Just made my 1st Kydex holster ever...

[massgun]

Has anyone made any IWB holsters or have any reasons why you couldn't make one?

 

[Chrisg67]

Knifekits.com

i dont live in georgia....

 

[Underwhere]

Has anyone made any IWB holsters or have any reasons why you couldn't make one?

You can use the eyelet holes and attach belt hooks for IWB if you want.
I prefer OWB as it's just so much more comfortable. And with the ability customize the holster you can get it as concealable as possible.

 

[ChevyGuy91]

i dont live in georgia....

Neither do I.?

 

[Hanwei]

Has anyone made any IWB holsters or have any reasons why you couldn't make one?

You can use the eyelet holes and attach belt hooks for IWB if you want.

What De said. I don't see why you can't make an IWB holster. If I wanted to I could have just attached IWB belt loops via the eyelets on my holster instead of the pancake belt loops.

i dont live in georgia....

Neither do I.?

Ed... hehe... Chris asked if anyone knew of any local places to get kydex... to which you replied "knifekits.com"... who's located in Georgia

Chris... I don't know of any local places to get kydex... but why not order from knifekits?

 

[Hanwei]

Dupe

 

[zerodown]

Has anyone made any IWB holsters or have any reasons why you couldn't make one?

Yes. I've been working on one for the past two weeks using .6 kydex so its nice and thin (also from knifekits). A IWB is a little trickier than an OWB because the size, shape, and placement of the belt loops make a big difference in terms of getting the right fit to the body and cant for the firearm. My attempts at a 100% kydex one have come out ok but I may move to a kydex shell and use 2 pieces of leather to hold the loops (similar to the Comp-tac C-tac). The flex in the leather seems to offer the best form fitting regardless of where the holster is placed. I'll post up pics as I get closer to something I really like (including instructions).

 

[ChevyGuy91]

Ed... hehe... Chris asked if anyone knew of any local places to get kydex... to which you replied "knifekits.com"... who's located in Georgia

Ahhhh. That would have been right around my 3rd cup of coffee this morning, my brain may have been moving faster then my eye's could read.

 

[Chrisg67]

Chris... I don't know of any local places to get kydex... but why not order from knifekits?

ya i prob will, but i figured it would be easier to pick up locally

Ahhhh. That would have been right around my 3rd cup of coffee this morning, my brain may have been moving faster then my eye's could read.

 

[Zombieoutfitters]

Pics of finished IWB nylon and polar fleece holsters for PPS and M&PC

Well let's see the finished holster! My next project is to make a pocket holster for the MK9 that DOESN'T print... or look like a brick in my jeans pocket. THIS will be a challenge.

+1

Gawd, you guys are so demanding...now I have to get out my guns, admire them, holster them, take photos, put them on and pose some more...just terrible!

These are the finished products I use daily. The main difference that sets them apart from my earlier pics is that these had excess material trimmed and stayed closer to the outline of the firearm frame. Additional changes in final stitching allowed for greater definition of the combat cut on the body-side.

For frame of reference I'm 5'10" 150lb...a small guy for IWB so these do pretty good in the discreet printing department. Hard to tell in the 5 o'clock photo as I had to twist my body which pull the shirt tight across the firearm.

 

[Hanwei]

Nice! So... question... why did you choose fleece for the holster material? Just curious is all. I imagine it'd be really easy to draw from... not to mention it'll keep the firearm nice and toasty warm in the winter

 

[Cuda444]

WRT to the holster with the TLR-1... did you have to do anything fancy to get the whole "light channel" portion of the holster to work? By that I mean usually the light is slightly wider than the grip, so it seems that if you just squished the kydex together when you were molding it, the light would hang up on the mold when you went to draw the gun. Does that make any sense? It might just be that the width is negligible and it just works - Which I'm hoping is the case.

