shoulder holster musings

TRX [OP]
October 25th, 2013
So, as the weather drops down to freezing here, it would be convenient to carry my snubnose Taurus .38 in a shoulder holster. So I go online to shop for one.

My. Shoulder holster prices are steep compared to belt holsters. Yes, I understand they're much more complicated, I just wasn't expecting the price difference. I'll cringe a bit, though.

Selection of left hand shoulder holsters is very sparse. Unfortunately, I insist on a left-handed holster.

Most of the ones I've found were leather. Mongo like leather, but in the case of a shoulder holster, I think I'd prefer something synthetic, machine- washable, and non-staining. But I'll take leather if I have to.

Some holsters loop around both armpits and your back, in what I think of as the "classic" style. Hunting holsters have an additional strap across the front to keep the holster from flopping about during various activities; a fine idea, but the strap isn't desirable for concealed carry.

Another type of holster has shoulder loops, but instead of taking the weight against the opposite armpit, a strap goes down to your belt (loop types) or pants (spring clips). Some have a second belt strap under the holster itself, offering extra stability to the holster. Nice idea. I'm guessing you have to hunt for the "neutral axis" position for the straps so your pants don't hitch up when you sit down.

There seem to be two basic gun positions - alongside the rib cage, mostly vertical, or lower or under the rib cage, completely horizontal, butt sticking straight forward.

Since I'm built more like Orson Welles than Slim Pickens, I was looking for a holster that would position the gun up near my shoulder, instead of down closer to my equator. Though I'm sure I've seen pictures of such holster somewhere, I haven't been able to locate any "high ride" shoulder holsters so far.

I'd also kinda like one of those pushbutton "retention" devices like some of the belt holsters have, but I haven't found a shoulder rig with that, either.

I expect I'll eventually find something I can live with, but it's interesting that google, amazon, midway, and ebay keep throwing up the same three or four holsters; I guess there's just not a lot out there in a left hand J frame shoulder rig nowadays.

I have an ancient Bianchi upside down shoulder holster that for a
revolver that is the best I have found for me. The Bianchi is no
longer made but here is a link to a more modern version.


Upside Down Shoulder Holster

This is what it looks like when worn.

I *like* that! It looks like it might be easier to adjust to fit than some of the others I've seen, and doesn't have a big plastic knob where the straps cross behind your back...

TRX [OP]
October 25th, 2013
Originally Posted by retsupt99
Here's what I use for long trips, or when I rode my Harley (now sold...hip surgery)...

FIST (zf) #70 VERTICAL SHOULDER HOLSTER

I like the way the designer laid that one out.

Arthritis made me hang up my helmet a couple of years ago. At the time I was able to make a grand gesture, and I gave my Bandit 1200 to a friend. I think he washes and waxes it every weekend...

TRX [OP]
October 30th, 2013
I ordered a Barsony holster yesterday. Leather, horizontal carry, belt strap from holster. It's a basic and inexpensive rig. If I don't like it, at least I'll have more specific requirements for the next one.

When I got my CHL, the instructor hauled out a box full of holsters and dumped them on the table. He said, "eventually, you'll all have collections like this." I think he was right...

TRX [OP]
November 1st, 2013
The Barsony holster came in today. It has plenty of strap length; I snugged it up several inches on each.

As I suspected, a little bit of adjustment goes a long way. It will probably take a bit of experimenting to get things sorted out.

After a whole fifteen minutes, it's still quite noticeable. The weight and bulk of the gun are no problem; the strap behind my neck and the one under the opposite armpit is definitely noticeable, if not outright annoying. Further adjustment and experience with it may help.

As a first impression, the short straps some holsters have might be more useful than I thought.

Finally, the 2" snubby tucks right in, and even my lightest jacket hides it completely. A heavy shirt would do a good job hiding the gun, but the straps would probably show.

TRX [OP]
November 1st, 2013
Well, that lasted about an hour... the Barsony holster had two problems that I couldn't adjust out. First, though there were two straps on top of the holster, the balance point of the gun was to the front of the forward strap, meaning the rear strap did nothing, and that was why the butt of the gun hung low no matter how I tried to adjust things.

The other, and more annoying, feature was that the offside strap turned horizontal as it went under my armpit, and dug into my arm and chest. My wife was able to get a better view of things while I was wearing it; she said it was unlikely the strap would ever lie vertical.

Barsony approved a return through their web store, all I'm out is return shipping.

So, after looking at that Nevada upside-down rig again... I'm not sure how I'm going to like the upside-down gun, but I like the strap arrangement even more now. It doesn't cross behind your back, and the offside strap lies flat against your ribcage. I ordered the left-hand version of that.

TRX [OP]
November 3rdm 2013
Let's put it this way... I'm going to wear the thing around the house for a while to see if the straps work out right. If so, I'm going to rivet some snaps and make a retainer strap.

I'm much less concerned about a quick draw than keeping the gun in its holster.

