With profound apologies for the thread-jack in advance ....
If you’re going to hard mount a pistol holder, or for that matter a long gun rack, just as anything you do with a firearm, the 3 rules still - and always apply.
Now, in consideration of this, when you draw from this under the steering wheel holster, how does this not violate rule #1? Asked more succinctly, are you willing to sacrifice anything north of that holster, like... say, your lower legs or feet?
Additional apologies for getting preachy here, but vehicle borne firearm engagements are chaotic, problematic and complicated. You are almost always behind the OODA loop and you need to have things simple and basic so that the minimum amount of critical thinking is required for you to safely and successfully access your firearm and put it to its appropriate use. Once complete, you need to be able to again safely and successfully re-holster. All of this may need to be done under the stress of an actual attack, or emergent situation.
If it’s not clear by now, I don’t favor vehicle mount points for handguns because most of them don’t properly secure the gun against the forces that could be encountered in a roll over, or collision. I’ve seen far too many pics of a hacked fobus paddle holster, drywall screwed to glove boxes for my comfort.
don’t plan for the ride, plan for the crash. A lot of us here have ‘fast’ vehicles. When you take those tools to the track, anything that can be a projectile in a crash is forbidden; you either secure it, or remove it. Off roading requires the same precautions, but the reality is we need to think about this on road as well. If you’re in a serious collision, will the holster assembly hold the fully loaded gun? Most retention holsters are pretty secure against a human based disarm attempt, but traffic collisions can amplify this force several factors. So while I’m not ruling out a vehicle ‘hard mount’ for a firearm, I’m generally skeptical until I can both lay eyes on it and validate that I can access and safely use it from that mount point.
What I’ve seen a few times here are ram mounts securing a holster to the center console via screws. I’ve not used one, but with a good retention holster, these could be ok. Else, the gun should be on your body, under your direct control because if a bad actor gets your gun, police rules apply; they’ll likely use it on you.
I’d recommend that you either use a blue gun or, disassemble the carry handgun you’re planning on holstering, and using ONLY the frame, practice your potential draw stroke for likely engagements. I find steering wheel mount points problematic, I like walking without a limp. You could potentially either door mount or center console mount, provided you have a secure enough mount point and holster and be able to engage 180 degrees without violating rule number 1. The operative word being ‘potentially’. This takes thought and practice that a lot of gun owners don’t give full credit to, until some trainer introduces us to how much we really don’t or didn’t know.
Here are some considerations in respect of rule #1
right handed draw facing a 9-11 o’clock target:
-belt off; 2 hands to the seat belt buckle, support hand to guide the belt to it’s rest, while getting to the gun with the right hand. If you’ve got a cover garment in the way, DON’T overcomplicate this, get your support hand back to the cover garment and clear the gun of the cover, then commence the draw stroke. Draw, index to 12 o’clock away from you or passengers, bring the support hand to the gun and guide the gun over the circumference of the steering wheel away from your lower body, turn and index to the target and deal with whatever threat or threats are present.
left hand draw, 9-11 o’clock, many similarities, get the belt off / free, and if the target is accessible with the strong hand, use your best judgement. If not, you may need to transition to your support hand, which hopefully you’ve practiced with because now is not the time to discover you are lacking in this skill set.
Things only get more complicated from here, if you’re facing a threat from 1-3 o’clock. If you’ve got a non combatant passenger, and this is the absolute last resort, you have an obligation to that passenger’s safety even if they’re not kin, friend or acquaintance. Again, if you haven’t practiced this, the chances of mistakes are high and the consequences of mistakes can be fatal.
good luck!
