Sorry for the length. Bear with me, or skip to the bold-faced paragraph for the short version.
Over the past six months or so, I’ve reflected on the feasibility of IWB carrying an L or N-frame revolver with a 4” barrel. Initially, the very thought of trying to accomplish this conjured up images of an impossibly bulky package that would add unreasonable, asymmetrical thickness to one’s front profile, mostly owing to the large cylinder of a full-size magnum revolver.
But as I continued to ponder the workability of such a carry strategy, it occurred to me that it might be possible, provided the gun had a sufficiently long barrel (probably 4” to 6”), to carry the piece in an ultra high-ride IWB holster that placed only the barrel and the part of the frame forward of the cylinder between one’s belt and body, instead of the cylinder. The cylinder would sit just above the belt and “snuggle”, along with the grip (preferably a compact, boot grip ending flush with the frame bottom), against the love-handle area of the wearer. While there would be no way to eliminate the thickness of the cylinder, it did seem that, thus positioned, it would hide far better than when sitting directly between the belt and body. Only the relatively thin barrel would have to be sandwiched between your belt and body.
Of course, such a setup would constitute an extreme example of a grip-heavy package, because everything but the barrel would be outside and above the holster mouth. But by aggressively canting the gun to place the center of gravity above the muzzle (which would also aid in concealment by tucking in the grip), balance might be achieved to minimize torque and provide security and comfort.
This was before I started searching for IWB holsters for large revos, so I wasn’t sure how many, if any, makers were actually doing this.
Now that I’ve looked around a little, I am aware that there may be several makers producing holsters that perform somewhat similarly to the way I described above. I think Kramer’s “Thomas Perfectionist”, for one, may do something along these lines. And one time I saw a photograph of an Airlite N-frame sitting beside a holster that looked as though it was designed to do what I talked about above.
But I haven’t any experience with such holsters, and to be honest, in my limited research I’ve yet to encounter a model that looks as though it does exactly what I’m referring to. So I have no idea whether the ultra-high ride approach may actually work as well in practice as theory would suggest it does.
So, to the question at hand (finally!):
Does anybody have input on concealing a large revolver IWB? I am primarily interested in the sort of unorthodox IWB holster that accomplishes what I described above, but discussion of other, non-IWB methods is appreciated as well. I’m open to any and all suggestions and opinions based on personal experience or even hearsay. Specific information on particular holster models would be great.
The only individual I’m aware of who daily carries such guns is BikerRN. Maybe he will happen by and say what holster he uses and how his carry strategy evolved over the years.
I am sure there are others besides Biker who, even if they don’t conceal a large wheelgun regularly, have still toyed with the idea or experimented with various holsters before either giving up or finding something that really did the trick.
Please relate your experiences and opinions!
Over the past six months or so, I’ve reflected on the feasibility of IWB carrying an L or N-frame revolver with a 4” barrel. Initially, the very thought of trying to accomplish this conjured up images of an impossibly bulky package that would add unreasonable, asymmetrical thickness to one’s front profile, mostly owing to the large cylinder of a full-size magnum revolver.
But as I continued to ponder the workability of such a carry strategy, it occurred to me that it might be possible, provided the gun had a sufficiently long barrel (probably 4” to 6”), to carry the piece in an ultra high-ride IWB holster that placed only the barrel and the part of the frame forward of the cylinder between one’s belt and body, instead of the cylinder. The cylinder would sit just above the belt and “snuggle”, along with the grip (preferably a compact, boot grip ending flush with the frame bottom), against the love-handle area of the wearer. While there would be no way to eliminate the thickness of the cylinder, it did seem that, thus positioned, it would hide far better than when sitting directly between the belt and body. Only the relatively thin barrel would have to be sandwiched between your belt and body.
Of course, such a setup would constitute an extreme example of a grip-heavy package, because everything but the barrel would be outside and above the holster mouth. But by aggressively canting the gun to place the center of gravity above the muzzle (which would also aid in concealment by tucking in the grip), balance might be achieved to minimize torque and provide security and comfort.
This was before I started searching for IWB holsters for large revos, so I wasn’t sure how many, if any, makers were actually doing this.
Now that I’ve looked around a little, I am aware that there may be several makers producing holsters that perform somewhat similarly to the way I described above. I think Kramer’s “Thomas Perfectionist”, for one, may do something along these lines. And one time I saw a photograph of an Airlite N-frame sitting beside a holster that looked as though it was designed to do what I talked about above.
But I haven’t any experience with such holsters, and to be honest, in my limited research I’ve yet to encounter a model that looks as though it does exactly what I’m referring to. So I have no idea whether the ultra-high ride approach may actually work as well in practice as theory would suggest it does.
So, to the question at hand (finally!):
Does anybody have input on concealing a large revolver IWB? I am primarily interested in the sort of unorthodox IWB holster that accomplishes what I described above, but discussion of other, non-IWB methods is appreciated as well. I’m open to any and all suggestions and opinions based on personal experience or even hearsay. Specific information on particular holster models would be great.
The only individual I’m aware of who daily carries such guns is BikerRN. Maybe he will happen by and say what holster he uses and how his carry strategy evolved over the years.
I am sure there are others besides Biker who, even if they don’t conceal a large wheelgun regularly, have still toyed with the idea or experimented with various holsters before either giving up or finding something that really did the trick.
Please relate your experiences and opinions!