I own a Springfield Mod 2 XD subcompact .45 with a 3.3” barrel and am wondering if it will fit in Springfield’s new line of handguns with the 3.3” barrels. I’ve tried the Vedder Rapidtuck, the Concealment Express compact tuckable, and Crossbreed’s Reckoning IWB, and they all create painful situations when I sit, and I drive alot for work. Being 5’8” and maybe 145lbs. with a ”small beer belly”, am I doomed to not find a holster that is reasonably comfy? I ask about the new line of 3.3” barrels because I’d like to search the local sporting goods stores and buying them online is a big hassle. Thanks for any insight and info!
BEST COMFY IWB?
- Thread starter Erv
- Start date
Old_Me
Ronin
i don't believe there is a "Best comfy" for everyone. it all depends on our body shape.
i have a "We the people" kydex for my Hellcat, and it cut into my body.
so i went with an Alien Gear, and it has a backing that is a bit more "comfy" for MY body.
i wear mine AIWB, and i am at least 175 lbs, and only 5'9".
i'll live with mine, as i do not want a box full of holsters.
This has been my experience as well.
Unfortunately, @Erv , this problem starts well behind the power-curve simply because "comfort" by-definition is subjective.
As a result, even if you and I were built exactly the same as yet another person, what each of the three of us perceive as "comfortable" can well be significantly different.
This is then complicated by not only the wide assortment of holsters, but also the support-gear to which it is attached (not just the belt, but also the hardware that anchors the holster to the belt - and also realize that there are now popular concealment holster systems that offer belt-less capabilities, such as the PHLster Enigma [note that there were similar holster systems to this that existed previously, but they were much less well-known]), and how all of this "sits" with relation to your body via clocking, cant, and ride-height.
That setup can then further be influenced by items such as wedges, claws, or other concealment-enhancing accessories, which again can interact with your body via their variable interaction with that support gear.
What any one such unique carry setup is bound to in terms of your lower-body garments can yet again influence comfort : the waistband's own stiffness or elasticity or other such characteristic, along with garment material, can also make a difference in how the holster interacts with its support gear. Similarly, your choice of under-garment (and this also goes for the upper body, too), can have implications on comfort as well.
In terms of your specific holsters, two are hybrid and the remaining is a full-Kydex hardshell. You've noted that all three are uncomfortable when sitting, but specifically what is bothering you, with regard to EACH of the three holsters?
You've described your general body-build reasonably well, but can you also elaborate a bit as to both your carry gear (i.e. what kind of belt, as well as what type of pants and undergarments) as well as how you set up your holster (i.e. clocking, cant, depth-of-ride)?
While the subjectives and variables I listed above will make it hard for anyone to really troubleshoot, it's possible that by painting a more complete picture, we can maybe figure out -even if it's just a bit- of what's actually bothering you, and thus try to steer you towards the best-possible alternative.
"they all create painful situations when I sit, and I drive a lot for work."
- Did you possibly try a cross draw or shoulder holster for sitting and driving? Many people find more comfort in them. As far as getting into brands, many vary in style and construction. Leather seems to be the choice for more comfort with some and some say Kydex is fine too. Is understandable on locating a holster at a LGS. Like HG's, from my experience, holsters need to fit the person and function needed for.
Yes everybody needs to individualize their holsters. I had an alien gear that didn't work for me too bulky . I have an SA Mod S 3.3 that I iwb carry at 8 to 830 ( Lt handed) in a Garrett silent thunder holster that is super comfortable . My partner carries his hellcat right handed in the same type holster either appendix or 4 o'clock. No drawer full of holsters for us !! We also love our better belt gun belts. A lot of people prefer leather. If I ever got one I would get a Wright holster .
Old_Me
Ronin
yeah, here we have to conceal. so as soon as i can, i'll be ordering up an OWB, thanks in part to being able to wear a sweater or hoodie now.
ghosttwofive
Custom
I've gone exclusively to JM4 Tactical magnetic holsters. I sold many old holsters after going to the JM4. They move with you not against you. I can drive comfortably while wearing them, they don't need constant adjustment, and they break in fairly quickly for leather. They're a bit pricey, but for someone who carries pretty much all the time, having a IWB holster that I don't hate is a very big plus. Their sizing chart seems to be on par. I've ordered eight of them so far and each time the fit has been correct for whichever handgun I've ordered for. My oldest one is the one that fits my S&W Shield .45 and it's held up better than any holster I've ever bought. It's about 2.5 years old now and is molded perfectly to my Shield .45. Great holsters and very good customer service.
