Advice on holsters - mag pouches for CCW.

[grantar2]

One of the things being missed here is size and clothing style helps pick the holster. Well an Stealth Gear, Alien Gear, Crossbreed, and other Hybrid style holsters are wonderful with full size 1911, Glock 17 with standard cap (high cap to some) they are overkill for a Shield, Glock 26, or forbid a Glock 43.

A hybrid holster may push you to a larger pant size, a good single clip leather or kydex will not. A friction holster will not. If you regularly go places where your going to have to remove the gun, a hybrid or belt loop style holster may mean leaving the holster on well taking the gun off. This can be a problem in and of itself.

The holster is a solution to allow effective carry of a specific weapon, and those solutions vary. The manufacture will produce every gun he/she/they can sell in volume regardless of the appropriateness of that system for the user.

We used to joke we can use a fighter as a cargo plane, and a cargo plane as a bomber under the right conditions, but they are seldom optimal for those roles. Because you can use a solution doesn't make it the right solution.

[Mag+1]

For about a week, I used a cheap IWB holster from Blade Tech with a basic plastic clip. Not knowing any better, it felt okay. The next week, my Alien Gear Tuck 3.0 arrived. What a difference! Sure, it's larger and takes longer to put on than the previous holster but, man, is it comfortable! Is it like sitting on goose down and clouds? No, not even close, but it is so comfortable that I've used it for my EDC ever since.

My only gripe is that the when I draw the gun, I cut the top side of my middle finger on the top edge of the "thermo-elastomer" covered surface panel (as they call it). That edge is sharp enough to draw blood. The reason is that the gap between the grip of my M&P Shield 9 (w/LaserGuard) and the top edge of that panel is too small for my fingers—and I have thin fingers. I've learned to be a bit more careful drawing from it, until such time that I decide to maybe file/trim down that area just a bit to smooth it out. I'm going to contact AG about this.

Other than that, I love this holster!

Figure 1: (dollar shown for size reference)



Figure 2: (can't get middle finger in that gap without injury)

[grantar2]

Mag + 1 well I don't normally suggest a person modify their rig, take an Emory board like you would use on your nails and work the edge. You can buy nice ones at the $.99 cent store. A few minutes with a Emory board or Dremmel will make that problem go away.

In an emergency fight for your life, you won't and don't want to be careful to draw so you don't cut yourself. You also don't want to have bloody hands as they compromise your grip in a fight. If you need an example do the dish soap drill. Using an empty weapon (with snap caps if you have them). holster your weapon, cover your hands in dawn dish soap, add a little water no more than a palm full quickly rub your hands, draw your weapon as though your life depended on it 1.5 second draw or less, and rack your slide ejecting the snap cap to verify full cycling. Dump your mag reload, rack again. It's a valuable drill. Then of course carefully clean your gun.

[dennis9288]

If there's any chance you're in South County OC and can contact Grantar2 - do it.
He met me at his store - we walked and talked through a few holsters - and then fitted me with two that met my needs.
He's got lots of options and was truly helpful. I believe he even carries the Alien Gear that was mentioned here.

[Cokebottle]

Been through a number of hybrid and kydex rigs.

Hybrid are simply too big for a small CCW gun.

Kydex?
Cooks tends to bulge at the clip. JMC are nice, but are a bit uncomfortable. I've been through a dozen or so holsters in the last year and always come back to the Vedder Light-Tuck.