Bruce Drake
Active Member
glad to see I'm not the only one who prefers his carry pistol in a crossdraw OWB.
Any thoughts on Chest Holsters?
- Thread starter CWLONGSHOT
- Start date
Missionary
Well-Known Member
Now for those lighter weight CC types I still prefer the "Hip-Grip" type attachment to my left front waistband. Off to the left is a home made grip on our S&W model 13.
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
Ooh man I been carring a gun this was on and off since I started carrying!! We had horses back then and it was the most comfortable way I found. Shoulder rigs flopped too much. I have a custom leather that 25/30 years old for a Commander I carried alot back then.
This is a Azura Holster I wanted to try. I do like it its handy and out of the way. (Ruger LCPII 22 LR)
CW
Jäger
Active Member
Bottle of booze for your favorite parachute rigger, and if they think your idea would be interesting to make... they'll do it for ya.
Original idea and version, circa the 1980's, was for wearing in the commander's hatch of the carrier, so your pistol didn't hang up going up and down through the hatch (drop leg holsters are tacti-cool and all, but in my experience at least, unless rigged to ride just under your armour, lead to all kind of issues whether in and out of hatch, rifle/pistol transition, etc). Besides, back then drop legs were about as common as seeing rocking horse poop.
Anyways, that evolved into the current version for doing GPS survey contracts, flyfishing, backpacking, etc., to do more than just hold a Bear Wrench at the ready. Not as fast as a skeleton holster with exposed grip, but fast enough for most instances of STHF. You rarely can be set up for absolutely everything in life; choices are made.
I don't know any parachute riggers anymore, but there's more than a few small businesses out in the world who can build you what you want to spec.
I am considering one change I would like to make with a final version: This one DOESN'T have a waterproof layer sandwiched between the cloth layers. So, if you're sweating your bag off humping a car battery, Panjar, gas etc. up a mountain to put in some survey monuments - or you're some craptastic place where it rains 24/7, your pistola is going to need military style daily care in this chest rig. It's going to be damp from sweat and/or rain that has soaked through the outer fabric.
The thing I would change is specify a layer of Tyvek or similar material between the outside material and the material next to the pistol and mags.
Original idea and version, circa the 1980's, was for wearing in the commander's hatch of the carrier, so your pistol didn't hang up going up and down through the hatch (drop leg holsters are tacti-cool and all, but in my experience at least, unless rigged to ride just under your armour, lead to all kind of issues whether in and out of hatch, rifle/pistol transition, etc). Besides, back then drop legs were about as common as seeing rocking horse poop.
Anyways, that evolved into the current version for doing GPS survey contracts, flyfishing, backpacking, etc., to do more than just hold a Bear Wrench at the ready. Not as fast as a skeleton holster with exposed grip, but fast enough for most instances of STHF. You rarely can be set up for absolutely everything in life; choices are made.
I don't know any parachute riggers anymore, but there's more than a few small businesses out in the world who can build you what you want to spec.
I am considering one change I would like to make with a final version: This one DOESN'T have a waterproof layer sandwiched between the cloth layers. So, if you're sweating your bag off humping a car battery, Panjar, gas etc. up a mountain to put in some survey monuments - or you're some craptastic place where it rains 24/7, your pistola is going to need military style daily care in this chest rig. It's going to be damp from sweat and/or rain that has soaked through the outer fabric.
The thing I would change is specify a layer of Tyvek or similar material between the outside material and the material next to the pistol and mags.
Bruce Drake
Active Member
And it seems we share a fondness for Brownings as well! 
Jäger
Active Member
I somehow or other have ended up with five residing in my gun safe. Didn't plan it that way; still not a collector...And it seems we share a fondness for Brownings as well!
Well... I kind of fell into it backwards.
