Blackhawk Serpa CQC for Glock 21 SF with Picatinny Rail

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Currently the only options that Blackhawk offers for the Glock 21SF with the Picatinny/1913 rail is the leg drop holster and the duty holster. Since Blackhawk won't make a CQC holster for it, I decided to modify one to fit properly.

I purchased the CQC sized for a regular Glock 21, first I made two cuts on the back side of the holster, wrapped the gun in plastic wrap and put it in the holster, then filled the cuts with epoxy.



After doing that the gun fit but it was very tight. I draw but the holster pulled my pants up quite a bit before coming out. Then I remembered the tension screw. This is where blackhawk inteneded for the fit to be adjusted, so if I cut the holster anywhere it should be there. I made another cut along the back seam of the holster almost up to the tension screw. This time I wrapped the gun in 4 layers of aluminum foil to add to the thickness of the gun and hold the two sides of the holster apart. I filled this cut in with epoxy and let it harden fully over night. The last step was to take some sand paper and sand down the jagged edges of the epoxy and make it smooth. I may or may not paint it to match, I'm not too concerned about the look since these areas aren't very easy to see anyway. Now I have a perfectly fitting CQC. With the lever depressed the gun barely doesn't fall out of the holster held upside down, and it draws smooth and clean.



I just thought others who are struggeling with the 21sf holster situation might appreciate this.

More Photos:




Disclaimer: This type of modification voids any warranties and is not recommended by Blackhawk. I take no responcibility for any stupid thing you may or may not due or what the final results may be if you attempt this modification yourself.

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Because the duty and tactical holster do not have the speed cut. When you draw, you have to clear the bottom of the barrel over even higher than where the rear sights sit when it's holstered. That's why the duty attachment sits the holster so much lower, then it's not as big of a deal. But with the higher ride paddle and a full sized gun, the but of the gun would be in my armpit before I could start pointing the barrel at the attacker.

And I didn't want to pay $25 extra for a holster that didn't work as well.

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I think of all money in terms of ammo now. I saved over 80 rounds of .45ACP with this project!

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just need to paint it

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asforme wrote:

I think of all money in terms of ammo now. I saved over 80 rounds of .45ACP with this project!

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+1 I relate with this viewpoint.

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I had the same issue, but went about it a little differently...

Last year I bought a Serpa for my M&P45. I later sold the M&P to buy a Glock 21SF. I was happily surprised to find that the M&P holster was also designed to fit the G21. I was unhappy to realize that it didn't work with the 21SF with the picatinny rail.

With nothing to loose,I took a bastard file to the holster. I removed quite a bit of material form the inside of the holster, but it was slow tedious work. Whatever they use, that stuff is tough!

After spending more timefiguring exactly where the pinch points were, I decided that to really "fix" it, the Glock needed a little trimming. I did some minor filing on the G21 rails (a slight rounding of the bottom of the "bars" of the rail, not the edge that an accessory attaches to). I was able to make the Serpa work sucessfully with the G21SF with the Pic rail. Problem solved, life is good! Here are some pics:





Here is a "profile" shot of the frame of the gun:


(*NOTE* the gun came from Glock with the "Pignose" profile, has nothgint o do with the use of the holster)



After I got done with this, I find out that Blackhawk did a re-design of the holster to the "Low wall" design to reduce chances of the holster catching the trigger. They did a recall of sorts and will replace the old design with the new design. I didn't want to mess with an exchange process, then have to re-do the filing work (was a PITA!), so I just decided to keep the "unsafe" version.

I also have a M&P9c, and there are occasions when a Serpa is a better holster for me. I could use it, but having a big ole holster kind of takes away from the convenience of a smaller gun. It also looks kinda funny.

Serpa's are pretty cheap, I have several for different guns. Unfortunately they don't yet make one for the S&W compacts. If they did, I would have already bought one.

One other petty issue was with the ambi mag release on the G21SF, if you hit is just right, or with enough force, the holster would partially engage the mag release. Even though I am a right handed shooter, I prefer to have a trigger finger mag release, and have set up my M&P (and all my Sigs) this way. The same issue would occasionally crop up with the M&P as well.

So finding a few petty problems, and with time on my hands, I set out to solve them. Enter the grinder. I used a basic elctric hand grinder with a 4" disc to recontour the top of the holster to make it similar to the new "Low wall" design. i also trimmed up the area near the mag release to give it a little more room. Then I lopped off the bottom of the holster to get rid of the empty sleeve area when using it with the 9c.

The whole process took about 20 minutes. I was a little concerned that the faux Carbon Fiber applique would come off and get all boogered up, but there was no problems at at all. Put a little bevel on the edges so they aren't sharp, and I now have a "custom", dual purpose, Serpa holster. An interesting side note, is that by cutting the bottom 1.5 inches or so off, most of the filing I did in the first modification would not be necessary.



