Crossbreed SuperTuck: Long-Term Review

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ev239

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In my original review I outlined my initial impressions of Crossbreed's SuperTuck holster. At that time I had worn the holster for a few weeks. As of today it has been over 8 months since I started wearing my SuperTuck daily with my Sig P239. I wanted to give people a longer term review to know what they can expect with owning one of Crossbreed's holsters.

Here's a brief recap (for more detail read my original review). This is a Crossbreed SuperTuck Deluxe IWB (inside the waistband) tuckable holster using V-clips (velcro clips) molded for a Sig P239 in 9mm. It is constructed with a large leather backing and a stiff piece of molded kydex to cover the firearm. The strong points this holster offers are it's adjustability, comfort, concealability and a very reasonable price.

Clothing Wear:
You might be wondering why I'm starting off with 'Clothing Wear' as my first section. The reason is to help explain the pictures you'll see for those who only care about pictures (you know who you are). Below you'll see what I mean by clothing wear. This is something that won't show up until extended wear with the same pair of pants.
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The circled area is where the muzzle of my P239 has rubbed a spot on my Wrangler cargo pants (my favorite for looks & utility and yes I am carrying in that picture). It's not the best picture of it, but I think it shows what can happen. I've got a navy pair of Old Navy pants where it's worn an actual hole (I think my wife threw those away because of it). Now why did I get this wear? Well one reason is because I carry at about 4:30 so when I sit (which I sit a lot for work) causes my gun to press against whatever chair I'm in. By the way that is in no way uncomfortable. I can go 14+ hours carrying this way without any discomfort. If I carried at closer to 3:00 I most likely wouldn't get this wear. Unfortunately, because of my luv handles that is not the most comfortable position. Another reason why my pants wear this way is due to the open muzzle design of the SuperTuck. A closed muzzle design would typically mute the somewhat hard edges of my firearm and cause less abrasion to my pants. Below you can see my solution to this problem.
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I picked up a bag of scrap leather from the local Tandy Leather and used a larger section to trim up and cover the exposed muzzle. Then I used a leather punch and two chicago screws to fasten it to the holster leather backing. I've only done this just recently so I don't know if this will solve it long term, though feeling it through the pants there is a noticeable improvement at that spot. The great thing about this mod is that the only permanent thing I had to do to the main holster itself was punch two small holes.

Durability:
Here is a picture of the holster very shortly after I received it.
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And here is a picture of my holster as it is over 8 months later including all the mods that I have done.
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You can see that the leather has aged to a nice tan color. It has picked up some indentions from the gun and has developed a comfortable curve where it has conformed to my waist, but otherwise has held up very well. You will notice that I did trim a bit of the leather to aid a full grip. The clips which I initially worried about the velcro peeling off have weathered hundreds of on/off transitions without any indication of peeling or fraying. They work great for support and concealment though the velcro part is much longer than my 1.5" belt so I have to be careful when I first put it on so that it doesn't poke out the bottom of the belt and become visible. It's not a big deal and I haven't had to trim them at all.* The kydex section doesn't show any wear at all. It still holds the gun loosely until I have my belt tightened, but I have never had any fear that my gun would fall out. Overall, I can see this holster lasting many years without much additional wear than what it already has on it.
*Edit - got my new velcro lined belt from Crossbreed and it included new clips with it which are of the same design, but are sized just right for the belt and are totally hidden when tucked now.

Gun Wear:
The Nitron finish on Sig's aren't known to be anything close to Glock's Tennifer finish and below it shows.
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Because of the loose fit of the kydex, the gun does have a little room to shift and that shifting has caused some finish wear on the slide. You can't tell from this picture, but just to the left of the pin behind the extractor on the rolled edge the blued finish has been polished all the way off. On the muzzle end of the gun this is also some wear where the front of the slide contacts the leather. Now I'm no gun snob and I realize that an EDC gun will get holster wear so this kind of wear on this kind of finish is acceptable to me. Now if I had a hard chromed slide and the holster was able to chew through that finish then I'd be upset. I'm actually thinking about refinishing the slide in the future (maybe hard chrome, maybe NP3, maybe try to find a super tough black finish). This particular P239 was made in 1996 and has seen about a solid year's worth of daily carry IWB. Before that it mostly sat in it's case. I'm glad that I can give it some use.

