Below the Waistband Holster Recommendations and Thoughts

[TheBaconator757]

I'm looking to get my CCW in not too long and I'm looking around at different types of holsters. Obviously, there is no perfect holster that offers the best of every world and compromises will have to be made. My ideal holster is something that conceals something along the lines of a Glock 19, in terms of size, with relative ease. I know a smaller handgun is easier to conceal, but my first one will probably be a "do-it-all" pistol so I can't go too small.

IWB is common, but it seems like there more ton consideration that has to go into your clothing than possibly other systems. I can't afford to completely redo my wardrobe to fit a small gun (please save all the comments about how you can't put a price on self protection). The summers around here get pretty hot so I can't just carry OWB and wear a jacket all the time. All of this has led me to BWB holsters. The two that caught my attention are the Urban Carry Holster and the Cherries Medina X holster. They both drop the weapon below your belt line and seem to conceal it well enough that I don't have to worry about bending the wrong way when tying my shoes. There are definite compromises in draw speed with this family of holsters, but they seem like they would be comfortable and capable of concealing a firearm better than most.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with these holsters or anything similar (Five-O, Son of Baghdad, etc.) or if anyone has any other recommendations. For reference, I'm 6'3" and 220 lbs. I'm not skinny but I'm not fat either. Just broad shouldered with a few extra pounds.

[SLG]

The only below the waistband holsters that seem to be worth anything are the thunderwear types.

Having said that, I have no personal experience with either one you mentioned, and truthfully, I don't think I ever will. It can be annoying when people comment on things they have no experience with, but I think they are gimmicks.

Smart Carry and Thunderwear have been around a long time and have proven to be useful under certain circumstances.

[MGW]

I'm all for someone making the decision to carry concealed. Let's go about this a different way though. Let's answer a few questions and see if we can come up with a system that will work for you. I think you'll be happier in the long run if we help you create a philosophy of use first and then come up with a system that fits that.

Why do you want to carry a concealed firearm?

What environments do you see yourself carrying in? This could be anything from weather conditions to the people that are around you. Do you see yourself carrying in places that will make you a social outcast or cause damage to your ability to earn an income?

How much training do you currently have with a handgun?

How much time are you willing to devote to practicing with the gear you carry with?

Do you have a place to practice drawing and firing with your concealed carry gear?

Are you willing and able to take a defensive firearms class?

Are you interested in developing other non-firearm related skills? Strength, conditioning, verbal agility, unarmed self defense, learning pre-assault cues, etc?

Let's start there. There are a lot of people here that are willing to help you out including SLG. We just need to get you to ask the right questions first.

[David S.]

disregard.

[ADK]

I've tried both of those. Don't waste your money. For me, neither drew smoothly with a g19. Grip hung up on waistband. And couldn't find any remotely comfy position. Slg is correct, stick to SmartCarry for fully concealed bwb. I've tried all the variations and settled on a single SmartCarry with a modified either raven Morrigan or Blackhawk arc screwed into the gun pocket to make the g19 ride higher and more securely with protected trigger guard. With the cut down Morrigan I was able to comfortably and fully conceal a g19 with rmr and xc1. Draw is of course slower than conventional holster but hits within 2 seconds is doable on the calm, flat range. Just be aware of the limitations in real life, including effects of damp hands and various body positions. Prestaging your draw can pay big time saving dividends with deep concealment, as just getting to the gun is wayour slower and more complicated than standard holsters. You may also want to consider ccw breakaways pants/shorts with cut down security holster (als or gls) added, though you said you are not willing to change wardrobe.

The SmartCarry setup is my goto npe rig, but these days 99% of the time I can swing aiwb under a t shirt, which is far better as long as you can reliably keep the front of your t-shirt untucked and down. I've tried tuckable aiwb and belly band but it didn't work for me with g19. Might work for others or maybe even for me with a smaller piece but g19 is what I use all the time. Hope this helps.

[TAZ]

No experience with either of those 2 designs, but I do own a Smart Carry holster for my G42. The SC has worked well for me on the few occasions where I wanted to be VERY discreet in my carry. Have traveled the country with it (legally) with no issues. However, I cant make ANYTHING bigger than the 42 work that way. Im no porn star, but anything bigger than the 42 riding around centrally like that tends to put pressure in places where I don't want pressure. Also cant imagine that the grip being directly under the belt would be comfy for any period of time. However, its $50 so it may be worth a risk, since we are all built differently, so it may well be fine for you.

