Lately I’ve been experimenting with a snub as a lounge gun in shorts, sweats etc..during baby days when I don’t want to necessarily get fully dressed or while doing yard work and as an occasional bug. I started by finding common pocket holsters that came recommended on the forum and initially bought the desantis nemesis and a safariland 25. Recently I added an elite survival systems #3 and a blueforce gear ultracomp to the lineup. Here are some initial thoughts after trying each with dry practice and several clothing types.
Three of the holsters are traditional “wing type” pocket holsters which have an extension that catches on the edge of the pocket and keeps the holster from being drawn with the gun. The desantis is a large extension that goes the whole length of the grip side of the holster under the grip. It does well at stabilizing the gun but makes for the largest overall package of the group. The elite has a smaller wing extension and it also has a slant to the wing which allows for a smaller footprint but still grips the edge of the pockets on the garments that I tried. The bfg has a distinct small wing but with a sharp downward angle on top and it grabbed the edge of the pocket even on the most loose of pockets. I get the feeling from use that this is the main retention feature being that it is so thin and several times the wing was the only thing keeping the holster from coming out with the gun, but it did keep it from never having come out.
All of these holsters also have a treatment on the outside of the holster to aide in grabbing the pocket material and keeping the holster in the pocket. The desantis uses a rubbery material with grippy dots that protrude in a tight pattern and works well. The elite #3 uses a rubbery material as well as dots but they are much smaller and in a tighter pattern. It feels more sticky but I’m not sure it’s the smaller pattern or difference in material. The blueforce utilizes no bumps but has a sticky laminate that grips the pocket well while allowing the hoslter to be amazingly thin. The safariland uses suede on the outside for grippiness and a plastic shell that the material is sewn too.
All holsters allow a full grip on the gun while in the holster with several grips, though the blueforce has a sharp edge at the bottom of the trigger guard that gave me trouble when using the ergo delta grip, but was not an issue with traditional grips; boot or otherwise. The blue force also didn’t cover as much of the gun, terminating at the cylinder, whereas the rest covered to the hump on my 442 with the safariland offering the best coverage going all the way to the grip.
As far as stability goes, it was very much dependent on pocket shape and depth. For deep pointy pockets the safariland was my preference while more square pockets the other wing shaped worked better, as the safariland would get tippy and allow inconsistency.
As far as garment types, all worked well in my preferred cargo shorts with preference going to the safariland or elite depending on pocket shape. For sweats the elite or nemesis were my favorite as they were tight on the pocket laterally and allowed consistency in presentation. None of the options concealed well enough in dress pants to not scream gun, none worked in jeans though I’d go bfg or safariland if forced. The extended guard on the 25 did best to conceal shape and the bfg was most thin for that application. I tried them all in a single pair of 5.11’s and the nemesis was too large while the bfg let me get hung up on the draw if I wasn’t particular on how I drew the gun. The others I didn’t have any hangups. For me the best applicationis on loose garments that have slant pockets that are fairly deep. Tighter clothing printed and tighter pockets were harder to draw from as well as horizontal cut pockets.
As far as retention, the safariland has the most loose grip on the gun by far. The 25 simply wasn’t molded for the exact gun and being plastic it allowed a bit of movement. I didn’t find it an issue as most retention comes from the pocket itself, but it’s worth mentioning. I honestly think if it was tighter on the gun it would come out as there is no wing and the suede isn’t the most grippy of material. The bfg was tightest but the others were solid as well, noting that the elite and nemesis were easiest to reholster as they kept their shape; the bfg simply collapsed. The wing on the bfg was prone to bending in the pocket. It didn’t affect performance but was odd as it sometimes became pokey but not enough to discourage use for me.
These are all great options and i plan on using all of them depending on the application. I think with pocket carry, there is no one answer and having several options makes the process easier. None of the holsters were expensive and most were available on amazon. Elite was $17, safariland was $26, Desantis was $20, and the BFG was $25. At those prices it is worth it to have several options available and see what works with your particular wardrobe and preferences.
If I had to rate them as one holster options, I would say the elite would be my first pick as it was more size efficient than the nemesis while offering better stability in a variety of pockets than the safariland and kept shape better than the bfg for range practice. It was also very comfortable. Next would be either the safariland or bfg as they were the thinnest options that worked with the largest variety of pockets. The nemesis is too large for my clothing if I needed to conceal, though for lounging and yard work it is sufficient.
I’m going to continue working with these and will update the thread with experience and pertinent information. For now I like it as a searchable reference for others who may like to see others experience. Below are some pics for comparison.
Would love to hear your experiences and have them added to the thread.