How come the most in-your-face activist proponents of open carry always have the crappiest holsters? Nothin' but Fobus and those godawful clip-on nylon sausage sacks with the spare magazine pouch sewn on the front of the holster. (If I had a dollar for every customer over the years who asked me "D'you got one o' them clip-on holsters with the spare clip pouch?", I'd retire rich. They always looked so crestfallen when I said that we didn't carry those and explained why.)
For heaven's sake, if you're going to show it off, at least spring for something made from a name-brand steak wrapper, if you're not willing to go all the way to stingray or sharkskin. (And that 1/2" wide thing from The Gap is not a pistol belt. That's why it's rolling over like that and causing your iron to flop about.)
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Or worse, "open carrying" with no holster. You laugh, but that's what "Open Carry Walk-a-thon" moron FishOrMan was doing for the longest time.
He first got questioned by police because his "open carry" method was to stick the barrel in a cargo pocket with the butt sticking out. Later he got questioned because he had a ClipDraw attached to his 1911 with the barrel down his pants and the butt sticking out.
People on THR finally schooled him into getting an actual piece of gunleather to hang on his belt.
Yeah, I can relate. Picked up a minty Model 10-6, 4", blued and went holster shopping. YUCH on the holster wall at my gunsmiths. But, quoth he: "Tactical is what sells."!!
Have thot a bout a stone-regulation vintage cop rig, but it my relationship wit' vintage cops wasn't always all that great. [see historical late 60's sub-heading: moto'cykles, long-hair, and inappropriatte law'tude]
Anyway, refer y'all to the two leather smif's above. Mr Leahy is currently making a rough-out hip pocket rig for my Ruger Montado -- for casual winter wear.
One of his Simply Rugged Lawrence jobs will prolly get the new Mod 10. Santa Claus may provide the carving. ;~`)
Cheers, and put FS Sixshooter on y'r 'scan list'. A good lot, them.
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=208184;article=275166;title=Frontier%20Sixshooter%20Message%20Board;pagemark=50
and
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=208184;article=275464;title=Frontier%20Sixshooter%20Message%20Board
John the Red
West End of Lake Erie
Same-o says, "My oversight."
The Holster Maker's addy:
http://www.simplyrugged.com/
Not that y'all couldna found it...
Funny, the serious open carry advocates in my area all use Level II Blackhawk CQC SERPA holsters. We've even done experiments to test their sturdiness and retention. Perhaps "serious" is meant to be ironic?
Let's be fair to the folks Tam is taking about. Those crapsack holsters are all they can afford after all the money they've donated to Ron Paul's presidential bid...
Hell, it's not just the OC advocates, but I see a lottza folks with nice high $$ guns with crap holsters shooting matches/etc...
That said, I wish more OC guys would actually wear a full-on Carved, vintage leather holster...
http://www.vintagegunleather.com/
But I LIKE Fobus... (*sniff*)
I remember attending my first ever gun show. Lots of the nylon/extra clip stuff scattered about. I tried one, and decided after about 5 minutes that it was junk
But I like my Fobus. I've found their paddle holsters to be great. Maybe I'm just insufficiently cultured. :)
Why no love for Fobus, Tam?
They pull apart at the rivets, and the plastic they use degrades noticeably over time. I've got a ten year old Fobus that is just trashed.
At roughly the same price point there are quality kydex/plastic rigs from Uncle Mike's and Blackhawk.
Well decent made clip on holsters have their place (no open carry here in Texas) and I use an Uncle Mike's for my primary carry holster. I pretty much need to use small of the back carry and a clip on holster is just the thing so I can take it off when I get in my car and clip it onto the seat adjustment bar.
The last time I saw a guy open carrying (in Wal-Mart no less) he was wearing a Ruger P89 in the exact nylon piece of crap holster Tamara described.
The really funny bit was that he was wearing it SOB. As I stood there in line behind him, all I could think about was how easy it would have been to undo that cheap snap on retention strap and double tap him before he even knew that his gun was out of his holster.
In terms of gun belts, you can get fashionable and workable gunbelts from a place like Wilson's Leather. Make sure the belt is thick, wide and fairly rigid if you plan on carrying in a decent holster.
For a leather belt, you really can't beat Mitch Rosen or Milt Sparks. Galco also sells nice dress belts that are designed to support a couple pounds of steel.
Maybe your Fobus got Taminated, whereas after ten years with one of us mere mortals it would be just fine. ;-)
Kidding aside, I don't even have a holster for my 85-3 yet, but the Simply Rugged stuff anon kindly linked looks pretty nice for the price.
I have no personal experience with them, but everyone who has dealt with them speaks highly of the holsters and the service.
I'm making some pretty holsters. There are a couple pics up on my blog, but there are better pics and better holsters soon to follow. http://evylrobot19.blogspot.com/
I look forward to dealing with this decision some time in the future.
If only Texas would get off it's ass and let me carry openly.
And for all the J-frame folks out there, Leahy at SimplyRugged has a very sturdy pocket holster. They are usually in stock and can be mailed same day that he receives the order.
Hunter
Ketchikan
I carry my cz-82 in its issue holster. I am not sure if that is open carry or not as only 2 people have ever noticed that it was a gun holster. (one of those commented on how nice it was) Its not tacticool but it works for me.
I agree.
Some might call me a holster snob, but the truth is that I simply appreciate craftsmanship and quality.
While I always and only practice CCW (never "open carry"), I own and use only leather artworks from Lou Alessi, Matt Del Fatti, Milt Sparks Leather, Ken Null and a few other leather artisans.
And let's please not have any penurious whining about this either; if you can arrange to purchase a quality sidearm, you can arrange to purchase good quality leather gear for it.
As John Farnam is fond of saying regarding quality guns and carry gear, "economise elsewhere".
