Shoulder holster under a button down shirt

[Mythos]

As a huge fan and proponent of shoulder holsters and a proud owner of a custom Sam Andrews Monarch shoulder rig (love that thing) I feel that I can confidently say: Under a dress shirt? No way. Hawaiian shirts (or as us native Hawaiians say, Aloha shirts) are your friend (I should own stock in Tommy Bahama) In fact after reading your post, I rousted out a dress shirt and tried it over my rig with a Glock 19. The result was comical. And this with the rig being as nice and tight as I could get it. The other option would be those Columbia river fishing shirts, Craghopper safari shirts or Railriders VersaTac shirts. I have successfully hidden my guns under them but they're all sized rather billowy. If your mission is to be completely invisible in a non permissive env in a rather tight-ish dress shirt(especially with something the thickness of a G26), as much as I LOVE shoulder rigs it pains me to say that you probably would be better off with another option, (and maybe even a slimmer gun.)

[Mythos]

The problems that had to be addressed were ...(2) holster swinging forward when i bent over... Item (2) was never adequately resolved.

If you want to try the shoulder holster rig again. Sam Andrews of Andrews Custom Leather solved that problem by putting a back strap on his Monarch design. One of the big reasons I chose that particular rig. It is an elegant, "duh, why didn't I think of that" solution to that issue. The strap not only prevents it from swinging forward but also swinging out to the side.

http://www.andrewsleather.com/monarch.htm

[bzdog]

Maybe it's just me but I tried one of these and even with a Ruger LCR and a relatively baggy overshirt it looked like I had a tumor on the side of my torso.

You need one that puts the firearm directly in your armpit and has short enough grip such that it does not protrude.

This worked OK for me with a P239 and P2000SK w/flat base plate.

-john

[bzdog]

Ive looked at those a couple of times and passed. How well do they protect the trigger guard? If one was to slip say a G42/43 in the pocket would you need a kydex trigger guard cover?

I made a Kydex "taco" cover I used when carrying this way for added peace of mind.

-john

[HardToHandle]

Not quite your question, but at one time I wore a 642 in a Ken Null "City Slicker" plastic shoulder holster. http://klnullholsters.com/default.htm The problems that had to be addressed were (1) harness printing; (2) holster swinging forward when i bent over, and (3) the relative transparency of certain shirt materials. Items (1) and (3) were minimized by wearing heavyweight Lands' End Hyde Park button down shirts. Item (2) was never adequately resolved.

Similar experience with Ken Nulls' holster. Mine was a Kahr PM9 - deep cover solution that I found really worked best under a hooded sweatshirt. Drawing inside a tighter dress shirt was difficult due to the angle needed to pop the retention snap.

To the OP, the rig conceals well, especially for folks with muscular shoulders.

[turnburglar]

After reading the rest of the thread this is my opinion:

If you can't make a modern IWB holster work, there's no way you're gonna figure out a shoulder holster. For true deep concealment look into a different gun or its time to get smart about off body carry. Based on your interest in alternative holsters with a horrible draw it sounds like your a VERY low security posture. Briefcase, lunch box, laptop bag, day planner ect; can fit your double stacked duty pistol with 2 spare mags, chemlites, MOP gear, gps, fixed blade, 5 TQs, and what ever else you need for a white collar go bag.

I can carry my glock 19 just fine in shorts and a T shirt when I don't care about a little printing. For deep concealment at work it's a shield in a tuckable holster. Works fine with polos and slacks in th AZ summer.