Has anyone made a sharkgun yet? What better to protect yourself after a sharknado? Saying that, loading could be a bit tricky. Disappointingly, SharkGunleather’s products at amazon.com aren’t made of shark skin. And they ain’t cheap. The Bed Mattress Gun Holster with Flashlight Loop ran me $24.97 plus S&H. Which is a lot of money for something made of industrial grade nylon, a section of sewn-in cardboard and a strip of molded leather that’s stiffer than Bruce Venture. Still, what price home defense, eh? And it IS a damn good idea, if more than slightly controversial . . .
I’ve said it here many times: a gun belongs on your hip or in a safe. If you ascribe to that philosophy, a small bedside safe is the way to go. You get a modicum of storage security, easy access and fairly easy extraction. By the same token, a mattress holster is an inherently bad idea. Even if the holster’s covered by bed clothes, even if you maintain operational security, a bad guy, child or other unauthorized person could get a hold of your gun with tragic consequences.
So why is TTAG reviewing SharkGunleather’s Bed Mattress Gun Holster? Because there are legions of gun owners who want immediate, unfettered access to their firearm at night. They stash their gat on the night table or in a nightstand drawer – regardless of what a gunblogger has to say on the subject. For these people, it’s important not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. For them, the mattress holster makes perfect – I mean, good sense.
If you put your home defense handgun on a tabletop, you’d be amazed how easy it is to lose purchase on your gun. Especially when adrenalin has turned your hands into flippers, your eyes are adjusting to light, your significant other is freaking out and your brain is emerging from the sleep state. The gun can slip right off the table. That’s not good when speed of firearm acquisition and trigger and muzzle discipline are a matter of life and death.
Digging into a drawer can create similar problems. The Bed Mattress Gun Holster eliminates these issues. Your gun and flashlight sit alone and apart by the side of your mattress. There’s no book, clock, knife, drink, flashlight, watch, wallet, etc. to interfere with your draw. Sure, you might fumble around in the sheets a bit (pre-ballistically speaking) trying to get your gun. But a well-positioned Mattress Holster falls immediately to hand. Done.
That said, I’ve got the same beef with the Mattress Holster that I have with Inside-the-Waistband holsters: I can’t get a good grip when I draw my GLOCK 19 or Wilson Combat 1911. My thumb doesn’t fit between the holster and the bed. I have to readjust my grip after I extract my firearm. As the rabbi says, your first grip should be your best grip; the chances of successfully changing your grip (to maximize accuracy) in the heat of battle are low.
There is an answer, though: a big revolver. Nestled in the Mattress Holster, my Smith & Wesson 686’s Hogue-happy handle stands proud of the bedside, allowing a full grip from the get-go. Thank you Master Cylinder. [See: pic below] Of course SharkGunleather could make a holster where a semi stands proud of the mattress’ edge. But it would involve more labor and cost and how many buyers would care about [what they no doubt perceive to be] a meaningless niggle?
Besides, that kind of semi-friendly holster would make the gun “print” when the bed was made. Yes, well, why would that be a problem if you’re only using the Mattress Holster at night? If you’re using it during the day, when you’re not in your bedroom, you’re leaving a firearm unsecured. That’s illegal in several states and inadvisable in all of them. Just sayin’.
In terms of utility, the SharkGunleather Mattress Holster has horizontal strips to prevent it slipping off the bed. They work, even securing the not-what-I’d-call-sylph-like Wilson or Smith during vigorous bedmaking and other bed-related activities. There are eyelets at the top of the holster for, I presume, tying it down. The elasticated tactical flashlight holder is a welcome addition. It’s best to store the light lense-side down, as in the picture above, and give it a good yank when removing.
Taken as a whole, the Bed Mattress Holster is a damn fine idea. The materials may seem cheap but they’re tough enough and the stitching is plenty durable. The Bed Mattress Holster comes with a lifetime warranty. So if you’re not going to do the right thing and store your bedside gun in a finger safe, then at least do the wrong thing right and buy one of these. And for me, please, only use it at night. Now, where are you going to store your ear protection?