Mission accomplished!




Here are some before/after pics...

Holster after modifications to fit G21SF w/picatinny rail:



Empty holster after the cut-down:



Holster with G21SF:



Holster with M&P9c:



Close up before/after with G21SF for comparision:

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Wow, I wish you had posted your how to first when I was looking! Very nice work and your holster looks like much less of a hack job than mine. I'm going to try painting it eventually so hopefully it isn't so obvious.

I was very tempted to start grinding on the rail itself, but I chickened out seeing how the gun is over 10 times the cost of the holster. I also ground off one side of the mag release because after open carrying to a movie theater the outside release button was depressed by a chair and I didn't want that happening again. Of course now that I have the serpa that wouldn't matter because it covers the mag release.

I also knew about the new low wall design, but from my research it was the result of a single ND with an M&P. Since I don't own an M&P and I tried to get the high wall into the trigger guard (impossible on the Glock) I saw no reason to exchange it. Also I like the high wall because it protects the slide from any dings or scratches if I brush up against something. That's also the same reason I prefer not to just cut the bottom of the holster off, I like as much of the gun protected as possible.

I just hope this thread will prove useful to googlers trying to find a way to do this like I was before I started cutting up my serpa.

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I was a little hesistant about taking the file to the Glock as well. Before deciding to do it, I looked at it all very carefully and compared the rails to my other railed guns (Sigs). After checking and rechecking everything I was confident that the sharp angles on the bottom of the Glock rail weren't necessary. Sig rails have a rounded bottom and attachments clamp to the side/groove so functionally there was no reason it couldn't be rounded off a little.

The trick was do a little, check holster, check light attachment, repeat. Filing the Glock went much faster than filing the holster. At some point I was convinced it had no effect on attachment, so I quit checking as I progressed. Unless you looked at two G21SF's side by side, most folks probably couldn't tell it was modified.

I would like to get a hold of a "stock" G21SF and see if it fits the cut down holster, since most of the problem was at the end, it looks that simply cutting it down would solve the problem.

I know the redesign of the holster was the result of a single incident, but I figured if I am going to cut it, might as well take care of any chance of a problem. Since I wanted to trim away from mag release anyway, it just made sense to go all the way.

Having it trimmed at the top makes reholstering noticiably easier for me, you don't have to work "around" the tab that sticks up.

As far as less protection afforded by the cut down, I am not too concerned. Glocks are bullet-proof. They are never going to be considered "pretty" so I am not worried about a mar here or there. It is a working gun for me, and I abuse them regulalry.

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I just bought a serpa tactical holster for my Glock 21 sf and it fits like a glove. After looking at it, you could modify it to a CQC without too much brain damage. I will have to really think about that before I do it because at $100 for the setup I would hate to ruin it so soon.

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That's one way to do it.

Another way would have been to heat it up slowly with a heat gun and insert the gun into the holster. Let it cool and test. If parts above the bottom part drag too much, block the heatgun's stream with wood. Reinsert the gun up to that point only and let it cool. Repeat as necessary.

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New blackhawk holster for Glock model 21sf part # 44026BK-(R or L) fits like a glove. If you order from Tactical.com it will be $38.00 less. I have two one from Bloachawk and the other from Tactical.com

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goldenhr wrote:

New blackhawk holster for Glock model 21sf part # 44026BK-(R or L) fits like a glove. If you order from Tactical.com it will be $38.00 less. I have two one from Bloachawk and the other from Tactical.com

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Sadly, this is not the same. I got my hopes up for a few minutes The model I believe you're talking about is actually 44H026BK. And this is a duty holster, not the CQC discussed here.

I didn't realize when I got my 21SF that the picatinny rail would cause such a problem finding hard-case holsters! I even contacted Blackhawk, and the support person I got was either not very bright, not very helpful, or both.

I specifically asked if they had any plans to produce the CQC holster for my gun. They wrote back and said "we have these holsters for your gun: the duty (44H026BK) and the tactical (430526BK), right hand only."

I wrote back and said that's not what I asked, I wanted to know if they had any *plans* to make one. The next e-mail from the same person was short and firm: the only holsters we have were listed in the previous e-mail. Again, missing the point and not answering my question.

I'm sort of soured on Blackhawk now, even though I love their holsters. At least, I think I would if they made one that fit my gun.

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Order the Serpa Carbon fiber finish part number 4410013BK-R (or L for left). It has the square mouth and fits the 21SF with the rails. I just tried one at work and it fit like a champ.

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I also took a large round file to my Blackhawk holster and my 21 SF with the picatinny rails fits like it was made for it.