Yes, the ones I tried were all advertised as cross draw, and that’s what seems to be the most natural for me but the grip dug into my stomach and I could only get halfway into a sitting position before the barrel end really hurt my thigh. I will consider a shoulder holster once I have to put on more layers…Thanks for your input Bob, I really appreciate your time and consideration in my dilemna.
I understand the whole concept of “My comfy” is not the same as “Your comfy” and all the variables that are intertwined. I’m a jeans and tee shirt guy and keep my pants up with an “off the hook” normal store-bought 1&1/2” belt. The Vedder I tried wasn’t too bad in the 3-4 o’clock position, but printed really bad, it didn’t have good retention, and the leather flopped over the opening. Moreover, in the AIWB, the grip dug into my stomach and the barrel poking into my thigh caused so much pain I couldn’t even pretend to sit down. The same thing happened with the cross draw position(which I “feel/sense” would be the most natural for me). I have tried changing the clocking and canting and honestly can say I never considered “Depth of ride”. DUH! That would hmean if the barrel was further away from my thigh, the potential for it not digging in would decrease, right? Wow…very insightful, TSiWRX! It will continue to be a matter of trial and error, which brings me back to the other half of my post; will an XD Mod 2 .45 fit in a holster made for the XDs .45 and 9mm? I know 3.3” is 3.3”, but is there any difference in the frame/width/height etc. that would alter the fit for my Mod 2? There’s lotsa places around here that sell XDs and Hellcat holster’s, but no mention of the XD Mod 2, which was my ”Dream Gun” for concealed carry during online research, only to find out they were discontinued. Guess what? I found and bought one this past spring, “New, still in the box”…talk about a “To good to be true” moment! I truly and sincerely appreciate y’all’s input, time and thoughtful consideration into my situation! Thanks, ErvThis has been my experience as well.
Unfortunately, @Erv , this problem starts well behind the power-curve simply because "comfort" by-definition is subjective.
As a result, even if you and I were built exactly the same as yet another person, what each of the three of us perceive as "comfortable" can well be significantly different.
This is then complicated by not only the wide assortment of holsters, but also the support-gear to which it is attached (not just the belt, but also the hardware that anchors the holster to the belt - and also realize that there are now popular concealment holster systems that offer belt-less capabilities, such as the PHLster Enigma [note that there were similar holster systems to this that existed previously, but they were much less well-known]), and how all of this "sits" with relation to your body via clocking, cant, and ride-height.
That setup can then further be influenced by items such as wedges, claws, or other concealment-enhancing accessories, which again can interact with your body via their variable interaction with that support gear.
What any one such unique carry setup is bound to in terms of your lower-body garments can yet again influence comfort : the waistband's own stiffness or elasticity or other such characteristic, along with garment material, can also make a difference in how the holster interacts with its support gear. Similarly, your choice of under-garment (and this also goes for the upper body, too), can have implications on comfort as well.
In terms of your specific holsters, two are hybrid and the remaining is a full-Kydex hardshell. You've noted that all three are uncomfortable when sitting, but specifically what is bothering you, with regard to EACH of the three holsters?
You've described your general body-build reasonably well, but can you also elaborate a bit as to both your carry gear (i.e. what kind of belt, as well as what type of pants and undergarments) as well as how you set up your holster (i.e. clocking, cant, depth-of-ride)?
While the subjectives and variables I listed above will make it hard for anyone to really troubleshoot, it's possible that by painting a more complete picture, we can maybe figure out -even if it's just a bit- of what's actually bothering you, and thus try to steer you towards the best-possible alternative.
Bassbob
Emissary
Cool.
As long as we can start from this base of understanding, we should be able to play a bit. I'm T-over-jeans, too:
That shirt got progressively more oversized as the day wore on...that's the day's-end exercise, and by that time, it was sweat-soaked and stretched-out from the repeated tugging to clear it for the draw. But that's really how you would have found me virtually any day of the week, 365-days a year (I'm a nerdy academic benchtop scientist by trade, so I don't have to dress particularly smart or adult-like for work
)...albeit with items that fit a little less sloppily. I don't usually wear an undershirt, but three days like that summer taught me a thing or two about the need for a rash-guard during training, so as of the last few years, this is how you'd find me at most training classes
While I'm not the type to believe that a "gun belt" is necessary, I do believe that a PROPERLY SUPPORTIVE anchor point for the belt-mounted holster *_IS_* definitely a necessity.
