Holsters For Extended Rough Carry...

How do you carry your handgun and how would you carry it differently in a post-apocalyptic world? I have carried a handgun for days in the woods and when you do this it takes a lot of abuse.

I have and have made all sorts of holsters over the years. What I like for concealed carry is very different from what I like for when I am going shooting or wearing to a gun show. I’ve never been a big fan of shoulder holsters because it is hot as heck here and I sweat all over the gun. My preferred carry is a cross draw holster that is angled and cut with a thumb break for a fast draw whether sitting or standing.

The reason that I bring this up is because I have thought a lot about how much protection a fast draw combat holster offers the gun if I am on foot in the dirt and working with it on me. After the fall I will be armed 24/7/365. I will have it on in the garden or in my shop or sitting down to eat supper.

In recent years I have become interested in a more military type of holster. My go-to bug out harness has a holster with a flap cover. It isn’t sexy and it might take me a half-second longer to get it in action if I was surprised but it doesn’t get wet in every shower and it doesn’t get dirt all over it when I’m in the garden.

If I am on alert the flap can be flipped over and tucked into my pants leaving the grip available for a faster grab. It still might be a little slower than the combat holster but it will make sure that when I do get it out that it will function.

I also have been considering an over the shoulder scabbard for my pump shotgun for most of the same reasons. The weapons that we value so much will require a lot of effort to keep them in good order. Over time it will take more than a little oil and a rag to keep it dependable.

Along with trying to provide more cover while I am carrying them, I will probably have some other things for protecting them. A Ziplock bag may be a worthwhile protection if it is raining. I have used them when I am forming a holster to the shape of a handgun when I make holsters. I like to wet shape the leather and don’t like getting the gun wet.

I can and have once fired a revolver while it was in a Ziplock bag. It was interesting. The gas pressures both from out the barrel and from the space between the barrel and the cylinder blew the bag up pretty impressively. Other than that it didn’t bother the functionality of the gun.

This is just something to think about. What idea do you have in this area?

 

I use flap holsters, that have been modified for cross-draw. I often wrap gun in wax paper so that the wax paper falls off when the firearm is un-holstered.
I "ALWAYS" tape the magazine in so it can't possible come out, or fall out.
I also use a lanyard, not always, but often.
The last couple years I have stopped carrying a rifle, and now mostly carry two handguns.
Remember my yucky encounters are with bears and "PMS" moose. Not humans.

 

Except for when I go to town, I open carry with a chest rig. Typically I carry a 454 Casull or 44 Cal revolvers using the Diamond D chest rig. The one for my 454 is 6-7 years old with heavy use and it still in great shape. It really holds and carries the heavy 454 Casull well.

https://www.diamonddcustomleather.com/products/guides-choice-chest-holster

When I chest carry my 45 or Glock, I use the chest rig from Man Gear Alaska. My current chest rig for my 45 has seen 7-8 years of heavy use.

https://mangearalaska.com/semi-auto-holsters/

Post apocalyptic use? Perhaps the same particularly due to the 4 legged threats. I also could easily see the need to conceal based on the scenario. I’ve not really found the perfect conceal holsters, but I certainly have a good dozen to pick from.

 

There are many places that I wear a handgun when sleeping. Especially guiding on Kodiak Island.

 

I honestly have not had any experience with a chest rig. I may have to look into it. I can see a real advantage to it over a shoulder rig for me. I understand that in places where there are four-legged possible attackers that you need to keep a gun at hand all the time. I don't generally have that need here but this is what I WOULD have in a messed up world. The fact that you have already dealt with this situation and have gone to a chest rig is very telling to me and means that I need to reconsider and reevaluate my possible preferred carry after the fall.

I also especially like the idea of a cross draw flap holster and may try and make myself one. I have also thought about one where the flap goes from the outside to the inside opposite of the traditional design and make it a thumb break to open for fast one-handed access.

 

I like chest holsters, but I was born wearing binoculars, and the chest is where I want them parked. The real super advantage to the chest holsters is, those of us who wear large external frame back packs, the hip holsters are right where the load carrying belt of the pack needs to be.
TMT mentioned drop-leg holsters. Sometimes when I am moving or maintaining cache sites, I have a 55 gallon drum in a special pack on my back and I carry another 55 gallon drum in front of my chest. This leaves the only on used body part being my leg-thigh area. Actually I really like the drop-leg system (especially Blackhawks). They totally suck if you try to run, but I don't run with two "Steel" 55 gallon drums.

 

I used to often carry my Blackhawk low on my right leg gunslinger style. With the slightly longer barrel, it made it handier to draw. With some of my special handloads, it was as close to 44 mag power as I could get from a 357 mag. 170gr bullets that I pushed to the max velocity wise made it a lot more able on the 300-meter rams.

That said though I like the idea of a carry that is higher and that I could sort of hiding with a coat. There are times when you don't want to be noted as armed and dangerous but still have a weapon that has a little more reach than most smaller semiautos. I love my old security 6 but sometimes wish it had a 6" barrel instead of the 4" barrel. I have a Taurus 94 8 shot 22lr revolver with a 6" barrel and love it.

I wonder if I could put a ballistic plate into the back of one of those chest holsters. Make it into a twofer a holster that also was a limited bit of body armor right in the middle of my chest.

 

My concealed carry is a Glock 43 in a DeSantis belt holster. In a post apocalyptic world, that no longer has the ROL I will be carrying a MK18, MP5 or M21 at the ready and a Glock 19 on a horizontal chest rig.

Dale

 

To be perfectly honest quick draw or ease of access (maybe a better term) has really never entered into my thinking. I have used a chest rig, vest w/concealed carry pocket, a man-purse belt pouch, and a pocket holster when I am carrying a snubbie.

 

It is interesting how differently those in Alaska wilderness areas view and think about firearms. How hysterical that people would be obsessed with hiding their firearm on their body someplace. Near the cabin-yard-outhouse general area, I generally just stick the G-35 in my back pocket, and don't bother with a holster.

One of the biggest challenges for this lifestyle is how to do the manual labor while packing a firearm. Seems that the firearm is always in the way of hard manual labor.