Ankle Holsters (Updated With Comments After Delivery)

Summer has arrived, and there are times that being discreetly armed is a very good thing.  My Colt Mustang is so small that it is simply a pocket pistol.  (Hammer down, of course: you never want to risk the safety clicking off and something getting inside the trigger.)  But my Firestar 9mm is just barely too big to slip into a pocket alongside my wallet, and in the back pockets, it both sticks out the top, and prints.  Yet it is small enough that in an ankle holster, it would be invisible.  (Well, I suppose if you insist on wearing leggings or other spandex pants, it would be a problem.  I don't expect to ever do that; the fashion police would arrest me and throw away the key.)

I have been looking at ankle holsters.  These are obviously not anywhere as fast of a draw as a something at waist level, but realistically, most civilian defensive uses of firearms in a relatively peaceful place like Idaho will give you enough warning to either leave the area, or prepare yourself to look ridiculous while reaching for the ankle holster.  (I can see it now, a new Olympic gymnastic sport: drawing your ankle gun without bending over.)

This ankle holster was both incredibly cheap and highly rated--at least in part because it was so cheap: $6.75 if you have Amazon Prime.  This holster seems a bit more upscale, and designed to handle small to medium-frame autos, and still bargain priced at $21.09 with Amazon Prime.  My guess is that it might handle the Firestar. There are a number of brand name ankle holsters out there, and if you will be carrying a gun that way all day, every day (as many police officers do, and residents of barbarous, savage places like California must), and under those circumstances, it might make sense to spend the extra money.

Any experience with ankle holsters, good and bad?

UPDATE: The Galco Ankle Glove is expensive, but reading the reviews gives you the distinct impression that it is worth every penny.  Unfortunately, because the holster side is specific to particular guns, and Firestars are now orphans...

UPDATE 2: I ordered the $6.75 one and the $21.09 one.  The cheapest one is so cheap that if it really is useless, I can feel comfortable either throwing it away or returning it.  If the $21.09 one doesn't work for the Firestar it will still work for the Colt Mustang, or the PX-22, or even my wife's Colt Government Model .380, and there are times that having that option is worthwhile.

UPDATE 3: Oh yeah, count on product reviews coming out of this.

UPDATE 4: Short take: the $6.75 holster actually works well for very light pistols.  I have a 15.8 ounces (loaded) American Arms PX-22 (an American licensed copy of the PPK) in it on my left ankle right now.   I would not go any heavier with this holster.  The Velcro fastener seems sufficient to keep this pistol from moving down my leg, but I would not want to run any great distance with it on.  I am sure that it would stay on ankle, but it would move down.  If the pistol has more than about a 2.5" barrel, it will stick out the bottom of the "holster" part, which is just a piece of nylon.  If your socks are black, and your pistol is black, or you have a high top shoe, no problem.  If you use this with a dress shoe or most running shoes, contrast may expose your hidden gun.  (Wear black socks.)

It was not sufficient for a Colt Mustang .380 (loaded weight 21.2 ounces), which kept pulling it down my ankle.  Again, no danger of it falling out -- it just might be hard to keep it concealed.

The Firestar (which weighs a heck of a lot more): don't even think about it.  But as long as you aren't walking, the "holster" actually concealed it pretty well. Nothing short of a patdown would have discovered it.  More about why below.

The Velcro strap seems like it was designed to fit someone with enormous calves, so you will want to trim the excess.  For those of you with calves big enough to hide a Colt Government Model in this thing, this may be an advantage, and the extra weight may actually not be a problem for you.

The Outbags (the $21.09 one above) is another matter.  This secures the Colt Mustang just fine.  I think I could even run some distance without too much worry of motion--it has a superior Velcro restraining system.  The only downside is that where the cheap one really did not have a holster in any conventional sense, and so a gun could be fit just at just about any angle (so that a Firestar could be concealed in it), this has a real genuine nylon holster.  It more securely holds the gun (especially when you put the restraining strap over the back of the gun), and you barely notice it when walking.  On the downside, a real holster means a bit more of a bulge when a gun is in it; someone looking very carefully might notice that one ankle is a bit wider than the other.

The downside is that a gun with a longer grip, like the Firestar, just isn't concealable, and you can't tilt the holster so as to hide it.  But it gives me ideas...

UPDATE 5: I spent pretty much the whole evening running errands and doing astrophotography with the PX-22 on my left ankle and the Mustang on my right ankle.  By the end of the evening, I was having to verify that the Mustang was still there!  I could not feel it at all.  The PX-22, because of the cheap holster, reminded me of its presence, but it wasn't uncomfortable.  The cheap holster qualifies as very cost effective (although made in China); the Outbags holster qualifies as a decent holster, regardless of price, and it is made in the United States.