Grant Cunningham - Gun digests carrying the revolver concealed carry eshort advice & suggestions on the best ccw holsters for your concealed carry revolver. concealment holsters, clothing, gear & tips for tactical

Tuckable holster from Tucker Gunleather has special hanger. Loop at left goes over belt, while a tucked-in shirt slides into gap between hanger and holster.

Revolvers are hard to carry! That has got to be the most frequent comment I hear from other shooters. It seems logical: the cylinder on a revolver is fat, has a thicker profile than an autoloader of comparable size, thus it must be harder to carry.

As youve no doubt heard before, size isnt everything. Yes, the cylinder does give its carrier something of a lump to hide, but the overall shape of the revolver actually makes it relatively easy to conceal. The revolver has an organic shape that blends well into the natural curves and hollows of the human body, easily camouflaging the guns shape.

When inserted into a holster and covered, the revolver takes on a fluid shape. From any direction the revolver curves smoothly outward then back again. The revolvers rounded grip (assuming that the owner hasnt installed grips which defeat the natural frame shape) contributes to the overall effect, allowing a cover garment to drape smoothly over the gun.

For contrast, look at a typical autoloading pistol: the entire gun is composed of angles, no matter how rounded the edges themselves are. The butts of their frames are squared off in all directions, making a perfect point that easily gives away its shape under clothing. Were used to seeing clothing filled with contours, not corners, which makes hiding an auto more difficult regardless of overall volume. No matter how thin the autoloading pistol is, that bottom corner is always there to give the carrier away.

Revolvers also tend to shift less during wear. The autoloaders grip contains its ammunition supply, which (when carried in a typical muzzle-down orientation) makes the package top-heavy. The weight carried high tends to make the gun want to rotate backwards, and if the wearers holster and belt are not of the best quality that backward lean makes the squared-off grip poke out even more.

Since the revolvers center of gravity is in the loaded cylinder, it wants to stay in one place. Revolvers tend to shift much less than an equivalent auto, which means that once its concealed it will probably stay that way. (It also makes for a consistent grip angle, an important consideration when training for self-defense.)

When pressure is applied to top sides of improperly stiffened IWB holster, the gun is effectively locked in, making draw difficult. Problem doesnt occur with flat-sided autoloaders.

Understand that, like the mythical perfect gun or perfect caliber, the perfect holster does not exist. If it did this would be a much shorter chapter.

Im going to talk mostly in terms of concepts rather than specific products. The conditions and reasons for revolver carry are varied concealed or defense, field or hunting, and competition all have differing needs and criteria. The holster business is constantly changing, with only a few constant large players and a huge number of small and custom makers who come and go frequently. (Thats not meant to be derogatory; the smaller makers, many of them one-person shops, are where youll find the best quality and most innovative products.)

Doing all of the uses justice, while simultaneously giving a good overview of a rapidly changing holster marketplace, would entail a book unto itself. In this chapter Ill give you some background, criteria, and examples, and give you the tools that will allow you to find the product that fits your needs.

Sadly, not all holster makers offer revolver holsters. Even those that do often dont have an extensive line or have designs which suggest a certainly lack of familiarity with the problems of holstering a revolver. Ive not yet encountered a truly excellent holster, despite having purchased many. I believe there is room in the market for holster maker, specializing in the revolver, who could take a fresh look at designs with an eye toward optimizing them for revolver use. That person has not yet appeared, but I remain hopeful.

Lets start with the most common carry method, the belt holster. Belt holsters come in two main types: inside the waistband (IWB), where the gun rides inside the pants, and outside the waistband (OWB), where the holster is outside of the pants (and usually outside the belt as well.)

Gun is drawn from Tucker Gunleather holster by pulling shirt up with offhand, drawing gun with shooting hand.

The IWB holster is primarily intended for concealed carry. It attaches at one or two points on the belt and drops over the backside of the waistband, next to the body. Some of them have an additional jog in their hangers so that a shirt can be tucked between the gun and the waistband. This variation is commonly referred to as a tuckable holster. All tuckables are IWB, but not all IWB are tuckable.

The IWB holster is the most concealable style of belt holster since it hides the barrel from view. A short jacket or shirt, enough to cover the grip that sits above the belt, is all thats needed to effect complete concealment. Thats not to say that they wont give you away, however. Ive seen more than one person carrying a gun (revolver or auto) in an IWB holster whose barrel clearly printed (showed its outline) under their too-tight pants. Just because you cant see metal doesnt mean that the gun is completely hidden watch carefully for such unintended revelations.

Its important to pay close attention to the position of the cylinder relative to the belt line. A cylinder whose back edge sits below the top of the waistband will sometimes experience what I call squish-lock. This is when the leather of the holster is pushed inward by the pressure of the waistband, narrowing the holster mouth and effectively locking the gun in the holster. This happens because the width of the frame behind the cylinder is less than the cylinder itself; you can visualize this by holding your hands in front of your face, parallel to each other and a few inches apart, with the fingers pointing up. Now curl the tips of your fingers inward slightly thats what happens to a holster.

Squish lock is more common with IWB holsters where the mouth is not reinforced, having been made from just a single thickness of leather. The softer the leather, the more pronounced the effect. The solution is to make sure your IWB choice has a reinforced mouth, and that it carries the revolver so that the back edge of the cylinder is about even with the top of the belt and/or waistband.

Its also important that the front edge of the cylinder not be more than halfway up the width of the belt. If the edge of the cylinder is too far up, the bottom of the belt tends to pull inward because theres nothing solid underneath; its not supported by anything. This leads to a condition I call the watermelon seed, wherein the belt squeezes the cylinder upward like a watermelon seed squeezed between your fingers. Of course the gun doesnt go flying, but it makes the gun continually shift around and compromises concealability.

This happens primarily with holsters that have only a single belt loop or attachment point, where the holster is free to move vertically, though it can manifest itself in a lesser manner with a dual-loop holster that doesnt fit the belt precisely.