Female CC Holster Options!

Women & Guns
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Hello everyone,

I have recently convinced several of my female family members to get their CCWs and one thing I am concerned about is their holster options for CC.

They could use a purse, however, that would introduce a number of variables, i.e. purse theft, ease of access, trigger protection (against NDs), malfunctions if shot while within the purse, etc.

They could use an on-body soft holster option such as a belly band, but this includes a high chance of ND due to the lack of rigid trigger protection, same as most CC purses, and with many, drawing the firearm results in flagging one’s self.

They could also use rigid IWB holsters, such as kydex options, unfortunately this would likely mean changing their wardrobe to accommodate this form of carry, which would likely deter them from carrying regularly.

Personally, I always recommend on-body rigid holster solutions as it seems to mitigate many risks associated with CC, however I know that all options must be explored to achieve the goal of them carrying as much as possible.

I am interested in any practical and innovative solutions to this issue, thanks for the help!

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As a woman that carries and has a CCW, it’s all a matter of personal preference and yes, what you choose to wear that day. Unfortunately, just one type of holster isn’t going to cut it. It depends on the weapon as well. I carry either a sub-compact 9mm or a 380. I prefer IWB holsters as I like my weapon on my person and don’t carry a purse. I’m small so it’s harder to conceal. My favorite holsters are from Muddy River Tactical. I love their kydex holster with the claw attachment for my Kimber Evo 9mm as the claw keeps it more concealable. I use their extremely comfortable leather version for my S&W Bodyguard with the crimson trace.

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Thanks for the response! That’s a great point that having multiple options is best, as not every carry situation is the same. I will definitely be looking into Muddy River for solutions. Are there any other pieces of advice I could pass along to my family members?

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Yes, Dene Adams and Alexo Athletica both have women’s leggings with excellent CC options. They’re great for active women like myself, that run and carry. I suppose it’s my opinion but what’s the point of getting a concealed carry permit if you don’t intend on carrying it every day? Now granted, there are some places that you can’t, like where I work so I carry the next best thing, a knife. If those are prohibited, then a tactical pen. Ultimately, I recommend as much range time as possible so they get used to shooting and are comfortable with it. Ranges often times have various guns of different calibers to try out. Once they’ve settled on a gun, they could try carrying an unloaded gun around until they’re used to the way it feels. Once they’re used to that, you move to carrying a loaded gun.

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Going to challenge your “high chance of ND” assertion… I don’t think it’s a high risk to start with (although maybe higher than a hard holster), and there are ways to reduce that.

Lots of appropriate practice will help.

Dene Adam’s corsets and tank/corsets are ABSOLUTELY the most comfortable carry option on the planet and they include a trigger shield that can be positioned for your gun. They’re extremely good concealment… I carry full sized or compact double stack .45s and you literally can’t see them at all. Their pro carry leggings are equally good but are definitely not for summer.

CanCan holsters make a very good concealment belly/hip band… this is what my granddaughter uses. Both can be a little sweaty in summer, and draw from a corset is a little slower, so they do have their drawbacks.

If you’re worried about trigger coverage, you can get a kydex trigger cover… these tie off or pin to the corset or band pocket with a cord and pop off when you draw the firearm.

Depending on what your friends dress like, other options may work. Neither @Lacy or I are fans of bra holsters like the flash bang, but some women like them especially if they are carrying a very small firearm. For some outfits a garter or thigh band holster may be appropriate.

I’m not a fan of purse carry, but if it’s the only way a person can manage carry, it’s better than not carrying. There are some things to consider that can make it somewhat better, like caring with the strap cross body to provide better purse retention.

I mostly dress jeans or cargos and tshirts or polos so IWB with a tuckable holster can work. I carry crossdraw appendix IWB with an adjustable cant or a home-modified holster if I’m not using the corset or carry leggings.

Depending on how your friends are built, they may have particular challenges … hips, waistlines, “the girls”, and their relative proportions, present different challenges food each of us.

