Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi, I'm Mark Harris from OpticsPlanet, and I want to talk to you today about some of my favorite holsters.
Some of you might be wondering since we're in Illinois why I'm talking about concealed
carry holsters and which ones I use.
I actually have an out of state permit that through reciprocity allows me to carry
in thirty-some-odd states, so,
when I'm traveling I do actually use these holsters. Everything you see on the table
here I actually own and use.
This is a Desantis Mini Scabbard, fourty one...
forty one dollars and change.
I've been using this more than anything else lately when I travel.
I don't have much of a butt and it's kind of hard for me to conceal a large gun, so I
like flat guns and I like flat holsters.
This is not my primary choice for summer carry
because this is a belt holster and not an inside the pant holster.
If it's spring or fall and I'm someplace where I can wear a covering garmet like a shirt
or a jacket.
I really like this holster because the leather in the holster,
I want to say thin, thin is not a bad thing in this case and doesn't mean that it's
sloppy
or cheaply made. It just means that doesn't have excess bulk to it.
Another thing I like about this holster is it has a belt tunnel instead of loops on
the side.
It's really important that you match up your belt to your holster because you want
your holster to be in the same spot every time.
You go to draw you don't want to rock and you don't want it to move around.
This belt tunnel matches my Galco gun belt very well stays, stays put.
Right out of the bag when I bought this a few months ago my Glock 36 slipped
right in. I didn't have to go through any kind of break in.
It has enough retention to hold the gun.
The only thing that's holding the gun in here, there's no thumb break, so it's just a
friction fit,
but
for the price I really think this can't be beat. This is an outstanding
intersection of price and performance.
It's leather, has that nice leather smell when take it out of the bag.
It's got a tension screw so if you want to tighten it up a little bit, and have a little more
or a little less can do that with it.
Again, I carry my Glock 36 in it,
it's very nice and narrow and the holster doesn't add any bulk to the gun itself.
I'm fortunate enough to be the current owner of our family farm, been in the
family for some over a hundred years, got almost a hundred acres in Tennessee.
And I like to knock around in the woods in the spring and fall.
I like
the Blackhawk CQC if I'm out in the woods. This is a holster
it's actually carbon fiber composite.
It really doesn't matter if this thing gets knocked around, it's not a leather
holster so it doesn't matter if it gets wet.
It doesn't absorb moisture, it's not going to stretch out,
this is a level 2 holster.
What's really nice about this, if you draw the gun like you're supposed to and
you keep your finger parallel to the frame and out of the trigger,
your finger drops right where it should be on this holster.
All you have to do is press it in, the gun comes out when you reholster,
really nice satisfiying click and it's locked in nice and tight.
Blackhawk makes a
display for this holster that's made out of steel,
little platform you stand on. There's a holster and fake gun in it.
You can stand on it and kind of get the sense of
where the gun will be, how it works.
What I like to do with that display is get off of it, grab the fake gun and lift that
probably twenty-five thirty pound steel display up
and the gun doesn't let loose.
Really beautiful thing about this holster is you can adjust
the belt loop or the paddle, comes with both
you can adjust for
completely vertical, there are three degrees of backward cant, three degrees
of forward cant.
You can also change
the belt loop so it can go anywhere from about an inch to two inches.
You can also change the the height of it. So,
I think we figured out on day that they've got something like
fourteen holsters in total when you take this thing out of the bag.
Comes in a variety of colors, if I'm out running around like crazy man and I'm wearing my multi-
cam,
I like this coyote tan, but it also comes in matte black,
it comes in matte green, comes in coyote tan.
You can also get what's called carbon fiber finish.
All the CQC Serpa holsters are carbon fiber composites, but there's also a finish
called carbon fiber finish where there's an application wrapped around this
it's kind of neat looking. I wouldn't call it a concealment holster because it's kind of
bright and shiny but this is an outstanding holster.
Also they make quite a number of accessories for it, one of my favorite ones for it
is a draw plate platform.
The holster's about
I want to say a little less than thirty dollars, the platform's about fifty, but again
taking these three screws out of the back you can attach it to this draw plate platform
at any angle you like. It'll also accept external magazine holders.
then this drops on your thigh. It's a heck of a system for the price.
You cannot beat the value of this holster.