Conclusion:
The SuperTuck is a really good holster with only a couple tweaks away from being truely great. In it's role as a tuckable IWB concealment holster I can't imagine anything more comfortable and if you want to CCW 24/7; sitting, standing, driving, bending, twisting, turning, squatting and plain living then you can't go wrong with Crossbreed's SuperTuck. If you must keep the finish of your gun perfect then get it hard chromed or some other ultra tough finish because standard blue finishes will wear with use (no getting around that) and this holster like all others will wear that finish over time. The tweaks I made with my holster are simple & effective and in my mind only reflect what works for me. YMMV ("Your Mileage May Vary")
 
great review.

did you let the company know about those modifications you made? they may start to incorporate them into their design
 
Wow, you had to make mods and the fit was too lose. Mine is terrible. The damned thing was so tight I could barely get the gun in. Mark said I had to heat up and re-mold the kydex. Um, isn't that what you should friggin' do because I PAID you to do it? Apparently, Crossbreed quality control sucks since you had the exact opposite experience. :fire: The finish quality of the horsehide sucked and the black dye has stained some of my clothes. The bottom corners of the kydex cracked early on, too. POS. And you did what he calls the special "combat grip" and charges extra for what should be done in the first place. Or at least make it a FREE option. It's not like it's rocket science to make the cut and he ends up with MORE leather in the end anyway. :rolleyes:
 
You will notice that I did trim a bit of the leather to aid a full grip.
That is something that has always bothered me about that holster. I am pretty much insistent that a holster allow me to slide my second finger fully under the trigger guard for a natural, secure grasp when drawing.
 
Nice review. These are great holsters with great service from Mark. I've had my 1911 holster for 1.5yrs now and the only issues was the J-hooks. One broke and Mark replaced it with the new beefier style no charge to me. Great holster and great service, you can't beat it for the price. Wife picked up a SOB for her H&K USP and that's the most comfy holster she has.
 
That is something that has always bothered me about that holster. I am pretty much insistent that a holster allow me to slide my second finger fully under the trigger guard for a natural, secure grasp when drawing.

Crossbreed offers a combat grip option that does this for you (costs extra tho').
 
Crossbreed offers a combat grip option that does this for you (costs extra tho').

After wearing these for 1.5 yrs and shooting in our club IDPA matches I never noticed a problem getting a good grip on the pistol. The combat grip might improve my grip a bit, but I guess I don't know what I'm missing. ;)
 
Thanks for the review, I have a Supertuck on order right now for my Sig P232.

I also have an observation as to why maybe your pants have worn out from the holster. It looks like you have one of the clips positioned down lower than the other. Do you think this might be a reason for the muzzle sitting down lower, and rubbing your pants?
 
I adjusted the clips for a slight forward cant with the grip high enough above my belt for an easy grasp. The positioning may have contributed to the wear because the open muzzle was at a spot where it would get more rub from sitting and moving, but even if it was positioned differently because of the open muzzle wear is much more likely to occur than with a closed one.

Man, that was a lot longer sentence than I thought it was going to take.
 
When you first began wearing that holster, did you need to go up a pant size? I know it all depends on the person wearing the holster, but I'm curious.
 
When you first began wearing that holster, did you need to go up a pant size? I know it all depends on the person wearing the holster, but I'm curious.

At first, yes I did because I had been wearing my pants more on the tight side (and I needed to lose a few lbs). Just the past 3 months or so I've lost about 15 lbs and can now wear some of my older pants comfortably along with my Crossbreed.
 
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