Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Chest holster recommendation

Looking for guidance on a chest holster for walking in the woods or tracking and while out hunting. I seem to wind up looking at double diamond they offer nylon and leather
Since I want a fitted holster I am going to have to make a choice on the gun I am more of a double action guy I have a 4in S&W 69 44mag or a 5.5 Ruger Blackhawk in 41 (one of my favs)
Last season I finished a friends deer with a 686 and I was underwhelmed with the results of a Corbon 357 so I want to up the caliber
I am also a bubba so need something that fits a bubba I had a quality bino pack and it seemed tight and felt were restricted


I am sure I will get good ideas

Hank

Looks good I wonder if I could order a shell for both and carry whatever I want at that time?

Hank

Yes. I believe you can, Hank. Would give them a call. Friendly folks.

If you want versatility, look at Alien Gear too.

The quality and fit of my new Paradise Valley chest holster is excellent. I had one put up for my HK 45, but I believe I’ll also be ordering a couple of more for my GP 100 .357 and Glock 10 mm. I wanted leather and a thumb break and that is how these guys make them. It took around 5 weeks for me to receive my holster, and it was certainly worth the wait. This counts too-they are hand made in Montana…

https://paradisevalleyleather.com/leather-chest-holsters/

Judge for yourself…

I have come to abhor kydex holsters for hunting due to the noise they make. The racket from brush slapping on them is bad enough, but when you try to draw on a deer, the sound of the gun coming out of the holster puts them to flight. The Diamond D leather models are spendy but nice. Their nylon model is garbage: they fit the gun poorly (like a cheap uncle mikes nylon) and the retention strap is such that if you have to use your off hand to clear the strap in order to re-holster, otherwise it can snag the trigger and cause a negligent discharge. This leads to another problem, having to put your hand in front of the muzzle to holster the gun. No thanks.

The Diamond D harness system for their garbage holster is actually quite nice. I threw the garbage holster away and used the harness with a sourdough pancake holster to make a sweet chest rig. It worked so well that I used kydex, sliders, rivets, and nylon straps to make duplicate chest rigs for other guns. I basically saved over $100 each time I did this. The sourdough holsters are very high quality for a great price. I use a hair dryer to warm them up and soak in melted beeswax in order to waterproof them, a definite need in the rainy country I live in.

That paradise valley holster looks nice.

El Paso saddlery 1942 Tanker

It's not a true chest holster but my favorite is the Montana:
https://www.montanaholster.com/

We have several “gunfighter’s inc. holsters and like them. However, removing the handgun from the kydex is very noisy!

As handgun hunting is generally close range hunting…..I use “only” leather holsters for hunting. I use a Galco cross-chest rig for my hunting handgun……almost silent draw! memtb

Thanks for posting that. I had never heard of them.

The El Paso Saddlery Tanker rig works fine:

I’ll be the other guy.

Tried two Kenai holsters, and neither fit the G19 properly. Way too loose. Also, disappointingly, there was no adjustable retention.

Contacted company, and their reply was “just put it in the oven and refit it”

Nonstarter and unacceptable.

Went with a local supplier. They had a long lead time, but we’ll worth the wait. Much superior product.

https://dynamicdefensesolutionsak.com/holsters/

Their holsters can be mounted on chest rig, paddle, etc.

I’ll second the Montana rig , one belt and have four holsters from everything…….S&W shield , S&W686 scoped an non , TC Contender with 16” barrel .

Comfortable for a 300# barrel chested guy.

Norm will build what you need

Wow. That sucks. My guns snap right in.

Yeah, Greg. That’s what I expected based on how well they are reviewed. CS was disappointing as well.

Paddle and chest rigs from DDS snap nicely now.

For Gunfighters Inc to tell you to stick it in the oven and remold it yourself, that's just not acceptable

I ordered a Montana rig based upon deFlave's input.

Take a look at the HPG kit bag. It isn’t an external holster, but it’s plenty fast, sits a variety of guns, protects the gun, holds tons of extra gear, and is concealed. I wouldn’t be without mine, and I was a reluctant adopter of it at the beginning.