Picked up a G19 and I am trying to decide how to carry it.  

Ive had a shield for a few years now but can not comfortably carry it day after day.  I keep getting pressure points and sore spots where the stiff holsers wont bend and push against me.  Generally use a Wilderness Instructor belt but the last year I have went back to my general leather belts with Western buckle.  I wasnt sure if the instructor was too stiff for every day carry.  

Holsters I have tried with the shield.

Blade Tech Klipt ( Appendix and 3-4o clock)
Alien Gear 3.0
Comptac Minotaur
Belly Band
Galco Tuck and Go
Blade Tech that I cant remember the model.

I wont say I am skinny, but im not really fat either.  Coming in at 6' 170 lbs the holsters dont really bend around me I get odd bulges in my pants (not in the happy way) and get those pressure points.  I never tried small of back but I tried all holsters from about 2-5 o clock.  The comptac minotaur and the Alien gear have been my favorites but still not the best.  I was wondering if a high and tight leather OWB holster would be the best first test for the G19?  Any more I carry my Shield in a Serpa but with the summer heat I have resorted back to the alien gear.

I like Desantis 001 for OWB.

OWB will always be more comfortable than IWB. And IWB will always conceal better than OWB since it holds the gun closer to the body. So it depends what you want. I prefer to carry 3-5 o'clock area being right handed. Leather tends to be more comfortable compared to kydex plastic holsters, because it's softer. I have a box of holsters and belts and ammo pouches. You just have to try different things and find out what you like. I like using good thick leather gun belts over the nylon personally, they tend to be stiffer and more comfortable and look better. Yeah a good leather OWB holster is going to be very comfy for ya. Maybe grab a Galco leather belt and concealable OWB holster.

I carry a P226 or P227 in a Galco combat master. I wish I would have started using OWB leather years ago, it is soooo much more comfortable and probably would have saved me a lot of money.

Bianchi 57

I like IWB much better than OWB for comfort/concealment, but everyone is different.

My favorite is the Comp-Tac MTAC.

I carry my G19 in an OWB leather pancake holster.  It is way more comfortable to me than IWB, and it conceals almost as well.

Kydex iwb imo.  Im bigger then you 6'1 210, broad shoulders, big but i don't really have a gut either.  And i can carry my 19 appendix all day, or at my 4 oclock.


a concealed weapon should be comforting not comfortable.  Youll get used to it.

I would prefer to carry 3-5 o clock as well.  Usually I can get comfortable around the 5 o clock position but then I am getting close to small of back carry which I am not fond of for drawing reasons.  Maybe I need to try a leather holster before I completely give up on IWB.  I do want an OWB one for days I am out hunting and fishing and hiking.  Cant remember who was showing me, feel like it was an LEO back at school but he had a leather pancake holster that rode high and held the gun tight and for being OWB it printed no worse than an IWB.

Thats my issue, the money part.   I hate spending tons of money on a danged holster then not liking it and trying to sell it to people who low ball you.  Maybe I can pick up one to try here in the EE.

 

I did enjoy the Minotaur I had, only reason I got rid of it is mine was defective, the kydex/plastic cracked after a week of carry.  Returned it to where I got it but they were out so they offered me a full refund.  I didnt want to wait a month+ to get another one.

For sure, and I know carrying a weapon period will be more uncomfortable than not.  More weight around your belt, I just need to find a solution that doesnt make my pants bulge out which in the end causes excess printing and I just need it comfortable enough that I dont get the bad pressure points that then make me feel like I need to adjust the set up.  Some days the Alien Gear doesnt bother me, it just slips into place and I almost forget its there but other days it just does not cooperate.

Try a Milt Sparks summer special at 4oclock

Or a jmcustom aiwb 2.0 at 1oclock

I find those to be the most comfortable for me

Try a remora iwb sticky holster most comfortable holster out there IMO, they are cheap and if you don't like it they still make good a storage holster for handguns.

I prefer kydex, but the other posters who said that OWB is more comfortable but IWB conceals better are correct.

Leather is "fancier" but kydex makes safer holsters.  They are either good, or they are bad.  Broken or not.  Leather has a slow slide into being broken and may not give you that immediate "I need to replace my holster for safety" feedback.

Kydex is always open, especially IWB, which makes for better re-holstering whereas a leather holster may fold up due to belt pressure.  

