Pistol Holsters

[AshOnSnow]

Thought I'd make a thread to share your experiences, tips and opinions on pistol holsters. There are so many hundreds to choose from, as well as countless custom options.

 

I have 4 holsters.

- A Nuprol F226 holster for my P226 which uses a retention button. The P226 is my main pistol, and I use it when I'm wearing gloves due to the extra size. I also have 2 Nuprol double mag carriers for my 4 spare mags.

 

 

- A Safariland 578 GLS for my Glock 19 which uses a retention lever. I use the Glock 19 with 2 spare mags when I want a lighter loadout, as it weighs significantly less than the all-metal Sig. Even though not a high-end holster (comes in around $60), instantly I could tell what all the Safariland fuss was about. Compared to the chinese-made nuprol, there's no wiggle room, the gun slides in and out smoothly, and the retention system is really clever, releasing the gun as soon as you I establish a shooting grip on the pistol. On the plus side, it also fits my PPQ with a little adjustment.

 

 

- A Swiss Arms universal drop leg holster. This my drop leg which I don't use much anymore, but I do take out sometimes on night games. No quick draws here - you have to undo a button to release a strap. On the other hand, it means there's no chance of the gun falling out while running (although it does make it difficult to run and slightly off-balance when you have a holster on one leg).

 

A Swiss Arms universal hip holster. Bit rubbish really, uses velco on the strap which has now worn down - it's just a backup holster now and hasn't come out of the drawer in nearly a year.

 

 

What are your systems you're running?

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

Safariland 7TS ALS holsters my M&Ps. 

Safariland 7TS ALS XC1 holster for my Glocks

Safariland GLS for glocks, 1911s, DMs/XDMs, and whatever else I have

Safariland GLS L for my P226

DTD 3D printed holster for my TM mk23s.

 

yeeeaaaaaaaaaaa, its easy to see who I prefer haha

[AshOnSnow]

1 hour ago, SeniorSpaz87 said:

Safariland 7TS ALS holsters my M&Ps. 

Safariland 7TS ALS XC1 holster for my Glocks

Safariland GLS for glocks, 1911s, DMs/XDMs, and whatever else I have

Safariland GLS L for my P226

DTD 3D printed holster for my TM mk23s.

 

yeeeaaaaaaaaaaa, its easy to see who I prefer haha

How have your ALS holsters fared with airsoft replicas? In terms of dimensions and compatibility.

[SeniorSpaz87]

8 minutes ago, AshOnSnow said:

How have your ALS holsters fared with airsoft replicas? In terms of dimensions and compatibility.

 

They like TM and VFC. They will not fit WE without modification. I cannot speak for KWA or KJW, as I do not own nor have tested them.

[Prisce]

I'd highly recommend the universal pistol holster from Warrior Assault Systems, really easy to use, works great, subtle and looks great in my eyes.

 

https://www.uktactical.com/p-8927-warrior-universal-pistol-holster-multicam.aspx

 

They do different colours also. 

[M_P]

I've used quite a few holsters, the worst I've had was a viper modular/velcro adjustable thing, I thought that was pretty poor at best. It was very big for a start, wobbled all over the place when I ran and no matter how I adjusted it, I couldn't get it to reliably hold my pistol at the time- tm 1911 (hardly an uncommon shape), I'll never forget running, looking back as the gun flew out and swung on its lanyard to smash into a tree. I'd say it'd be alright if you can get your gun to fit but I find drop leg holsters wobble all over the place so it's never quite where you left it when you need it. 

 

Next best I'd say was the warrior universal holster, this time it was actually good as a holster and held all the pistols I tried in place well, the big downfall for me is how exposed they are out the bottom. If you spend a lot of time lying down etc then I'd not recommend it, if you dont then it's a decent cheap option. Just something that I was constantly thinking about when using it which becomes tedious after a while. 

