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Old April 19, 2002, 08:47 AM   #1
Eric Larsen
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Pager Pal questions...

I have had a Pager Pal for a while. Its a large, for use with my CZ's and 3953. The problem is when I where it, its very uncomfortable and frankly, I wonder if the women/people who see me from the side...wonder what the hell ? Does he have sox stuffed in his pants? Or is he just that "GLAD" to see me? Sitting is not an option...I am a smaller guy and these are larger guns for this type of carry. What are your
comments on this type of concealment rig?
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Old April 19, 2002, 09:06 AM   #2
Onslaught
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I ordered the medium Pager Pal for my Kel-Tec P32. I had changed bluejean styles already a few years ago to make room for IWB CCW, so that shouldn't have been an issue. But even with that small little package, when I sat down....

To make a long story short, I took advantage of Pager Pal's money back guarantee.
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Old April 19, 2002, 09:45 AM   #3
Carry24x7
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Sorry About Your Small Little Package...

Sorry, couldn't resist!!

Lose the Pager Pal. Forget that its silly, forget that it doesn't look good or work well.

There is EXACTLY one Pager Pal in the world. Once you spot one you've spotted them all. Get it?
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Old April 19, 2002, 01:19 PM   #4
johnwill
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I bought a Pager Pal a few years back, and IMO they suck! I could never get comfortable with it. At the time, it so happened the guy that sells Smart Carry was just starting his business, and he traded me the Pager Pal for one of his rigs, because he wanted representative samples of the competition. That was the best trade I ever made, and I went on to buy a couple more of his rigs for different sized pistols.

Friends don't let friends buy a Pager Pal!
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Old April 19, 2002, 03:50 PM   #5
blades67
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A Pager Pal is comfortable if you wear your pants like a 70 year old, up around your ribs!
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Old April 19, 2002, 04:20 PM   #6
Erich
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I sold the Pager Pal that I bought to use with my Glock 33 - too many odd looks from the gals (and some fellas). Don't want to mislead anyone!
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Old April 19, 2002, 07:20 PM   #7
Dave R
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Sounds like a good idea in theory, that turned out bad in real life. Anyone know anyone who likes using it?

I know some satisfied ThunderWare/SmartCarry users. I use pocket carry for the P-32, and IWB for anything else.
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Old April 20, 2002, 10:00 AM   #8
Dwight M S
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I always wear a hip bag for my wallet, keys, etc. If I started carrying my pistol in it, no one would know the difference. I regard the occasional look as a good thing, as I figure a bad guy in doubt would pass me by as a victim. And I've never been searched by a policeman.
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Old April 20, 2002, 11:33 AM   #9
coz
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I'm still working through Holster wars.

Uncle Mike's ankle works fine, but you cannot draw fast..it's comfy, and if you wear relatively baggy legged pants, it's great. I usually wear it all day, though I remove my weapon when I go into the office.

PAGER PAL? No way, I had a guy at a gun show push me into trying the damn thing. It HURT! No way. And it takes two hands.

Just breakdown and get a Royal Guard from Galco. I bought an NSAII from Galco. It works, but the belt hook is behind the weapon, so I'll be ordering a Royal Guard for IWB.

Now the p11 or p32 with a belt clip works fine, but it is metal to skin.......your choice.
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Old April 20, 2002, 11:33 AM   #10
Redlg155
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I used to call mine the "Pain Pal.

As soon as I purchased it I attempted to swap the fake pager for a pocketknife case and slit my finger open in the process on the metal clip. So here I am bleeding like a stuck pig at a dealers table in the middle of the Tulsa Gun Show. I should have taken that as a bad omen.

I chose to carry a G27 with the holster. Try carrying a bar of Irish Spring deoderant soap in your pants that squeaks when you sit down. Needless to say I got rid of that thing.

Good Shooting
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Old April 20, 2002, 07:05 PM   #11
Greybeard
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A Pager Pal resides in my big blue box of misc. CHL class training aids. Like others have said, it usually does not take long for most people to recognize some major problems - after they have been relieved of $50+. So ... mine is generally used (with a little flat .380) primarily as another example of what is out there, but "buyer beware".

Out of dozens of people I've spoken with regarding "real world" carry experience with Pager Pals, only two have been satisfied. One is a female with, shall we say, a well-padded abdomen.

The other is 40-something tall male of medium build who claims to religiously use a Pager Pal to carry a Kahr .40 (in Condition 1) on a daily delivery route. I swear y'all, that I did do my best during his initial CHL training and recent renewal class to emphasize NRA's Rule #1. Maybe the next time that I see him, I'll first ask about his sex life, then transition to Rule #1 in Jeff Cooper's terms: "Never point the muzzle at anything that you would not be willing to destroy." To each his own ...
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Old April 21, 2002, 07:00 AM   #12
Eric Larsen
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A Kahr K40 in Condition 1? .....Condition 2 maybe? I tried my K40 and ggggoooooddddd luck. It hurts just as bad as my larger guns. If I could, I would trade mine for a smart carry in seconds. I have many types of IWB holsters for all of my guns...I just thought I would try this out....I tried it!
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Old April 21, 2002, 07:44 PM   #13
Greybeard
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Eric - Yea, probably right on "Condition 2" since no external safety on Kahr. In any event, he does carry with round in chamber.

