Car holster (courtesy xdtalk.com)

I have a three-year lease on my GLC 300. If I could, I’d have a three-month lease. All those years of testing new cars for TTAC for a week at a time — not to mention the occasion foray in something obscenely expensive — gave me a bad case of automotive ADD. As my current whip belongs to Mercedes Benz, I can’t install a car holster like the one above. So I keep a Kahr in my car, stashed in the center console.

desantis blue logo no back 4 smallI also schlep a B&T .45 pistol with an SB-Tactical Brace — that’s about as accessible as Hannah Ferguson. Do you have a “spare” gun or two (or if you’re Jon Wayne Taylor, an honest-to-god arsenal) in your car? Which gun(s)Q and which holster (if any)?

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81 COMMENTS

  1. I have an inflatable boat in my car at all times in case I need to have an immediate tragic boating accident.

  2. I got no permission slip from big brother. When I carry I have to be discreet. If I’m staying local and feel the need I carry a j frame in a pocket holster.

    For road trips I either carry my Mak, Sigma or model 10 in a binocular case in my car.

    My wife has a bondsman and attorney on speed dial. It’s good to be married to a supportive woman.

      • let me check to make sure it hasn’t been done before, but if not, sure. I’ve had it for a while now.

    • I sure hope you live in sticks with all that. Vehicle break-ins are way too common in the city and all that would make a thief very happy. I once watched one guy, (demonstration) break into a truck, (modern, a 2013) using only a plastic wedge and wire, and not set off the alarm at all.

      • Could be worse. You can get into a 2010+ Jeep Wrangler with a 9V battery. Touching it to the car correctly disables the security AND unlocks all the doors.

  6. Sig 250 on my hip and a PT809 held in place via a gun magnate in my center console. Ever try to unholster while buckled in?

  7. Polish P-64 9×18 Makarov with 2 mags of HPs in glove box in discrete black car manual case. Not chambered for fear of extreme heat or car fire and a cook-off.
    3 “D” cell mag-lite in seat pocket behind passenger seat within easy reach.
    I’ve contemplated a false compartment in the trunk for an AR or something. Something I could access from back seat and trunk. Anyone done something like that?

  9. I’m thinking this is where Appendix Carry shines.

    Also, why does that acronym have to be AIWB? I vote let’s change it to AC.

  10. Shield 9 mm in a DeSantis mini scabbard or SA XDM .45 compact in Kydex Holster Works OWB stuck between the seats or in the door tray.

  11. The car is NOT a holster. Too much of a chance that you will have to leave it quickly during an event that you didn’t choose the time and the place.
    Now having said that I know there are certain things that make you have to carry in the car rather than on your person because you work in an anti-2nd place, for the .gov in a restricted area etc. I see some real good answers above on making sure that it is secured and not sliding around under the seat. That is awesome that people have actually put thought into it.

    • Nah, holster is on my hip, securely under the seatbelt and useless until I leave the car. Car has a nice compartment in the dash with a rubber floor, probably for some manner of electronics but perfect for a 3″ Kimber 1911 and spare mag. Which is not useless either before or after I get out of the car. When I watched the video of that motorcycle gang going after that guy in his car (with his family) a few months back, all I could think about was what would happen, as the biker was swinging his helmet against the driver’s window, if that was me and that window broke. The window did break, but that doofus was not prepared to defend his family. Darn, I was interested in seeing how many had to have a 3″ hole appear in their backs before they thought better of the attack.

    • A car is also not a safe or even a proper lockbox. As I regularly say to my customers, “Your car doesn’t need a gun, you do.”
      A thief needs only seconds to break into such a foolish place to store a gun and he’s looking fpr three things: cash/credit cards, prescription drugs and a gun. I never keep anything of the sort in my car. Take your piece with you if it is at all possible. Failing that, invest in a proper lockbox that san be discretely ATTACHED to the cars interior for TEMPORARY storage.

    • Maybe not a holster but a repository for valuable items.

      I have a computer or other valuable things there.

      I also have a spare firearm esir to access than the one I carry on my person. When I stop for the night, I take it with me. During the day it’s there.

