The natural tendency when using the Hide-It holster: draw the weapon sideways to your body, lasering your weak side arm. Solution: practice not doing so, drawing the weapon facing forwards. With that caveat and a warning the system isn’t blue jeans compatible, if you’re looking to schlep a large concealed weapon in hot weather without wearing a jacket, SMFV (Shoot Me First Vest) or untucked shirt, the Hide-It holster is an excellent choice. Albeit one that requires two hands (as the Rabbi points out below). Live fire test to follow.
Very similar to the old Pagerpal holster. Notice how the gun lasered the support arm? Not kosher. Also, the design requires two hands to draw which means you can’t draw if your support hand is injured or busy blocking, striking, holding your child etc. Personally, if I wore my pants that loose they would fall down.
I actually sell Hide-It Holsters at gun shows in the VA area, so let me address some of the points you made. They are good points, and ones that are made every show, so I’ve got a little practice responding. 😉
“Notice how the gun lasered the support arm? Not kosher.”
A valid point, but one addressed by TTAG already in the article (I don’t know if you posted before the point was made in the article above). I for one practice quite a bit, since I demo the holster at the shows, and I’ve drilled it into myself to draw straight up and rotate forward, never lasering myself. Just like anything you want to trust with your life, you must practice, practice, and practice some more.
“Also, the design requires two hands to draw which means you can’t draw if your support hand is injured or busy blocking, striking, holding your child etc.”
Yes, it is a two hand draw. However, if you are wearing something under a tucked shirt, isn’t that already a 2 hand draw, with one hand clearing fabric away before you can reach the weapon? If it’s under a jacket on your hip, aren’t you doing an exaggerated 1 handed motion to clear that fabric? This holster isn’t about quick draw competitions or knockdown dragout fights for your weapon. It’s about having an incredibly secure, incredibly discrete carry method that accommodates even the largest of firearms. I personally carry my full sized 1911, a BUL Transmark M5.
“Personally, if I wore my pants that loose they would fall down.”
Nope, I wear my pants comfortably without any issue with droopage. If you have enough space in your waistline to fit your hand flat into your pants, you have enough room to fit this holster with a weapon in place. Remember, you’re not reaching down into your pants to get the weapon, you’re pulling the weapon up above the waistline, so you only need to accommodate the width of the weapon+leather. Additionally, the TTAG article mentioned that this holster is not jeans-friendly. The jeans I wore last Friday to a movie theater while using this holster with my 1911 would beg to differ. 😉
Now, that being said, I’m not here to tell you that you are wrong, per say. You bring up valid points, and to be entirely honest, this holster isn’t for everyone. I tell people at the shows who get uppity with me that I am not trying to say that other carry methods are bad, just that this is a good alternative to traditional carry methods. To each his own. The more people I have around me competently carrying defensive weapons, the better off we all are. But for those who can adjust to the intricacies of this holster, it is an incredibly effective way to carry your boomstick.
If you or anyone else have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reply with them, I’d love to help out answering any concerns you all might have.
Saw your comment while browsing about the Hide-It Holster. You mentioned you are at Virginia gun shows, wonder if you are near Fredericksburg so I might see the holster in person rather than just watch website videos. Thanks. Paul Mills, [email protected]. You can also phone or text me at 703-727-6239.
Yeah, I’m built more like the guy to the right of the frame. The one with the gut. If my pants were loose enough to accommodate the Hide-It Holster, I’d have pants on the ground, pants on the ground….
And this is a better idea than already proven IWB holsters why?
Love innovation, but I don’t see how this is a good idea.
My biggest issue is not pointing the gun at my own arm, though I agree that’s a bad thing. My issue is the two handed draw and the fact that it seems like you’d need to wear your pants relatively loose to accomplish a fast draw. Heavy pistol+loose pants?
Because I can wear it at work where firearms are a no no and everyone must tuck in their dress shirts.
Also probably shouldn’t draw with your finger on the trigger. Especially given the aforementioned weak hand muzzle sweep. If I’m wrong about that, someone please correct me!
“Take your damn meat hook off the bang switch”
I love it. RF if they will sell you one of these I’ll pay you for it when I see you next week.
This looks like the same thing, the pager pal holster – http://www.concealmentconcepts.com/instructions.html
I tried a PagerPal and it didn’t work for me. The J-hook on my cellphone case kept getting hung up on my waist band material and belt. Plus it had all the draw backs pointed out above. I’ve since gone to a Smart Carry holster that holds my Ruger LCR in the 12-1 o’clock position with a separate velcro belt. Draw is still two handed and relatively slow, but it is deep concealment and relatively comfortable. Works for me until I find something better.
