deepdiver
Campaign Veteran
imported post
*I've never tried to write a holster review before so I hope I hit all the important points. I used section headers to help "Cliff's Notes" it to some degree. If anyone has questions, just ask.*
WEB LINK TO HOLSTER:
http://www.comp-tac.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=95
HISTORY:
I have been looking for a good IWB CC holster for a few years now. I bought a cheap (about $10) Bulldog nylon holster that works ok but is a PITA to reholster and if carrying my Sig, it leaves sweat stains on the slide. One of my issues is that I alternate between two different sidearms. Another is that I wear against my skin and didn't want kydex rubbing me raw. Yet another is that I am rather frugal and didn't want to end up with a drawer full of holsters I didn't like after I wore them for a while. Given all of that I spent a long time looking, reading, thinking about this and wieghing my options. Also, I don't like untucked shirts so I needed a holster that was fully tuckable
DECISION TIME:
In 3 weeks I am going to FL to get married. Hot, humid and CC only. I don't want to wear a Panama Jack shirt untucked everwhere although that is a typical manner of dress in the areas we will be. The time crunch eliminated certain holsters that had a long order time. I had my eye on the Minotaur MTAC holster for quite a while and it was in my final 3 so I finally pulled the trigger so to speak last Saturday.
HOLSTER DECISION PROS:
1) Leather backing against the skin with a sweat guard to protect the pistol
2) Kydex holster body making holstering easy
3) Interchangeable holster bodies (holster plus one kydex body $80, each additional kydex body $35)
4) Although I didn't know it when I ordered, it has a retention break built into the kydex body
ORDERING PROCESS:
I ordered a Comp-Tac Minotaur MTAC holster for a P228 with an extra "slide" body for XDs with C-clips (one set of clips, your choice of style, come with the holster) online on Saturday. The ordering was uneventful excepting that it is very easy to accidentally check the "paypal" option after filling out credit card info. That took me to a paypal page with a "cancel and return to comp-tac" button. That button did not cancel the paypal order. I ended up with a completed credit card order and pending paypal order. An email to the easily found sales email address led to that extra order being deleted the next business day. I opted for standard ground shipping for $8.50.
I immediately received a receipt email and an order confirmation email.
Being that Monday was a holiday for them, they order was not processed until Tuesday morning. I received an email that morning that the order was being processed. I received another email Tuesday afternoon that the order would be in the mail that evening. I received it in today's mail at my office.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
It came in a priority mail box, inside that being a large ziplock bag and a shipping manifest with a friendly handwritten thank you for my order. Inside the ziplock was the holster with the P228 body attached set at an FBI cant, the XD slide body and 4 extra rubber spacers, 4 extra grommets and 6 extra hex screws (the body takes 2 rubber spacers, 4 grommets and 4 screws to mount to the leather backing), a business card and a hex wrench sized for the hex screws that mount the bodies and the clips.
The backing appears to be a nice piece of leather. The front is a nice light brown shade, the screws are flat black and the metal grommets and clips are black as well. The leather backing pale and appears undyed which I like as I was wearing a white shirts today and was happy to see there was no leather dye to rub off on the shirt. The single line of stitching is even and attractively follows the contour of the holster.
The front of the kydex body slides under the leather and is secured by 2 hex screws. The back of the body is also attached by 2 hex screws but have rubber bushings allowing the tension of the holster to the leather body to be adjusted. The 2 clips also attach with a rubber bushing, metal grommet and hex screw. Loosening and tightening the clip screws allows the clips to rotate more or less which in initial fit testing seems to have some effect on how well the holster moves with my body.
My manager who brought in the mail including the holster stuck around in my office to see it. I looked it over well, unloaded and test fit my Sig. The only negative was that the decocking lever immediately put a long scratch on the leather.
But that part is covered by the kydex body so it is all good. I slipped it on.
It went on easily without having to undo my pants. I just had to loosen the belt a few notches. It comes on and off about as easily as my Blackhawk SERPA paddle.
