Carry a Big Gun with LAS Concealment Holsters

Written By Tom McHale

2022

The LAS Concealment Shogun is designed as an AIWB holster but works equally well as a standard strong-side IWB.

I like big guns and I cannot lie. I prefer the control, the sight radius, the capacity, the feel in hand — all of it leads to shooting confidence. When weighing carry options, confidence is everything to me. If I can conceal it, I’ll gladly suffer the “little bit of extra weight” penalty tacked on to my EDC load with a larger gun.

The myth of “I can’t carry a larger gun” is precisely that — a myth. You can, if you want to. I think the more accurate phrasing should be “I’m not willing to carry a larger gun” because with the right gear, and a spoonful of commitment, you most certainly can. I know women who barely top the five-foot mark and tip the scales at just over a hundred who carry full size 1911s, so you can too.

The Ronin 3.0 holster is for appendix carry and features a flexible
bungee-attached magazine carrier. It’s configured here with the
Discreet Carry Concepts Overhook clips.

The Right Gear

The right equipment goes a long way to making big gun carry a reality. If you’re carrying with any type of IWB holster, the length is “free” as the barrel and slide are hidden under clothing, so you’re really just worrying about hiding the grip. A holster capable of drawing even a long grip in toward the body will do the job.

Enter LAS Concealment. Designer and Purveyor of a fine line of several IWB (and one OWB) styles, the company offers solutions for all sizes of handguns. I’ve been testing them with two very large pistols, the Staccato P and C2 models — both double-stack 9mm 2011s. The results? Outstanding. Using two different LAS Concealment holsters, I make even the full-size P model disappear with just a T-shirt.

Shogun

The Shogun is advertised as an appendix inside the waistband (AIWB) holster, but I’ve found it works just peachy as a strong-side hip IWB holster too.

It comes with two belt attachment points on which you can select two types of clip styles for either 1.5″ or 1.75″ belt widths. The IWB Overhook struts are one-piece injection molded clips with an aggressive hook securing the clip to the bottom edge of your belt. Once mounted, it doesn’t come off. You’ll see three mounting holes, one of which is horizontal, so you have control over cant angle. The Discreet Carry Concepts Overhook is a metal device — flat for discreet carry. It features vertical oblong mounting holes so you can adjust ride height. The springy nature of the clip and bottom hook make it a bit tricky to get on the belt, but that’s by design. Once in place, it ain’t moving.

The holster itself is cut for optic use and features a closed muzzle design for extra comfort, especially when carrying IWB. There are multiple sets of mounting holes so you can tinker with hook placement to fit your desired carry plan.

The Shogun also features a concealment wing. This ledge presses against the inside of the belt and drives the pistol grip back in towards the body, aiding concealment.

I’ve been using this holster for AIWB carry using an optional teardrop wedge mounted via Velcro on the back of the holster body. It shoves the muzzle out, away from the body, while bringing the grip closer in. For AIWB, it increases comfort at least 673%. When carrying strong side hip, I detach the foam and use just the wing to draw the grip in close. Win, win.

When carrying up front, the foam wedge makes all the difference.
Just tear it off for standard IWB carry.

Ronin

The Ronin is a pure appendix design and comes with a magazine carrier. When worn up front, the gun rides to the strong side of center while the spare magazine rides just to the support side of center. The two unique halves of the holster (gun body and magazine pouch) are attached by elastic bungee cord, so each has a range of independent motion. This flexibility makes all the difference for comfort.

I’ve been using this design to carry both the Staccato P and Staccato C2 model with an extra mag. The results? Miraculous. I can easily conceal the large pistol and even a 20-round spare magazine with nothing more than shorts and a T-shirt. I do use the teardrop foam wedge with this one too and, again, it makes all the difference.

While the Shogun uses a detachable concealment wing, the Ronin uses a molded-in type. It functions identically.

Carrying a large gun with effective concealment is possible with the right gear. If you’d told me months ago I’d be carrying a large 2011 pistol every day in the appendix position, I would have called foul. Yet here I am doing just that.

For more info: LASConcealment.com

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