That’s not a holster

A friend forwarded me this video on Facebook:

After watching the video, my first and immediate thought was “that’s not a holster, it’s just a strip of leather!” My second thought was “what a dangerous and silly way to carry a gun.”

There are so many things wrong with this, it’s difficult to find one to start with. Let’s go with this: the retention on that is terrible. The only thing that keeps your gun from quite literally falling on the floor is the tightness of your belt. That means that all sorts of shifting and movement is possible on the part of the gun. I guarantee it won’t present the gun in a consistent position for draw.

The video review states that it’s $10, which is too much money for something like that. You’d be better off carrying mexican style than with this thing, and if your choice is “tuck the gun in my waistband like Martin Riggs” or “spend 10 dollars on this piece of leather”, just save yourself the 10 bucks and go buy a couple of big macs or something.

This piece of leather (I refuse to call it a holster) takes the derp of a universal holster to a whole new level. It’s just…why would you buy this? At least with a 10 dollar nylon sausage sack you can have something that works as a makeshift pistol case for transporting your handguns, but with this thing you can’t even do that. I don’t understand what would posses someone to buy this. I really don’t. I note with mild optimism that this…thing isn’t on Tagua’s website, so maybe someone came to their senses and decided to not sell it.

18 Comments

    1. That is a Yaqui belt slide holster, which you’ll notice is different from the piece of shit we’re talking about in that it actually goes ALL THE WAY AROUND THE GUN.

      1. The frame shown at this angle isn’t clear on the distinction and the title has “Yaqui” in it. Without actually watching the video there’s no way to tell from your text you aren’t dissing on a Cooper special. It’s an honest mistake.

        1. > It’s an honest mistake.

          Yeah, I was going to say something about Yaqui holsters being nothing new, and their use by respected shooters.

          Then I watched the video.

          Since the text of this blog post doesn’t make the distinction between an actual Yaqui holster and whatever this is, Rob’s link to Jeff Cooper was, as Matt said, “an honest mistake.”

          1. Color me crazy, but I guess I thought that if I was going to spend 300 words blasting something in a video, people would have actually watched the video.

          2. You assumed.

            Not everybody wants to or has time to spend watching a 3 3/4 minute video, especially if they’re reading your site during a break at work, or on a phone with a crappy data connection. Sometimes, it’s just quicker to read what you wrote.

            And as a writer, you failed to communicate the difference between this piece of crap and a legitimate Yaqui holster. One or two additional sentences would have done the job.

            Instead, YOU BLAME THE READER * for not knowing what you already knew.

            * at least that’s how I’m interpreting your use of ALL CAPS in response to Robert Evans.

  1. That thing is, indeed, an insult to belt slide holsters. At first, I thought you were ranting about the real thing. Then I actually viewed the video. The shade of Jeff Cooper should beat the maker about the head and shoulders with a truncheon. It is not even half a holster.

  2. I wouldn’t carry a gun that I didn’t have a holster for. If you can spend 4-600 dollars for a polymer pistol, can’t you come up with another 40-75 bucks for a decent holster?

  3. What a great invention…a piece of leather you can bite down on to ease the pain after someone takes your gun away from you and beats the crap out of you! I agree with the reviewer in the video–a piece of duct tape would probably work as well.

  4. God I wished I had this thing on deployment, for just walking around from one point to another this thing would be great.

  5. Granted, it’s not much out of the box, but it’s a good start for a custom holster…

    1) Put your handgun in a very thin plastic bag (grocery store bags are good).
    2) Heat a jug of water in a container that’s big enough to submerge the holster. (You don’t need it boiling hot – just about 140F.)
    3) Using some metal tongs, dip the holster in the hot water for 4-8 seconds, then remove it and pat dry using kitchen towels. (Some dye will likely be in the watet, so be careful where it drips).
    4) Insert your plastic wrapped handgun into the wet/damp holster and begin pressing the leather to form it into the gun’s contours.
    5) You can use the rounded butt of a Sharpie marker to really work the leather into the lines of the pistol … but steer clear of the trigger (you don’t want the trigger pushed when holstering the gun).
    6) Let it dry overnight, then remove the gun from the holster and let it continue drying by itself.

    In theory, if you don’t need it to be a tight custom fit, you could put the holstered gun into a vacuum bag or between two pieces of heavy foam and press the sandwich between something very heavy.

    I did this to a generic holster for my .45 Jericho – which is not a common pistol – and ended up with a relatively good OWB holster for very cheap. I coated mine with paste wax afterwards too, then polished it up.

    One important tip is don’t overwork the leather, as it gets thinner and stretches out as it’s worked. Go too far and it ends up like cardboard! (Mine did in a couple of spots, but it’s still useable.)

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