Working K-9 military dogs are an incredible force multiplier. Simply put, they can do things that humans cannot. Besides being faster and more agile, they are amazing at tracking while remaining stealthy. More specifically, the Special Operation Forces working dogs are truly America’s Tier One K9′s.

According to the Warrior Dog Foundation, each entity of SOF employs a Multi Purpose Canine program. These dogs train in nearly every aspect imaginable. The MPC’s have the ability to sniff out IED’s and other explosives as well as pick out the scent of an insurgent from several hundred meters away. These incredible animals are usually the ones helping us, but this time they need our help and this is where the Warrior Dog Foundation comes in.

The Military Dog Transition

The goal of the Warrior Dog Foundation is to transition these military dogs from their operational environment to a state-of-the-art kennel facility where they can be cared for throughout the rest of their time. The foundation was established by Mike Ritland who served as a Navy SEAL in Operation Iraqi Freedom and other deployments. Ritland knows firsthand how much support these dogs provide and wanted a way to give back some of that support.

We strive to educate the public on the importance of K-9s in the combat environment, and showcase the level of sacrifice these dogs give in support of our troops.  We care for each individual SOF K-9 with dignity and grace, including both mental and physical rehabilitation for the rest of their lives.

The Warrior Dog Foundation is working to establish a scholarship fund for the families of handlers who are wounded or killed in combat. They are also planning to build a living memorial and museum for SOF K-9s to showcase the talents and awards received in combat operations in support of our nation’s military.

Many people have expressed interest in adopting former military working dogs and that’s now a possibility through H.R. 5314. Not every dog is available for adoption though. The needs of the dog comes first and their future home is closely examined.

Trident K9 Warriors

If the video above does not load, view the 60 Minutes special on cbsnews.com

As the founder and lead trainer of Trikos International, Mike Ritland trains and provides private protection dogs to companies and high net-worth individuals as well as the SEAL Teams, U.S. Government, and Department of Defense.

Prior to starting Trikos International, Ritland was a multipurpose K9 trainer for the SEALs. He’s also served 12 years of active duty as a Navy SEAL and is a disabled combat veteran. He records his experiences in handling these highly trained working dogs in some of the toughest of battlefield conditions in his first book, Trident K9 Warriors.

For the first time ever, Trident K9 Warriors gives readers an inside look at these elite canines—who they are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake saving countless lives, asking for little in the way of reward. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and most highly skilled working animals on the planet.

Support America’s Elite Working Dogs

You can support the Warrior Dog Foundation by donating directly or by purchasing Mike Ritland’s book. Proceeds from Trident K9 Warriors will be donated to the Warrior Dog Foundation.

Image via http://infothread.org – Click Image to Enlarge to View Sources

You may be asking yourself why someone would want to fold the stock to the side on an AR-15, which is a reasonable question and one I asked myself. Before SHOT Show this year, I’d never seen a product that could take a standard AR fixed stock (adjustable or not) and allow it to fold to the side.

I had the opportunity to meet up with the guys from Law Tactical at SHOT, where they were able to tell me a little bit about the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter. The first thing I thought was that you’re not going to be able to fire the gun with the stock folded, knowing full well the AR’s order of operations.

Removing the buffer, action spring and receiver extension by folding the stock to the side, won’t allow the firearm to cycle properly. While optimistic of the adapter’s role on the AR, I also saw the immediate advantage to facilitate more options for storage and concealment.

Without a Stock

In my experience with the guns I own and have shot, rifles without a stock are worthless in my opinion. Can you shoot them, yes. Are they accurate, no. I bring this up because it’s important to have this discussion and to analyze the nature of a product like the folding stock adapter.

To me, this goes right along with the side-folder stock found on AKs and even underfolders. With AKs, you can shoot multiple rounds with the stock folded, but the AK is a different platform. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot AKs with the stocks folded and I’m even working on building a side-folding Krink in a new build series for ITS. What I’ve personally found is a whole lot of awkwardness when it comes to shooting a rifle with a folded stock.