Retention with kydex also provides a faster draw.  Kydex relies on being formed to the gun, so it's more of a click in/click out vs linear drag during the draw.  Once kydex lets go, there's very little drag.

Kydex doesn't retain water, sweat, and it doesn't have issues with holding stuff like sand.  

It's downside is that it makes for a louder draw than leather.  Depending on your philosophy, this could be an issue if you are trying to use stealth.

Now that kydex is made by a lot of MFGs and the quirks have been ironed out.........I feel it is a vastly superior holster material.  That's just me, and it's just an opinion of a guy who has been carrying guns since he was 18.

If you can figure out AIWB, it's the best IMHO for concealment.  Faster draw, more positive control, worry less about people behind me having access to my firearm if they spot it, way better concealment.

Additionally, holster selection isn't "one size fits all."  You are going to have to try out different carry methods, positions, and holster designs before you find one you like.  Once you do, it will be like a lightbulb flipping on.

Leather has several distinct disadvantages

1. Moisture Retention
2. Not stiff enough thus can lead to softening of the leather which can lead to the leather making its way into the trigger guard.

If you want to try OWB - I get it. My favorite, BY FAR, is the JM Customs OWB. Sits high and tight, minimal foot print, and custom cant.

But that said, I don't think you've really tried too many "good holsters". The makers you've tried are bulk manufacturers. Look into Dark Star Gear, JM Customs etc.

The Dark Star Gear AIWB is the best I've had so far.

AIWB is a far superior method in terms of concealability and gun defense.

Look at Harte Holsters, harteholsters.com and get their kydex OWB holster. Comfortable, like you don't have it on, concealable with a shirt over it, and really affordable as well.

Bravo Concealment makes good ones as well. I have Harte Holsters for two of my pistols for OWB. Bravo doesn't have lots of choices in pistol brands though. I have a Bravo for a Glock 43.

I have a Harte Holster for an HK P2000 and a Walther PPS and love them. 

The Harte Holsters are more comfortable to me and I use them for CCW.

All day driving in a car with it anywhere from on my back to my side is comfortable to me. I keep them on as well when I am at the house. I've never had an IWB holster that I sat and watched TV with and I do these OWB Holsters.

@JHans7663

Holsters are like wives, there's a billion different types, almost all of them have someone that loves them, so....
OWB high riding leather is what works for me.
Others not so much.

I actually bought one of those for my father and his High Power.  Nice holster just got impatient waiting 8 months for it..  It does nicely with the high power though.

Add that to the list I have tried.  I forgot about that one.  It wasnt bad but I didnt like it, it now acts as a storage holster for the shield. I dont know why it just felt strange and it never felt secure maybe I was using it wrong though.

I wouldn't mind trying appendix again.  Maybe with a better holster than the Klipt.  It truly was easy to conceal and when I was up and walking around it was fantastic.  As soon as I started to bend over or sit down to drive it got bad.  I now work a desk job so I worry it will just be annoying.  Do longer or shorter guns carry better appendix? The shield would jab into my leg no matter how I positioned it and I wondered if the G19 wouldnt slip down alongside of the leg better.

 That is very true and I wont even argue against it. At the time I didnt have the $$ to drop a hundred dollars on a holster then wait 2-20 weeks for it just to find out I didnt like it.  Ive been looking at true good holsters and theres been some good options above theres just too many small "custom" kydex companies.  My google searches get flooded with them.  

The N82 holster is one that has a strong following but I havent had the chance to try it.    Not really custom or good but it is an interesting design that looks comfortable IMHO.  They even have an extremely low profile one geared more towards women that has made me wonder.  If I didnt like it Ill just let the girlfriend try it.  

Im going to browse around and look at both kydex and leather.

Brownells have summer specials in stock

I use this for my full size glocks and they conceal well under a button up shirt at about 3:30. Might be something worth looking into for you.

That looks a lot like the holster the officer showed me.  His didnt have a thumb break but it rode really high.  He used it for plains clothes carry while he worked on the campus.

Let me tell you what I have and like.  It's the only thing I know to do.

Milt Sparks Summer Special II IWB, Askins Avenger OWB, and Vedder LightTuck IWB.

The Sparks is for a Browning HP, the Avenger for a 1911, and the Vedder for a Sig P290RS.

I don't carry a lot because of who I work for.

