but with some kind of shoulder strap to keep it secure?

Also, in addition to my SUVs that I could climb into with the gun on my back, I also own a couple small sports cars for which I know I would not be comfortable on longer trips unless I removed the gun first and secured it (one is convertible). In this situation, I would worry now that the gun will be exposed while removing it from the belt and securing it in the car. What do you experienced people do about this?

Again, thanks in advance. Hope that wasn't to windy.

Edited to correct spelling.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

*General Comment:*
_Always wear a holster_. Shoving a pistol into your waistband looks cool, but it will lead to personal disaster.

*Shoulder Holsters:*
The draw from a shoulder holster involves a lot of wasted motion, and (normally) the use of both hands. One-hand reholstering is impossible. For those reasons, I think that the shoulder holster is to be avoided, unless there are no other options.

*Gym Shorts and Track Pants:*
Many people suggest the use of a T-shirt with a built-in holster, over which you wear a covering garment. The major problem has to do with the requirement that the fabric or elastic holster fit many different guns, and thus it fits no gun properly. The most effective, quickest presentation, with no wasted motion or possible fumble, requires a properly fitted holster. Thus, I suggest that the T-shirt holster is not the best possible choice.
Then, there is the belly-band holster, which is a wide elastic strap which wraps around your belly or hips, and which incorporates a holster. But see my short discussion of T-shirt fabric holsters, above, to understand the drawbacks of the belly band's built-in holster.
The so-called "fanny pack,"" never worn on one's "fanny," is a much better solution to the problem. However, presentation from a fanny pack is slow, and needs to be extensively, repetitively practiced. Also, most people who know anything about guns, including police and bad guys, know that a fanny pack probably is carrying a pistol.
My wife and I have found, after extensive testing, that the Smartcarry (and devices like it), an open-topped pouch worn on the hips but _inside the pants or shorts_, is the best solution of all. Access is quite quick, with practice, and the holster device is completely invisible. The Smartcarry comes in sizes to fit several different classes of guns, and the pouch can be stuffed selectively to adjust the fit from there. But it works best only with elastic-waistband pants or shorts.

*Holsters:*
Any good pistol deserves an equally good holster. Every good holster deserves an equally good, stiff belt to support it.
Wear your gun and its holster no further around than "Four O'Clock" (with your pants fly being "Twelve O'Clock")-or, if you're left-handed, no further around than "Eight O'Clock." Small-of-back (SOB) holsters are uncomfortable over the long term, and, if you fall onto your gun, you stand the chance of serious spine injury.

*Your Answer:*
I suggest that the answer to your question is "No."
There are clip-on hybrid holsters, but I believe none of them to be any good-especially without the support of a stiff belt. None that I know of is secured by any sort of shoulder strap, because such a system wouldn't work.


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## TravlITMan (Sep 6, 2013)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> *Your Answer:*
> I suggest that the answer to your question is "No."
> There are clip-on hybrid holsters, but I believe none of them to be any good-especially without the support of a stiff belt. None that I know of is secured by any sort of shoulder strap, because such a system wouldn't work.


Thanks, that is pretty much what I thought.


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