For me, it’s hard to be consistent and accurate without a stock on a rifle-caliber firearm. Extending your arms to absorb the recoil like on a pistol, is definitely a spot where the awkwardness comes in. It’s much different trying to keep a foot of gun on target while trying to shoot it like a pistol. It’s not so much the recoil management, as it is the weight and length.

Either way, I wanted to provide my opinion on shooting without a stock for a frame of reference. Again, it’s just my opinion. I also side more with the intended purpose of the folding stock being designed for paratroopers, who have a need for a more compact firearm during a jump. I’ve also read that the intended purpose of the AKs folding stocks were for the Russian airborne troops and delivery of fire from a multitude of shelter positions.

Again, going back to Airborne units and firing from concealment being the intended usage. With the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter, firing more than one round from concealment with the stock folded is impossible, so other than an emergency shot, you’ll have to fold the stock back out to finish engaging a target.

Law Tactical states that they designed their folding stock adapter for “deployment by vehicle and aircrews and is ideal for low profile transport of AR rifles in non-permissive environments… ideal for any situation that requires a smaller profile weapon.”

Hands-On

I’d first like to note that the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter is designed, built and assembled in the USA from CNC machined, hard-anodized aluminum. I was immediately impressed with the quality of the adapter when I first had the chance to get hands-on with it.

The Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter works with direct impingement or gas piston systems and fits any A2, carbine, mil-spec or commercial buffer tube and stock. It can also be used with standard bolt carrier groups including: full auto, semi auto, 5.56 to .308.

While the bottom of the adapter features a QD sling attachment point, I prefer the functionality of the Magpul ASAP or the SLAP Plate and would like to note that the ASAP didn’t fit with this installation, but the SLAP did.

A simple one-button release is activated with a simple press, yet strong enough to resist accidental depressing while moving in and out of a vehicle, etc. Just unfold and fire, the stock will automatically lock into place.

Let’s get into the installation and I’ll follow that up with the results of my test fire, function check and pros & cons. There’s also a video below walking through the complete installation, test fire and after-action report.

Installation

The installation of the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter is very easy and like most guys, I honestly didn’t follow the instructions much. I’m not trying to validate that quality, but I do find I learn more about the inner workings of a product if I try to figure things out on my own a bit first.

Either way, installation is simple and all you’ll need is a stock wrench for loosening and backing off your castle nut, two allen wrenches/hex keys, flat head screwdriver and your receiver extension plate or the flip side of your stock wrench. Optionally you also might want to consider a lower receiver vise block to enable you to work with your AR in a vise.

The full install can be seen step-by-step in the video below:

Function Check and Test Fire

Now that the unit is assembled, perform a quick function check to ensure the operation of the AR is intact. All that’s left to do at this point is take it to the range for test firing.

While the directions that come with the adapter clearly state “DO NOT FIRE” in the folded position, we had to test that one out for ourselves, since the AR is capable of firing a single round while folded. I was certainly worried at what would happen and as you can see in the video above, I made sure to stand to the side in case the bolt carrier group decided to launch out the back.

It didn’t do that though and I was actually able to fire a round, fold the stock back over, cycle the gun and fire another round. I also learned in this why it’s not recommended to fire from the folded position. No damage occurred to my gun within the test firing, but a small part did break on the adapter.

I didn’t ever see this part during my install, nor realize what it was or its purpose, until taking the unit apart. I explain this in detail in the video above, but I’ll attempt to explain this in writing as well. There’s a small housing for a sleeve, spring and detent that’s located in the side of the adapter that moves back and forth as the stock opens and closes. I believe the purpose of this detent is to provide the back pressure needed to properly close the stock.

As the stock is swung around to latch closed, the opposite side of the adaptor (from the latch side) needs to have a counter-pressure to ensure proper alignment. This detent, which had a circular polymer piece, broke in half from the force of the recoil when I fired the gun with the stock folded to the side. Due to the detent breaking, the spring was forced into the channel and when I closed it, the spring was bent.

In the video, you can see that the stock did close properly and the gun fired another round, but after we stopped filming we noticed pieces of the detent on the shooting bench where the fun was resting. You can actually see pieces of the detent fall out during the video when it was shot in the open position.