I was wearing a "dress T" and a thin cotton sweater over that today. I put on the holster with the t-shirt between it and my body and then tucked in the sweater over the pistol. She said it looked good and was not obvious unless you looked hard at my belt line and saw the buldge on the one side. Then I pulled up my sweater from over my pistol and tried a test draw.
Ok, I hate to admit it but I think that a sign of maturity is being able to laugh at yourself. I couldn't draw the pistol. I tried again and only managed to flex the clips and give myself a wedgie. By this time my manager is in tears and calls to my other manager to come in and see the "gunfighter" who can't get the friggin' thing out of the holster. :X :banghead: Luckily they are very dear to me and we rib each other a lot so I blushingly laughed along with them.
What I realized in playing with the holster for a while longer is that the trigger guard catch built into the kydex isn't just a catch, it is also a break. You have to push the butt of the pistol inward towards your body as you draw to clear it. If you try to draw outward or even straight up, you are going to break the clips and pull the holster out of your pants before that pistol comes out. I thought it would have zero retention however, I am please to find out that is not the case.
I played with adjusting the tension of the kydex body some and found I had to loosen it a bit from the factory tension to get a smooth draw, at least for now. As I wear it and break it in I'm sure that will change. Also, I noticed that where I wear it on my body, which effects the curve of the leather, coupled with the tension of the back screws with the bushings, effects how much push is required to overcome the break.
I haven't tried it with the XD body yet but will hopefully have time this weekend.
Overall so far I am very pleased with my purchase on all levels. For 123.50 I basically got 2 IWB leather backed, kydex holsters for both of my primary carry pistols. So far I highly recommend this holster.
ETA: web link
ETA2: Engraved on the backside of the kydex body is what pistol it is for so you don't have to try to guess.
Also, because of the way it fits on the belt, if you have to do sit down bathroom business, I have no problem leaving the Sig in the holster and keeping my pants with holstered sidearm at my knees. May sound like an odd thing to add to the review but being that we have had several page discussions about what to do with a sidearm when sitting in the bathroom, I thought I would add this tidbit.
*I've never tried to write a holster review before so I hope I hit all the important points. I used section headers to help "Cliff's Notes" it to some degree. If anyone has questions, just ask.*
WEB LINK TO HOLSTER:
http://www.comp-tac.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=95
HISTORY:
I have been looking for a good IWB CC holster for a few years now. I bought a cheap (about $10) Bulldog nylon holster that works ok but is a PITA to reholster and if carrying my Sig, it leaves sweat stains on the slide. One of my issues is that I alternate between two different sidearms. Another is that I wear against my skin and didn't want kydex rubbing me raw. Yet another is that I am rather frugal and didn't want to end up with a drawer full of holsters I didn't like after I wore them for a while. Given all of that I spent a long time looking, reading, thinking about this and wieghing my options. Also, I don't like untucked shirts so I needed a holster that was fully tuckable
DECISION TIME:
In 3 weeks I am going to FL to get married. Hot, humid and CC only. I don't want to wear a Panama Jack shirt untucked everwhere although that is a typical manner of dress in the areas we will be. The time crunch eliminated certain holsters that had a long order time. I had my eye on the Minotaur MTAC holster for quite a while and it was in my final 3 so I finally pulled the trigger so to speak last Saturday.
HOLSTER DECISION PROS:
1) Leather backing against the skin with a sweat guard to protect the pistol
2) Kydex holster body making holstering easy
3) Interchangeable holster bodies (holster plus one kydex body $80, each additional kydex body $35)
4) Although I didn't know it when I ordered, it has a retention break built into the kydex body
ORDERING PROCESS:
I ordered a Comp-Tac Minotaur MTAC holster for a P228 with an extra "slide" body for XDs with C-clips (one set of clips, your choice of style, come with the holster) online on Saturday. The ordering was uneventful excepting that it is very easy to accidentally check the "paypal" option after filling out credit card info. That took me to a paypal page with a "cancel and return to comp-tac" button. That button did not cancel the paypal order. I ended up with a completed credit card order and pending paypal order. An email to the easily found sales email address led to that extra order being deleted the next business day. I opted for standard ground shipping for $8.50.
