Legendary Whitetails Men's Concealed Carry CCW Vest with Two Holsters Water-Repellent Canvas Insulated

I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my husband so he can carry his 1911 without having to hip holster under a bunch of layers in the winter. I was a little worried about quality and whether the built in holster was big enough for his 1911 after reading reviews, but it is perfect! The material is very thick and all seems are well stitched. The holster is adjustable and the 1911 fits like a glove. You absolutely cannot tell he is carrying when looking at him. My husband is 6'5" 250 and the XL-T fits him perfectly. It's a relaxed fit, and the perfect length. The zipper is thick and seems heavy-duty so I could see that being a problem if it malfunctions, but it goes up and down easily and smoothly for now. This is a great option for anyone looking for an additional way to carry in the winter. It is thick and warm. Once it get to be 40°F+, this vest may be too warm.

First off, there's some older reviews here and on the Legendary Whitetails site that complain about crackly plastic linings of the velcro that makes a lot of noise. This is true of the older design, but the newer design has fixed this design flaw and it as quiet as any jacket. Unless you get a random clearance version of this you should get the new design. Initially somehow I got sent a 5x instead of a 3xlt, and it was absolutely cavernous. You could have fit me and another person inside and zipped it up. I returned it and purchased it again from another site and the 3x it fit me well (I'm a big guy). The Legendary Whitetails clothing is generously sized, especially in the shoulders where a lot of companies skimp. I've bought 5x gear from other companies (*cough*Columbia*cough*) where a 5x would feel like it was going to rip open when I put my arms out in front of me while the front bagged out. I own several Legendary Whitetails clothing items and a 3x is a 3x. I do sometimes step up to a 4xlt when I want something comfortable like one of their insulated flannel shirt jackets (another product I love), but considering how big the 5x was that I was sent in error I don't think going up a size is a good plan for this vest. I don't like the built in mag holders, they're too obvious in my opinion if you carry with it unbuttoned or unzipped. They probably would work well for a small flashlight, a folding knife, etc though. I bought a velcro backed dual mag holder and used that instead. That's the beauty of this innovative design, anything that is backed with the hook side of velcro (like many plate carrier accessories) will stick inside this vest anywhere there's velcro backing. I found the Savior Equipment Tactical Double Pistol open top mag holder to work well for double stack mags. If you prefer retention with a velcro flap those are available too. Just make sure it's backed with the hook side of velcro and you're good to go. Want to carry 10 spare mags? I'm sure you could fit enough velcro mag holders in this to do it. The holsters it comes with are universal soft holsters, and in my opinion not really safe for carrying with a round in the chamber if you don't have a thumb or grip safety, which most carry pistols these days don't have. Not having solid trigger protection made me nervous, so I fixed this by taking an inexpensive Kydex IWB holster (plenty in the $20 range or less on Amazon) and taking the clip off, then using adhesive backed velcro to secure it inside the holster the vest comes with. This way you can swap the Kydex insert if you get another gun or want to carry a different one. I used Strenco brand 4" wide hook and loop velcro and cut it to fit before peeling the adhesive off, soft side in the holster the vest comes with and hook side on the kydex. After doing this the kydex is not coming out without concerted effort. I'm pretty sure you'd peel the entire holster off the vest before the kydex would come out by yanking on it. You may need to train to hold the hem of the vest with your non-draw hand while drawing, depending on how tight you set the kydex holster retention and where you position the holster. Make sure you set the retention before inserting the kydex into the soft holster. You can set the kydex loose and use the snap closures the soft holsters come with for retention (this may only work for smaller pistols due to length), or remove the snap closures completely; they're just velcro retained. Most IWB kydex holsters come with a sweat guard, this can go towards your body or away from it. I'm left handed so I carry in this vest with it on my right side, but the Kydex holster I got was a cheap right handed one so the sweat guard is out when carried on my right side. If you want the sweat guard toward your body, buy the same handed holster as you'd use if you were carrying IWB. If you want it out, buy the opposite hand. I also own their concealed carry soft shell jacket, this method also works for it as the holsters it comes with are identical. I suspect it would work for any of the LW CCW apparel that have the velcro interior. I tried it with both subcompact and compact kydex holsters. Full size may fit with a little extra stretch but I didn't try it. I tend to carry with the holster as far back as possible and slightly down from the arm hole with a slight forward cant. This keeps it concealed even when the vest is unzipped/unbuttoned unless you do some major bending over or stretching. Another benefit of this design is you can carry it any way you want as long as there's velcro in the vest location where you want to carry it. I've not washed mine yet though I saw some reviews where the stitching didn't hold up well to repeated washings. I'd probably opt to dry clean to be safe. Note that the black color vest is a magnet for my (very orange) cat's hair. If you have pets with light colored hair go for the "Twig" color not black unless you want to use a lint roller a lot. I own both (yes I'm that big of a fan) and prefer the Twig as it doesn't show pet hair as much. I don't own the camo color so I can't speak to it. Legendary Whitetails pricing varies a lot depending on day of the week, what sales are going on, what colors are popular or not, etc. I'd suggest watching what you want for a while and not being too picky on color selection. Sometimes you'll get a real bargain if you're patient. Overall this is my favorite way to carry in cool weather. The vest is cool enough for me to carry using it through late spring up here in the Frozen North if I wear just a t-shirt under it. If you want a single layer solution with a hood the softshell jacket works well in the Spring and Fall but is too thin for winter wear. This vest with the Legendary Whitetails Outdoorsman Jacket (the one with the wool exterior and the Sherpa interior) is a really warm combo with this vest and a decent hat in the winter.