When we got back to the shop and out of the snap spring cold we had roll through, I took the adapter apart and was able to diagnose what happened. While a part did break on the adapter, it did and still does function correctly. Without that detent to provide that opposing pressure to the assembly, you do have to snap the stock over quickly to increase the force required to close it. To release it now, you also have to  use pressure to provide that opposing force needed before you can release the button to fold the stock.

In all though, considering how much force is moving through the bolt carrier group on it’s way to the rear after firing, it speaks well of the construction of the adapter that it was able to handle that and not damage the receiver or internal parts on the AR. While I certainly don’t claim to know the inner workings of the adapter, I question whether a stronger ball on the detent would have saved that part from breaking, or if that’s a necessary requirement.

Pros and Cons

Starting with the pros of the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter, I really love the fact that it enables you to fit your AR into tighter spaces. Whether that’s a smaller gun case, backpack, bag or storage in a vehicle. I can’t necessarily comment on the Airborne potential of this product, but I’d suspect it might have an application there as well with certain military units.

While the adapter does add about 1 3/4″ to the overall length of the AR, this is offset by not needing to extend your stock out as far to maintain a good extension and cheek weld.

The downsides of the adapter are that to field strip the AR, you have to have a flat head screwdriver to remove the receiver extension before you can open the upper receiver. I also found that the hinge of the adapter interfered with the operation of the charging handle, as my hand rubbed across the hinge when racking the charging handle. The adapter does have rounded edges, but I still found it to be in the way.

Also, while obvious, you do have to fold the stock closed before you can fire more than a single round. And if you do fire that round from the open position, you could run into the same issue I did with the detent breaking or even a different kind of damage that could only be known if someone had a chance to test a first round fire on multiple firearms and configurations. Meaning that your damage from a first round fire might be different than what I experienced.

I’d like to conclude by saying that I really do like the functionality of the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter and would still highly recommend it for its intended use. Just the ability to allow you to fit an otherwise lengthy AR into different locations is a huge plus, it will be up to you to determine if its purpose is right for you.

For more information on the Law Tactical Folding Stock Adapter and to purchase one of your own, visit them online. Also, if you have any further questions, be sure to leave them in the comments here and either I’ll do my best to answer them, or see if the guys from Law Tactical can come on and answer them for you.

First a bit of a disclaimer.

I’m no expert. This article is a follow up to the Mammoth Sniper Challenge AAR I wrote a few months back and is intended to help point people in the right direction to start the process of long range shooting, and avoid making some common mistakes along the way. Folks have asked me to provide more info on how and what I did to get ready for the challenge and how they may be able to do the same thing. While I hope the following will be helpful, I take no responsibility for what those who may read this do with the information. Now if this inspires the next International Sniper Challenge winner, I’ll take all the credit they may wish to push my way.

Research

If your goals are to truly learn the craft of long range shooting and sniping, you need to obtain the resources in which to do so. While I feel there is a great deal of useful information on forum sites such as Snipershide.com, you must always keep in mind how much BAD information is also out there. It’s challenging because the Internet doesn’t require poor information be flagged as such – wouldn’t that be nice. Always try to back up forum knowledge with factual data if possible before taking it as the gospel. There are tons of factual data related to long range shooting out there and it’s readily available.

Definition of Terms

This was specifically requested by readers of the Mammoth AAR so here is a short list.