 

[Zombieoutfitters]

Nice! So... question... why did you choose fleece for the holster material? Just curious is all. I imagine it'd be really easy to draw from... not to mention it'll keep the firearm nice and toasty warm in the winter

Fleece is just the EXTERIOR. There are 3 quilted pieces of Ballistic Nylon with a layer of thick polar fleece for the outside only. Inside it's nice and smooth and probably bullet proof (lol). On the outside it's fuzzy, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, wicks moisture, is hypoallergenic, I can't feel anything other than the bulk when I wear it b/c it's so smooth against my skin. That actually sums up the reasons quite well!

Because of the ballistic nylon and combat cut the draw is exceptional for IWB. No retention either. Reholstering is a 2 hand operation, but always is for an IWB b/c you have to lift the concealing clothing anyway. But honestly, I can single hand it...just takes a little extra care. For me that trade off is way worth it, I am small so I really cannot tolerate leather / kydex IWB no matter how well made or minimal they are.

 

[Hanwei]

WRT to the holster with the TLR-1... did you have to do anything fancy to get the whole "light channel" portion of the holster to work? By that I mean usually the light is slightly wider than the grip, so it seems that if you just squished the kydex together when you were molding it, the light would hang up on the mold when you went to draw the gun. Does that make any sense? It might just be that the width is negligible and it just works - Which I'm hoping is the case.

You're absolutely right about the need for the "light channel". My brother first tried to make a mold out of molding clay around the rear of the TLR-1 so that he could just put the gun, light, and clay mold into the press and, voila, holster with a pre-molded light channel... but the clay didn't hold up well at all. So he ended up just molding the kydex around the gun and light... and then, with the gun-light-combo still in the holster... he used the heat gun and worked the gun rearwards out of the holster creating the light channel.

Fancy didn't work...

Fleece is just the EXTERIOR. There are 3 quilted pieces of Ballistic Nylon with a layer of thick polar fleece for the outside only. Inside it's nice and smooth and probably bullet proof (lol). On the outside it's fuzzy, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, wicks moisture, is hypoallergenic, I can't feel anything other than the bulk when I wear it b/c it's so smooth against my skin. That actually sums up the reasons quite well!

Because of the ballistic nylon and combat cut the draw is exceptional for IWB. No retention either. Reholstering is a 2 hand operation, but always is for an IWB b/c you have to lift the concealing clothing anyway. But honestly, I can single hand it...just takes a little extra care. For me that trade off is way worth it, I am small so I really cannot tolerate leather / kydex IWB no matter how well made or minimal they are.

Gotcha. Makes more sense now. Man... having fleece against your body sounds a LOT more comfortable than leather or kydex

 

[Cuda444]

You're absolutely right about the need for the "light channel". My brother first tried to make a mold out of molding clay around the rear of the TLR-1 so that he could just put the gun, light, and clay mold into the press and, voila, holster with a pre-molded light channel... but the clay didn't hold up well at all. So he ended up just molding the kydex around the gun and light... and then, with the gun-light-combo still in the holster... he used the heat gun and worked the gun rearwards out of the holster creating the light channel.

Fancy didn't work...

Hmmm good to know. I'm thinking maybe a piece of wooden dowel of the correct diameter to make a nice looking "light channel"? My guess would be that you'd have to mold it with the light on the gun, then remove the gun and light, insert the dowel where the light would be a re-heat/re-mold the channel around the dowel. Think it could work?

 

[Hanwei]

That could certainly work... My brother and I just grabbed whatever random items were around the garage that would allow us to do what we wanted. The "tools" we used to tweak the molds are a sharpie marker (a dowel could have worked just as well)... ruler... etc... very professional Whatever works.

 

[Underwhere]

Hmmm good to know. I'm thinking maybe a piece of wooden dowel of the correct diameter to make a nice looking "light channel"? My guess would be that you'd have to mold it with the light on the gun, then remove the gun and light, insert the dowel where the light would be a re-heat/re-mold the channel around the dowel. Think it could work?

I dont think its worth it unless you plan on mass producing them.
Kydex is easily shapeable and you'll find you can manually make that channel.

 

[Dnotarianni]

Awesome job! where can kydex be purchased?i have a couple of oddball guns i'd like to try and make holsters for

Ebay Just got 4 9x12 sheets delivered to RI for $23
Dave