Customized Handguns, Tactical Lights, Etc. Reality Rears Its Ugly Head Again.

[Mark Garrity]

I'm a grumpy old cop too, but I would have no problem accomodating him. Send him my way if you want.

[Sixer]

I'd like to see 10k patterns all spread out!

I take a different approach when declining a project. I think this one is condescending and sarcastic, and you have NO idea what the end-user intends to do with that gear. Some folks have special needs for special jobs. You may have been a LEO and holstermaker for 25+ years, but your end-user/customer could be someone who significantly outranks you when it comes to tour of duty and/or being dropped in the shit. A copy/paste reply is like pressing 1 for English and then 2 for customer service. If you're a custom maker, you MUST talk to your customers and get all the details. You never know who you're dealing with, and they very well could know much more than you think. If you don't feel like you can make the holster they want and make it up to your standards, then say so and move on. Insulting their knowledge because you're not the right maker isn't necessary.

Just my $.02

Couldn't agree more... and who know's how much time you wasted telling the guy "no". Don't expect him to call you when he needs a "regular" holster and don't expect any positive reccommendations to his friends or whoever else he may know.

I do my best to treat each customer like I would a friend, or how I would expect to be treated myself... even when declining business. It doesn't always work out that way, but at least I try. I would say that you take your "rejection letter" and delete it forever. Copying and pasting that would be a mistake IMHO.

[Lobo]

Well, we have gotten some discussion going on, and that is a good thing.

I've been doing this little business for just over 40 years. Most of what I post here anymore has more to do with the quirks to be expected in this business than it has to do with specifics of holster design or making, and I frequently bring up things that cause alarm bells to ring for me in hopes of alerting others about what to be careful of.

For those who think I am a rude, arrogant, obnoxious, inconsiderate old man I will offer a few thoughts:

1. When you Google your business trade name and come up with 150,000 hits, let's talk again.

2. When your website consistently draws 5,000-plus hits every week, let's talk again.

3. When you are producing over 2,000 completed orders every year, let's talk again.

4. When you have repeat customers in all 50 US states and 29 foreign countries, let's talk again.

5. When you think for a single moment "The customer is always right", let's talk again.

6. When the e-mail traffic from your website requires 4 or 5 hours every day to read and respond to, let's talk again.

7. When you have committed to production of a project for a customer who knows more about your business than you will ever learn, let's talk again.

8. When your customer takes delivery of his "dream holster", completed to his exact specifications, and realizes that there is no way in the world that it can ever function in the way he thought/knew/dreamed that it would, and is blaming your lousy execution for ruining his sublime inspiration, let's talk again.

A formed leather IWB-style holster for a pistol having a slide width of 7/8", a frame width of 5/8", with a dust-cover mounted rail over 1" wide holding a tactical light 3-plus inches long with a bezel diameter of about 1-1/4", cannot possibly work; nothing involved in the equation passes the barest minimum test of common sense. Mr. Customer may conceive of it as the "PERFECT HOLSTER", and Mr. Holster Maker may commit to making it for him, but the only possible outcome is a disappointed Mr. Customer who will always remember that Mr. Holster Maker failed miserably, but will never conclude that his concept was the least bit flawed.

Go your own ways, boys and girls. Learn from the experiences of others if you can, otherwise be prepared for the school of hard knocks for all of your lessons.

Best regards.

[Sixer]

There are many ways to measure success. Being good at leatherwork is neat and all... but some things are more important. 40 years from know, I can only hope that I feel the same way

[Mark Garrity]

I'm not just blowing smoke when I said send him to me, not to use him as a guinea pig and give it a try or experiment, but because i've been working with this concept for the past few years. The original prototype of the below holsters was made for an operator friend, who ran it and tested it in the harshest of environments for over a year. After finding no flaws with it, and dubbing it one of the most comfortable IWBs he has ever worn despite it's bulk, a contract order was made for his entire team. Seeing the holster in use has led to a few other multiple contract orders for the same holster by other agencies. So it can work, and several hard-core customers who wear a pistol for much greater length of time than most CCW holders are not the least bit disappointed. The below holster has been made by me for Glocks, Sigs, and 1911s.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Mark Garrity

[Sixer]

Mark,

Those are awesome! How is the retention?

[K-Man]

1. When you Google your business trade name and come up with 150,000 hits, let's talk again.

2. When your website consistently draws 5,000-plus hits every week, let's talk again.

3. When you are producing over 2,000 completed orders every year, let's talk again.

4. When you have repeat customers in all 50 US states and 29 foreign countries, let's talk again.

5. When you think for a single moment "The customer is always right", let's talk again.

6. When the e-mail traffic from your website requires 4 or 5 hours every day to read and respond to, let's talk again.

7. When you have committed to production of a project for a customer who knows more about your business than you will ever learn, let's talk again.

8. When your customer takes delivery of his "dream holster", completed to his exact specifications, and realizes that there is no way in the world that it can ever function in the way he thought/knew/dreamed that it would, and is blaming your lousy execution for ruining his sublime inspiration, let's talk again.

Been there, done that. My comments were based on actual experience in the holster-making, holster-designing, and business experiences. Good luck to you.

[Mark Garrity]

@ Sixer,

The retention isn't as snug as my usual work, due to the lack of detail boning in the trigger-guard area in particualar, but each holster is molded to the specific gun and light (Surefire X300 or Steamlight TLR-1) so there is still a good friction fit. You can do the upside-down shake test and the pistol won't fall out. As any officer carrying a gun-mounted light on-duty in a Safariland 6280 can attest, there's some amount of drag with the light-mounted guns, in particular due to the protrusions of the various mounting attachment tabs on the lights.

I was really skeptical that this would work at first when approached with the idea, which is why I only made the one initial working prototype after going through several design variations, and made the end-user run it for over a full year before making any others.

I initially wanted to make it with allen-screw attached loops, and may offer it that way, but his team specified no screws, rivets, or snaps.So far I have not advertised it on my web-site, because it is a labor-intensive PITA to make. For now I'm content filling contract orders for SMU teams and those few random customers that do inquire if I make such a thing.

[TexasJack]

Not many are brave enough to turn business away. The reality is that small, custom shops would probably take on whatever job they can get.

With any business, you've got to know your limitations. You have to be able to draw a line so that you don't take on work that you cannot complete profitably.

[SooperJake]

This is one of the best discussions I have read in the forums, to-date.