Glock 26,27 v S.W. 642

I too carry a G30 and i have tried a number of carry methods. I was coming to the same conclusion as you that my g30 may not be the perfect carry weapon for myself. I have decided to slim down to a small j-frame. I dont have the money quit yet to do that and there is no way i am selling my g30 to make that happen. I love the gun too much. Desperate for a more comfortable and a more wardrobe friendly carry solution till i can afford a j-frame i bought a smart carry holster. I have only had it for a few days and have been pleasantly saprised by how well it conceals my thick g30. I will have to say it is "more" comfy than my IWB holster. I think i may have found a solution that will let me carry my glock with more confidence and let me wear the cloths i want to wear when i want to wear them. If you have not tried the smart carry look it up on youtube. Im sure its not for everyone but its definitely worth a look.

The blocky outline of the G26/27 slide is more apparent when carried in a pocket holster in some of my jackets.

The 642 weighs less and is more easily carried in a pocket holster in the same jackets, and is my choice in slacks and cargo-type shorts pockets.

An important potential consideration aside from overall size, weight and ease of lawful concealment, though, is how the owner can safely, accurately and effectively shoot them. Not everyone finds the diminutive DAO revolvers easy to shoot as accurately and as quickly (controllability) as a pistol of even similar overall size.

For that matter, even some owners of larger model revolvers don't find it as easy to shoot the little J-frames compared to the larger models.

It would probably benefit someone trying to decide between the two dissimilar designs to test-fire them before making their decision.

Thanks, but the funny thing about such comparison pictures is that they don't always give a complete 'picture', so to speak.

Even though those are my guns in the images, they look different in comparison to each other in the images than they actually feel when carrying them in their respective pocket-holstered situations. By that I mean the J-frame feels 'smaller' when carried than it appears to be by comparison to the G26 when they're simply placed side-by-side for pictures.

Even before I retired my most commonly carried off-duty weapon was one or another of my J-frames. The smaller subcompact/compact pistols (which obviously includes my G26/27's) were occasionally selected, but it was a J-frame more often than not.

Part of the reason was that I had to carry a larger weapon most of the days and evenings as part of my plainclothes assignment and I wanted relieve myself of some weight and equipment on my own time.

Another reason was that I'd revisited and 'renewed' by earlier revolver skills and significantly increased my training & practice regimens with the J-frames. (Did I mention that the very attributes which make them so attractive as lawfully concealed weapons are also generally considered to make them more difficult to shoot as well as larger weapons?) While I couldn't do anything about the limited capacity of the 5-shot wheelguns, I focused my efforts on maximizing my skills with the available capacity and benefited from the increased comfort and concealment/carry method benefits.

Now that I'm retired the J-frames suit my daily activities, manner of dress and concealment/carry methods quite well.

They arguably aren't for everyone, though.

Then again, the same could be said for compact and subcompact semiauto pistols to some extent, as well.

I'm going to go against what I usually preach and say that for ME, I carry the J Frame 642 (I have both the 642 and a G26) in my front pocket and I SOMETIMES carry it without a holster.
It is the holster that will add the bulk in most cases.

Since the trigger pull is SO weighty on the J Frame, I'm not at all concerned about a ND. Especially when drawing the weapon. I don't even worry about damaging the crowning on the barrel because the gun by its nature is only made for close work.

Flame on if you wish about the holster thing but it works for ME. That being said, I've been carrying for 37 years without incident and I've used this method often.
From an instructor's standpoint, I would not recommend doing this but it works well for me and really aids in concealment.

When I do use a pocket holster, I use my Robert Mika holster. The key to an effective pocket holster is getting the gun to ride as low as possible in the pocket, right? Well, the less border material you have at the bottom of your holster, the better. Mika holsters are great for getting the gun low. When I need it even lower than that, I turn to the holster-less method.

BTW, I would NOT carry a semi auto without a holster.