When I first got moved from general duty to work with plainclothes investigative services, the guy going the other way offered to sell me the 69C High Power he had just bought. That was WAY more cool than a S&W Model 10! Never shot a semi-auto before I bought it. Just remembered seeing it in the Serpico movie. I had a gunsmith in Spokane who claimed to know all about "European guns" (I think the place was called The Gunatorium - they had everything) replace the rear sight with a no-foolin' MMC adjustable "combat sight". Rear notch isn't much bigger than the original classic traditional sight. Now I need to pick something to replace the way cool MMC with that I can't really see good enough now - and over 40 years later it's my carry gun and I probably shoot it more than any of my other pistols or revolvers.
I decided jumping out of airplanes for a living was a lot more exciting than going to family disputes, noisy party complaints, going to calls to be an indian fighter on the rez, and of course the delightful nightly bouts of recreational pugilism with drunks as the bars closed. Nearly sold the HP because I figured the military was going to give me WAY more cool weapons, but I kind of had a fondness for it by then.
Then FN/Browning released the 40 S&W; I had some deployment money burning a hole in my pocket. I really liked the bigger hole in the barrel and I was at the stage of believing 40 must be better than 9 - besides, the MKIII had those really cool, big LPA adjustable rear sights. So I ordered one.
Got it, took it to the range - and discovered you couldn't shoot anything better an a 6" group at 25 yards, no matter what I fed it. Contacted Browning; they said I didn't know how to shoot. Sent them a copy of a PPC match that showed I competed as a Distinguished Master, and told them I might be mediocre, but I was fairly good mediocre and I wanted the gun replaced.
They agreed to take it back and I shipped it. Year later still hadn't seen it again. Finally showed up... and it was no better - and the gunsmith they'd had do the work for me had sent me a bill for his work. Sent a registered letter to Browning with a rant, threats of contacting government and consumer groups, etc. and a copy of the receipt for the purchase, demanding my money back. While waiting to hear back, a local guy offered me the Practical above. No adjustable sights, but I wasn't so obsessed by adjustable sights anymore, it was a great price, so I bought it.
And that's how it came to be my Bear Wrench, in the pictures above, taken way back then. Loaded with 200 gr. WFN loads, it did a fairly reassuring job of putting down a few elk that had been hit by vehicles when I didn't have something better than a handgun with me.
Fast forward another year, and suddenly a brand new Browning Hi Power MKIII shows up at my door with a letter saying this is my replacement pistol, and I will be contacted shortly with the details to ship the defective HP back to Browning. I was already shooting the snot out of the Practical, while I had put one of that complete jerk, Ceiner's, kits on top of the shotgun-groups HP. So I left the replacement MkIII 40 S&W in it's box to think about selling it, and went back to shooting the Practical and the MkIII that turned out to be a pretty fine shooter with that .22 slide on it versus the Browning .40 S& W slide.
And Browning never got back to me for YEARS. So I just kept the gun I was supposed to be contacted to return as a .22 version of the HP for practice and kept shooting...
Meanwhile, I decided they had some pretty good loads for 40 S&W, but in reality a 10mm was a much better Bear Wrench. And about that time, a local deputy that had a greater fondness for classic cars approached me at the range and asked me if I wanted to buy his Dan Wesson CBOB that you see there at the bottom. Said he'd throw in the 40 S&W barrel and springs conversion he had for carrying it on duty. Had no idea what it was worth, other than it was probably worth a lot more than I could afford at the moment because The Residential Sergeant Major had announced she was going to renovate the kitchen. Told him I really liked the feel of it, but with Mamma Bear planning a new kitchen, all I could afford is $900 cash, and if he couldn't get what he wanted elsewhere but would take $900, I would take it.
The next day he called and was at my front door with the box, the .40 conversion kit, the original grips prior to the Aluma-grips, etc. The classic car he was jonesing for was slipping out of his hands. And that's how I got a near-new Dan Wesson 10mm CBOB for $900. Now that I know something of what they sell for... must have been one hell of a car he needed the last bit of scratch to close on.
The CBOB 10mm promptly became The Bear Wrench, and the Practical became a fun gun.
Shortly afterwards, two things happened. One, out of the blue, Browning contacted me and told me they had a problem with their distributorship records. I assumed it was time to send the original 40 S&W back. Nope, they just wanted to do the paperwork to have the pistol off their records, and in my name. Jumped through the administrative hoops as directed, and it was done. And so... I got a free Browning High Power MkIII .40 S&W free, from Browning.
