Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

[nikdfish]

I like IWB hybrid holsters. I have a Crossbreed for the P95 and a CTAC Minotaur for the GI 1911. I thought KHolster would be worth trying for the Thunder 40 Pro - but it didn't work out. They sent me something that was totally wrong (they sent a cresent instead of full & the shelll would have been more appropriate for a PF-9 than my .40 despite the invoice showing what I ordered) but it was still my dime to send it back for a refund.

I've played a little with kydex in the past, so I thought I'd take a stab at doing this myself - I'm retired & easily amused. So far, this is where I'm at - the kydex shell. Its a first try, using some scrap .060 from another project.



I'm waiting on leather to be delivered, then we'll see how it comes together. I'll post the results when done.

Nick

[Reginald Carstairs]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

Nice project you have going, please post an update when you are done.

[Bronson]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

Hybrid holsters are pretty easy to make. If you're handy at all I'm sure it'll turn out fine.

My first holster was a hybrid. I just couldn't see spending that kind of money on a holster when I wasn't sure if I even wanted to carry IWB, especially when I had the tools and materials available to me for free. Here's a pic of my first one:
004..jpg

Some stuff I learned that might make it a little easier for you:
1) if you use a double thickness gun belt many standard clips that you can buy will not be deep enough to go over the belt. It's not a problem if you plan to clip the holster to the top of your pants and cover the clips with your belt. I ended up making my own clips out of thicker Kydex since I thought the thinner Kydex used in the holster body was too flimsy for a high stress part like the clip. If you can find store bought clips that work for what you want to do buy them. Making the clips was a bigger pain in the butt than making the rest of the holster.
2) trim down the wings on the Kydex body (the part where the rivets are going through on mine) to the bare minimum that you need. If these are too wide it just creates discomfort.
3) I can't tell from your photo if you did this but make sure to tape a dowel or something to the top of the slide to form a front sight channel.
4) give the wings a little pre-bend to help the holster/leather conform to your body a little better.
If you look at this pic 2740295208_e8500248.jpg you can see how the back of the holster isn't completely flat...that's because of the slight angle of the wing on the holster body. You can also see the molded in sight channel.
5) Make sure to trim enough material away from wher the trigger guard meets the grip so you can easily obtain a full firing grip. This is probably the most common mistake I've seen (ok, maybe that and covering the mag release button) with us amateur holster makers, and it's a lot easier to fix it during the design phase than after it's completed.

It looks like you've got a great start and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Bronson

[nikdfish]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

Bronson,

Thanks for the tips! As far as the clips go, I may just snag the CTAC "C" clips I put on the Crossbreed, or maybe see if I can replicate them in kydex - I like the way they work. I've never done any leather work, so I'm playing the attachment by ear (All I have on hand are various sizes of eyelets & chicago screws). If I can't make that do, I'll have to pick up some rivets (should have done that when I ordered the leather!).

Nick

[TuxAir]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

http://www.knifekits.com was a good place for me when I went through my kydex craze. Tandy Leather (Local to me, but is online as well at http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/) is where I got good grade leather and fasteners. Good luck on your projects!

[nikdfish]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

I said I'd update this thread when I got more done. Had some delays due to traveling & getting the right parts, but this is where I've gotten to so far:





I like the CTAC "C" clips, so I took a stab at doing a homebrew version. This is the first iteration & although it works OK, some tweaking is in order.




The kydex & some of the hardware came from KnifeKits.com, the leather & rivets were from usaknifemaker.com.

It seems to fit well, has decent retention and is easy to draw from & re-holster.

Nick

[mitchr]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

Looking good! Wish I had the patience for something like that. Tried leather work in High School. Didn't care for the detail work. Now give me a piece of wood, a saw & a hammer!!

[TuxAir]

Re: Going to try my hand at a hybrid holster...

Nice job so far. I was looking at the leather and saw the edge wasn't finished. I use a plastic pulley chucked up in a drill press to bone the edges. You can do this manually with a boning tool too. The high speed and friction of the pulley just make short work of finishing the edges.