Reinforcing Mouth Of Iwb Holster

[renegadelizard]

At first glance I started to respond with the standard arguments in contrary to yours.......after reading it with patience and thinking about it you have a very valid point.........but then again I dont even know what two handed reholstering is.....

You have a bunch of people who attend these civilian on patrol type courses, and inevitably there is some swat guy teaching some portion of the class, and at some point tactics get brought up and the swat guy tells about his tactics and the civilian hears what he/she wants to hear...the next thing you know, you have a guy asking for a concealed carry IWB holster that will fit a full sized sig with a laser, flashlight combo, with a reinforced mouth so he can holster with one hand...because the swat guy said tactical reholstering was important....i guess im just getting old...little things like this really irk me...like quad rails on an ar 15...why, for the love of all things Holy, do you need 4 rails on a carbine...it looks about as cool as a cheese grater....anyway, two handed reholstering is when you have to use your non firing hand to assist in reholstering your firearm..

[Dwight]

When I was in the military, . . . we had our handy dandy, flap over, push the button through the hole, leather holster for our 1911's, . . . that were older than most of us and weighed almost as much as did the pistol inside it.

One hand re-holstering???? You must be kidding, . . . unless you have 3 or more extra appendages on that one hand doing the re-holstering.

Fast forward to civilian life and a CHL:

Get up in the morning, . . . put on clothing, . . . add holster, . . . get ready to meet the day.

Go to town, . . . maybe stop at the post office, . . . maybe visit your kid's school to watch a practice or a game, . . . stop at any one of a half dozen government buildings for licenses, license plates, election posters, etc.

I do this at least once a week, . . . sometimes more often, . . . and I have a few places I shop that do not allow handguns.

No, . . . I am not going out into my shop and create some dufus looking wannabe holster that requires two hands, 13 fingers, and the ability to bend over completely backwards and kiss the floor just to put my 1911 back in my holster.

I want one that creates, . . . exemplifies, . . . allows, . . . and promotes one hand re-holstering. Why? Because I am lazy for one thing (I freely admit that, . . . ) and except for the first time in the morning, . . . standing beside my bed, . . . all the other re-holstering opportunities are in my vehicle, . . . sitting in the driver's seat, . . . and it is really hard to pull my left arm around my body, . . . past the steering wheel, . . . over the seat belt, . . . so it can hold the holster open while my right hand inserts the weapon.

THAT, . . . is the reason I designed, . . . created, . . . and manufacture a holster that "creates, . . . exemplifies, . . . allows, . . . and promotes one hand re-holstering".

It is not necessarily, . . . "tacti-cool", . . . but it is "practi-cool", . . . and it makes life just a little bit easier.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited October 25, 2014 by Dwight

[asbandr]

I honestly don't really care a whole lot about one handed reholstering vs. Two handed. Though I will say it makes reholstering easier, and to me safer, with less involvement necessary from the other hand. This comes in handy when you're practicing drawing from the holster. But regardless of what works for me, a reinforced mouth for single - handed reholstering is what many of my customers want. I aim to please.

[Red Cent]

Whoops! Meant 11mm. Testing you Dwight.

[Dwight]

Whoops! Meant 11mm. Testing you Dwight.

Well, . . . I'm not sure I'd want a reinforcement piece out of 11mm steel either.

That's something near 44/100 of an inch, . . .

Of course, . . . I doubt if it ever would get "bent out of shape", . . . provided of course, . . . it could ever get "bent into shape".

May God bless,

Dwight

[BHPshooter]

I got to chime in here and ask what is the purpose of one handed reholstering?...For anyone carrying inside the waistband, and yes, even in a law enforcement role, what purpose does it serve...if i have just pulled my gun on someone, i will not reholster it until the threat is no longer a threat...then i will reholster it with two hands, a trombone, a shoehorn and anything else i think i need to use..why, because the threat is no longer a threat...one handed reholstering, aka, "tactical reholstering", is a concept used and practiced by tactical units carrying outside the waistband, either for quick weapons transitions, or going hands on with a "live" threat..even then, they have a cover unit with a firearm still out and in the fight...ive been a cop for 20 years, and i have seen this mentality creep into the scene with much dismay....bottom line, "practics" or the practical application of equipment and personnel, will always beat tactics...maybe someday tacticool will grow up and be practicool....thus endeth my rant..lol..

