2beararms
New member
A few weeks back I came across a nice Stainless Ruger GP-100 4” in a pawn shop at a good price, so I had to make it mine.
I knew I had plans to head into some areas of the “glades” just a bit later this spring and thought a .357 would be a good gun to carry for safety. Although a good bit of time I will come under the “Fishing, Hunting, etc exception that will allow open carry, other times I will need to keep it concealed. Also a good bit of time will be spent cuddled into the contoured bucket seat of my hosts custom “swamp buggy”.
I thought about OWB hip carry but covering it when needing concealed presented a problem, and IWB did not seem to make it. Also in both cases it would be both uncomfortable in these seats and very hard to draw should it be needed.
Back at an FOP party we did for the kids a Christmas Santa came by helicopter and while it was on the ground, I was talking to the pilots who had their weapons in shoulder rigs. I’ve used shoulder rigs with small guns before, but it got me to thinking and researching.
After playing with a lot of rigs, I settled my focus on the Bianchi X-15 shoulder holster. This is a great holster in that it is a fully vertical carry so the whole gun sits under the arm along the side of the body. The holster is split the entire length of the front with a stiff piece of spring metal embedded into the leather surrounding the split.
This means instead of the gun going in and out from the top, one draws the gun by tilting it forward through the spring split and then directly out, or slightly upward to release the springs final grip on barrel. The spring is quite stiff and plenty strong to hold the gun in place alone, however there is a safety strap that goes over the trigger guard an holds the gun in place.
The function is great. It keeps the guns grip just under the armpit, is easy to access (though not a “quick draw” rig) and to re-holster just stick the barrel straight in and slide it down to the bottom then tilt the gun upward and it slips right into position.
It is easy to draw from inside a jacket or shirt, can be worn outside for open carry, and even works well under a set of waders, which may be standard dress for a good bit of my venture. Although I am certain the X-15 would work equally well with an automatic, the combination with a revolver is just simplicity itself.
I can highly recommend this holster for anyone to carry Fishing, Hunting or just driving or it would be great on a motorcycle. Before you purchase any other shoulder rig, check the X-15 out. Certainly not as cheap as those nylon pocket rigs, but a quality piece of equipment.
I knew I had plans to head into some areas of the “glades” just a bit later this spring and thought a .357 would be a good gun to carry for safety. Although a good bit of time I will come under the “Fishing, Hunting, etc exception that will allow open carry, other times I will need to keep it concealed. Also a good bit of time will be spent cuddled into the contoured bucket seat of my hosts custom “swamp buggy”.
I thought about OWB hip carry but covering it when needing concealed presented a problem, and IWB did not seem to make it. Also in both cases it would be both uncomfortable in these seats and very hard to draw should it be needed.
Back at an FOP party we did for the kids a Christmas Santa came by helicopter and while it was on the ground, I was talking to the pilots who had their weapons in shoulder rigs. I’ve used shoulder rigs with small guns before, but it got me to thinking and researching.
After playing with a lot of rigs, I settled my focus on the Bianchi X-15 shoulder holster. This is a great holster in that it is a fully vertical carry so the whole gun sits under the arm along the side of the body. The holster is split the entire length of the front with a stiff piece of spring metal embedded into the leather surrounding the split.
This means instead of the gun going in and out from the top, one draws the gun by tilting it forward through the spring split and then directly out, or slightly upward to release the springs final grip on barrel. The spring is quite stiff and plenty strong to hold the gun in place alone, however there is a safety strap that goes over the trigger guard an holds the gun in place.
The function is great. It keeps the guns grip just under the armpit, is easy to access (though not a “quick draw” rig) and to re-holster just stick the barrel straight in and slide it down to the bottom then tilt the gun upward and it slips right into position.
It is easy to draw from inside a jacket or shirt, can be worn outside for open carry, and even works well under a set of waders, which may be standard dress for a good bit of my venture. Although I am certain the X-15 would work equally well with an automatic, the combination with a revolver is just simplicity itself.
I can highly recommend this holster for anyone to carry Fishing, Hunting or just driving or it would be great on a motorcycle. Before you purchase any other shoulder rig, check the X-15 out. Certainly not as cheap as those nylon pocket rigs, but a quality piece of equipment.