You are welcome to invite them on here too and we’re happy to help.

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A couple more points… many carry purses include a holster, so the trigger is not unprotected.

Lastly, if they are flagging themselves during belly band, corset or purse draw, they’re doing it wrong… it is by no means a feature of those methods. That is a training and practice issue and can be resolved.

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Excellent comments and advice from @Jan2 and @Zee. Concealing a firearm for a woman can be more difficult due to our clothing choices. I was worried when I first started carrying that I needed to throw everything out and buy a new wardrobe. That’s not really the case. For the most part I can use 80+ percent of my original wardrobe and unless you were looking really closely no one can tell I am carrying. If the average person is looking that closely there is another issue needing to be taken care of. The key is multiple holsters for multiple style of outfits and lifestyle.

I will just say this about the soft holster types. A ND with this type of holster happening is about as likely as a man shooting his junk off with appendix carry. I use two different types of soft holsters. The Can Can hip hugger elite and a garter holster. I’m not saying that it’s impossible for a ND to happen but you probably have a better chance of being hit by a bus in the middle of no where.

With both of those holsters I purposely tried to create a ND unsuccessfully (unloaded of course). Again not saying that if all of the circumstances are 100% right along with the stars, moons, and planets in alignment that it won’t happen. Just highly unlikely.

I’ve heard the but if your shirt bunches up and gets in the trigger guard your pistol will go off. Whatever piece of clothing you’re wearing would have to wrap itself around the actual trigger, tie itself off in order to not come off, and using enough force in the opposite direction of holstering to fully engage the trigger firing the weapon. Very highly unlikely with a standard trigger pull between 5 to 7 pounds. Let alone highly unlikely a piece of clothing being able to tie itself off like that.

There are no prizes or trophies being given away for someone that can holster their firearm the fastest here. Doesn’t matter if you’re getting ready in the morning or after a self defence event take your time. It comes down to practice, practice, and more practice. When you think you’ve done that enough practice some more. Also for Pete’s sake keep your finger off the trigger until it’s time to fire. That is where majority of the ND’s come from. Everyone wants to blame bad things on something else. Especially when human error caused by them is the problem.

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I purchased my first gun a year ago, and am in the process of learning and getting comfortable with a gun before applying for my CCW permit. This is all new to me, and at this point, I am a sponge trying to soak it all up.

I’m a larger girl, and am concerned with what to use/how to carry, so appreciate all of the comments here. In addition, I’m left handed, just to make things more complicated… Are all holster/carry options genderless, or are there male and female versions? It seems like female gear is mostly available only on line. I would really like to touch and try before buying.

Thanks for any comments and/or encouragement!

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@Sherri_G welcome to the group!

I’m also not a tiny whip of a thing :wink: so we share some challenges. My granddaughter is a tiny whip of a thing so she’s got a different set of challenges.

If you go to any of the bigger shows, you’re likely to see some options for women that you can try. Some gun shops/ranges have a selection of items, but often not a lot of different products or vendors - one near me carries UnderTech leggings, but not Dene Adams (which I think is the better product, at least for winter). They have a couple brands of carry purses, but no hip-band holsters. We’re working on them… :wink:

Best I can offer if you don’t know someone who has what you’re looking for is order what you think will work, and check the return policy. If you have questions about sizing, call the company and ask - I’ve found everyone I’ve called is pretty willing to help.

Do check the handed-ness of what you’re getting - some things, like undertech - have all the carry “stuff” on one side (one holster area on the front right and another on the back right for the right-handed leggings) and since I carry appendix, and want my mags on the front also, they don’t really work for me. Some like the Dene Adams corsets and leggings are ambi - matching carry options on both sides.

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I saw @Nancy’s back from vacation… other thoughts @Nancy?

