Pistol Shoulder
Chest or Shoulder Gun Holsters for the Hunter or Hiker
While most of the time animals will do their best to stay clear of humans if they can help it there are numerous accounts of hikers, hunters, or the like coming into face to face encounters with some of the predators of the wild. When these encounters take place there are a few techniques that will help to calmly end the situation without need of force or violence. For this article though I’m going to be addressing the benefits of a shoulder or chest rig, sometimes known as a “tanker” holster, in the case that you feel your life might just rest on the revolver you chose to bring with you.
The problems that these holsters try to accommodate for are the considerable weight to some of these types of revolvers, the increased muzzle length also associated with them, sometimes up to 8 and 3/8″, and the rather bulky frames of these heavier caliber weapons as well.
A Shoulder Holster has the advantage of taking the weight of these tools off of your sometimes already weighed down belt and distributing your overall load across your shoulders. For men this is usually a more comfortable place to carry, but for women, with their lower center of gravity, this might not always be the case. More bonuses to the shoulder rigs are the ability to cant the weapon downward as worn making the length of the revolver a little easier to manage, the ability to tuck it underneath the arms where most of the time it can be kept comfortably out of the way with the added bonus that a speed loader with more ammunition may be added to the opposite side.
A Chest rig or Tanker rig allow a little more freedom for personalization than a Shoulder Holster. These Tanker rigs can be adjusted to wear the pistol on the hip with the straps still allowing the weight to be distributed a little more evenly across the shoulders, or it can be made to hold the revolver secure to the chest or lower abdomen. When worn in this manner the weight of even the heaviest and longest revolver can be quite comfortable for either man or woman. The ergonomically correct alignment of this position makes drawing the revolver quite easy and comfortable as well as keeping the weapon in a place on the body that greatly reduces possible damage to the revolver while walking through thick brush, as well as keeping it tight to the body so as not to get snagged on branches or vines. There are even attachments to many of these designs that will also allow for extra ammunition to be carried, however it’s not always as easy to find a speed load carrier for a Tanker Rig and many times people who wear this way choose to carry extra ammunition on their belt instead.
Either of these options will serve you well so long as you take the time to fit the holster to you correctly and customize it appropriately to your specific weapon. These are certainly not the only options available to you for the task of bringing a safety or back-up revolver into the wilds, but these are certainly quality options that have been tried and tested through-out the years.
About the Author
Self-Defense and weapons Instructor, 10+ years US Army, Owner of TheGunHolsterStore
Colt’s Model 1905 .45 ACP Pistol Holster Shoulder Stock Combination