With this new pistol, I'm obviously looking for holsters. It's been a while since I bought a new holster, and I know that the technologgy has improved. I know I want one good OWB and one good IWB holster. I've settled on the OWB holster, a Safariland 6378, a holster I've used for years in other platforms. It's virtually indestructible, has great retention when the belt loop is installed, and is a holster I am very familiar with.
The IWB holster is up in the air, and I admit that I don't have much familiarity with that type. I'm also aware that the technology has advanced in the past decade. A YouTube search led me to a bewildering variety of options, and I've also reached out to my son, who keeps tabs on this sort of thing.
Hickock 45 did a video about eight years ago, and while I trust his opinion, the video is eight years old. Some videos lid me to Crossbreed holsters, and another led me to Alien Gear. I like the Alien Gear modular system, but I'm not convinced that I'd use it all.
What am I missing? Some of you undoubtedly have a favorite IWB holster. Give an old man some love and tell me what you think?
12 comments:
I've tried a lot of IWB holsters, some being Kydex ones I made myself. None of them have suited my needs any better than the Milt Sparks Summer Special. It's lightweight and it's comfortable. Use it until you have to replace it with another one just like it.
https://www.miltsparks.com/products-summer-special-2.php
Outbac USA in the waist band. On ebay. Inexpensive and well made. Works well with my Sig P365. No pinching and really good retention. I'm retired not skinny.
Got one of these a couple years ago. No complaints yet
https://tacticalscorpiongear.com/tactical-scorpion-gear-leather-iwb-conceal-carry-gun-holster-for-s-w-m-p-shield.html
Take a look at www.pistolwear.com for different angle on ccw holsters.
Retired Cop
It's outbags on ebay nice leather in the waistband
A word of caution regarding Alien Gear's modular system. I purchased several IWB holsters from them quite some time ago. Less than a year later the design of their holster base changed. This meant that new shells would not fit my holster bases. Likewise, the model-specific shells that I owned would not mount to new holster bases. I may be mistaken, but I think they've done this several times.
My Alien gear holsters also tend to "walk" as I wear them. If placed at the 3:30 position in the morning they would walk to 5:00 or 5:30 by mid-day.
I've kept the holsters that I own, but no longer consider Alien gear when purchasing new holsters.
Stay away from hybrid holsters. As they wear the connections between leather and kydex become unstable and unsafe.
The only serious people recommending hybrid holsters are directly financially compensated for it which is a very bad sign.
Think of kydex and leather as guns and alcohol, great separately but trouble together.
I'm older than you are... Not a clue over here.
I keep coming back to Dale Fricke’s Archangel. Superb.
https://dalefrickeholsters.com/product/archangel-appendix-carry/
If you are looking for kydex, JM Custom Kydex makes good stuff. Several professional gun toters I know use them, and I'm happy with the one I got for my Sig 320 X-Carry. They make various styles, but they are responsive to phone calls and offer good advice.
For leather, the Summer Special is a good holster, along with many derivatives of it from other manufacturers. I like the SS2, which has a bit of a leather extension on the bottom to help stabilize the holster.
Ditto the comments about hybrid holsters - they don't hold up well, and the attachments can be fragile. A well respected trainer says he's never had one survive his retention/disarm class. Also, on some styles, the leather/neoprene flap gets in the way of establishing a firing grip in the holster, and the flap can get floppy with age which can make it a hazard on reholstering since it tends to intrude into the trigger guard area.
Another good, but expensive, IWB leather hoslter is from Mitch Rosen - I have an ARG which pulls the gun butt into the belt and allows me to carry a full size 1911 under a loose T-shirt or polo shirt with no printing.
Kydex:
Dark Star Gear
Philster
Keepers Concealment
JM Custom
Other companies exist and some are fine. Still unless it’s a relatively rare gun (PPK, Colt Cobra 2017, etc) for which the above companies don’t make a holster I would stick with them.
I have two Crossbreed IWB Supertucks, for a Glock 19 and a Springfield Armory XDM 4.5” .45. They are both comfy all day long, without shifting around too much. Better yet, they both came from Crossbreed Seconds, (a website) which sells just that. I believe I paid $35 for the SD XDM holster, and either the same or $5 less for the Glock holster a few years later. To compare, the last time I looked a full-price Supertuck for either gun was going for around $70 or so.
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