So what does it mean when I suggest that a belt - in my view - isn't absolute? It's because depending on the particulars of your gun/holster setup, if it's lighter or just distributes weight better, for example, it's quite possible that the waistband of your pants can provide sufficient support. Similarly, different belts are able to support different holster/gun setups differently. Traditionally, we're taught that a "gun belt" has to be of a certain stiffness and thickness, whereas in-reality, stiffness, thickness, and rigidity all interplay: a belt that's thick and stiff may not need any rigidity at all, versus a belt that is thin or narrow, which may require extra structural rigidity in order to allow it to support the same weight/size of gear. Modern AIWB has perhaps done the most to change this outlook on belts, now with many who prefer this method of concealed-carry preferring belts which are less rigid (i.e. more conforming) and offering more adjustability (i.e. "infinitely adjustable"), with certain holster design parameters (more on this later) that help optimize concealment with such a setup.
All this is the long way of saying that while I am hesitant to lay the blame with your belt, I'd like to still keep it in-mind a as a possibility - and not in so much as I'm suggesting that you need a "gun belt," per-se, but that in keeping our minds open to possibility, we should be willing to entertain that experimenting with different belts may help.
Virtually all holsters with a "soft" sweat-guard extension will "flop over" at some point in its usable life, depending on the rigidity of the material/treatment/construct, how the holster is used (a holster in which the gun is carried all the time will see less wear here, as it's when the gun is withdrawn that this area sees a lack of support; alternatively, this can also be interpreted as "harshness of use" - i.e. does the wearer work outdoors in a physically demanding profession, and the holster is thus exposed to sweat more frequently than, say, a retiree who lounges on his lawn-chair for most of the day), and the body shape (someone porky
like me, for example, places this area under more demand when the gun is withdrawn, versus someone slimmer) as well as body-to-gear interactions of the end-user (i.e. is how the user is sitting constantly bending the sweat-guard over? and does that user assume that position more frequently [i.e. is a professional driver] versus less [i.e. office-worker who prefers a standing workstation]). Many -but not all- hybrid holsters have this shortcoming. Similarly, retention is a harder ask for hybrid holsters, and most of the ones with "better retention" tend to employ some additional retention mechanism to better hold on to the gun than just a friction fit.
In terms of printing, what was the offending area of the gun? Is it the heel of the grip/magazine? or is it something else?
RapidTuck® IWB
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^ The ability to adjust for rake/cant via should mean that printing at the rear sight should not be as much of a concern, but the ride height based on the clip shown seems like it would be high, so that adjustability may not do as much as it otherwise would. What I am going to bet on instead is that it's the heel of the grip or baseplate of the magazine. Given the centerline-of-slide mounting of the belt-clip, I'm thinking that you might be getting a bit of outward grip rotation that's causing the heel of the grip or mag baseplate to print. It's possible - tying back to that thing I told ya I was gonna write about a little bit above
- that either getting a holster that has an integral wing/claw or other type of such attachment to help with grip rotation (or purchasing a suitable aftermarket wing/claw add-on or replacement clip) may help in this regard. Similarly, that gun "digging into your abdomen" may actually perversely be that it is rotating outward top-to-bottom: i.e. that your abdomen is pushing the back of the gun away from the body while allowing the muzzle to rotate inwards, with the pivot point being where the clip is holding on to the belt. In this case, a muzzle wedge/pad -either designed-for-purpose or home-made- could
Hardware | Dark Star Gear
darkstargear.com
^ On Dark Star Gear's website, you'll see both the Dark Wing and the Light Wing as examples of the former, as well as the Tear Drop soft and the Flat foam muzzle pads as examples of the latter. Similarly, you'll see examples of each of these in RCS (Raven Concealment Systems) format:
Depending on your specific holster design and its hardware placement, some of these may be what you're looking for, to help enhance concealment.
I'm unfortunately not at all knowledgeable/experienced enough with crossdraw, so I don't want to mis-guide you by taking any guesses, but in terms of AIWB, oftentimes, the issue with both gut/ribcage and thigh/inguinal-crease discomfort can be ameliorated by having a setup that simply is able to move just little, when you want it to.
This last part is very tricky.
Ideally, the holster should not ride up -at all- upon the draw: your retention should break cleanly as you withdraw the gun from its holster, and neither the holster nor your pants/belt should, even with ultra-slow-motion video (as captured by, for example, the Coach's Eye app), ride "up" before it breaks from retention. Why? Look at it this way - you can't get the gun into the fight until it is upholstered, so, in-essence, that holster not "letting go" when you draw is the same as if I were to suggest to you that in a duel with another gunslinger, you were to withhold your draw for X amount of time *after* your opponent has initiated the action: no bueno, right?
