Holsters, kydex, leather and more!
Holsters:
I'll avoid the whole sorry argument prone tangent of Kydex vs Leather. WCC is *combat oriented*. If that means you place your ti-chopstix in your socks for maximum tacticallity, so be it. We use what works. Period.
Recently I tore the rubber hinge on my iwb kydex holster. this was a sad thing, as it had served me quite well for nearly 4 years of training, travel, edc use and abuse. Well, initially I attempted to call Dave Elderton the manufacturer for a replacement piece the manufacturer, however he proved unresponsive. I hope all is well with him in OK, he is a great guy who makes top shelf gear. At any rate, as I pondered what to do, I also considered the large laceration/bruise that developed on my right hip over the past several years of consistent carry. What from you ask? Well, my holster while being blazing fast, just rubbed me the wrong way. Literally.
Being the sharp-witted individual that I am, it took a couple years of grueling pain for me to arrive at following blissful moment of brilliance - I should choose a holster that is a touch more forgiving, perhaps even sacrifice some performance for the sake of not wanting to leave my geat at home. After all, what good is a CCW if you don't actually WANT to carry your hardware? Anyway, I realized that I would have to compromise, at least if I am going to wear it for more than 4 hours at a time. So, I went forth to the land of research and came back the idea of getting a leather holster to wear close the the body.
Alessi stuff is awesome, however with his gear requiring some form of 6-9 month wait, that would simply not do as I was lacking carry gear in the present.
After much research and gear splunking, I found the following holster from Andrew's Custom Leather.
WOW! The gentlemen at Andrew's were knowledgeable, helpful, pleasant to talk to and oh yes, their gear is fantastic! I was so enamoured with their offering, that immediatly after receipt of their McDaniels holster, I proceeded to order a belly holster for my lil pup, a S&W 340 PD. If you have played with center-mass waist carry, it IS tactically efficient and deadly fast----however if you are using a kydex holster AND are a male, AND have to occassionaly sit while armed, every torso movement presses both the firearm AND the rigid holster deeply into areas that were not meant to be compressed. Ouch. I'm still awaiting this custom piece, as Andrew's does not stock McDaniel's Cross-Draw holsters for lil wheel guns.
Ok, so Andrew's holsters rock, and are fast.....for leather. This is the critical point of the piece. Much to my chagrin, the leather was slower. So much so that I can feel it drag. I have utilzed kydex based holsters for so many years, that I had forgotten the uniqe tactile nature of flesh pressed agains steel. On the humerous side, the rough edges of my TRP are tearing up the leather holster rather than being scratched & marred by the kydex!
So, was the comfort - performance tradeoff worth it? I say yes. This is entirely an issue of WHAT are you trying to do with the gear? Quite frankly kydex is faster. MUCH faster. Yes, noticeably faster. With movement, drawing from concealment with a 1911 & an IWB Ky-Tac Braveheart holster I can draw AND hit (yes, actually hit the mark) sub 1.20 secs. I'm not Jeff Cooper, but by God I have a day job.
Same pistol, same clothes, leather rig, my best time was 1.74. Oh, and while at 10 yards, I hit the target, that shot wasn't picture perfect. Kinda weak considering the distance.
But that is combat (albeit a poor simulation). Unideal situations synergistically conspiring against the protagonist and favouring the aggressor. With sweat from the SoCal midday sun, my t-shit stuck to the leather like a stick in molasses. This made each inital pistol grab THAT more challenging, followed by a significatly slower draw and therefore a persistently mistimed frontsight alignment. I won't even discuss how the off-hand speed drills went. However that's why you move while drawing down on the threat. Furthermore, old Mr Tueller says that if you are trying to draw a pistol against a knife wielding opponent inside of '21, you are toast. I've personally particiated in SIMS drills where that range extended to '30. You should be moving and have your weapon presented long before the threat is within theoretical striking distance.
So >1.20 vs 1.74? Is this an acceptable tradeoff for being able to comfortably carry a full-size 1911 for upwards of 16 hours? In my personal threat model, several 1/10s of a second are well worth the lack of wear marks on my hip & kidney areas. Lastly, bear in mind combat is a different experience that practicing a quickdraw with your buddies and a sonic-timer kicking off your motions.
Be it kydex, leather, or a tactical teak spork, always choose the right tool for the task at hand.
