I’ve been looking to improve the carry options for my snub nose revolver.

Pocket holsters are certainly good, but have limits, such as the pocket itself (positioning, drawing, etc.). The Werner Carry system is good, but just wasn’t working for me. However, the Werner system had me carrying at the 2 o’clock position — appendix carry. So why not look further into that. The issue there with the Werner system was that if I made it comfortable to wear it was difficult to draw; if I made it good for draw, it was uncomfortable to wear (and not just a discomfort, but digging into major femoral nerves). So why not try a proper appendix holster?

Appendix carry is gaining popularity, especially amongst trainers like Gabe Suarez and Todd Louis Green. I also recall that with SouthNarc’s ECQC, they find drawing snubs from appendix to work out best. So let’s give it a shot. I like Comp-Tac so much, let’s try out their Two O’Clock holster, made just for this purpose.

Initial impressions

Wow. Looks like a lot of Kydex for such a small gun, but it’s really not much more than the gun itself. Let’s see how it looks inserted:

Not really all that bad. Let’s put it into the pants to see how it rides:

Gosh, that rides really high, or at least, it feels that way. But once you work with it a bit you realize this is good. It’s high enough that you can get a good grip for the draw and also keeps the muzzle from digging into your thigh so you can sit with this. You’ll notice I’m not wearing it at true 2 o’clock position. That’s due in part to the primary gun that I’m wearing at about 3 o’clock, but also the belt-loop on the pants (Tru-Spec 24/7 shorts). But I actually like it a little more up front like that in terms of accessibility. I did some dry fire draw practice and it goes pretty well. I am a little mixed on the sweat shield… there’s some, but I wish a bit more, but if there was more it might interfere with your thumb on the draw.

Holster completely covers the trigger.

I got the J-hook clip because I figured if I had to tuck this in I’d like things to be as unobtrusive as possible, especially given it’s facing front. Seems to work well enough. Yes it’s not as stable as full clips, but between the clip and just pressure from being IWB, it holds well enough.

Bending over? Forget it. 🙂  If you weren’t in the habit of squatting to pick things up, you’ll have to get into that habit.

Sitting isn’t bad.

So, those are my initial impressions. I actually wrote the above when I first got the holster. I’ve had the holster about a week now.

Further Impressions

So now that I’ve used the holster a bit, here’s what I think.

Ouch. 😦

It’s not comfortable for me to wear for more than a few hours. The main problem is the gun and holster end up angling slightly outward at the top (i.e. butt of the gun angles away from my body) which then pushes the muzzle end of the gun/holster into my body… think around the bladder area. It’s not pressing on my bladder and giving me discomfort in that way, but rather that it’s just pushing into that soft area of the body and doing so constantly. After a while it just gets painful… I remove the holster and touch that area of my body and it’s tender, no visible bruising but it feels that way.

So this holster just isn’t working out for me. I cannot say if it’s indicative of AIWB in general or this holster or my body or how my body and this holster combine. For now I’m going to say it’s a matter of me.

I will say I like the access the holster gives. It’s right there, it’s fast. Yes, I was wearing it closer to say a 12:30 position than a 2:00, and that’s an interesting thing to consider. First, I couldn’t wear it at true 2 because of logistics. But at true 2 the gun and holster didn’t wrap into my body as much and thus the butt-end sticks out and makes printing rather obvious as well as bumping into my right arm. Moving it more towards my centerline keeps everything pressed up against my body and printing is reduced tho not eliminated. If the holster was located more towards the center but I canted the holster with the grip slightly towards my right arm, that actually made things even more comfortable for sitting plus made the gun more accessable on the draw, but at the cost of risking more printing due to the gun butt not being totally against the curve of the torso. I’m curious to try out a standard-clip because I know the canting was allowed due to using the J-hook… curious which I’d like better, perhaps the J-hook.

In the car, a thing of beauty. I’d say only cross draw or maybe a shoulder holster would be more accessible.

To be continued…

I think the Comp-Tac 2 o’clock holster is a fine and quality holster, like all of Comp-Tac’s products. At this point I’m going to chalk things up to “it doesn’t work for me“. I contemplated returning the holster, but I don’t want to. I’ll keep it and see how things go. I’m going to continue searching for a holster that could work. I’m really liking what AIWB offers.

One guy suggested to me to use a DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster. I actually use that very one for my pocket carry. He said to use that, slip it inside your waistband, the friction would hold it there. I was skeptical but tried it. I don’t like it. Sure it holds it and holds it better than no holster at all, but it shifts around, the holster can come out with the gun on the draw… it’s just not ideal, but an interesting option.

I read some people using a Bianchi 100. I may be able to find one in town and if so I’ll try it. I’m wanting to try something leather and not Kydex, to see about “give” and the pressure on my body.

If you have suggestions of other AIWB holsters, especially leather ones or ones that could alleviate the problems I encountered, please comment!