I still swear by my Thunder Wear holster and loose jeans. I carried for years in these and you can carry 2 full size pistols if so inclined. It’s just getting used to having the muzzle aimed at your goodies-but, hell, I’m missing one saddle bag from the military anyway!
I find that most people are traditionalist by heart. They are just stuck on where they are. In that case remember what Einstien said, “A man that continues to knock his head against the wall, expecting different results, is an insane man”!
This is not an item that you look at and sit in your lazyman recliner and discuss how it works. Your judging a book by its cover. Open it and read it. You need to find a dealer near you and try it out for yourself. Then if its not for you, its just not for you. Continue what your doing.
There really isn’t any bad points of this holster. I can’t find one. To Danial Zimmerman. Buy pants that fit around your stomach and you’ll find a pair of pants that will truley fit you and give you a greater fit and look. No punt intended. That’s me your talking about. I wear pants to fit me, wear a traditional full size 1911 Para-Ordnance. My draw is 10x faster standing still than any traditional draw. I’ve done a live demo of the draw and performed it perfectly.
The holster is not designed for a quick draw guys. Although the designer, myself and a few others has perfected the draw, many of you will never be as fast nor as effective as we are. The holster was designed to wear uncomfortably, and hidden without looking like a fool in public. It does that. So for all of you Gun Carriers that really just wear the Gun to the car, and leave it there because of all your excuses. Open you minds, check out the Holster that is revolutionizing the meaning of Concealment(hidden). I do were mine where ever I think I might need it! Oh! That’s practically everywhere today.
My advise! Think about all the place you’d like to carry, all the places that criminals are taking advantage of none carrying people and ask yourself what would you do if you couldn’t bring your gun in that place. How can you defend anyone…if you first can’t defend yourself?
I use the Hide It with a Ruger LCR and it works great with the eagle wood grips. I wear the lower waisted newer Levi’s and my wife says you can not see the gun. If you practice you will get to where you pop the gun out very quickly. I have not seen anything else I can use with my shirt tucked in that works this well. I did have quality issues with the first 2 I got at the gun show. The lady there replaced them immediately. One had crappy stitching, and the other had a bad piece of leather which cracked in 2 hours of use. They need to boost quality control. I also cannot find a published warranty.
I’ve contemplated getting one of these, because I love all the concepts it represents: Full-size carry while being completely discrete. I don’t mind the two-handed draw or any of the other “which side of the body and where is the shooter arm” type of stuff. I have no problem keeping comfortably fitting pants on my waist, and don’t worry about shooting off my junk because the barrel would be below that anyway.
My concern is the necessity of a cell phone case. That has kind of gone out of vogue, and I’ve never like wearing a case on my belt even back when it was the in thing. So, how could you utilize this system without wearing a phone case? Could this holster be adapted to some sort of discrete handle or knob attached to a j-hook used in pulling up the holster?
@David Bothof – The same guy in the video above, Eric Gensler, shows the difference, in another video, between using the cell phone case as opposed to using just the j-hook belt clip – which is also available for the hide-it holster.
That other video is located at:
http://ultimateconcealedcarry.com/hide-it-videos
Yes, that was exactly what I was looking for. He even demonstrated with just the clip to showed it would work well. Thanks so much.
David, Not only do I sell the hide-it holster, Other than the Grip-It holster, it’s the only holster that I carry. The comfort is remarkably insane. I use a cell phone case. Only because a good 99% of people that cas a cell phone usually has a clip, or a case of some sort to carry it on the waist line.
I encounter the controversy concerning clip or cell case. I say that you can use anything that has a j-hook connected to it. Remember the reason your carrying, and why your carrying concealed. It’s to defend ourselves from the bad guys. If the bad guys can identify you as a carrier they can defend themselves against you.
The cell phone case gives you several advandages over the threat.
1) takes the traditional gunman look away, NO POSTURING.VISIBLE!
2) it is the unlikely way to draw your firearm when needed. The bad guy wouldn’t think that your drawing a firearm by holding onto your cellphone case.
3) instead of reaching for your firearm as in traditional draws, (in less than a 1/4second with practice,) you’ll have your gun infront of you on target with minimum movement.
Using a clip makes it more difficult to draw inaccurately.
Last but not least, I feel more comfortable with the identity of one carrying a cell phone on his hip verses being identified as carrying a firearm.
Check out my video on my website:
http://www.defend1self.com
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