Smarty Carry - 1911 Officers (review)

[Dredly]

Hey guys

Figured I'd post up, just got my Smart Carry, talk about fast! I ordered it on Wednesday night and it got here yesterday, 3 days from Florida is awesome! Some quick backround:

I'm 6'4 260, have a bit of a gut over the belt, inseam is 36" on my pants and the waist on my pants is 36, (typical slightly overweight adult) I wear a belt to keep them in place so my waist is probably 35". My normal attire is either cargo shorts or Levi Relaxed Fit jeans. lets just say according to the internet I am " on the upper side of Average sized" in the "important" area if you get my drift.

The gun I'm carrying is an RIA Officers 1911 which is commonly called the "Compact" model. 3.5" barrel, beavertail, 7 round mags. I carry cocked and locked (except today... uhh need to make sure it works before I put a 45 through a nut :P

I was very hesitant to order it as I have been unable to find any reports of a 1911 Officers being carried in one comfortably (other then the owner). I finally decided to order as I have a wedding coming up and I'm a groomsman so I didn't want to carry where it could be accidentally hit while seating people or dancing.

I've been wearing it for about an hour now and its not bad at all, I can bend in pretty much all directions without an issue, sitting isn't bad, if you are in a confined seat where you can't spread your legs a little it would get uncomfortably I'm sure. (ie: airplane type seats or a ball park)

few observations:

- I couldn't imagine carrying a full size duty weapon or 5" 1911 in this though. I'm wearing Levi relaxed fit pants and the tip of the gun is pushing against seam in the crotch of the pants. anything longer would need different pants without a doubt. The width of the 1911 is also about as far as I'd want to push it, much more and it would become visible I would think... I could probably get away with another 1/4 inch or so, maybe, before it becomes very apparent.

I'm going to try it with the Kahr CW9 and Bersa later, I imagine it will work much better with those smaller weapons. (I'll add to this with those results)

- the instructions include tips on how to space the gun better by using a safety pin... pretty nice, that means you should buy it for the largest gun you reasonable plan on using and then you can shrink the size as you move back to a smaller gun instead of buying different sizes.

- The mag pouch is nice and can also be pinned up to allow for a shorter mag to be used as well.

- drawing isn't nearly as bad as I expected from a standing position, from a seat... I don't know how I would draw without undoing my pants. from a standing position its a fairly easy draw (not nearly as easy as from a IWB or OWB) but its not as bad as I expected.

- The weight of the weapon isn't really noticeable, My RIA + 2 loaded mags weighs over 3 1/2 pounds, its very noticeable when hanging off my belt but from the Smart Carry its not noticeable.

- Its nice wearing a belt to keep my pants up, not my gun up. The difference is huge, normally I have to pull my belt pretty tight to keep my pants and gun in place, not so with the Smart Carry as the Velcro straps hold it in place (jury still out on how well they work)

- construction seems pretty good, all the seems look well stitched, the Velcro looks to be of good quality and it is attached pretty well from the looks of it.

Overall it looks like this will be a good method of carry. I'm not sure if it will be my daily carry or not yet but it very well may. We'll see what happens.


I'll probably switch to the Bersa .380 after dinner and see how that works in the Smart Carry, I would imagine it will work better as its smaller and lighter, I'll probably try the kahr CW9 on Monday

[Dredly]

Just went out and mowed a bit of the yard ( 1 1/2 hours worth give or take). The elastic straps aren't the most comfy things in the world when rubbing against skin while working outside.

Possible they are riding up for some reason, I'll have to play with it some more and see if I can find a better location / ride height where they don't keep moving. Normally when I work outside I wear my holster OWB to prevent this kind of thing from happening... clearly thats not possible with the smart carry.

[Dredly]

So I switched shorts from a pair of blue jean cut offs to a pair of cargo shorts... wow what a difference! I can't even draw my weapon now with my pants buttoned. I think its because these don't stretch at all but the jeans did, or they may be a little looser.

I think an excellent guide will be can I wear the pants without a belt. If the answer is yes then the Smart Carry isn't going to work for anything other then deep concealment as its not going to allow rapid access to the firearm.

I really like the way the holster sits, it is comfortable in a sitting or lounging position, sitting straight up or slouching a bit. IT isn't moving much at all and is fairly comfortable. I was just playing some video games on the couch and actually forgot I had it on until I moved and felt it again... guess thats a good sign

Just like any holster I think this one will have its place, I won't have any issue carrying into areas where I'm not supposed to with this holster (ie: No Guns stores and malls... etc). There is no way anyone is going to know you are armed unless they frisk you or you tell them.

So far I'm giving the Smart carry 4 stars out of 5,

Pro - I really can't think of a better spot for concealment though, no one would ever think to look there for your weapon, waist band, under arm, ankle... all likely spots but the concealment you get form this holster beats them all without a doubt

- Price isn't bad, less then 60.00 total for a good holster is a great deal

- Shipping was extremely fast

- 2 pocket design allows carrying a second mag without having it in your pocket

cons:

- Draw is completely Dependant upon pants and is slower then an IWB / OWB

- the warranty is disappointing (1 year defect warranty only)

- the straps could really use some sort of covering or at least make it an option, the velcro is a little difficult to put on perfectly so that no hooks are exposed (exposed velcro vs skin + long hours of wear = ouch),

- Difficult to go number 2, number 1 wasn't a big deal but as far as I can tell the entire holster needs removed to take a dump resulting in rearranging it afterwards and lots of tearing of velcro (LOUD)

suggestions: I would like to see a little "rise" behind the gun pocket so you don't remove hair when drawing (ouch!), a simple 1/2 inch piece above the draw pocket would help a lot in that area, also would keep the safety from rubbing (not really a major issue but it did catch once or 2 times).

- A buckle would be nice instead of velcro, dunno if thats possible but with Velcro its very difficult to get the exact same length of belt every time, even more so with the elastic

[HiredGoon]

Hey man, thanx for the continuing review. Have been considering one of these. How about brisk walking...any problems there? Is gun held really tight so there's no bouncing?