I immediately received a receipt email and an order confirmation email.
Being that Monday was a holiday for them, they order was not processed until Tuesday morning. I received an email that morning that the order was being processed. I received another email Tuesday afternoon that the order would be in the mail that evening. I received it in today's mail at my office.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
It came in a priority mail box, inside that being a large ziplock bag and a shipping manifest with a friendly handwritten thank you for my order. Inside the ziplock was the holster with the P228 body attached set at an FBI cant, the XD slide body and 4 extra rubber spacers, 4 extra grommets and 6 extra hex screws (the body takes 2 rubber spacers, 4 grommets and 4 screws to mount to the leather backing), a business card and a hex wrench sized for the hex screws that mount the bodies and the clips.
The backing appears to be a nice piece of leather. The front is a nice light brown shade, the screws are flat black and the metal grommets and clips are black as well. The leather backing pale and appears undyed which I like as I was wearing a white shirts today and was happy to see there was no leather dye to rub off on the shirt. The single line of stitching is even and attractively follows the contour of the holster.
The front of the kydex body slides under the leather and is secured by 2 hex screws. The back of the body is also attached by 2 hex screws but have rubber bushings allowing the tension of the holster to the leather body to be adjusted. The 2 clips also attach with a rubber bushing, metal grommet and hex screw. Loosening and tightening the clip screws allows the clips to rotate more or less which in initial fit testing seems to have some effect on how well the holster moves with my body.
My manager who brought in the mail including the holster stuck around in my office to see it. I looked it over well, unloaded and test fit my Sig. The only negative was that the decocking lever immediately put a long scratch on the leather.
But that part is covered by the kydex body so it is all good. I slipped it on. It went on easily without having to undo my pants. I just had to loosen the belt a few notches. It comes on and off about as easily as my Blackhawk SERPA paddle.
I was wearing a "dress T" and a thin cotton sweater over that today. I put on the holster with the t-shirt between it and my body and then tucked in the sweater over the pistol. She said it looked good and was not obvious unless you looked hard at my belt line and saw the buldge on the one side. Then I pulled up my sweater from over my pistol and tried a test draw.
Ok, I hate to admit it but I think that a sign of maturity is being able to laugh at yourself. I couldn't draw the pistol. I tried again and only managed to flex the clips and give myself a wedgie. By this time my manager is in tears and calls to my other manager to come in and see the "gunfighter" who can't get the friggin' thing out of the holster. :X
:banghead: Luckily they are very dear to me and we rib each other a lot so I blushingly laughed along with them. What I realized in playing with the holster for a while longer is that the trigger guard catch built into the kydex isn't just a catch, it is also a break. You have to push the butt of the pistol inward towards your body as you draw to clear it. If you try to draw outward or even straight up, you are going to break the clips and pull the holster out of your pants before that pistol comes out. I thought it would have zero retention however, I am please to find out that is not the case.
I played with adjusting the tension of the kydex body some and found I had to loosen it a bit from the factory tension to get a smooth draw, at least for now. As I wear it and break it in I'm sure that will change. Also, I noticed that where I wear it on my body, which effects the curve of the leather, coupled with the tension of the back screws with the bushings, effects how much push is required to overcome the break.
I haven't tried it with the XD body yet but will hopefully have time this weekend.
Overall so far I am very pleased with my purchase on all levels. For 123.50 I basically got 2 IWB leather backed, kydex holsters for both of my primary carry pistols. So far I highly recommend this holster.
ETA: web link
ETA2: Engraved on the backside of the kydex body is what pistol it is for so you don't have to try to guess.
Also, because of the way it fits on the belt, if you have to do sit down bathroom business, I have no problem leaving the Sig in the holster and keeping my pants with holstered sidearm at my knees. May sound like an odd thing to add to the review but being that we have had several page discussions about what to do with a sidearm when sitting in the bathroom, I thought I would add this tidbit.