Little more insulation than I like. But has room for a heavy sweatshirt for cold weather wear in place of a coat. The extra quilting eliminates imprinting. Retention and choice of holster location are Outstanding. Another Great carry option for cooler days. Great value and quality. Will fallow up after more usage.

I thought everyone else leaving reviews was being overdramatic about the crinkling but no, it's very much a real issue. Inside the vest are two parallel Velcro pads between the breast and underarms where the holsters are mounted. This velcro pad has an interior lining (likely for rigidity so the vest wont deform when you have to draw) made of plastic. This plastic lining is thick and prominent, and sounds like a crinkling plastic water bottle any time you shift that region of the vest. It's very noisy when you're just trying it on at home, doing dry fire presentation practice, or otherwise are alone in the car. But, honestly, when also compared to the ambient sounds of outside (animal sounds in nature, cars in town, refrigeration units at the grocery store, etc) it's really not that noticeable. Also, during normal use, that part of the vest doesn't actually get flexed or shifted that often so it doesn't actually make the crinkling sound very often. I'm also sure that with regular wear over time the plastic will wear and soften and be less prominent. As for the vest itself, it's a comfortable fit, the magazine pouches near the bottom flaps help keep weight even. My EDC is 27oz unloaded with 12 rounds of 40 and the vest does not sag or deform at all from the weight. The outside pockets have a single snap button and are easily deep enough to conceal carry and retain by themselves if you prefer to not use the interior holsters. The magazine pouches are fixed and non adjustable. Overall happy with the vest, would prefer if they used a different material like rigid leather for the velcro pads. May modify it myself later if the plastic noise becomes unbearable.

I absolutely love this conceal carry vest. The quality is top notch. The holsters are strongly velcroed in place so they can be adjusted to your liking. The fit is spot on and the price is right. This vest is comparable to other major brands such as Carhart in quality and durability.

I can't express how pleased I am with this vest. I read most of the reviews and they honestly don't describe just how good this vest it. I was worried about measurements and what I ordered. I ordered a 4x and it fits perfect per measurements. The quality is wonderful; the looks are great as well. I didn't realize the holsters could be relocated within the vest so worries I had about how it would hang etc. disappeared. The holster has Velcro in the straps with snaps on them so you can adjust them to fit any gun and hold it tight. The zipper front combined with snaps just adds to the quality. I looked at all of them on net, I believe I choose the best. This vest would be hard to beat.