I got "lucky" I guess in finding and buying a "safety block" (widget that fits behind trigger) years ago for my K-9. Was at gun show recently trying to help a friend locate one for and was told the company is no longer making 'em for Kahrs. I'm just guessing they have all the business they want with Glocks ,,,
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Old April 23, 2002, 11:51 AM   #14
Dr. J
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Add one more to those who like it. I wear a PagerPal every day with a Kahr MK9 (and have for 2 years). It's comfortable and accessable and disappears under loose-fitting jeans. Mine has a functional cell-phone instead of the fake pager, so nobody notices. Even those who should be able to spot it haven't.

I can see that a larger gun might present problems, particularly in sitting, but for the small, flat MK9, it works perfectly. And presentation is a bit faster than with a SmartCarry

As for the guy with it pointed at his ummm... package, doesn't he look a little silly with a pager in the middle of his waist? I can't see that the muzzle covers anything that a standard cross-draw IWB doesn't.
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Old April 23, 2002, 05:48 PM   #15
jes1994
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I personally do not like them.

In my experience, they only work with lighter weapons; my Kahr MK9 is the lightest handgun I own and the only one light enough to use with the Pagerpal. For me, a pocket holster has handled every instance where I would have otherwise used the pagerpal, and for the times I can think of that it would not work, I have a fanny pack.

I bought one at a gun show based on a demo from the guy whose picture is on the site. When he goes through his routine, he uses a balsa model of a handgun. This lightweight model does not give a good representation of how the holster reacts when using a real gun. If you see a demonstration of the holster, make sure the person doing the demo shows how it works with a real weapon, ideally with a loaded magazine and empty chamber.

When I have tested with either my G30 or 1911, the weight of the gun pushes the barrel away from my body, ending up with a 'happy to see you' appearance.
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Old January 30, 2005, 11:45 AM   #16
9mmsnoopy
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IMO the pagerpal is a pile of steaming dog crap. the salesman at the gunshow did a really nice sales pitch on me and convinced me to buy one, he made it look so easy and fast to get a draw from it. once i got home with it, i found it to be not at all comfortable, i looked like i had something hiding in my pants, and as for the draw? forget it, i could have had 10 holes in me by the time i got that thing out. i did find a sucker eeerrr i mean a guy to take it off my hands via ebay, and i only lost a couple of bucks.
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Old January 30, 2005, 02:15 PM   #17
txinvestigator
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I have tried several. I hate them
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Old January 30, 2005, 11:02 PM   #18
mikikanazawa
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I bought a Pager Pal for my Kahr K9 (when I was new to shooting) because I felt sorry for the guy selling them at the gun show.

Tried using it; it was super-clumsy to draw from. After a "close encounter," I said to myself screw it, I'm getting a strong-side belt holster. FBI type. Bought a Galco and never looked back.
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Old February 14, 2005, 05:16 PM   #19
froader
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For my first post here ...

I'm actually a huge fan of the pager pal -- now that I've slightly modified it. But right out of the bag ... I've got to admit it didn't work well for me.

My carry weapon is a Taurus 605 (5 shot stubby). I'd been reading a number of positive opinions about the P Pal and decided to buy one. My first time practicing with it (unloaded, of course) I looked like a scene from a slapstick comedy movie. It took me about 3 minutes to get my pistol successfully extracted from the leather holster. My only hope would be that my attacker would laugh himself into a coma while I tried to draw my weapon. All leather holsters need some break in time, but this was ridiculous.

The first thing I realized was that the "one size fits all" (never a good thing) holster gripped my gun firmly, but there was way too much of it. So I took a razor blade and sliced it down so that it still covered the hammer, trigger and most of the cylinder but there wasn't so much extra. I also had trouble getting my hand around the grip because of the leather "shield" that keeps it from printing. Again, a little use of the razor to cut it right down to the stitching followed by some black magic marker to cover it up and you can't even tell the holster has been modified.

That made it easier to draw, but the plastic tab on the back of the fake pager still dug in to me when I sat down. A dremel tool took care of that. I can now carry all day very comfortably, though it would have been nice if it had come that way.

I have tried it with my S&W 5906, but while it was comfortable it was way too big of a bulge.

As to the comment about everybody knows what it looks like ... yes and no. Some LEO's may know, which doesn't bother me, but BG's don't spend a lot of time perusing websites about concealed carry. Besides, there are still plenty of people carrying pagers, so just carrying a pager isn't going to set off any alarm bells.

For myself ... I spent the extra $20 and got the leather phone carrier option. this turned out to be the best investment of all, because it's the best phone carrier I've ever had and NEVER pops off my belt while running through airports. I only Carry occasionally, but I use the phone carrier always. On the weekends I leave the holster attached to it so that I can just drop the gun in and go if I'm headed out for the day.

My .02 -- YMMV -- but I have a BUNCH of different concealable holsters and the P Pal is the only one that I ever use unless I'm out hiking or something.
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