J Frame Holster

Quick, Concealable, Secure, and Comfortable J Frame Holsters.

What should your Concealed Carry Holster Do?

As Jeff Cooper says “Remember the first rule of gunfighting… have a gun.” With the right SW J Frame holster you can have the gun when you need it.

Whether you’re an experienced shooter, or new to guns, finding the right J Frame holster can be challenging.

There’s a lot to consider when searching for your J Frame holster. How do you plan to carry your Smith & Wesson J Frame? Do you plan to carry it inside the waistband, outside the waistband, or in a pocket?

Finding the right carry position is very important.

While some carry positions may sound great in theory, in reality they’re not nearly as good.

Pocket carry works very well for a revolver, because a hammerless revolver is very unlikely to snag when drawing it out the pocket. That said, pocket carrier requires you to have extreme situational awareness and have your hand on the gun when the threat presents itself.

Otherwise, it’s very unlikely you’ll have time to get your hand into a pocket and use the gun properly.

The good news is, J Frame IWB holsters are exceptionally comfort to carry when they are designed correctly.

J Frame IWB Holster

There are a couple of critical features you’ll want to look for on your J Frame IWB holster.

The last thing you want is your J Frame holster to be digging and prodding into your body when you’re carrying it.

This is a real concern for an IWB revolver holster.

If you just take the natural shape of the revolver, you’re going to have a very sharp edge on the front of the cylinder.

This hard edge can dig into you, making the holster extremely uncomfortable. We defeatured the mold on our J Frame IWB revolver holsters, so that front edge becomes a nice, smooth, rounded curve.

This smooth curvature of the holster makes an exceptionally comfortable to carry.

Another great feature on our J Frame IWB holster is the clip.

Clip

Our J Frame IWB Icon holster uses a Discreet Carry Concepts Monoblock.

The Discreet Carry Concepts Monoblock is a thin spring seal clip that sits very closely to the holster itself. It’s mounted right beside the cylinder, over the trigger guard area. This keeps the holster extremely low profile.

Another thing about this clip is it’s extremely secure.

Unlike most other holster manufacturers, we mount the clip right beside the cylinder. Other holster manufacturers mount the clip on top of the cylinder. This makes the clip very insecure, as well as adds additional width and bulk to your J Frame IWB holster.

Adjustable Ride Height

Our holster also features adjustable ride height. This means you can adjust how high the grip sits above your belt line. The lower the grip goes, or the closer it gets to the belt line, the more concealable your holster will become.

The higher it goes, the easier it will be to draw the gun quickly.

You’ll have to determine what level of concealment and ride height is best for you. The good news is, with a small grip the J Frames are extremely concealable guns, and it will likely work fine with a higher ride height.

That said, if you have a little bit of belly, it’ll probably be slightly more comfortable to lower the holster.

J Frame Kydex Holster

J Frame Kydex holsters can be extremely uncomfortable if they are not designed correctly. They will poke and prod you in all the wrong areas.

We round every surface possible on our J Frame Kydex holsters.

By rounding these surfaces, we make an extremely comfortable holster, that’s also very minimalist. In fact, it’s much more comfort than your typical leather IWB holster.

While leather, as a material is softer, it is also much bulkier than Kydex.

The stitch lines require the holster to also have more material that can sit against your thigh if you’re carrying your J Frame holster AIWB.

J Frame Kydex holsters also won’t collapse when you pull your gun out of the holster. This makes re-holstering much easier and means you don’t need to take your holster off your belt to re-holster safely.

Laser Grips

One downside of the way we design our Icon 2.0 J Frame holster is, it is not compatible with laser grips.

It will work with a wide variety of other grips though, that we have listed on our website.

There may be slight rubbing on some of these grips due to manufacturing tolerances. That said, the holster will still work and retain the gun properly. Please take this into account when using your holsters for J Frame Smith and Wesson.

Icon 2.0

The “Icon” holster is named to honor the iconic gun that it carries.  The revolver.

The Smith and Wesson J-Frame revolver is an American classic that can still hold its own in the crowded market of great concealed carry options.

Great for low-profile situations, a revolver needs a comfortable, easy-to-use holster, and conceals with a wide variety of clothing options.

Great for all types of clothing(workout, casual, and workwear), the versatile Discreet Carry Concepts Monoblock clip on the Icon allows you to carry your j frame iwb holster with and without a belt.  

We worked closely with Discreet Carry Concepts to optimize the clamping pressure for this application.

The placement of the Mod W makes this holster extremely low profile and minimalist.

This holster is ambidextrous, with mounting options on both sides of the holster.  A Smith and Wesson J Frame revolver holster that could be used as either a backup gun (BUG) or a primary gives you the option of deciding what hand you’ll want to draw with.

If you’re using your revolver holster as a backup to carry your backup gun, the ambidextrous nature gives you many options of where to carry the gun.  The Icon revolver holster is perfect if you set your carry gear up for a New York Reload.