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Thanks for the response! While the term “high” is debatable, it is generally accepted that the risk is substantial enough to be recognized and addressed. Practice, of course, is always necessary and beneficial, however we can objectively determine that some holsters are better, or worse, than others. In that realm, rigid trigger protection is objectively better than none, or soft trigger protection. The kydex trigger cover is definitely something I have thought of and plan on doing some research and testing with it. In the meantime, I will attach some articles that describe some of the reasons why I recommend rigid holster solutions. Thank you for all the recommendations as well! I will be looking at all of these and showing them to my family.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/is-your-holster-dangerous/

http://alpha-concealment-systems.mybigcommerce.com/alpha-blog/leather-nylon-or-kydex-how-to-choose-the-right-holster/

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Thanks for the response Lacy! I must stand by my original assertion, and disagree with the idea that it is highly unlikely, especially to the point of being negligible. Throughout my CC training I have heard stories and seen evidence of this issue being relevant and substantial enough to address. In my own experience as well, I, while only once, have had my undershirt catch on my trigger while reholstering. Luckily this was during dry fire practice so nothing came of it, nonetheless it is a factor to be considered. I will leave a couple links to some articles that describe some of my reasoning.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/is-your-holster-dangerous/

http://alpha-concealment-systems.mybigcommerce.com/alpha-blog/leather-nylon-or-kydex-how-to-choose-the-right-holster/

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Thanks for the response Sherri, and it is great to hear that you are getting into CC! From what I have seen there are many gear options that are both genderless and custom made for women, and the industry has made much progress in diversifying over the past decade. As you can see, I am here trying to review options for the women in my family, as I have much less experience in that area, luckily we have this forum to seek advice! I wish you all the best!

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Thank you for the great info!

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@David-CA one of the issues women have is not all outfits you can use a belt (i.e. leggings, pencil skirts, etc.). This is where something like a corset or belly band type of holster works nicely. However if it is of utmost necessity to have a kydex type of holster one that uses the Ulti clip or Frabiclip attaching system could work. One of the problems with these are without the use of a belt they do protrude more and are more apt to print. Another issue is without the use of a belt the garment must hold up the firearm without pulling down the pants, skirt, etc. Unfortunately, not all women’s garment are made to hold up the weight of a handgun without a belt.

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@Zee @Lacy @Sherri_G That’s a lot of good info and ideas y’all have put out there. I don’t see how I can add too much. I will say that I’ve gotten a kydex holster from BlueLineLLC.com and it works very well IWB. It has the Fabriclip attachment for use on leggings, skirts, clothes women wear that don’t take kindly to belts. I liked the holster so well I got one for my sister. It still requires a rather large shirt to keep from printing, but I like wearing large shirts anyway. I have found that printing is going to happen no matter what kind of holster I use, so I’ve decided not to worry about it too much. Also, I really like carrying my gun in the small of my back or in a fanny pack, and don’t have to worry about printing much at all with either of those options. I’m not a small person, either, so I worry more about my belly printing than my gun! lol not really. But I do weigh about 185, am 5’7" and it’s not easy finding a solution to the printing problem. I agree with @Lacy that worrying about an ND (I still don’t know what that stands for, though I know what it means) is a pretty tiny worry. Most of my guns also have that grip safety, so you need your shirt to wrap around that tightly while wrapping around the trigger tightly, and I just don’t see that happening. However, I admit I have seen a video of a guy who holstered his gun (abdominal carry) and a few seconds later, when he was walking across the room, his gun fired off. He and his nuts apparently survived the event, but it does show that it can happen. I just can’t imagine what he did to make his gun go off so quickly and easily, and there was no explanation with the video. That being said, I’m still not going to worry a lot about an ND when I carry. I’m more worried about maintaining situational awareness and being prepared to shoot a bad guy if I have to. Know what I mean?

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:laughing: @Nancy you crack me up :joy:

ND is Negligent Discharge

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Thank you for more great information!

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Thanks, @Zee! You’re always there with the right answers! Now I wonder how long I will remember what ND stands for – hopefully longer than 5 minutes!

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