• MOA – Minute of Angle. 1 MOA is 1/60th of 1 degree.
• MIL – A milliradian is a unit of measure derived from the degrees of a circle (in a 360 degree circle, there are 6,283.2 milliradians, or 17.45 milliradians per degree). This means that a milliradian will subtend different amounts at different ranges.
• MIL’ing a target, ranging, using the MIL-DOTS in your scope to determine the distance to your target. Search the Internet for “Understanding MOA” and you will find tons of info including many NSSF sponsored videos with Ryan Cleckner. I found his videos to be easy to follow.
• Mirage – Heat waves that rise off of warm objects. You can use this to determine wind direction and speed.
• Trace/Glint/Trail – While trace and glint are reflections from light off of the bullet itself, trail or vapor trail is the actual disturbance of the air caused by the bullet. Yes, you can see this stuff when you train your eyes.
• Splash – What flies up off of the ground from the impact of your bullet.
• Zero – Adjusting your scope to hit exactly at your point of aim. 100 yards is a common “zero” distance.
• Dope – Data on how your bullet drops at distance as well as how it moves laterally due to wind.
• Solution – Like dope, is the data on how many clicks to input on your scope turrets to hit the target. A solution can be provided by your own mathematical calculations or be provided by a ballistic computer such as a Kestrel or data app on your smart phone.
• Environmental impact beyond wind and range – Temperature, barometric pressure and other weather factors affect your bullet’s flight.
• Wind direction on the clock – 12 is directly in front of you, 6 is behind you. “6 mph from my 3” describes wind coming from exactly right to left.

Research ranging, MOA and MILS on the Internet. Leupold has a fantastic .pdf on the subject.

Buy Once Cry Once

My good friend Brian got me into long range shooting after he had attended a precision rifle school with MacMillan. Truth be known, I already owned a tremendously capable Remington Custom Shop 40X Tactical in .308 with a Leupold Mark 4 16x MIL-DOT scope but certainly had not gotten serious about learning the craft. Looking back at things now, I lucked out getting good equipment without really researching things. Brian’s rig is custom made and laid out by MacMillan based on his request for a .308 rifle and topped with a Night Force scope. He is the guy who pointed out the phrase “Buy Once Cry Once” to me and he certainly lives by it.

It’s not hard to find a good precision rifle. There are many custom manufacturers, tons of production guns that shoot well and plenty of reliable forum information on them. But you will have to spend some money. Bolt guns are much easier to get into a precision rig and will in most cases be superior as far as accuracy. I currently have a LaRue Tactical AR based gun on order and it is very accurate, but I think most people will agree that a bolt gun is even more so.

Calibers are another consideration. I have chosen at this point to stick with military calibers but there are newer and very advanced cartridges out there purposely made for competing and sniping. Keep in mind that most competitions limit the velocity your bullet can travel as well as the caliber. Choices like .260 based rounds, 243WSM and others have ballistics superior to the 5.56 and .308. Cost per round and availability of commercial ammo are factors that have kept me to the military calibers. Continuity of ammo will also be a plus once I receive my LaRue OBR in .308 as my bolt gun is also .308.

Optics are critical and in my opinion should be darn close to matching the price paid for the gun. Saving a buck on your scope is money wasted. Quality factors don’t just apply to staying zeroed in after travelling or rucking with your weapon. Having a scope that adjusts precisely and consistently is imperative for bench or field shooting. Buying a $2500 gun and putting a $500 optic on it may work well for deer hunting but it will not pay dividends at 850 yards.

I feel that if you can’t afford a Leupold Mark 4, you can’t afford at THIS TIME to finish your rig – save and wait until you can. The Mark 4 is the optic I personally use and will reference as the baseline in price and quality. You can spend a heck of a lot more but in my opinion it is a worthy topping to any gun out there; competitors and the military agree.

Getting the right accessories is also very important. While some competitions limit what accessories you can use, having all of the right stuff is critical to getting off good shots and data on your gun. A solid bipod will cost over $100, a wind meter from Kestrel will be from $200-$800 as some come with ballistic computers built in. Basically, going the “cheap” route on any component, be it rings, bases, ammo, bipod or whatever, will always hurt you in the long run. This is a game of precision and durability in the roughest of conditions.

Train with a Purpose

Similar to any activity, to make progress you have to practice with a purpose. Set goals and fire every shot for a reason. Have your pencils, papers, reference materials and your mind together and ready when you get into firing position. With today’s ammo prices, who can afford to waste rounds? To maximize your training you would need to know the basics so make sure you do plenty of research prior to sending rounds down range.

The best way to spend your time and money is to train with experts. There are quite a few reputable precision rifle courses out there from folks like MacMillan, Rifles Only and many more. We all like to obtain knowledge on our own but that’s usually the hard way. Take a course and skip the mistakes you’ll make trying to do it all on your own. Sniper’s Hide is also a great resource for finding competitions and training.