Product: SharkGunleather Bed Mattress Gun Holster with Flashlight Loop
Price: $24.97 [via amazon.com]
Ratings (out of five):
Style * * *
A good design without any panache. Do you want panache? I like panache.
Ergonomics * * * *
Extracting the handgun and light is easy enough, but it’s impossible to get a perfect grip if you’re holstering a semi-automatic pistol.
Reliability * * * * *
Hasn’t failed yet.
Overall Rating * * * * *
A great idea, well executed, for people who don’t agree that a gun belongs either on your hip or in your safe.
Seriously I will be getting one of these. Seriously I have been sleeping with a pistol under my pillow for decades. No more living, I mean sleeping, on the edge.
Thank you for reminding me I need one of these.
“If you put your home defense handgun on a tabletop, you’d be amazed how easy it is to lose purchase on your gun. Especially when adrenalin has turned your hands into flippers, your eyes are adjusting to light, your significant other is freaking out and your brain is emerging from the sleep state. The gun can slip right off the table.”
“Digging into a drawer can create similar problems. ”
But yet you can get it out of a bedside safe?
I have the same comment about a safe. Can also be applied to those people who think you’ve got time to open a safe but no time to throw on electronic ear-pro.
I don’t see this as unsafe… As long as the gun is only there when you are in bed and is back in the lock box or safe whenever it is unattended.
Meh…. I use a re-purposed top-loading REI laptop bag, suspended from 550 cord, which is attached to a similar laptop bag, hanging off of the wife’s side of the bed.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/q83/p526x296/10268472_10203712915878004_8018146926133250060_n.jpg?oh=352b7f48d16048647b319cb97616d3c1&oe=54B50CEE&__gda__=1425437981_381b6c2c43907888ea89fac037bc1fe1
I drop my holstered pistol in there, and it is easily accessed with the bag hanging next to my headboard.
IIRC, I paid a whopping $2.99 for that at Goodwill.
Night stand works and its free.
What’s next? Holster like this for the shower?
John
Zip-Lock Freezer bag for the shower…
(Rolling Eyes)
🙂
Yes, it’s a darn good idea. I’ve been using a similar product for quite a while now. But don’t buy anything until you take a look at this: http://2aholster.com/product/bed-frame-kit/ $25.
NOT nylon or sharkskin, but kydex
Not some insecure stip of fabric under the mattress, but a full on installation with screws and brackets that won’t come loose and won’t be disturbed by bed making activities.
I wish I could show you the pictures of mine. I practice with it regularly, and can draw my XD 9mm from it with my usual grip instantly.
I don’t have any children or “unauthorized” people in my home. But if I did, they would not be any more threatened at night by my gun in that holster than they are with the one on my hip the rest of the time.
“Do you want panache? I like panache”
Mmmm, pana… oh wait, I thought you said “pancakes”
The gun on the nightstand works just fine for me, but then again, I don’t have kids running around my home. I also suggest that if you choose to keep your gun on the nightstand, you leave it in a non-retention holster. If you do get all fumble-fingered, the holster will see to it that you won’t hit the bang switch unless you want to and your piece won’t slide off the table if you bump it.
I did that for years, but the gun was hard to draw and required two hands. The whole mess took up most of the top of the table as well, preventing me from using it for normal things unless I put the gun in the drawer.
I like the http://2aholster.com/product/bed-frame-kit/ holster so much that I want to get one as a gift for my sons. Christmas is coming… 🙂
The whole mess took up most of the top of the table
Yikes. That was either a very large holster or a very small table.
My EDC lives in a Remora on the nightstand when it’s not on my person. The Remora both keeps the gun from scratching the tabletop and provides some tack so it doesn’t slide around. Plus, since the gun is already holstered, it’s convenient to grab and stick in my waistband to walk the dog or make a quick run to the store.
did you just call me the N word?
parsimonious
You’re only annoying to Shannon.
She probably would call me the N word
You can tell her to check her privilege. It works for the mushy headed social justice warriors in the undergraduate population.
Yep that’s gonna be a big No-No with the kiddos I have crawling around my house. Curious fingers do not mix with a cocked and locked 1911.