So, if it's Summer time and I'm in one of the states where I can legally carry,
because I've got no butt and I can't really conceal a nice wide, high capacity gun.
I like the Glock 36 .45 caliber. It's a very narrow gun so I don't want to bulk
that gun up
by having a holster that's too thick.
This is made by Galco, and it's called the Sky Ops.
This is
probably my favorite concealable holster.
Couple real nice features to this is what's called a tuckable holster.
All that means is that once this is attached to your belt,
and the holster's inside your pants, there's an area between here where you can
tuck your shirt. So, this gun can be absolutely concealed
while you're wearing a shirt tucked in if you're out the some formal
affair, out for the evening, you can dress like you'd normally dress for a
situation like that and wear this holster.
Very nice feature by Galco, instead of having
a belt tunnel
or a belt loop or a flap
they have this really interesting
Y-hook
they call it. Comes in two different sizes for two different width belts.
It has a little bit of leeway where you can wear narrower belts, but what's really
nice about it,
these three attachment points,
two on the top one on the bottom.
Shen this is on your belt,
those three points are all that are visible, if that's on a black belt
you've got to really be looking for that. It's not like some holsters
where you're standing in line at the grocery store
and anybody that knows anything about guns or holsters sees some kind of attachment on your belt
and knows that's a gun that you've got. Big sign, "Gun, gun, gun!" So,
this is really hard to detect.
I was wearing his holster the first time that I carried out of state with my new
permit. I was in Ohio at a rest stop,
holding the leash for a buddy's dog and a state trooper pulled up and I started sweating
bullets, pardon the pun,
but I felt like everybody in a twenty-mile radius knew I was carrying a
gun.
And the guy just walked past me and nodded and I just
felt greatly relieved. But it's a testament to the concealibility
of this Galco Sky-Ops holster.
I mentioned the two different sizes for this.
There's a screw that can be removed here, you can swap it out very easily. Also,
you can just put this on the other side now you've got a left hand holster, so this is a
truly ambidextrious holster.
Again the leather is not excessively bulky,
this fit just right out of the box from Galco and it had that marvelous Galco smell
that you expect
from their products. So,
this is really nice for me because it's thin,
it matches my body shape, which is kinda like a fire plug, and
I really like this holster.
So, I just spent a week at Pigeon Forge on vacation with my wife's family
and it was about, pretty close to a hundred degrees all week so I had to
dress for the occassion.
Legally carrying my concealed Glock 36
and that week I used this Bianchi 3S, about fifty six
dollars, fifty six ninety nine.
Feature that I really like about this holster, this is an inside the pant holster,
if you undo this back off the brass screw there's a ratchet in the
center of a ball detent,
and you can get an infinite angle. You can wear this holster upside down if you
needed to but
since being in Pigeon Forge, kind of a tourist trap, there's a lot of different things
to do. Who knows
where we're going be what we're going be doing. So, I wanted something that had a thumb break
so I had some degree of retention in case
I ended up on a slider hanging upside down from a tree or something like that, my
nieces.
The only complain that I have about this holster and it's not really much of a
complaint,
I'd just change the belt color, but
I with Bianchi offered this in black. That'd be nice. The only
other
comment or suggestion I might have is on this
this snap,
belt goes through here, slip this down, tighten this up
it'd be nice if you wanted to wear a shirt tucked in if this didn't say Bianchi
and Glock on here. Because it doesn't always pay to advertise.
Other than that,
in the summertime I wear this holster quite a bit.
It seems to hold up well against perspiration.
Another good reason I like Glocks,
this thing in 100 degree heat for six days in a row and there was no
perspiration problems, no rust on the Glock. But,
from the factory right out of the bag
I had no issues with having to work this holster to get this retention strap.
It fit perfectly somebody at Bianchi is doing a really good job.
Also if you
have the opportunity to look at Bianchi holsters, notice the stitching, notice how even it is.
This is a really well made holster. Also has a strap
that runs around the gun to hold the mouth of the holster open for reholstering, that
can be kind of important. If you need to get this back in because
if you're involved in a shooting and
police show up, you don't want to be the guy holding the gun so,
it's important with any concealment holster to be able to re holster
quickly.
I've got
nothing really bad to say about this, you just have to match the belt to it so
this doesn't stick out like a sore thumb
and you're good to go.