Meanwhile, as a small arms instructor, I started noticing that police service ammunition of after Y2K was not like the service ammunition of the 80's. And I never liked the slightly bigger framed MkII and MkIII HP's quite as much as I liked the original classic T and C series HPs. Not nearly as svelt in the hands.
So, somewhere around 2010, I did a switcheroo again, and went back to once again carrying the 69C 9mm...
Anyways, that's kind of how I cornered the local market on High Powers. I think the Practical goes to Don Williams to be fitted with a target rear and a 9mm as well as the 40 S&W barrel. The 69C probably again to Williams after the Practical gets back home for a Novak rear and new front sight.
The new in the box unfired MkIII 40 S&W with adjustable sights... haven't figured that out yet.
Jäger
Active Member
I tried treating it with the silicon in the can we used to get way back in the military. It was okay, but the inside still got damp. And when the pack is tight against your chest as you sweat like a pig humping car batteries and a Panjar up a mountainside - I think that combination of sweat and body heat practically drives sweat through the fabric.
Latest attempt is some Nixwax treatment. Used it on my ski patrol jacket and pants when we were getting torrential downpours last spring; worked pretty good there. We'll see how it does this year when we get out.
Jäger
Active Member
Did that one of yours come with the original beer can sight? Some of the new sight options just fit right into the dovetail. Is also appears to be an aftermarket ambi-safety. Cylinder & Slide?
And how do you like the Crimson Trace grips?
My wife as I mentioned loves them - I despise them after decades of the Spegal boot grips. But to be fair I despise any handgun grips with finger grooves; all my S&W K frames, whether for PPC competition or otherwise, also wear the minimalistic Spegal boot grips from Uncle Mikes.
I hated even mentioning that A-holes name. After dealing with him on three separate occasions (because he was the only game in town for .22 conversions), he has to be one of the most despicable people I've ever had any dealings with in the firearms world. Both as a businessman and as a human being. That man has never learned how to do human being right, and probably never will.
However, having said that, I can't begin to guess how many rimfire rounds have gone through my Ciener conversion over the years.
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
Yes, it came with what looked like it could be called a beer can sight. I'm a southpaw, hence the Cylinder and Slide ambi safety.
The CT laser grips were my first foray, into low light sighting options. The staked on front, of the HP, isn't conducive to easy replacement. So I went with the laser grips. The shallow finger groves aren't an issue, for me. Wasn't many choices, back then. I own three other sets of laser grips and two sets of their Laserguards. All my carry pieces, wear laser grips. My Sig P320 RX has a CT mini flashlight on the bottom rail. I first purchased the Sig version but it was just too hard to activate. Also have two of their Railmaster's. One green laser and one red. One of them was free, with the purchase of the mini flashlight. I guess you could call me a CT fan.
Never had any conversations/contacts with Ciener..................my conversion worked right out of the box. IIRC, he was slow shipping the product.
The CT laser grips were my first foray, into low light sighting options. The staked on front, of the HP, isn't conducive to easy replacement. So I went with the laser grips. The shallow finger groves aren't an issue, for me. Wasn't many choices, back then. I own three other sets of laser grips and two sets of their Laserguards. All my carry pieces, wear laser grips. My Sig P320 RX has a CT mini flashlight on the bottom rail. I first purchased the Sig version but it was just too hard to activate. Also have two of their Railmaster's. One green laser and one red. One of them was free, with the purchase of the mini flashlight. I guess you could call me a CT fan.
Never had any conversations/contacts with Ciener..................my conversion worked right out of the box. IIRC, he was slow shipping the product.
CZ93X62
Official forum enigma
Gunfighters Inc. got the order here today--6 day turn-around. I love this rig! I've carried the Bisley 357 around for a couple hours now, and it rides very well once I got the adjustments where I like them. I like it so much I just ordered a second shell for the strap assembly, to fit the Glock 20/21. MANY THANKS to all who steered me in this rig's direction.