      I hope it’s never stolen, but I only carry things that can be replaced. If someone breaks into my car and steals my gun, I am not irresponsible. They are a criminal.

  12. G27, Ruger 22/45 lite, AR pistol in .556, vintage 870, and a G35.
    (It’s a big truck)

  13. What car, truck or SUV? I ride a motorcycle most of the time, unless borrowing the old man’s car. Usually my EDC gun is my car gun, although I sometimes pack a Glock range bag with a G20 and extra loaded mags at arm’s reach just under the car seat, in case I have the misfortune to get cornered in one of those damnfool street ‘protests.’ Fortunately, most of the so-called ‘protest’ types tend to sleep till noon at the earliest and sometimes even later, so making evasion an easy matter most of the time. But when on the bike it’s far better to carry on the body.

    Tom

  14. XD Mod.2 9mm comes out of OWB holster and goes into center console, Taurus TCP stays in my pocket.

    • I keep my TCP in my pocket and a PT111 G2 and a spare mag in my glove compartment. It’s cheap and I just can’t bear the thought of leaving my G20 in my car.

  15. M&P 9c with with 2 spare extended mags filled with Hornady Critical Defense.

    Go bag in the back has a Sig p2022 with two spare rounds, same ammo.

  17. On my person until I need to go into a prohibited place, then it goes in the Console Vault. Once you’ve had a pistol stolen from your vehicle you’ll never leave another one unsecured in a glove box or console again. And if it’s not ON you, you’re out of time to get your hand on it.

    Read up on some Ayoob, he discusses how to get out of your vehicle without getting tangled up in your seat belt.

    My current summer carry is a Ruger LCR in .357 in a Desantis Nemesis. Simply Rugged speed strip pouch. In the pocket for errands, moved to cross draw IWB while driving. In the vault for work or other Murder Spree Zone.

    Anyone have a strong preference for 5-star or HKS speed loaders?

    Come winter, one of the bigger HKs goes OWB strong side.

    • For my LCR I can’t make HKS work at all with the stock grips. Maybe I’m not holding my mouth right. If I have to fiddle with them under no pressure, they are a fail under duress.

      My family bought me a couple of 5 Stars for Father’s day. Work like a champ. I Load at chest level with the gun in my line of vision but not looking directly at the cylinder.

      I also carry an 8 round TUFF strip. Carries best in hip pocket.

  18. I carry a Beretta 92FS, soon to be upgraded to an M9A1, on my hip with a spare mag but I do have a couple of additional mags tucked away in the vehicle. I am fortunate that I work close to home so I don’t keep anything more powerful in the vehicle regularly but when I travel I prefer to bring a BCM 14.5″ along ‘just in case’.

    I have been considering something along the lines of a Scorpion or MPX permanently stashed in the way back but I haven’t made that leap yet.

  19. Ruger LC9S in my pocket and a Beretta 92FS in a spring clip mounted holster under the steering wheel.

  22. The gun on my hip only stays in car if I am visiting doctor or walking down street to post office. Do have a cheap spare Canik and the holster and spare magazine it came with in the trunk. The plastic Plano ammo box it resides in with a desiccate pouch stays in the trunk and gets swapped out for the get home bag if I am going out of town.

    • I went for an MRI and they let me lock my belongings in a locker so in went my gun. Other times I have visited the doctor and either went deep conceal with my discreet thigh holster or carried in a laptop bag. I don’t leave my gun in the car.

  25. If it’s on my hip or in my pocket before I get in the car, it’s on my hip or in my pocket after I get into the car. If it ain’t, it ain’t.

  26. Here in New Jersey you will get 3-5 manditory minimum to have anything in your car. Add 18 months for hollow points. Stay out of this communist state your 2a rights do not exist here. But we will keep up the fight.

  27. Whether grounded in reality or not, I cannot shake the thought that someone will break into my car and steal any firearms that I store in it. Therefore, I do not store firearms in my vehicle.