TRX [OP]
November 4th, 2013
I had a "tanker" holster pop up during a search last night. It was the first time I'd ever seen one. If you were wearing a bloused jacket, it would hide well. The main advantage would be that it leaves the space to your sides clear, so it doesn't get in the way of chair arms, car doors, your arms if you're running, etc.

As a general complaint on an entirely different subject, I've found a number of holster manufacturers whose web site shows a picture of a holster and a wag of straps laying on a table, and a price of $200 or $275. Hel-lloo, marketing people? At least show us a crummy 1x1 inch picture of someone wearing the thing, so we can see how it hangs and where the straps go.

TRX [OP]
November 6th, 2013
I spent most of last evening in an intense search for shoulder holster pictures. One thing I realized after a while is that a properly-fitting holster probably has scimitar-shaped curved straps, either cut or steamed into shape. Flat nylon or canvas straps would have difficulty with all but the shallowest curves; they'd tend to pooch up and ride on edge, like the holster I just sent back.

TRX [OP]
November 8th, 2013
The Nevada upside-down holster came in today. It's this one: Upside Down Shoulder Holster

So far I like it a lot. It took a bit of adjustment to get it to hang properly. The cylinder and butt tuck right in, and there is only slight movement if I bend over and pick something up, raise my arms over my head, etc.

The holster rides much further toward my back than the picture indicates. This is likely due to my "rotund" physique. Even though it's a left-hand holster, it's not easy to draw the gun left-handed; if I don't want to spin around like a dog chasing its tail, I have to use my right hand to keep the holster from moving backwards away from my hand when I'm reaching for it. On the other hand, it's very easy to pull the gun with my *right* hand. It sounds unlikely, but I just stick my elbow out, curl my palm up, and pull. Fortunately I don't have any problem shooting right-handed at self-defense range.

The gun is a 2" revolver. The holster wraps around between the grip and the trigger guard, with a solid leather insert to hold the weight. The top of the holster, along the backstrap, is split like a clamshell holster, except the gap has elastic sewn into it. When you push the gun into the holster, the elastic stretches until the guard clears the leather insert. You can just yank the gun out, but a slight tilt will let it slide out easily. My wife wants me to wait a while before modifying the holster by adding a strap, so I'll carry the gun with an empty chamber under the hammer until I see how the retention system fares against chair arms, guard rails, etc. The Taurus has a transfer bar, but I'm just a bit leery about looking down my own muzzle as the back of the gun hits concrete...

It takes both hands to holster the gun with this rig; a firm grip on both the gun and the holster while you work the trigger guard around into the pocket against the elastic and the stiff sides against the cylinder. I had figured as much before I ordered it, so it was no surprise.

TRX [OP]
November 14th, 2013
I've only had a chance to wear the Nevada holster a few times when out and about, but I'm generally happy with it. The wide part of the harness over my collarbone tends to pucker up a bit, probably due to my shape.

The only real annoyance is fastening the seat belt. One of my cars has the newer-style belt with the buckle more or less underneath my right buttcheek, which is hard to manipulate even with just a T-shirt. With a coat, it's much harder, and with the holster, harder yet. I managed to dislodge the gun from the holster while fighting the buckle. Getting the gun back in required some youtube-worthy contortions; it's an awkward process while you're wearing the holster, made more so by being buckled into the seat. Any bystanders would have wondered if I was having some kind of seizure.

Two of my other vehicles have seat belt extenders. I think I'm going to order one for this vehicle too. The belt is plenty long enough from the factory, but moving the buckle up where I can reach it would really be nice.

An unforseen feature of the upside-down holster is that it is immune to what I call the "Chee-To Effect." Back when I wore a belt holster on the job, the holster seemed to collect lint, dust bunnies, bits of food, and food-like substances such as chee-tos. Since the Nevada holster is upside-down, the only thing that can fall out is the gun... I'm still leery about that, and will report back later on how that works out.

Meanwhile, I dug out the Bianchi rig I'd bought earlier this year. It's a left-hand X-15 to fit my Auto Mag. Better, it's left handed, and better yet, it was only $35 through eBay. I tried it on a few times, hated it, and put it aside. Now that I know how to adjust a shoulder holster, I dug it back out and tried it again. After some fairly major adjustments, it works fine. It uses single-sided rigging like the Nevada, with the straps in somewhat different positions. The top strap rides high behind the neck, to keep the holster pulled forward, instead of directly under the armpit like the Nevada. Which is a good thing, considering how big the Auto Mag is. The holster has a belt loop, and the end of the holster can fit into the top of my pants pocket... I can't sit in any of the armchairs in the house while wearing that thing. Not the holster's fault.

The Bianchi came with its original packaging and sales slip, from 1982. The leather is pretty hard, and it creaks more than a cheap horror movie. I spent several hours researching leather dressings and the like, getting more and more confused. Galco sells a kit with conditioner, oil, application pads, and probably chakra-balanced all-natural protein rinse; it was $15.98 with free shipping from Amazon, so I just clicked "buy now" and gave up on trying to sort through the conflicting horror stories of leather (mis)treatment.