What’s up with the tiny little flashlights for home defense?
Mine is a LED Maglite powered by three D-cells. It weighs about a pound and could be used as a club, if you have someone who needs clubbin’.
Those ‘tiny’ flashlight are a lot more dangerous than they look. That light looks similar to mine, which has a bevel edge around the light as a window buster. I busted a kid square in the nose once with the bevel edge of mine for trying to assault me; man, that kid’s nose was leaking so much, his 2 ‘friends’ left him quicker than you could ask him if he was okay. By kid, I mean a young adult who still acts like a child.
I built a simple holster system in the drawer next to my bed. My glock stands up in a kydex hip holster sandwiched between two pieces of wood. I’ve never had a sleepy nd after waking up in the dead of night.
Illegal as all hell though. Fuck safe storage laws.
Simple enough. Get the “legal safe storage” mounted, and left open at night.
You opened it and got your piece. QED
That would be good except I also don’t care about even pretending to follow such a law. Nobody in this state has been prosecuted over the law, so I’m fairly safe legally speaking. And if I had to use my gun for home defense, I’ve got a bigger safe I could just open.
now if it only had a clip for ear protection as the earlier article (correctly) recommends…
Crossbreed sells a similar product. I always thought it was a nifty concept but I have little hands running around the house attached to little kids. While I wouldn’t leave the gun in it when awake, my flashlight would get pilfered for adventures daily.
No no no! The Crossbreed Bedside Backup is 10x better designed and executed. We’re talking two pieces of kydex that interlock and a piece of industrial velcro that holds a molded leather/kydex Ohai holster shaped for your very gun. Granted the Crossbreed is not a one-size-fits-most, but then most people aren’t switching out their bedside gun every night like many of us do our carry guns.
The Bedside Backup is the way to go. It is 3x the cost though…
Another vote for the Crossbreed.
I have a similar product from a different company. I got it for free and I like it. My nightstand already is home for clock, lamp, and water glass so I prefer to use the bed holster. The biggest downside, for mine, is that it won’t fit a pistol with a light or laser attached to the dust cover rail.
It’s a good place to stow your EDC before going to bed, and I don’t buy the “keep it in a safe” thing for a gun that you rely on for self defense. Some of us don’t have kids, you know.
My kids find just about everything in my house, no matter how well we think it’s hidden or secured. My son is actually able to pick the lock on my file cabinet with a bobby pin. Worse yet, no matter how early my wife and I go to bed, sometimes they’re up before we are and sneaking around the house getting into stuff.
So what I’ve been thinking about is cutting a slit in the side of the box spring (mine is just a cheap wooden frame wrapped in fabric and cardboard anyway) and anchoring a holster to the wood inside. We have those bed apron thingies that cover the box spring, so it would hide the slit cut in the side nicely. I know my kids well enough to know they wouldn’t find that hiding spot. They’re not brave enough to poke around our bed while my wife and I are in it. They found out Mom’s a light sleeper.
I know this is a bit off topic, but couldn’t throwing on ear protection be deemed as intent to kill if you end up in court? After all, why put on ear protection unless you had intent to fire?
After all, why put on ear protection unless you had intent to fire?
Why grab your gun unless you had intent to fire? How is that different?
If the attacker is in your house already…
I guess one could sleep with it on their hip. I guess it’s doable as long as they don’t try to roll over.
Two problems I see with this concept are small children and not being fully awake when you grab your gun. I suggest putting it so you have to get out of bed to get to it. Hopefully you are wide awake by then and don’t shoot someone by mistake. Also put it out of reach of little hands.
Some thoughts on the previous posts:
1) Inside a nightstand drawer is a terrible idea. a. it’s not quick to get to. b. most people will get lazy and leave it in the nightstand occasionally making it an easy target for a thief.
2) On top of the nightstand is a terrible as well unless you lock your bedroom door *every* night.
3) The holster in the article should not be put on the bedside, but at the head where it is out of sight but still easy to reach with most headboards (keep your boxspring/mattress towards the footboard).