 

My favourite that I've used is the blackhawk serpa, never had any issues with retention, was light enough and always felt safe with my guns in it

 

I recently bought a fobus holster is will see how it goes, feels good although the front end sticks out a bit, not button retention on it and was loose out the box so had to tighten it down, should be OK now though. 

 

I plan on getting a Phoenix tactical kydex holster in the next month so will update on how that is when bought 

[Lozart]

Having always had a torch on my pistols I've always found holsters are a bit more limited.

 

Currently using a Fobus EM17 which despite the slightly different drawing motion works well. It has a strap (sort of a thumb break but in a different place) for a bit of extra security but I find it retains the pistol perfectly well even without it done up. The only issue I have with it is that sometimes the lever on my torch snags on the body of the holster and turns on. Not so great for stealth....

[SAS]

I'm going to read the thread quietly, I opened one by asking how the airsoft Glock worked with original holsters

[Duff]

On 10/07/2017 at 10:54 AM, Lozart said:

Having always had a torch on my pistols I've always found holsters are a bit more limited.

 

Currently using a Fobus EM17 which despite the slightly different drawing motion works well. It has a strap (sort of a thumb break but in a different place) for a bit of extra security but I find it retains the pistol perfectly well even without it done up. The only issue I have with it is that sometimes the lever on my torch snags on the body of the holster and turns on. Not so great for stealth....

 

I keep my torch in my dump pouch when my pistol is holstered and slap it on if I need it. 

[Lozart]

48 minutes ago, Duff said:

 

I keep my torch in my dump pouch when my pistol is holstered and slap it on if I need it. 

 

Mine's a bit of a faff to fit so I either have it on (if I'm at the Mall) or leave it at home (if I'm out in the woods).

[Adolf Hamster]

i've always used the nuprol stuff, apart from not fitting the we sig too well (real tight when new, but keeping it in the holster has loosened it up) they're pretty good imo. have it on the drop leg mount as my belt is far too crowded. it took a while but i've figured out how to get it to stay relatively secure from wobbling by removing the top leg band and having it pulled up as high as i can get it.

 

when i first started using pistols i borrowed a generic adjustable drop leg from a mate (yeah, i bought a pistol and not a holster.....) and found out the hard way that you can't be guaranteed it'll go bang when you draw due to the mag having fallen out at some point. fortunately i lucked out re-tracing my steps and found the mag.

 

only other holster i'd use is a repro luger holster (3 guesses what that's for), it's sturdy as hell but it's about as far from quick draw as you can get. fortunately that's ok as it's a backup for the mg42 and when that's out nobody's coming near me

[Gimli]

At the moment i'm running the FOBUS 5-7 holster which even though it only uses friction retention in the trigger guard is a bloody blinding holster for the FN 5-7 and the DTD MK23 retention holster, haven't field tested yet but i'm looking forward to it as it's been highly rated and seems incredibly robust.

 

Same with Adolf Hamster, i got a pistol and no holster, so my holster at the time was a double SA80 mag pouch, which apart from a few mag drop issues worked significantly well

[Dentonboy]

I have 2 Safariland 6004 holsters for my Beretta M92F and M9A1. They are very comfortable, feel secure and I cannot rate them highly enough. 

 

I also have a LH and RH P226 Serpa for Molle mounting, again, very secure, light and smooth. 

 

For my small back ups, I have a Swiss Arms belt holster which does as you would expect. 

 

For my G19, I bought an ACM Gun Clip but it seemed to come off of the belt easily, so I swapped it out for a Crye one (have also bought a second one of these). However, this has also come off of Molle, so am hoping I have now secured correctly. 

 

Lastly, for my Mk23 I have an LBT 1794 which I bought more as a collector's piece as it came from one of LBT's founders. Yet to use in action, but having had my Mk23 in two holsters previously, and seen the magazine get dumped out after the catch kept getting caught, am hoping this is a step up. And yes, one was a Viper universal holster, a shockingly average bit of kit that was a PITA for a Summer of skirmishing.