Askins Avenger Sight Rail Question

[ArcherBen]

My next holster is going to be an Askins Avenger style for my Sig P226. This will be my first attempt at this type of holster. In looking at some of the different versions out there I have noticed that some makers sew in a sight rail. My question, are they just sewing a small strip of leather into that portion of the holster to form sight rail?

[TwinOaks]

Hi Ben,

Every holster maker will have his or her own way of doing it, but most of the holsters I've seen don't have an extra piece sewn in. The stitched in sight channel is a more permanent way to keep the clearance made by molding. You can tape a wooden dowel to the top of the pistol and get the channel by molding the leather to the dowel. Stitching it in effectively forces the leather to make a turn and hold it. It's more or less tying the leather into a braced 90 degree turn to allow room for the front sight. Good molding will also produce the clearance, but without the stitching, the leather could collapse/ lose shape after time (especially for IWB holsters).

[DCKNIVES]

I usually put sight rails on my Glock models especially because Glock sights are rather weak. I don't do a one piece channel though, instead I use two strips about 1/2"-5/8" wide sewn in and they pickup the corners on the slide, and the with the molded front leaves about a 1/4" of clearance for the sight.You could probably get by with gluing as long as you stitched the top, but since I almost always do inlays I have an extra piece of leather to cover up any sight rail stitching.Dave

[TwinOaks]

Ack! I totally forgot about adding in welts! My profuse appologies- this was the result of TBC (typing before coffee)

[Shorts]

I also tape a dowel on the gun for the sight channel.

[Tac]

If your P226 has steel sights (all Sig factory P-series guns have steel sights from the factory), a small dowel rod (the diameter of a #2 pencil or slightly smaller), cut to fit between the front and rear sights and taped with painters tape to the top of the slide, will give you plenty of clearance for your sights. I tape the dowel to the slide, then oil the gun and wrap it in plastic wrap before I use it to wet mold a holster and it works well.

As DC mentioned, if you are making the holster for a Glock or simular pistol with plastic (fragile) sights or those with fiber optic sights, you might want to consider a sewn in sight channel or you will risk the chance that you will break off your front sight during the draw from the holster. (or you will wear down the plastic and affect the accuracy of the gun over time, if it drags on the leather...)

-Tac