Okay, pop quiz, who in the audience is old enough to remember the Miami Vice tv
show with Crockett and Tubbs?
Some of you might recognize this holster,
it's called the Miami Classic.
Crockett wore a Bren Ten
and a Galco product. Back then Galco was called the Original *** Leather
Company. They were based out of Chicago and that show
really put them on the map. A lot of people started buying their holsters and now
they've got a huge facility in Arizona with a lot of giant sewing machines
that can probably punch through your car hood.
So, like everybody else that watched the show, it's, everybody went out and
get a shoulder holster.
I went to Thunder Ranch, took defensive handgun 101 and the instructor, Clint Smith,
mentioned that the fastest reload
is actually a second gun. So,
I purchased my first two Miami Classics before I started working at OpticsPlanet, paid full
boat for them and after I got here I bought this rig
and as it comes for about a hundred and fifty bucks it comes with
one holster
and it comes a double magazine pouch on the offside. With full magazines in here
it'll counter balance out the weight.
I decided that the best way to balance out the weight and also based on what Clint Smith
told me. I decided to buy the S3H shoulder holster component
for my left hand on the right side and that balances out the weight really
nicely because I have two identical guns.
One thing you really have to be aware of with any type of single or double shoulder holster
rig is that
it's not as fast as a draw from a belt holster.
Second in speed is probably an inside the pant holster, this are little bit further
down the line.
When you draw this you're going to be covering a one hundred eighty degree
arc, because the muzzle
is pointing at the people behind you.
Also they're not the best for really long barrel guns like a full sized
1911 five-inch because
at least on my body that's going to
produce a tell tale lump on your jacket but just remember with this you're going to be
describing a one hundred eighty degree arc so you have to be really careful
your finger on the trigger and the direction of your muzzle.
About the only time I wear this holster if I'm not locking the doors, dropping the shades
and looking at myself in the mirror in my double holster rig,
is in the wintertime if I'm traveling and I'm carrying legally.
Normally I've got on a big
sweater that kind of hangs down a little bit and an inside the pant holster.
I've got to deal with pulling things up and drawing, so
this is nice where I can put this on, I can put a big jacket on over it.
Normally the jacket will hang correctly to where
as long as I don't lean forward and let things dangle
I'm in good shape, but properly adjust it when this comes from the factory,
you've got quite a bit of extra adjustment here. What I did was, and
please do this too, because it'll solve the problem of you having to buy another harness for
this,
but these are called Chicago screws. You can take them apart and adjust it, so you have it
comfortable for yourself and will draw well.
What I like to tell people to do is adjust it and before you cut off that
extra,
wear it for a few days because the leather is going to stretch a little bit and also your
going to be excited. So you think this holster
harness is going to fit really well and it really doesn't after a couple days. So, once you
do get it adjusted,
you can take a quarter and lay on the strap, take a nice sharp knife.
You can make a beautiful cut on this to where it looks like it came from the factory
and you don't have some kind of jagged line that looks like you did it with your teeth.
Again, it's kind of
useful as a limited purpose holster because obviously your not going to run down to the
beach in this.
It is kind of handy
concealment wise if you are wearing a coat.
If you're at the supermarket, you reach up on the top shelf for a can of beans or
something and your jacket rides up,
you can expose a traditional belt holster or an inside the pant holster. So,
they do have their place, I wouldn't advise against it,
but I like it. It's a nice holster and lets me carry both my Glocks.
One thing you might want to consider if you are carrying a legally concealed handgun
is an additional magazine.
Murphy's Law says that anything that can can go wrong, will,
and if you're only carrying one magazine and that goes south, you can be a really
bad spot.
My favorite of the group is the Bianchi 20A. This runs about twenty
eight ninety nine.
This particular model is made for the Glock 17/Glock 19.
I found it works really well my single stack .45 for my Glock 36.
There's never tension except for the friction, fits very nicely. Got a very
strong belt clip on the back
and you can get this either in black, which
shows no wear whatsoever.
This model I've had for pretty close to twenty years and it's shown a little bit of wear on it
but it's still nicely done. Bianchi does a really good job with their tanning. So,
no matter what you get if you've got a black rig or if you've got a tan rig. You can
find something that'll match up your gear.