What Do You Do With The Railed Guns?

[George B]

Hey All,

been a while since I've had the opportunity to post anything. Just keeping way too busy with the orders and family.

Is there something I'm missing to keep the Picatinny rail and the new more aggressive rails from tearing the heck out of my holsters?

I let everyone I make one for or have made that the rail will eventually tear up the inside of the holster where it contacts, and, may eventually effect the life of the holster.

Some are so aggressive that I will not even take on the job.

Anybody figured out how to deal with this?

Any and vice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

George

[Art]

Kydex or sheet metal will stand up to abuse for a while. Making a channel for the rail works too. It is possible to file the edges of the rail that are the problem, then you have to refinish the rail. Ultimately, you need to build a holster with not only the rail attached to the gun, but the accessory attached to the rail which makes for some crazy holster profiles. For the most part make a Kydex holster and cover it with leather. Scoped hunting guns and handgun hunting were all the rage a decade or two ago, and I made some pretty big holsters for them; now they have even bigger guns so some holster making is more like case work.

Art

[Dwight]

If you cover the rail and the part of the gun behind it with 2 or 3 layers of masking tape, . . . then make the holster, . . . it does not "fit" quite as close as you would like, . . . but it also does not tear up as quickly.

OR, . . . (I have not done this yet), . . . one could make an "inner" holster for the offending part, . . . of kydex, . . . mold the leather holster around the weapon with the kydex in place, . . . contact cement the kydex in place, . . . and go on with life.

May God bless,

Dwight

[chiefjason]

I also do kydex and I use cardboard to keep the rail from molding and catching. A thin plastic cover taped to it would work for leather. I usually just try and be careful when I'm molding around the rail so I don't mold into it much. Some of them do get a bit ridiculous. But working around a rail is easier than working around the junk that gets put on one.

[George B]

I've given Kydex a thought and will try to figure it out when I get time. I don't touch anything with a light attached to it. Did one and it looked like a dang shoe.

Thanks,

George

[George B]

I have considered the glued Kydex as well but would need to stitch it in place. Just don't trust the glue by itself. The difficult thing about the Kydex is when I'm doing an Avenger and trying to figure out exactly where the rail will rub.

Thanks Dwight,

George

[chiefjason]

Be aware that the act of heating and bending the kydex will still try and force it into the rails. The best plan imo is mark out the offending shapes so they don't mold into the kydex or leather. Kind of like masking out ejection ports, safeties, or slide locks. The point is to build a channel for it to pass through easier, which means the least molding into the depressions as possible.

In other words, you are probably trying to do the opposite of what you are used to doing in the rail area. I try to just "box" them off. I bone it enough to define it as a different part of the gun, but not enough to mold the leather into it.