imported post
crisisweasel wrote:
Thoreau wrote:
Can't comment on the included holster (I quickly replaced it with a Blackhawk Serpa for OC and a Comptac Infidel for CC) but if it fits and is comfortable, rock on!
Tell me about the Blackhawk Serpa. I was just reading about these, and it looks like the perfect holster. I went to Sportsmans Warehouse here in Tucson, but, predictably, all they had left were LEFT-HANDED VERSIONS of this holster.
(* On another note, what the hell is going on over there? You walk into that place and it looks like a kind of nirvana of sorts until you realize everything is always out of stock. Ammunition I guess I understand, but I'm noticing it extends to a lot of the rest of their stock.)
Anyway it looks like it provides an ideal solution to the problems of retention (for me, anyway). It it as good as it looks?
I got it specifically because of the retention which was a concern to me for hiking. Hiking trails like the one to the top of Flatiron out in the Supes requires a good bit of rock hopping/scrambling and I didn't want even a slight chance of my boomstick getting away from me. So far, the Serpa has been flawless in that regard.
I also love the method used to retain the gun with regards to how to release it. Being my first handgun it helped kinda force me to get used to drawing with my index finger along the slide instead of anywhere else, and just comes naturally.
Lastly, the Serpa is a modular system, so you can mount it to the included belt loop platform, the included paddle platform, or even to a thigh rig platform that they also sell (bought that too for use on backpacking trips where a belt-level holster would be incompatible with the waist straps of a full frame backpack.)
Overall, a great system, not too terribly expensive, and pretty comfortable too. The only 'issue' i've come up with so far is that the Serpa I was able to get ahold of is technically designed for the standard sized XD, not the XDm. So instead of being a flawless fit (length-wise) for the XD, the XDm sticks out a little bit at the bottom (half inch maybe?) and isn't as protected. I have gotten a couple small scratches on the end of the slide while hiking as a result of this, but nothing major or even really noticeable.
Edit: Bought the main Serpa rig at Scottsdale Gun club, but only Sportsman's Warehouse had the thigh rig in stock back then, so I got that there. (Still have yet to see a single round of handgun ammo in stock in that place in the last six months tho.)
Edit2: Oh, haven't tried driving with the Serpa. Sport seats aren't really compatible with a holstered gun (even my IWB holster and gun are too bulky to wear while driving, and that's with my HK USP40 even, which is substantially smaller than the XDm.)