The Sparks SS style is built by a lot of folks, some of whom have better lead times.  The same with the Avenger.  I'd recommend looking at Privateer leather.

I refuse to wear anything but leather. And real steel guns! This is as God and his prophet, John Moses Browning intended!

Thanks guys, a buddy had a cheap CYA holster he's letting me borrow to just see what the guns like.  In all honesty for being a $30 Amazon holster it carries a lot nicer than my shield did in any of the holsters I tried.  I can already see it's flaws but it gives me hope for a good IWB holster.

I still want to find a nice owb though to try.  And for winter carry.

But since I'm not supposed to carry at work it's going to be hard to really test them other than when I get home and weekends.

This has been a real issue for me too, and I've always wondered how many other people it affects. The Army keeps me relatively fit, but I've always had a bit of curve "in the back." Carrying IWB at 4-5 o'clock, I get a pressure point on my right buttock that starts to aggravate my sciatic nerve over extended periods of carrying. What was even more surprising was that during a dermatologist appointment last year, the doc asked me if I had suffered a burn in that spot. Apparently the pressure from the holster has created a permanent mark on my skin. Even OWB with a large pistol - I sometimes carry an M9 in a Galco Concealable on deployments - I get pain from that pressure point.

This is very much a case of "you get what you pay for." I have three Milt Sparks Versa Max 2s, one of which I wore several times a week over the course of 9 years, and the other I wore daily for 9 months on a deployment. Neither of those have shown any noticeable effects of moisture / sweat, and the deployment was in a very warm and humid locale. They show creases in the wings from flexing and the finish has almost worn off the brass buttons, but other than that, they are in great shape with no real treatment on my part other than wiping the sweat off them at the end of the day. The VM 2 also has a very robust reinforcement around the opening, and it holds itself open and allows for easy holstering, even after years of use. In contrast, my first hybrid, a Stealth Gear Ventcore, is a great, comfortable holster, but the Kydex half shell collapses against the nylon backing after I draw, and the retention is much weaker than my VM 2 (I have literally been on a trampoline with the Versa Max 2). There are definitely pros and cons to both type of holster.

I have actually had good luck with the Don hume jit slide for smaller guns, and a couple galcos as well. If you want to pony up for a really good owb though my choice is Ritchie gun leather. Expensive but buy once  cry once. Hands down one of the most comfortable holsters around.

I forgot about Don Hume. I need to look at those again.

Highnoon Holsters Slideguard is where it's at for me for owb. I have several and they are outstanding as far as concealment is concerned.

I have to have the right pistol and holster to use kydex owb, but it usually ends up being one of my smaller pistols.

Hehe... I have a box full of holster as proof of that.  Most of the stuff in there is "production leather" or Kydex, which I'm also not a fan of.  I stick with leather, and unfortunately, that means going with one of the custom guys (I typically use Rosen stuff and have for 25 years, but I also have stuff from Milt Sparks).  I keep getting sucked into to trying Kydex because of the cost, but I find them extremely uncomfortable compared to leather.  I don't buy that a holster has to be uncomfortable.  I've used an ARG with a G19 for a long time and it is by no means uncomfortable.  It's certainly there (especially in a car seat, but I've carried it all day many times I don't feel it.  If a holster is uncomfortable, you either don't carry, or you spend money on something else and you throw it in "the holster box" in your closet we all have.  Either way, you've pissed money away.

As for OWB recommendation, I use a Rosen Sport or a 5JR if I carry that way (concealed).  Also have an Upper Limit for a Glock 30 which I really like, but I don't think it would work with long barreled guns.  If I were to carry open (a completely different topic), I use a Level II retention holster (I have a Safariland something-or-other -- been so long since I carried that way, can't remember the model, but it sits in the "holster box").

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is if going IWB make sure you order your pants an inch larger in the waist than your usual size.

So untrue.  I've carried OWB cross for decades.  I once went around an entire day without my handgun and didn't realize it.  That is how accustomed one can become to carrying.

The key is to have a well made holster and belt (belt can't be overstressed) that work together.  Balance both sides by carrying something on the opposite side and if the rig is fitted properly it distributes the weight fairly evenly across the hips.  

I sometime read about folks complaining about low back problems from carrying.  Most are attributable to wearing the belt too tight to compensate for a poorly made rig.  A good rig rides on the hips and takes strain off of the lower back (trust me, I know I've had low back surgery)