The pants are a good idea, but perhaps not for me as I made the choice to get good with one sidearm, and it happens to be a ‘large’ one. ( I don’t own a .38 )
I tend to wear a sportcoat as regular garb (appropriate for work.) I even joke with my clients that my sport coat is my ‘purse.’ I don’t print with those when I wear the pistol and mag clip on my hip.
But I am searching for alternatives for casual/ colder weather.
I have two main carry guns, a compact snubbie for when max concealment is the issue, and a .45 for when I'm going to be passing thru places where concealment is secondary to stopping power. I make a point of practicing with both.
You’re already used to carrying on your belt, keep it there. Just try different inside and outside waistband holsters until you find one that is “just right.”
Better than carrying different ways. Best to carry the same way, and just change the concealment upper garment from sport coat to casual untucked shirt to cold weather jacket etc. But the gun and presentation to grip will always be the same and “automatic.”
I have bought various versions with and without sleeves, leather and otherwise.
DON’T!!!
These jackets, vests etc., are all uncomfortable as they do not have a weight distribution framework inside the lining so all the weight of gun and ammo clips weight HANGS ON YOUR NECK. Unless you are hiding a pocket Derringer this soon becomes intolerable. Like uncomfortable new shoes, if they are uncomfortable at the outset they get worse, not better.
With one that had a rolled up, built in hood in the collar it was still unbearble for more than a few minutes!
A leather one without the hood cuts into your neck like a knife and is also unbearable for very long. Even over a turtle neck.
I tried and returned various brands and models one at a time, keeping a hooded version as a cover over a shoulder holster (as somoeone said for winter) and the current sleeveless models sag at the arm hole and show the weapon!!! Concealment??
The same applies to ordinary vests over a shoulder holster. They need to be specifically designed to avoid showing the weapon through the armhole.
As a couple of vendors said this item is a just a spontaneous buy idea and not made according to any logical specs for end users or prolonged wearing comfort.
What nobody seems to have made yet is to build a jacket (or perhaps a vest) around a SHOULDER HOLSTER rather than put some useless flaps in the lining to hold the sidearm and clips.
The best shoulder hoslter I have found is the one where the weapon (Sig .40/p229 in my case) hangs almost upside down - grip down, actually at a good angle for a cross downward draw across your stomach.
Stays hidden with almost any clothing, even sleeveless vests, thoght th harness may show in some cases - also not good.
Unlike the normal up-down holster, which has the grip sit under your arm and bulks ON your rib cage, or the horizontal positioned one that many police forces use and sticks out forward from your body (OK for them as they don’t really care it it shows), this angled holster places the thick part of the weapon, the GRIP, just under the rib cage at an angle, following your body shape, which avoids it bulking, sticking out or showing. Have not tried it with a beer belly.
Anyone who creates a conceal vest (and tests the armholes) and/or a jacket with a shoulder holster strapping harness inside the lining to distribute the weight across the whole back and shoulders will become a multi-millionaire.
Please deal me in with a generous finders fee royalty.