Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Snubnose Kydex Pocket Holster

I finally got around to swapping out the front sights on my main carry guns (Sig P239 & Kahr PM9) to night sights for faster low light acquisition. I borrowed a sight pusher and after a couple hours twisting & pushing & pounding I gave up and decided the factory must have welded on these sights. So at the start of this week I stopped by my LGS and dropped them off with their gunsmith. Since I'll was to be without my primary carry guns for a few days I decided that I would start carrying my wife's little revolver (Charter Arms Undercover 38). It's setup with "hip grips", but I wanted to try pocket carrying it. My experience with pocket carry has only been with semi-auto pistols (Bersa, Kel-tec P3AT, & Kahr PM9) so I didn't have any pocket holsters that would currently work with a revolver.

A piece of kydex, some heat and a half hour later this is what I came up with.
You can see that I focused on only molding the inside side of the holster so that the outside would hide the shape of the revolver.
Here I'm demonstrating how it breaks up the outline.
I had to tweak it a bit here and there so that it doesn't grab the gun and come out with it on the draw. I may get some kind of grip tape to put on it to further secure it in the pocket, but it doesn't rotate so the grip of the revolver is always in the same spot. The hip grips aren't ideal for pocket carry since the part that sticks out to hang on the waistband protrudes a bit and shows through the pocket though it definitely does not look like a gun. Deep pockets are a must, but most of my pants have those so I haven't had any problems.

Overall, I'm happy with it and it will serve me well.

*Update*
I was given the suggestion to add some kind of rubberized tape to the holster to keep it in to pocket on the draw and went to Ace Hardware to see what they had. I wasn't sure exactly what would work best and Ace has everything everywhere, but I came across anti-skid tape that's used for stairways being sold by the foot. It feels like sandpaper but the grit doesn't come off. I cut a couple strips and added it to the holster and WOW! It's a world of difference as it almost sticks in the pocket. There's no way I could draw the holster out with the gun unless I grab the holster itself and pull it out. Here's what it looks like.