Maybe your Fobus got Taminated, whereas after ten years with one of us mere mortals it would be just fine. ;-)
No they're just built or engineered poorly. You can build a plastic/kydex/whatever holster that doesn't break like that, but Fobus doesn't.
"...if you're not willing to go all the way to stingray..."
Why is everybody always pickin' on me?
In defense of those who use the el-cheapo nylon holsters, I think that such holsters work well enough if the shooter does his part by keeping the holster and gun in good repair, carrying in a sensible manner, being a proficient shot, etc. If the shooter DOESN'T do his part, then it won't matter if he's carrying in a $100 custom-made rig.
I'm often amused at the plethora of holsters (and guns) pushed and carried by "experts"; seems like some of them have something new on their hip every month. It's like a status symbol to carry a custom Sig or Kimber in a custom holster.
It occurs to me that few people who carry actually practice with their holster so that they can draw / present / shoot smoothly and safely without conscious thought. I think that it would be fair to say that most people take their pistols to the range every so often and pile up the brass with either careful, deliberate shots ("Hey, I got 10 / 10 in the X!") or else spray lead as fast as they can pull the trigger, satisfied if they get half their rounds somewhere on the paper.
Practice (with an unloaded gun!) drawing from a seated position such as in a car? Nope. Shoot with the off hand? Nope. Practice clearing a jam or misfire? Nope. Research ammo and ensure that the load they pick will work in their pistol? Nope. Even THINK about the "tactical" mindset that would help keep them out of trouble (such as avoiding deserted parking decks)? Nope. Once they start doing these things, I think that they'll naturally start looking for the right holster.
Please don't misunderstand: I agree that a good holster is important, but I'd say that purchasing one is rather down on the list of things that a responsible citizen should do if he decides to carry.
Tam,
I don't own any Fobus holsters, but I know the gunshops and police supply stores that I frequent sell the hell out of them. I much prefer quality leather, but I do own a couple of Uncle Mikes holsters (they just seem so appropriate for my Glocks) and a Blackhawk to fit a Government model. I have also used the plastic belt slide holster that came with my Springfield Government model to occasionally pack a Kimber Ultra Carry in. It seems secure and compact.
I don't know if they still sell them, but Uncle Mikes used to catalog dress gunbelts that were synthetic but looked like high grade leather. They also have a stiff plastic liner in them and work great for carry when dressed up a little more than jeans and a polo shirt. I bought three of them in each of the colors they offered, and they are still like new after 10 years of use.
UPS just delivered a Kramer Leather inside the pants holster - which can be worn outside. [Had to custom order as most don't build holsters for CZs, let alone the .45.] It's an early birthday present for my son. We get our belts from a farmers' supply store. BTW, police officers I know in both Colorado and Ohio discourage open carry, as all you need is one complaint and you'll probably need a lawyer. The comment in Ohio was that 90% of the officers will ignore a complaint, but the other 10% will roust your butt. And both states want you to carry ONLY concealed if you have your permit. OldeForce
1. Taminated!
2. Picking on you? You killed the Crocodile Hunter!
3. I carry a Seecamp in the holster provided with my trousers.
Crikey! They're on to me! Woo woo woo woo! < /three stooges exit>
I open carry a good deal of the time, concealed some of the time I'm normally a cheep bastard (I can't remember paying more than $800 for a car) but there was no way I would use one of those cheep crap nylon holsters. Also it was a good excuse to buy some tools and learn a new skill, sewing is manly if you are stitching leather right? I carry in a Joat custom leather OWB or if I need to dress up and conceal I use a Joat custom tuck-able IWB, and my everyday belt is a Joat custom 1 1/2" leather, I just need to make a makers mark punch so it will officially name-brand. The leather didn't cost all that much more than buying one of those crap nylon holsters and I can run at full speed and not have the gun flop around on me and in my few experiences with IPSC so far I'm scoring a in the top 2/3's I've got a pretty good idea how fast I can draw and hit a vaguely man sized target.
Most of my students are not people of means by any means. Think "dirt poor", and then adjust downwards.
Leather rigs just plain cost too much. While I am not unsympathetic when someone points out that leather wears better than nylon and thus might just be a better value over the long run, it is also undeniable that my students can't afford the initial cost. So it is nylon or nothing.
So I always carry in the nylon rigs that I recommend in my classes. After all, it would make me a hypocrite if I didn't.
Both Uncle Mike's and Blackhawk make quality products, but I can no longer recommend Uncle Mike's. Their customer support deteriorated to the point that a few of my students who ordered holsters from their website waited months for delivery, while Email inquiries were ignored.
So I suppose it is Blackhawk or nothing.
James
My Galco IWB holster hangs on a kydex reinforced belt by Comp-Tac. Verrrrry comfortable...
...if you can arrange to purchase a quality sidearm, you can arrange to purchase good quality leather gear for it.The problem is, buying a holster is not quite the same as buying a gun. A holster not only has to fit the gun, it also has to fit YOU. I've got a drawer filled with holsters that just didn't fit.
On the other hand, I've got a Fobus that I use for concealed carry that has worked perfectly for the last 5 years. And in case you haven't noticed, the latest models from Fobus have steel reinforced rivets.
As for that stupid video, showing a kydex paddle holster being snapped off, seems to me, the would be "victim" didn't offer nearly as much resistance as I would. I just don't see that happening in real life.
Oh, and one more thing, most of the Blackhawk holsters cost twice as much as Fobus, so they are not in the same price bracket.
In addition, I'd just like to add, that when I do get around to buying a gun, it is not unusual for me to go a little over my gun budget when buying one, so typically, I may not have the money available to buy something other than a Fobus.
And the really sad part, Only Bianchi makes a holster that fits the Walther P38!! Imagine that!
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