The Safety of Leather Holsters
Safety of Leather Holsters If you have followed gun news for longer than a day, you have likely seen the horrific meme/picture showing the individual who shot himself in his right thigh with his carry gun. This picture is usually accompanied by the name of your KYDEX/plastic holster company saying why you shouldn’t get leather holsters and to buy their product instead….so let’s right these wrongs and talk about it.
First, the farthest I can trace this meme back was 2012, so almost 11 years ago, when carry holsters were very limited. This one shall remain nameless, and their leather was not known for being very rigid. You can see this based on the lip folding over into the trigger guard and into the trigger.
The second major issue is that this gun was only holstered, covering a small portion of the firearm with no retention. You will notice the firearm’s length, this could have caused it to be inadvertently pressed out of the holster due to no retention. This detail is crucial because it is possible that the gentleman that shot himself likely was pushing the firearm into the holster.
When thinking about the safety of leather holsters
You should not carry a holster where the slide sticks out at the end of the holster, and the holster has no retention. In this case, where the slide sticks out and the holster has no retention, the firearm can be pushed up and down in the holster freely. If you notice in the picture the person was sitting down, with no retention and the firearm sticking out the end holster. This could have caused the firearm to push up and out of the holster.
Third, the person using this holster was likely not looking at it when pushing the gun back into the holster or didn’t notice the firearm had been pushed up and gravity took over, and the gun slipped back down into the holster without his knowledge. Remember, there is no reason to be in a hurry to re-holster your firearm.
No one has ever won a gunfight for being the fastest to re-holster. If you must keep it attached or use some of our other holster lines like our RELIC Series, you ALWAYS check when you are re-holstering your firearm to ensure this doesn’t happen. Also, it is your responsibility to check your gear daily. Screws come loose, leather gets worn, clips break, and KYDEX remolds and cracks in weather conditions. Checking your equipment daily is a must because your life depends on it.
I have also heard stories and seen videos of t-shirts, jackets, or drawstrings getting pinched into KYDEX holsters, becoming a makeshift trigger, and setting the firearm off. Know where your gun is pointing and what’s touching the trigger all the time…. imagine how bad that could have been if appendix carry.
Finally, if you are not wearing a comfortable holster, you will end up not wearing it all the time and only wearing it part of the time. When looking for a holster, ensure the gun is not sticking out further than the front sight in a leather holster, because, in a bad situation, it is possible to catch the front site on the edge of the holster while drawing. Also, ensure it has some type of retention, and you cannot pull the trigger through the side wall. Most important, rather you are buying a KYDEX or leather holster, make sure it’s made in America and not some hunk of junk bought off the Alibaba Website that is privately labeled, as you can see here in this link.
Our leather is full grain, Grade A leather. There is NO SUCH THING as a “premium.” Premium is a word used in marketing tactics. We use the hide of the animal, not the scrap pieces of leather put together. This is the toughest leather and won’t compromise like some other holsters made with sub-par leather. Be wary of TOP grain for two reasons. First, it sands down the first layer of the leather and removes some of the toughness, making it thinner. It also removes the character and the imperfections that make each holster unique. This is something you won’t find in a run-of-the-mill mass-produced holster. Remember, Full grain leather is best used for making holsters, and top grain is best used to make handbags.
There is another type of leather to be wary of when shopping. That is “Genuine Leather,” which just means you are not getting the top…in fact, you may not know what type you are getting. There is also the chance that you are getting chemically processed leather toward the inside, so it is much thinner and not as durable.
There are several safety features we offer. First, we have full coverage, so there is no movement out of the holster unless you draw it out. It is made from full-grain leather, so it will last for years to come. Second is that our cuts are never flat across the trigger. They are at an angle, or hand boned (wet molded) to prevent foreign material from getting in and causing a discharge. Finally, our retention is done from friction-adjustable in the (RELIC Series) or magnetic (Original), so unlike the one pictured, it won’t need that adjustment.
Author: Ian Bolser