    My full-size semi-auto (every-day carry) handgun is on my hip when I am in my car. If I am particularly concerned about civil unrest or have additional concern when I venture 15+ miles beyond home, then I pack a Kel-Tec SUB-2000 carbine chambered in .40 S&W with multiple 22-round magazines.

    If I am on a long road trip for vacation, business, or to see family, I will bring long guns with me which obviously stay in the car while driving on that trip. (Unless camping, I bring all of my long guns inside to my sleeping quarters when I reach my stopping point for the day. If camping, I keep some of the long guns in the car and some in my sleeping quarters. These actions virtually guarantee that no one will steal them.)

  28. If you live in a city, don’t leave guns in your vehicles. I get the gang bangers can get their guns from a lot of places, but we shouldn’t be making it easy for them. Theft is one of the foremost ways and theft by a vehicle is EXTREMELY easy.

    • That’s what insurance is for. If the threat of crime dictates what you can have or leave in your car then the criminals have already won.

  29. Long guns in a locked case/crate in the back seat of the truck under a blanket and fifty-plus pounds of other gear. I haven’t acquired a sidearm yet; when I do it will likely stay on my hip when driving. If driving in higher-risk areas or going between areas where I need a long gun (hiking/camping/prospecting), one comes out of the case and is tucked behind the seats.

  31. Sig P250 .45 full size in a custom Banshee from Wright Leatherworks in the center console of my truck.

  32. Usually my IWB USP but for long car trips I swap to a 91 Jericho in a custom shoulder holster.

  33. Here in Kalifornia,
    We call 911
    Put our head between our legs and kiss our *SS goodbye…
    Cause, very few of the 14 million gun owners want to get off their *SS and vote correctly.
    Oh, and a super strong velcro system on the center console with holster next to my Right Leg.
    https://www.vetogunmageddon.org/

  35. Well, I may or may not keep a Taurus 85 with two speed loaders of .38spl +P in a Case Logic CD case in the driver’s door pocket. I’m not too worried about break ins because who would think the Smart ForTwo with the Hello Kitty sun shade would have a gun in it?

  36. Ar15 with 5 loaded mags locked under the back seat. That and the G19 in the Alien Gear IWB holster on my hip. Never know when you might come across a hadji or a politician.

  37. Pistolas are “verboten” up here in Canuck-land, so I keep a Keltec Sub 2K in a lock box I had made, bolted to the car interior vertically, under the back seat’s forward-most edge. key locked, mags inside to comply with the law. If things/area are sketchy, I’ll unlock it, but it stays closed with rare earth magnets. The whole box tips forward on a piano hinge along the bottom with a good yank. I can get it open and deployed pretty quick from the drivers seat.

    Not ideal by a long stretch, but the best I can do and stay legal up here.

  38. “Life Jacket” vehicle safe, easily mounted in console; .380 S&W BG. I highly recommend that safe. Cheap and easy to install.

  39. My KelTec PF9 moves from appendix carry to the driver’s side door panel (in a Galco Tuck n Go IWB, easy and safe to remove the holster and firearm as one piece) on longer drives, for comfort. Otherwise, it stays on my body. I can get to it under the seatbelt no problem

  41. Sig P320 in the included plastic/polymer holster (I ordered 3 different holsters that were supposed to fit and none did (?)) stuffed into an exposed center console drink holder. Works like a charm. I also keep a ball cap handy to cover it when parked or if pulled by a LEO. It’s open carry in my state and I have a CCW but dont want to be staring down the barrel of a jumpy cop’s gun.

  42. keltec 9. mattress holster attached under center console! .45 cocked and locked, weak side Mexican carry! 8″ Kukri for close combat and hand chopping, 750 watt 3 cell light, 15 in 3/8″ chain and padlock as a CQB backup, pepper spray

  43. Sticky Holster makes a travel holster which attaches anywhere in your car with adhesive tape on one side and Velcro on the other. I attach the travel holster to a compartment in my console. The travel holster is actually a “dock” for a regular Sticky Holster. So I carry my firearm in the Sticky Holster and transfer both it to the travel holster when entering the car. Very difficult to adequately explain but the best solution for car carry I have found in 20 years of searching.

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