I'll avoid the whole sorry argument prone tangent of Kydex vs Leather. WCC is *combat oriented*. If that means you place your ti-chopstix in your socks for maximum tacticallity, so be it. We use what works. Period.
Recently I tore the rubber hinge on my iwb kydex holster. this was a sad thing, as it had served me quite well for nearly 4 years of training, travel, edc use and abuse. Well, initially I attempted to call Dave Elderton the manufacturer for a replacement piece the manufacturer, however he proved unresponsive. I hope all is well with him in OK, he is a great guy who makes top shelf gear. At any rate, as I pondered what to do, I also considered the large laceration/bruise that developed on my right hip over the past several years of consistent carry. What from you ask? Well, my holster while being blazing fast, just rubbed me the wrong way. Literally.
Being the sharp-witted individual that I am, it took a couple years of grueling pain for me to arrive at following blissful moment of brilliance - I should choose a holster that is a touch more forgiving, perhaps even sacrifice some performance for the sake of not wanting to leave my geat at home. After all, what good is a CCW if you don't actually WANT to carry your hardware? Anyway, I realized that I would have to compromise, at least if I am going to wear it for more than 4 hours at a time. So, I went forth to the land of research and came back the idea of getting a leather holster to wear close the the body.
Alessi stuff is awesome, however with his gear requiring some form of 6-9 month wait, that would simply not do as I was lacking carry gear in the present.
After much research and gear splunking, I found the following holster from Andrew's Custom Leather.
WOW! The gentlemen at Andrew's were knowledgeable, helpful, pleasant to talk to and oh yes, their gear is fantastic! I was so enamoured with their offering, that immediatly after receipt of their McDaniels holster, I proceeded to order a belly holster for my lil pup, a S&W 340 PD. If you have played with center-mass waist carry, it IS tactically efficient and deadly fast----however if you are using a kydex holster AND are a male, AND have to occassionaly sit while armed, every torso movement presses both the firearm AND the rigid holster deeply into areas that were not meant to be compressed. Ouch. I'm still awaiting this custom piece, as Andrew's does not stock McDaniel's Cross-Draw holsters for lil wheel guns.
Ok, so Andrew's holsters rock, and are fast.....for leather. This is the critical point of the piece. Much to my chagrin, the leather was slower. So much so that I can feel it drag. I have utilzed kydex based holsters for so many years, that I had forgotten the uniqe tactile nature of flesh pressed agains steel. On the humerous side, the rough edges of my TRP are tearing up the leather holster rather than being scratched & marred by the kydex!
So, was the comfort - performance tradeoff worth it? I say yes. This is entirely an issue of WHAT are you trying to do with the gear? Quite frankly kydex is faster. MUCH faster. Yes, noticeably faster. With movement, drawing from concealment with a 1911 & an IWB Ky-Tac Braveheart holster I can draw AND hit (yes, actually hit the mark) sub 1.20 secs. I'm not Jeff Cooper, but by God I have a day job.
Same pistol, same clothes, leather rig, my best time was 1.74. Oh, and while at 10 yards, I hit the target, that shot wasn't picture perfect. Kinda weak considering the distance.
But that is combat (albeit a poor simulation). Unideal situations synergistically conspiring against the protagonist and favouring the aggressor. With sweat from the SoCal midday sun, my t-shit stuck to the leather like a stick in molasses. This made each inital pistol grab THAT more challenging, followed by a significatly slower draw and therefore a persistently mistimed frontsight alignment. I won't even discuss how the off-hand speed drills went. However that's why you move while drawing down on the threat. Furthermore, old Mr Tueller says that if you are trying to draw a pistol against a knife wielding opponent inside of '21, you are toast. I've personally particiated in SIMS drills where that range extended to '30. You should be moving and have your weapon presented long before the threat is within theoretical striking distance.
So >1.20 vs 1.74? Is this an acceptable tradeoff for being able to comfortably carry a full-size 1911 for upwards of 16 hours? In my personal threat model, several 1/10s of a second are well worth the lack of wear marks on my hip & kidney areas. Lastly, bear in mind combat is a different experience that practicing a quickdraw with your buddies and a sonic-timer kicking off your motions.
Be it kydex, leather, or a tactical teak spork, always choose the right tool for the task at hand.
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