So the problem becomes that you don't want the rig to move when you draw - and part of this requires some inherent stability in the holster as well as its anchor points - the belt-mounting hardware ("clips") as well as of the belt itself: i.e. the belt cannot be so loose so that it, itself, flops up-and-down. But yet, that when you do choose to sit, kneel, bend-over, squat, etc. that it *does* allow sufficient movement so that you can temporarily displace the gun -or whatever hotpoint(s) is/are bothering you- to a more comfortable position.
The naysayers will then always point to the fact that moving the holster or otherwise fidgeting with our clothing can be a "tell."
Certainly, that's true.
However, entertain the fact that for perhaps as long as there was tailored clothing, from the barstool to the boardroom, men have "hitched their pants" (to prevent pulling out the crease or saddling your trousers with "knee indentations") or "adjusted their waist/belt" as they sat or stood. We pull down on our vest or our sweater as we stand or smooth our tie and button our jacket..... Any one of these motions can be incorporated into the subtle adjustments necessary in order to more comfortably -and efficiently- place/stage our holster as we go about the daily business of living.
Just like the sling for your rifle, don't think of the holster as a static accessory.
^ Continued - had to break this into two, as it exceeded the word limit per-post.
-----
You've got it!
But simply allowing the gun to ride higher may or may not solve your problem - and as I wrote above, it can actually have a paradoxical effect.
Similarly, be aware that the less "keel" you have below the beltline, the more the gun will want to "flip outwards" by the handle, above-the-beltline. PHLster explains this in an excellent video:
www.phlsterholsters.com
Also, looking at the Vedder versus either the Concealment Express or Crossbreed holsters you cited in your OP, it looks to me as if the Vedder has a larger overall footprint. Specifically, it looks like there's a large flat area where the Kydex shell is affixed to the leather backing (and the leather backing also extends even farther beyond this junction area). Out of curiosity, is this what's hitting your thigh?
For example, I prefer to carry at the 2:30-ish. This means that my gun/holster is right at my inguinal crease as I sit. With my body-type (250 lbs. of Chinese roast pork-belly on a medium frame at 6'-even), I find that "pancake" style holster with two attachment points that are stationed off the body of the gun typically gives me the best concealment and stability. With that in-mind, when I get a hardshell Kydex holster and set it up for IWB, I typically have to trim away quite a bit of material on the trailing end of the holster, in order to accommodate the movement of my thigh as I sit, kneel, squat, or kick.
Here's a picture of my current IWB holster, a KT-Mech Light Bearing Defender, before modification:
And below is the same holster, after I've modified both the holster shell as well as the hardware in order to clear my thigh.
It may not seem like much, but the difference is actually night-and-day.
With the way the Vedder's shell and backing interfaces, I don't know how much trimming you will be able to do, but this could be a potential consideration.
^ This, unfortunately, I do not know.
-----
You've got it!
But simply allowing the gun to ride higher may or may not solve your problem - and as I wrote above, it can actually have a paradoxical effect.
Similarly, be aware that the less "keel" you have below the beltline, the more the gun will want to "flip outwards" by the handle, above-the-beltline. PHLster explains this in an excellent video:
What is the Keel Principle of Holsters? | PHLSTER
Balance & pivot point determine much of concealment & comfort. Short muzzle guns can be top-heavy, causing the grip to push out & the muzzle to dig.
www.phlsterholsters.com
Also, looking at the Vedder versus either the Concealment Express or Crossbreed holsters you cited in your OP, it looks to me as if the Vedder has a larger overall footprint. Specifically, it looks like there's a large flat area where the Kydex shell is affixed to the leather backing (and the leather backing also extends even farther beyond this junction area). Out of curiosity, is this what's hitting your thigh?
For example, I prefer to carry at the 2:30-ish. This means that my gun/holster is right at my inguinal crease as I sit. With my body-type (250 lbs. of Chinese roast pork-belly on a medium frame at 6'-even), I find that "pancake" style holster with two attachment points that are stationed off the body of the gun typically gives me the best concealment and stability. With that in-mind, when I get a hardshell Kydex holster and set it up for IWB, I typically have to trim away quite a bit of material on the trailing end of the holster, in order to accommodate the movement of my thigh as I sit, kneel, squat, or kick.
Here's a picture of my current IWB holster, a KT-Mech Light Bearing Defender, before modification:
And below is the same holster, after I've modified both the holster shell as well as the hardware in order to clear my thigh.
It may not seem like much, but the difference is actually night-and-day.
With the way the Vedder's shell and backing interfaces, I don't know how much trimming you will be able to do, but this could be a potential consideration.
^ This, unfortunately, I do not know.