Shooting at the range is way different than in competition. On the range you may drop off a target, roll back a couple hundred yards, whip out the laser range finder and let one fly. What happens when you miss? We may range it again, look at the scope dials and wonder if we went the right or wrong way, shoot a couple more rounds, crack a Dr Pepper and snack on a pack of nabs, walk the distance off to check our range finder, on and on. Competitions are all about first round hits or being close enough to have a quick follow up shot find its mark. Stages are almost always going to be timed and it will not be an ample amount. Know your equipment before you go out to shoot and take it seriously.

There is nothing wrong with screwing around on the range, plinking and having fun, but this article is about being a pro and doing work. I was lucky enough to have Brian bring back the knowledge learned from MacMillan and pass it on to me. Like most who will read this article, I’ve shot for years but precision rifle shooting is different. Brian addressed how I get behind the rifle, how and where I rest my right and left hands, breathing, trigger control, and many other detail related items. During our first practice the smallest lapse in any of those details caused a surprising deterioration in accuracy. Think about it, any deviation at the gun is multiplied over hundreds of yards!

If you are training for a field event like the Mammoth or Rifles Only events, practice shooting in a multitude of positions. Training prone with a rear bag all of the time will not help you at such events. Practice shooting with your gun braced against a tree, leaning over a barrel, traditional sitting firing positions and even with you gun on its side. You should practice getting hits at known distances when your vertical axis goes to horizontal as in the case of having to make a shot with your rifle at 90 degrees. That’s a challenge!

Sign Up!

Practicing to become familiar with your equipment and developing a range card (1 MOA Solutions Data Book sheet shown a few photos above) is important before going to an event but nothing will completely prepare you. The amount I learned at the competition was exponentially more than what I learned on the range. Our experience revealed that people in general were very helpful sharing tips with guys who didn’t pose a threat to them winning something. Of course, just like on the Internet, there were folks that thought they knew more than they did and after hours of giving out their advice, they didn’t end up ringing any more steel than we did. Search out and take advice from the guys making hits, not necessarily the guys with the most or fanciest equipment.

Gearing up for long range shooting is neither easy nor cheap. After reading this article, hopefully you can maximize your money and time spent by not wasting much of either. I have enjoyed learning and competing in environments that demand the use of my tactical, precision and physical skills and certainly look forward to staying on a steep learning curve as long as possible. Thanks for reading and hope to see you out in the field!

Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Jason is a small business owner in Virginia specializing in Physical IT Infrastructure and Electronic Security. He splits his free time between racing cars and all things tactical. Jason is very proud to have attended the Inaugural Muster event with ITS and we’re stoked to have him as a Life Member!

If you are like me, you are always looking for a holster that feels just right. Something that is minimal yet works under every situation you throw at it. For an armed citizen, off duty officer or anyone who does not want to outsource their protection, carrying a firearm is a very real situation. A huge topic with carrying is the method and position of your firearm.

Finding your style of carry is only something that can be done via trial and error. The most common holsters are IWB (inside the waist band) and OWB (outside the waist band). IWB holsters ride between your body and your pants while OWB are on your belt and offer more comfort but are less concealable. Shoulder holsters are a little over the top to some, but in specific situations it’s better to be armed than not. The external forms of carry are not my preferred method due to the risk of not having complete control of the firearm, but as I said before, it is better to be armed than a victim.

For me, the best method is appendix carry, which is just before the 3 o’clock position. This method is a little unorthodox in the way that it brings your firearm “danger close”. Yes, the muzzle of the firearm is pointed at some important equipment regardless male or female, but to me, the pros out weigh the cons. And through trying various modes of carry, appendix was the easiest to manage.

First off, I am a smaller dude only weighing 145lbs (65.7 kg) and I stand 5′ 9″ (175.5 cm) tall. Thus I have very limited ways of concealing and I have tried a few. For a full size or mid size handgun, this method works great. It allows plenty of comfort when sitting down, but as many of you know the level of comfort is dependent to how it works specifically for you. You need to learn (as well as any other carry methods) how to sit down and angle your body as to not print or jab yourself with the firearm.