A New York reload is when you drop your primary handgun and draw the 2nd gun instead of reloading your primary.

With the cant adjustable ambidextrous clip, the Icon Smith and Wesson J Frame revolver holster works equally well for AIWB carry or carrying at 4 or 8 o’clock.

3-4 o’clock and 9-8 o’clock carry work really well for carrying the revolver when jogging or working out.  You naturally have more tension in your waistband at those positions, supporting the gun well.

If you need more support for the weight of the revolver and holster when wearing workout clothing, I would suggest wearing compression shorts under your regular workout shorts or pants.

AIWB doesn’t work as well for this application if you do lots of explosive movements or even just jogging. This is due to the lack of natural tension in your waistband.

It’s much better to carry the revolver holster closer to the hips, where things hug tighter around your holsters for J Frame Smith and Wesson.

J Frame Appendix Holster

Carrying your Smith and Wesson J Frame AIWB was previously a problem because J Frame Appendix Holsters were bulky and awkward.

The Icon has rounded edges and a contour that fits perfectly in the natural pocket of the inner thigh. Adding a Foam Wedge to the Icon will make your J frame holster more concealable as it helps tip the muzzle out from the body.

A foam wedge isn’t as necessary on an IWB revolver holster as most of the weight is in the cylinder that sits below the beltline. But the foam wedge may help with concealment.

Placing the Discreet Carry Concepts clip beside the J frame cylinder keeps the holster’s profile extremely minimal. The clip is also canted, thus canting the revolver holster towards your body and pressing the revolver’s grip closer to your body.

Models

There are tons of different models of J Frames, and unfortunately, a lot of them vary in size slightly.

S&W 38 Special Holster

A common question we get is, will your holsters fit my Smith & Wesson 38 Special revolver? Unfortunately, there’s no way to make a Smith & Wesson 38 Special holster.

That’s because there’s so many different models of Smith & Wesson 38 Specials.

You may not even have a J Frame. It might be a K or an L Frame that is sized to look like a J Frame. One way you can tell this is if your gun holds five or six rounds. If the gun holds six rounds of 38 special, it’s definitely not a Smith & Wesson J Frame.

The Smith & Wesson J Frame series are made in multiple different materials.

You have classic steel guns, like the Smith & Wesson Model 36. Then you have the aluminum AirWeight versions, like the Smith & Wesson 642 and the 637 series.

The Smith & Wesson 442 also falls under this classification. You also have all stainless steel guns, like the Smith & Wesson 60 series and the Smith & Wesson 640 series.

Last but not least, you have the scandium guns.

The scandium guns cover the Smith & Wesson Model 360, 340, and 351C. Unless a holster is designed properly, it will not fit all these different Smith & Wesson J Frame models.

We have spent a lot of time and money to ensure that your Smith & Wesson J Frame holster will fit most of these models. The Scandium series guns are the largest dimensionally. The aluminum series guns are the smallest dimensionally.

The stainless steel and steel models fit somewhere in the middle. When shopping for holsters for J Frame Smith and Wesson be sure to remember this.

SW Model 60 Holster

If you’re looking for a Smith & Wesson Model 60 holster, then you have found it with the Harry’s Holster’s Icon. Our Icon holster is a perfect choice for your Smith & Wesson Model 60.

This gun fits optimally.

We also have adjustable retention, so you can adjust your Smith & Wesson Model 60 holster to fit your exact gun and your retention preferences.

Holster for SW 642

Look no further if you’re looking for a holster for your Smith & Wesson 642. Despite being the smallest of the Smith & Wesson J Frames, the Smith & Wesson 642 will still fit our Harry’s Holster’s Icon.

There might be just the slightest bit of movement with your holsters for J Frame Smith and Wesson.

That said, once it’s inside your waistband, you’ll never know it. This is not a holster and gun combo that’ll rattle around when you’re carrying it. If you pull it out and shake it, you might be able to get the slightest bit of rattle.

But if you’re running around all day long with it inside your waistband, you’ll never hear a thing. We make a great holster for your Smith & Wesson 642. The only difference between the 642 and the 442 is the finish to it also makes a great S&W 442 Holster.

SW Model 36 Holster

The SW Model 36 is an old classic J Frame. It’s the J Frame that most people have when they’ve inherited a J Frame from a grandparent or a loved one.

If you want to carry this gun to remind you of that person, our Icon 2.0 is a great choice for a SW Model 36 holster. If the gun is in mint condition, we do not suggest carrying it in any holster.

But if the gun has some love and wear, then it’s a great holster to carry your Smith & Wesson Model 36 in.

SW 442 Holster

The SW 442 is the same exact gun as the Smith & Wesson 642. The only difference is the color. Our Icon 2.0 is a great Smith & Wesson 442 holster that’ll fit your needs just fine.

SW 637 Holster

The SW 637 is dimensionally identical to the SW 442 and SW 642, as far as holster fit. So, our Icon again makes a great option for SW 637 holster.