I understand where you're coming from, but there are a lot of good reasons to be able to reholster one-handed.

You might have the other hand holding a phone to your ear while calling 911, or holding a child.

That, in my opinion, is all secondary to the fact that when using your off-hand to open up a collapsed holster, it is difficult (if not impossible) to avoid pointing the gun at your off-hand. Worse yet, some folks like to try to wedge the muzzle into the mouth of the holster and pry/twist/wiggle the gun into place, which frequently results in pointing the muzzle at your innards.

It's undeniably true that there is a tendency in the gun world to do things "because the Police/SWAT/SEALS/Arnold Schwarzenneger does it that way." However, that doesn't mean that those practices might apply to normal folks in some situations.

[asbandr]

Can anyone direct me to a video tutorial of someone using the flashing to reinforce the mouth of their holster?

[chiefjason]

I made one a while back with 2 strips of pallet strapping. The leather panel ran down the sight channel about 3/4 of the way down the slide. then it wrapped around to the top and up to just above the trigger. I ran one strip across the top of the slide from the rear sight area towards the trigger and T'd one off of it down the slide.

I think I could have stood on that holster. I don't make it a habit of pushing and bending holsters, but I could barely get the mouth to move. Customer requested it, I did it.

I don't do reinforcements normally unless it's an Avenger or single clip IWB and then it is just part of my design. Or by request.

[Matt Alsaker]

I got to chime in here and ask what is the purpose of one handed reholstering?...For anyone carrying inside the waistband, and yes, even in a law enforcement role, what purpose does it serve...if i have just pulled my gun on someone, i will not reholster it until the threat is no longer a threat...then i will reholster it with two hands, a trombone, a shoehorn and anything else i think i need to use..why, because the threat is no longer a threat...one handed reholstering, aka, "tactical reholstering", is a concept used and practiced by tactical units carrying outside the waistband, either for quick weapons transitions, or going hands on with a "live" threat..even then, they have a cover unit with a firearm still out and in the fight...ive been a cop for 20 years, and i have seen this mentality creep into the scene with much dismay....bottom line, "practics" or the practical application of equipment and personnel, will always beat tactics...maybe someday tacticool will grow up and be practicool....thus endeth my rant..lol..

Don....first, I love your work and thank you for your years of service. I'll hit my 20 years of LEO service in March. All I know is one handed holstering. From the first time out of the holster in the recruit academy until this day, that is all we've ever trained. The State's firearms training curriculum for all new officers and the annual certification only have one handed holstering. It's not just that special tactics guys that train for one handed holstering, it's all of us. As for the purpose of one handed holstering, I guess I was so excited as a young cop I never asked the instructors. However, my experience has been that threats change. I'm not talking about a situation where deadly force has been used and we are holding on a threat waiting for more help, that is still a threat. I'm referring to those situations where we are out of the holster believing there is a threat, but as the situation evolves / develops and as we gather more information we determine the use of deadly force is not justified. Some other level of force may be justified, hence wanting to keep our off-side hand free while holstering. I like being able to holster with one hand while keeping my off-side hand free and being able to keep my eyes down range.

There is more than one way to skin a cat (or holster a firearm). There are a lot of ideas about tactics and equipment out there, ask a cop and they will tell you, but my comfort level is with one handed holstering. That doesn't make it the right way, it just makes it the way that works for me. Take care of yourself brother, the world seems to have gone crazy.

Here's our State's student manual for the firearms stuff. I think they discuss the draw and holstering starting on page 35 (I got this with a quick internet search, so I'm not giving away anything Top Secret here).

http://ecampus.matc.edu/policetraining/Library/Required%20Reading/Firearms_Student_Text.pdf

[Matt Alsaker]

Can anyone direct me to a video tutorial of someone using the flashing to reinforce the mouth of their holster?

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=22992

It's not a video, but has pretty good pictures. This is one way to do it. I do mine a little different, but the end result if the same. Install the stainless steel between the leather reinforcement piece and the holster leather. Once everything is glued and stitched, I bend the mouth of the holster by hand around the slide of the firearm. Final adjustments are done as I finish the holster.