One of the biggest pros is the ease of the draw. Through various classes and scenarios, I have found that the appendix mode it is the quickest and most controlled for me. My biggest concern was drawing from concealment in a vehicle, which most forms of carry make it very hard to do so. With the appendix carry, drawing and re-holstering is manageable with one hand. Granted, with proper training this is easily achievable. As it is with any holster, you need to train a lot with it in order to become proficient in using it.

The holster I have here is the Armordillo Concealment X-Fer holster. It is in my opinion one of the best concealment options currently on the market. I do use a weapon mounted light which is also the sole reason for this holster. It is different than other holsters due to the fact it relies on the weapon light for retention. Unlike conventional holsters that capture the whole firearm and need to be custom made for each handgun, the X-Fer can be exchanged between any type of handgun that share the same weapon light.

This ease of use and ability to be attached to any of my handguns was a huge selling point for me. The complete simplicity behind this product is perfect and it works flawlessly. For a holster that only costs around 50 USD and that ships to you within the week is fantastic. They currently have X-Fer holster models for the Surefire x300/200/X300 ultra and the Streamlight TLR-1. It is completely ambidextrous with a multitude of degrees that are adjusted with a simple Philips screwdriver. If you are in the market for a new and very well made holster, consider this one.

Firearms Used

• Smith and Wesson M&P w/ Trijicon RMR, SureFire x300
  • Load – (Hornady Critical Defense .40 S&W 165gr FTX)
• Springfield Armory Operator 1911 w/ SureFire x300
  • Load – (Speer Gold Dot .45 ACP 230gr JHP)
• SIG P229r Ultra w/SureFire x300
  • Load – (CorBon DPX 9mm +P 115gr JHP)

What do you think of when you hear the words belly and band? Perhaps images of exercise straps or maternity pants waft through your mind, but what I’m actually talking about is handgun concealment.

Most of the people I’m around who have a concealed carry permit use Kydex or leather holsters when carrying, so when I began looking for ways to carry that’s naturally what I migrated towards. The three rigid holsters that I invested in over time haven’t worked that well with my wardrobe, so I thought it would be cheaper to keep looking for the right holster solution instead of buying a bunch of new clothes. Plus, I didn’t want to greatly modify the style of clothing I like to wear.

For several months, I’ve been wearing a Comfort Fit Belly Band by The Well Armed Woman instead of a waist band holster and it’s actually become my go-to concealment option. There are some definite pros and cons when it comes to wearing a belly band, but I thought it might be helpful to share my experience for anyone who might be considering one.

An Epiphany

When I first began wearing a belly band I couldn’t stand the feeling of lugging something around right up against my body. I’ve tried to reduce the size of my purse and the volume of stuff I tote around with me everyday, so the idea of tacking on something else to my daily wardrobe was initially an irritating thought.

I had an interesting conversation with Rob at the office one day that changed my perspective, however. I told him how uncomfortable wearing my gun was and that I wasn’t really diggin’ it. Rob told me directly, “Carrying is supposed to be comforting not comfortable, as they say.”

That poignant statement got my attention. It made me take a deeper look at why I originally wanted to carry and I began working harder to make concealed carry work for me. I know myself well enough to know if an accessory is irritating then I’ll stop wearing it eventually. I wanted to figure out if the belly band concealed carry option could become a favorite, or if I’d be better off with a rigid holster and altering my wardrobe.

Research

When I first started looking online for where to buy holsters designed for women I stumbled across a Website called The Well Armed Woman. There were several holster options for me to consider and this Website had written descriptions as well as video demonstrations to help educate me before buying. Other Websites offered belly bands that were designed for men or more unisex purposes. Because I was looking for a small size I wanted a belly band made exclusively for women.

I decided to try the Comfort Fit Belly Band. There were two different width options, a 4″ and a 5″ band. I decided to go for the shorter one since my torso isn’t very long. There were pockets sewn into the belly band for my pistol, as well as extra magazines. From what I saw it looked like something that might work well for me. The price was $40.99 and came in Nude or Black with sizes ranging from Small to 2XL.