[Duces Tecum]

SmartCarry user here. Talk about body dependent! Concealment will happen, but it may take a little trial and error to get exactly what you want.

[fsilber]

The only below the waistband holsters that seem to be worth anything are the thunderwear types.

Having said that, I have no personal experience with either one you mentioned, and truthfully, I don't think I ever will. It can be annoying when people comment on things they have no experience with, but I think they are gimmicks.

Smart Carry and Thunderwear have been around a long time and have proven to be useful under certain circumstances.

I have tried the Frema Holster, also sold as the J.J. Racaza .50 holster.

Caveats: There is a danger of getting the shirt hung up in the trigger guard while holstering. That can lead to bad things. If the gun has a safety and I trusted myself to apply it before reholstering, fine. I would not carry it with a Glock-type trigger unless I also used one of those little devices that go behind the trigger or around the trigger guard to protect the trigger. Such a device could be tied down so that it would pop off / out automatically on the draw.

It can be very fast and very well-concealed -- a rare combination. It is faster and smoother if you have a gun with a long barrel and a not-too-long butt (think Browning Hi-Power), but unless you are long-waisted a long-barrel will be too long when you sit down.

Because it is worn with the belt laying over the grip of the gun (with a plastic shield in between), I need to wear pants that are at least three inches wider. With most IWB holsters they say get pants two inches wider, so needing three inches wider is significant. (Also few pants come in odd sizes. Consider pants with stretchable waistbands.)

You cover your finger with the muzzle at the beginning of the draw. That's another reason you want a safety or a trigger-protector.

I bought it primarily for use with an HK P7 M13 -- because its action is extremely safe in this mode of carry. Unfortunately, the shape of the gun doesn't work well with this holster, because the P7's grip is very long from front to back. I kinda made it work by whittling a piece out of part of the plastic holster so it would carry down lower, but the weight of the gun requires belts to be pulled in really tight, which slowed the draw until I put a couple of bumps behind the ends of the holster to prevent the plastic shield from pressing the gun too tightly into my abdomen.

I think an ideal gun for this would be the new Ruger American Compact with Safety.

[fsilber]

I finally found a way to carry the H&K P7 M13. (This is a gun whose butt is too big for concealed belt carry.) I was able to make the CCW Breakaway pants work for me. In some ways this is an ideal gun to carry in a pocket without a holster, because it's carried uncocked with a single-action trigger so I don't have to be paranoid about protecting the trigger guard. (The gun is cocked before shooting, e.g. during the presentation, by squeezing the front-strap into the handle.)

Because the gun's butt is big, I had a problem with the edge of the magazine base printing. So I molded a bit of epoxy paste to the bottom of one of the magazines to round the outline so that no line shows where the butt presses into the pants.

The waistband of the gun is deliberately not sewn down in front -- so that by pulling against the pocket (see the videos they provide) two snaps come open and the pocket opening enlarges, with material coming out from under the waistband. That's fine but the P7 is an all-steel pistol with a double-stack magazine -- it's so heavy that the front part of the waistband would start to roll up with the pants coming out from under it -- a truly weird look. I solved it by going to a 1.75" double-thickness gunbelt -- this filled the area under the belt loops and the belt holds the waistband material down flat.

A caveat is that if I were lying on the ground the gun might slide out of my pocket.

It is pretty fast if the hand is already in the pocket, not so fast otherwise -- but not nearly as slow as most other methods of deep concealment. With the pants not in the pocket I would compare it with the speed of a tuckable holster, but sneakier.

A big disadvantage is that it costs like $90 for a pair of pants, and for daily carry you will need several, so this is definitely not a cheap solution.

I find that if I put my thumb on the back of the slide I can draw without breaking the pocket snaps open. I am toying with the idea of adapting the concept myself with ordinary pleated pants with a fairly wide pocket opening by sewing a big nylon replacement pocket. However, when you consider the labor involved it's probably worth it to just pay the $90.

[JHC]

At 6' 3" and 220 with broad shoulders, I would be surprised if you needed much of a wardrobe make-over to carry a G19 IWB. Do you have to stay tails tucked in all the time? That would be a hard stop.

Smart Carry is an excellent rig to have around. I cannot make a 19 work fully below the beltline with it though. G26 or G43 sure.