Which IWB Hooks for Raven Phantom

[rjacobs]

Just as the title says, what IWB hooks do people prefer for the Raven Phantoms. Getting ready to pick one up for my MP and cant decide on the hooks. J-Hooks, C-Hooks, overhooks or velcro hooks? Is the offset design better(more comfortable, more secure, easier to tuck your shirt in, etc...) than the standard?

I like the look of the C-hooks, just not sure on their secureness on the belt, same with the velcro hooks. Both look like you could potentially draw the holster with the gun. The overhooks are the ones I am most familiar with as I have a few other holsters with them, but they are not the most subtle of hooks for CCW with a tucked in shirt. Do the J hooks go behind the belt?

[Doggiecop]

I use the "rubber" loops. I wear the holster 8 plus hours a day 5 -6 days a week. Full size M&P with X300. The rubber loops are great. Just give them a pushforeward and back the the holster is rock steady like it is welded there.

[Chameleox]

I have the overhooks, and CCW my Glock 22 with an X200. No complaints; its about as comfortable as a Glock with a light can be, and it is a lot more comfortable than other IWB's I've tried, even without the light. Caveat: I don't tuck my shirt in.

[rob_s]

I found the rubber loops to put the pistol too high up for my liking, and hated the holster. I decided to give it one last shot and bought the over hooks and now I love the thing.

There have been some reports of the kydex overhooks breaking over time. I think this is just the cost of having the gun sit where I want it to. I have an extra set of hooks, and I also only attach the hooks at the bottom with one screw each which gives them more flexibility to hopefully avoid breakage.

http://www.themalabarfront.com/product_info.php?cPath=82_89_100&products_id=1418

[M4arc]

I found the rubber loops to put the pistol too high up for my liking, and hated the holster. I decided to give it one last shot and bought the over hooks and now I love the thing.

There have been some reports of the kydex overhooks breaking over time. I think this is just the cost of having the gun sit where I want it to. I have an extra set of hooks, and I also only attach the hooks at the bottom with one screw each which gives them more flexibility to hopefully avoid breakage.

http://www.themalabarfront.com/product_info.php?cPath=82_89_100&products_id=1418

That's my problem with the Raven as well, it rides too high with the rubber loops. But I don't like the idea of the overhooks...I guess I should at least give them a try.

[Jay870]

The over-hooks on my ACR all snapped within 3 months. I cobbled on some CompTac polymer loops which worked well until the rear support strut snapped.

Raven took care of me and replaced the mounting hardware with rubber loops at no charge. The holster does ride a little higher with the rubber loops, but my biggest complaint about the loops is that they do not conform to the belt well. The leather loops on my SSII lay completely flat to the belt, but the rubber loops arch away from the belt and create that much more bulk to conceal.

I'd really like to see Raven move to a polymer clip like Comp Tac's for their clips, and use leather loops rather than the rubber on the loop hardware.

[rjacobs]

I have used overhooks on a few different holsters and generally have had good luck with them, but they are not the most concealable if you want to tuck in your shirt. I guess I will go with these since I am familiar and it seems to be what people on here use most often.

I was just intrigued by the C hooks and the J-hooks since they look a ton more concealable. I know the C hooks go behind the belt and it looks like the J hooks do as well. My only concern with them is possibly pulling the holster out on the draw along with the gun because they, to me, do not look like they would be attached to the belt quite as good as the overhooks. Does anybody have any experience with either of these two styles?

[KRWeiss]

It is not likely the J-clips will come off the belt, in fact it's almost immpossible. I generally loosen my belt a couple notches so I can more easily remove them.

[rjacobs]

It is not likely the J-clips will come off the belt, in fact it's almost immpossible. I generally loosen my belt a couple notches so I can more easily remove them.

Hmm, may have to order these instead of the overhooks. If I dont like them its only 15 bucks to switch to the overhooks.

[TAZ]

I don't generally tuck my shirt I these days so I have the luxury of using the overhooks. They have worked well for over a year now with my G21. No signs of fatigue yet... Knock on wood. I tried the offset hooks and they really dug into my side so I ditched them. I agree that placing loops onto the top screw location on the holster places the gun too high and makes it uncomfortable. I just ordered another Phantom for the G21 with X300 attahed and noticed that they make a tuckable loop attachment. From the pics on the web page it appears that this combination places the snap just a little higher on the holster and seems to let the gun sit at about the same depth on a belt as the over hook. I'm. Gonna give them a try and see what happens. As far as the loops not being tight against the belt it all depends on the belt thickness. Last I saw thy appear to be rubber loops like the Blade Tech jobbers. If they are try trimming then to the 1.25" position and stretch them to fit your 1.5" belt. That is what I did with my last set of loops. They took a bit to wear in but after a couple of days of wear they were snug as a bug against my 1.5" Wilderness 5 stich belt.

[rjacobs]

My RCS Phantom came in(I guess Saturday) while I was out of town. I got the shipping notice from The Malabar Front on Friday. I got it with the J-Hooks, which I think are going to work out well for me. They are super easy to conceal. The only thing with them is that instead of your belt holding up the holster/gun(like with over hooks), it is your pants holding them up. Jeans/Carharts/Dickies are good to go(I am assuming a BDU style pant would be as well), but I tried it with some dress pants and they just didnt have enough strength to hold the holster/gun combo up. Once I got the belt tightened it was ok, but not great. I might order some over hooks for the few occasions I need to wear dress pants.

The holster is extremely comfortable when standing, sitting, etc... My MP9FS simply disappears, even with a semi-tight shirt on. I am having to wear the holster back at almost 5 oclock(I would have preferred 4 oclock) for it to work for me. At 4 oclock it was digging into my side a bit to much and the butt of the gun was sticking way out and was very noticeable as well as the holster not sitting very flat against my back/side and was pushing my belt out really weird. 5 oclock I think will work out just fine, I just need to get to the range to practice the draw from 5 oclock as its a bit awkward right now.