This form of concealment also didn’t have to be made to fit my gun, which I liked. I carry a Sig P238, but the belly band will accommodate a wide variety of hand guns.

Putting it to Work

Wearing the belly band was definitely an adjustment. I found out very quickly that I needed to wear a tank top under the belly band in order for it to feel comfortable. It’s made of elastic that irritates my skin as I move around, but as long as I’ve got an undershirt on I’m good to go.

The magazine pockets featured on the belly band were sewn in a place that wasn’t easily accessible for me. I wear the band so that my pistol is either above my appendix area or directly centered in my torso (depending on my outfit) which puts the magazine pockets all the way around to the back of the band. If I needed to reload I wouldn’t be able to access my extra magazine easily without taking the extra time to turn the belly band 180 degrees.

After breaking in the belly band and realizing that I wanted to keep using it, I stitched one of the double layers of elastic closed that was located right beside my pistol allowing easier access to my extra magazine. If you look at the photo below, I used green thread so that you’d be able to see just where I put my stitch line. The pocket that’s supposedly designed for use as a magazine pocket will serve me better by carrying my i.d. or cash since they sit so far out of reach.

After wearing my first belly band (the nude colored band) for a few weeks, it began to stretch out. This isn’t a big deal except that I had ordered the smallest size available. I decided to fold over and stitch down one of the areas of the belly band that wasn’t used for holding anything important. This provided me with a better fit and eliminated another problem I’d been having.

Pulling the belly band snug around my torso always left top part of the Velcro closure (the loop side) hanging past the available hook. This would brush my arm through my shirt when my arm would move close against my side. It also caused the hook and loop to occasionally snag my shirts or the tank top under the belly band, which would result in my shirt bulging. Once I cinched up the circumference by folding and stitching an unused section of the elastic, the Velcro closure was able to line up and close as it was designed to. This stitch line is also seen in green in the photo below.

Lessons Learned

Since the belly band isn’t a rigid holster and definitely stretches as it’s worn, I’ve realized that I need to keep an eye on the stitching and that it doesn’t get overly stretched out. When I was modifying my first belly band (the nude colored one) to tighten it up, I saw that some of the stitching in the pistol pocket had come loose. I restitched this so that my gun would fit securely between the elastic layers and not fall out if I bent over. This is definitely something to pay attention to if you choose to wear a belly band. There will come a time, however that the elastic will become too worn out to restitch and I’ll need to invest in a new one.

The belly band offers me quite a bit of flexibility (no pun intended) when it comes to how I wear it. I can pull it down around my waist or wear it right under my bra. I’ve found that I like wearing it higher up because it’s easier to conceal my gun right under my chest.

It’s also very easy to adjust if I change clothes or need to switch activities. I don’t have to worry about adjusting the cant of the holster or adding a belt to my outfit to make this form of concealment work. I can wear the belly band when I exercise, relax and also when I go to work. It’s really quite versatile for me.

The main downside I’ve found while wearing the belly band is the body heat it generates. It’s been great for me during the winter months, but now as we move into spring and summer in Texas I’m curious to see what happens. I’m going to try wearing tube tops under my belly band instead of full tank tops and see how that works. I may have to make some undershirts by hand so that there isn’t a lot of extra fabric to hold in body heat, but I’m willing to take that extra step since the belly band has been such a great concealed carry option for me.

Is the Belly Band for You?

Women who are looking for a concealment option that can be easily worn, easily adjusted, affordable and can be modified at home, may find the Comfort Fit Belly Band the right holster to buy. In my opinion, finding light weight, comfortable undershirts will help the belly band be more comfortable to wear. Also remember to inspect the stitch lines from time to time just to make sure the holster isn’t losing its grip.

Let us know what you think of the belly band if you’re already wearing it or if you decide to give it a try!

Please note the Comfort Fit Belly Bands I’ve worn were not provided for review by TheWellArmedWoman.com. I purchased both holsters and am reviewing them without input from the retailer.