Re: sidearm placement when in the ghillie suit
The chest rig worn up high on the chest (over your pec but not so far towards your weak side shoulder that it binds when you are on your rifle, and so you are not crawling on it and it can be drawn without a bunch of movement. This keeps the pistol in your work space and out of your way at the same time. Set it up right it can be drawn even if you are on your rifle and need to roll over and come out shooting or punch out to the front or sides. It is worn cross draw so it does not interfere with your strong side shooting shoulder. Small of your back you will never get to it in time before you are discovered (flopping around like a fish trying to get it out from under your ghillie, hip carry not much better and uncomfortable when you have to roll up on your side, drop leg again pain to get to and way too much movement and you will fill it up with dirt and crud, it is like having a drag line hooked to your side. When stalking you should damn near dumby cord everything to include your pistol. Tuck the lanyard under the holster platform so it does not snag on anything. My chief scout sniper had High Speed Gear build him one years ago that was really nice with a mag pouch, and a place to stick a fixed blade knife (which was plum handy) fully adjustable and a mesh backing to allow air flow. If I remember correctly it was set up so that it would convert to a semi drop leg holster when just patrolling. The bottom line however is that you will have to try some different set ups and adjustments before you get what you are really comfortable with. I ended up with a M12 holster fashioned to a tankers chest rig and it worked pretty good. Let us know what you end up with.