If you can't carry around the waist/back due to medical issues, maybe consider off body carry. I have used my Wilderness safe packer before and nobody has ever given me a second look. I don't remember who made it, but there was a company that made nice day planners that held a pistol and a spare mag. You just have to be careful with that mode of carrying and never let the bag out of your sight.
I think a 340pd in the pocket is a good option for me (with .38s).
I tend to not belt carry much because of back and hip issues, which I'd rather not aggravate.
I have two of these, holsters with the UltiClips, and they are amazing. Very strong (steel) and they grab onto your jeans with a death grip! Clearly not an option unless you like Kydex. No belt needed, assuming you're wearing sturdy shorts/pants of some kind, but from your comments, you'd have to wear it strong side about 4:00, which is where I normally carry. Muddy River Tactical made this holster for me, they do great work, and get them to you in a week or so (3-4 days tops, prior to this CV19 BS).
Not sure if this is what you're looking for, just wanted to mention it.
Lobo Gun Leather uses the Ulticlips in some of their IWB holsters if you were looking for leather. They offer either the standard width or wide Ulticlips:Originally Posted by Sauer Koch
I have two of these, holsters with the UltiClips, and they are amazing. Very strong (steel) and they grab onto your jeans with a death grip! Clearly not an option unless you like Kydex. No belt needed, assuming you're wearing sturdy shorts/pants of some kind, but from your comments, you'd have to wear it strong side about 4:00, which is where I normally carry. Muddy River Tactical made this holster for me, they do great work, and get them to you in a week or so (3-4 days tops, prior to this CV19 BS).
Not sure if this is what you're looking for, just wanted to mention it.
https://lobogunleather.com/iwb-insid...bo-deep-cover/
No opinion on the Ulticlips or Lobo since I have neither (yet!).
@Half Moon I've been using the UltiClip for about a year now, and can say without reservation, that it's very high quality, and I'd say it's as good or better than any similar clips on the market. It's a very simple design, no gimmicks, and clamps on VERY tightly. I'm not implying it's BETTER than using a regular holster with a belt, but if you're looking for a beltless option, look no further.
J frame with a Clip-Draw
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
This got me to thinking, so I dug out a pair of Duluth Trading trucker-style suspenders and started playing around with different holsters from 'holster drawer'. It took a bunch of trial and error, but eventually I figured out the secret to making a holster hang properly off of this type of suspender.Undoubtedly the best solution is a shoulder holster.......
...The offside uses a suspender clip and it will help hold your pants up, I bet if you asked Mr. Null, he'd make you a short tether with a suspender clip on the gun side as well. You could keep your pants up sans-belt and sans-suspenders, just by carrying your gun.
The trick was -somewhat obviously in retrospect- to find the balance point of the gun with a loaded magazine in the gun. To do this you can simply pinch the gun between your fingers. You will quickly find the 'sweet spot' for perfecting the angle of the dangle. It needs to be attached as 'high' as possible so it doesn't get top-heavy and roll outboard. A Raven Morrigan for G19 with Surefire light was the closest geometry of any pistol/holster combination I have due to it's somewhat unique construction. I didn't even have to modify anything because of the way the Morrigan is designed to be reversible.
While this holster works pretty well, a holster that was designed specifically for this purpose would have the suspender attachment point over an inch 'higher' toward the tang. It would need to be a high as absolutely possible without interfering with the draw. A little bit goes a long way here. I flag my thumb high on the draw anyway (Craig Douglass count 1 of drawstroke), so I don't think it would be a significant problem. Most kydex holsters with a full sweat guard are cut a little too far back for this specific purpose.
With this setup, I was able to keep my pants unbuttoned and my belt extremely loose. So loose that they would hit my ankles inside of three steps without the holster holding my pants up. It also allows me to wear the belt line somewhat lower than normal. Not hip-hop low, but pretty darn low. This facilitates even less abdominal pressure than wearing a pair of elastic cargo shorts without a belt! Pretty cool!
I push-mowed a large lawn while wearing this rig today. I barely noticed I was wearing a pistol. Then I went grocery shopping with a shoot-me-first vest for a cover garment. So far I am optimistic about the concept. I think a S&W Shield in a holster purpose-designed for this attachment method would be quite easy to carry. A bit of a wing would probably help with grip tuck too.
I'm thinking of this concept as a "Suspension Holster". It would probably work better with a leather harness, but a S&W Shield in a Raven Morrigan attached to Duluth Trading trucker suspenders could be a very capable rig in it's own right. The G19 with XC1 works, but it's pretty bulky for summer clothes. The gun simply won't carry as tight without a tight belt -no free lunches- but it isn't too bad.
Last edited by frozentundra; 07-20-2020 at 08:40 PM.
Not to belittle your experimenting, but you can accomplish the same thing wearing a very stiff belt with Perry suspenders, no special holster setup needed. That's how I (and most any outfit doing protection) carry equipment in suits without having to keep our belts crushed down with tension.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
Thanks for the tip! I can see how that would work quite well. It's a trick I wish I'd have tried for logging or backpacking. I've seen Tom Givens use suspenders to good effect, but belt tension didn't used to bother me much, so I didn't give the concept too much attention. I will absolutely try this in the future.
In my admittedly limited experimenting with various suspenders on medium-stiffness gun belts, this seems like it would only work up to a certain critical point. Once I loosen the belt tension so significantly that it will accommodate specific medical-level abdominal problems, gravity wants to roll the gun outboard. This wouldn't be a problem under anything approaching normal circumstances. This is one possible answer to a very specific problem, not a broad solution to a general problem like your excellent idea above.
By attaching the suspender directly to the holster, in just the right spot, all the belt is doing is arresting the gun from swinging in the breeze and retaining the holster on the draw. Almost zero belt tension is required to counter the outboard roll. The gun will even hang level without a belt present. You can imagine how this allows me to get away will less belt tension. And this attachment point isn't even placed as optimally as it could be. In fact, no belt would be required IWB if you had an appropriate clip, but I would be concerned about the security of my pants. A wardrobe malfunction could literally get me caught with my pants down and my gun flapping in the breeze. An extremely loose belt and pull-dot loops make it quite secure.
I think a photo with no belt or other attachment point will help illustrate this. This is a pretty hefty gun, with an attached weapon light, fully loaded. No outboard roll.
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