Iwb Holster - Looking For Feedback

[particle]

Thanks! Since I've only made a hand full of IWBs in the past (Summer Special design), I wasn't sure where to order from. Is 6-32 the size most people use? Seems a little small to me, but any bigger and the prongs seem too long if you sandwich it between the layers of leather. I ordered a bunch of dot fastener snaps a while back - can't remember how well that screw size fits the snap base.

[woodandsteel]

Looks good! I like how the signature shape of the reinforcement panel makes it clearly look like one of your holsters, even though it's a popular IWB style.

As others said, I think you might want to raise the front snap attachment point a little, to lower the ride height. By doing that, you might (but might not!) find that the added unsupported length of the front wing doesn't pull the gun in to the body tight enough, so you might make the reinforcement panel shorter, to decrease the length of the gap between the gun and the front wing.

Or not

I started out placing my snap loops much wider than probably necessary, but have settled on bringing them in to 1" from the stitching on either side. That leaves me enough room for a good grip on the gun, and just enough room to fit a sanding drum in the curve between the front wing and the body shield.

I usually make holsters with an 18 degree cant, which I find usually works well to conceal even full size grips.

[Colt Hammerless]

When he comes over, have him put the pistol in his belt at various places around his waist and at different angles of cant. I did that with a friend of mine, and he found the best place for him to conceal it was around 8:00 (lefty) and 30 degrees. I recently finished an IWB for my Steyr M40 and put the cant at 22.5 degrees (yes, I seriously drew it up like that on the paper, as I wanted to try it EXACTLY half way between 15 and 30, and I DID laugh at myself as I was doing it.) Hides the grip well, ride height exactly where I wanted it with no issues about room for a combat grip. You may only need to add a few degrees to what you have. Maybe in the area of 20 degrees plus or minus a couple. Let us know what the guy thinks about the positioning and cant, as I'm curious. By the way, that's a nice looking prototype! Oh, and Woodandsteel, gorgeous work!

Colt Hammerless

[woodandsteel]

Thanks, Colt Hammerless. The truth is, most of what I know about making holsters I learned from Particle and other people here on this forum!

I'm a big admirer of his work (He's one of only two makers who's holsters I still think about scraping money together to buy for myself!) so I feel a bit awkward offering advice, but that's part of what makes this forum such a great resource.

[Big O]

I don't bone IWB holsters in much detail, and the rear surface, not at all. Just hand-molding on the rear.

From my own experience wearing these holsters, retention is not an issue due to them being pressed against the body by the belt.

That's a gorgeous holster. Hard to believe it's a first.

[malabar]

Your workmanship is lovely as always.

I'm still really new to this, but my side-strap IWB is my most popular holster. And mine have been constantly evolving based on issues with proper grip, especially for this who have adopted the modern "thumbs high" style of shooting. Most shooters are not that particular about their grip (which is one reason why they do not shoot consistently well), but this is a serious issue for the more advanced ones. The grip you show in the photos would not be considered "proper" by the high-speed, low-drag crowd.

This is the grip I'm talking about....

http://www.personaldefensenetwork.com/articles/handguns/maximizing-the-combat-grip/

It appears to me from your photos that there is not enough clearance between your knuckles and the left strap attachment point. If your fingers wrap just a little tighter, the knuckles will scrape the leather there. That will become more pronounced for clients with fat fingers.

Also. the relief on the sweatshield could be an issue for some shooters. Your photo shows your thumb down along the lower edge of the sweatguard. A shooter using the thumbs "high grip" will want that thumb to be about a half inch higher, up along the frame.

Not meaning to be critical, just some of the issues I've dealt with ion this design.

And again, I love your work!

tk

[woodandsteel]

Good insight Malabar! I cut my sweat guards with a curve to clear as much of the thumb as possible. Would this one be sufficient for your requirements, or would it need to go even further?

[skippy]

Good insight Malabar! I cut my sweat guards with a curve to clear as much of the thumb as possible. Would this one be sufficient for your requirements, or would it need to go even further?

what are those rivets?

[particle]

Thanks for the feedback Malabar. I could probably stand to trim a little of the sweat shield away, but none of my customers have complained about the way cut mine. That being said - if I were to cut the sweat shield enough to clear the thumb completely for the "thumbs high" grip you mention and linked to, there might as well be no sweat shield at all. The proper grip for a 1911 is to have the thumb riding on top of the thumb safety, yet most people would prefer to have the thumb safety completely covered by the sweat shield. I'm afraid this is one of those areas where you simply can't have it both ways. I've chosen to cut the sweat shield where you can get a nice firm grip on the gun to draw it from the holster without interfering with the sweat shield, but this is not to say the thumb won't have to be moved slightly for a "proper" shooting grip.

[jlaudio29]

Yep, I prefer to have the thumb safety covered on my 1911s that i carry, but i do rest my thumb on the thumb safety when shooting. Creates a habit so that you always make sure the safety is off when your ready to shoot.

Skippy - those are T-nuts