IWB holster for Glock 27

[TKanaley]

Sight channel; If you're commercially making holsters and you don't provide some sort of sight protection into your holsters, you're going to have a lot of people that will complain about that little ball of leather hanging off their front sight everytime they draw their pistol. That much I will guarantee.

The way I look at it, if you're just making holsters for yourself, it really doesn't matter whether you incorporate a sight channel into your design or not since you will be the only one using it. Experiment and decide for yourself.

BTW, a sight channels usefullness has nothing to do with a holsters cant as has been suggested.

All the guns I carry have very sharp front sights and are of a semi post profile and are usually very sharply serrated. When practicing my draw stroke, I do not like looking at a ball of leather scrapings where my front site ought to be, so I provide some sort of channel to preclude that from happening on any holster I make for myself. It just so happens that the holsters I make for myself are also the basis for any holster we make for our clients and all our designs for semi autos have that feature incorporated into them. It certainly doesn't hurt anything to have a sight channel built into a holster even if a person thinks they don't really need it. And it certainly doesn't require a lot of engineering or labor for the hobbiest to incorporate it into their own designs either. Do as you will though.

Stitching around the trigger guard and close to the gun; We do it several different ways depending on the model and type of sight channel we provide in that particular model. But in a nutshell, no matter how we stitch and mold the holster, our goal is to always do it in a way to provide resistance for the first inch or so of movement out of the holster after which, we like the holster to provide a clean effortless presentation from that point forward in the draw stroke. That always involves stitching close to the trigger guard since that figures into that first inch of initial resistance and whether it's IWB or OWB it is something we always do.

Could you help me find the tight stitch line on model CC-AT? I can't seem to find it as there is another retention mechanism- namely the ajustable tention welt.

The welt is in the shape of the outline of the gun it's fitted to. There is a small relief that starts below the trigger guard and ends at a point below where the stitching stops, which acts as a hinge for the adjustable part of the welt. Other than that, the welt is fit tight up against the gun. The adjustable (lower) part is set according to the end users requirements for retention. The stitching on the CC-AT might not follow the outline of the gun, but its only real purpose is to anchor the welt, which is fit tight against the trigger guard as well as the muzzle end of the gun.

I guess I'm really not interested in getting involved in this argument any further, nor do I really have the time. My name was brought into this, hence the reason I'm responding. I'm would suggest that those who are reading this, glean what they can from these posts and then take a close look and see what the folks who are sucessfully making a living at this are doing.

Cheers,

TK

[TwinOaks]

Thank you Mr. Kanaley for taking time to offer your input. I appreciate your experience on the matter and I'm sure all who are following the thread do too. I will re-evaluate my opinion on the sight channel based on your insight. Not guaranteeing I'll change my opinion, but I will rethink it.

Kman, it's been an interesting debate to say the least, and I hope you're still around in the future.

I think we've pretty well worn this one out, and can walk away certain that there are at least two, and probably more, opinions on the best way to make a holster. To all who've followed this, thank you for reading our squabbles :D

Y'all have a good day.

[K-Man]

I never saw it as a debate, but rather your (TwinOaks) perspective that needed to be re-evaluated.

I suspect you don't know who I am nor what I do, but suffice it to say that I only respond (to a great extent) to postings where I see the issues heading down an errant path, and hope by my postings to clarify the issue at hand. When it comes to holsters, and related accessories, I generally have a very sound basis for my comments - to include applied and practiced theories, which, in part, has come from making a great quantity (more than 2) of such items.

In my opinion, part of becoming a master craftsman at what you do is having the willingness to learn from those who know what they're talking about. Sometimes it's not an easy perspective to follow. At the point you stop learning is the point you stop becoming a craftsman. As I mentioned above, there are a number of users on this board who can provide you (and others) with sound advice on the making of holsters. Best of luck to you and all here.

[Jordan]

Lively debate aside, I enjoyed the read gave me alot of information to digest which I will incorporate into my database, the mind is a wunerful thing better than a computer anyday. Thank you all for the input and now I think I'll break out the graph paper and design another one.

[Billsotx]

Yo Gyrene,

What you might consider, especially since your working with the wide slide. Take a look at the Summer Special on Milt Sparks website - the shape and design. Then build you another IWB of that style and design, but build it more closely toward the original S/Spl that Bruce Nelson built. At a glance that original holster may seem too limp and wimpy, but we must consider the purpose and exactly what Nelson was doing - under narcotics assignments - highly concealable, readily available, practical, utilitarian. Worn either in the appendix or cross-draw. It was not intended to be a range holster, the 7/8 oz. design would come later and mainly from copies. The original S/Spl was constructed of 3/4oz. leather, flesh side out, with a mouth band and belt loops constructed of 7 to 8 oz. hide. There was a metal liner within the mouth band and the very first design (in fact most of Nelson's) had only 1 belt loop, which in the beginning were all cut from a single piece of leather. The metal liner was galvanized sheet metal, it was cut from gutter flashing, as were the mouth bands on his IWB magazine pouches. It ain't pretty, but it works. You might experiment a little and not necessarily copy the original design. Install, or at least provide for two belt loops when you install the mouth band. I would make the loops detachable which is what Nelson sometimes did in his late design. That allowed the user to change belt widths and still have a good tight fit. We know the loops must fit the belt tightly and Nelson was adamant about that. Going with the detachable belt loops you could then experiment with one only, or either, or both loops. Nelson's method was to use a t-nut and bugle head screw to attach the male or stud side of the snap. Ideally a one-way snap. The t-nut and liner are stitched inside (under) the mouth band, then punch a hole and slip one end of the belt loop over the t-nut where the nut protrudes through the mouth band, and then set the snap stud over the belt loop, and install the screw. That snap stud gets the bugle head screw which if the right size is countersink into the recess of snap stud and of course the other end of the belt loop gets the female side of the snap. (Make extras if you wear different width belts.) The original S/Spl does not lend itself to being a great range holster, but it's light, compact and most of all it helped to achieve the primary rule of a gun fighting - Bring a gun! The attached pix is not from an S/Spl but a Nelson Patriot (that one snapped over the belt), nevertheless it illustrates the order of installation that he used. I believe the removable belt loop(s) will let you experiment with placement of the loops, where you position on the belt, as well as the cant - sort of tweak it to your liking. Look forward to seeing your next one. Your work's improved exponentially in short order! uuuuuuurrrraaahhhh! ~Semper Fi and Watch Your Six!

[usmc0341]

You guys give a ton of information. I'm going to have to reread this post a couple times to digest everything. Good news is that theres a gun show this weekend, and I'm suddenly in the market for a thinner handgun! :D But thanks again for everyone taking the time to share your wisdom and advise. I'll post my next one on here soon, but I have 3 knife sheaths to do first.

Semper Fi

Brian