Opuscula The holster that Is not a holster

BECAUSE OF THE CRIME in nearby communities, I bought a handgun, specifically a Taurus Model 605 .38/.357 five-shot revolver (a/k/a wheel gun).

My son the cop funded a concealed weapon license; he was afraid I would be toting the gun and end up facing a felony charge. (To that point the gun always was transported in a fully legal manner.)

Since I now had a license to carry the wheel gun, I needed a safe way to carry it. Sticking it in a belt or pocket is not recommended.

My state (still) does not have an open carry option. All civilian handguns must be concealed. An untucked shirt or a jacket – the latter not likely with the local heat and humidity – meets the concealment criteria.

Bottom line: I needed an Inside the Waistband (IWB) holster.

I bought a Sticky holster, but it shifted when I sat down; when I stood up, it was badly positioned.

I tried a Barsony Outside the Waistband (OWB) holster, but while the shirt tail covered the holster and gun, the gun’s position was not satisfactory. Barsony let me return the holster and gave a full refund.

NOTE: Concealed weapons are NOT for “fast draw,” and that’s just as well.

My son-the-cop showed me a holster that really isn’t a holster.

What he had was a Versacarry.

The Versacarry basically is an interchangeable pin screwed into a very strong plastic “hook” that fits over a belt, preferably a 1 ½-inch wide belt. (Narrower belts tend to let the Versacarry shift, albeit only slightly.)

My son’s Versacarry is for a .40 semi-auto. In theory, I could use his “holster” by simply swapping the very hard plastic “pin” for one to fit the barrel of my .38/.357. The weapon fits snuggly on the pin; I had to sandpaper the pin on my “holster” so it would fit the muzzle of my wheel gun.

Unlike more traditional holsters that have straps through which a belt is threaded, the Versacarry clips over the belt. This is good and it is bad.

The two good things are:

1. The wearer doesn’t have to remove the belt to add or remove a holster, a necessity for traditional holsters. It also is good because the same Versacarry holster can be used with the “draw” in any position – right hand, left hand, or cross-draw.
2. The price; my Versacarry cost one cent less than $20. By comparison, the Sticky was $29.95. The Barsony holster I returned lists for $29.99. All prices are from the companies’ web sites.

The primary “bad” things about the Versacarry are two:

1. The plastic “hook” is very tight and hard to get over the belt –but once on the belt, it isn’t going to accidently come loose.
2. Once the weapon is drawn, the holster must be removed to re-holster the gun. That means
getting the plastic “hook” off the belt
loosening the belt
taking out the holster
re-holstering the weapon on the pin
then securing the holster to the belt; hopefully remembering to tighten the belt after the holster is secure.

The Versacarry for my wheel gun includes a removable trigger guard; I believe trigger guards for semi-auto models are fixed in place (although I have not checked).

The best things I can say about the Versacarry are that it is comfortable, it secures the weapon where I want it, and it is as minimal a “holster” as I can find.