Mixed experience with Mernickle's Cowboy & CC holsters
This is an old thread but I thought it worth adding to. My experience with Mernickle's holsters has been mixed. I'm retired and have an FFL and a small outlet; mostly I special order items that local shooters want. I heard good things about Bob Mernickle and I was interested in checking out his products and possibly becoming a dealer for his holsters. When I spoke with him and explained my situation he promised that once I did an initial order that met his dealer requirements for size and variety there were no further requirements and I could order as little and as infrequently as worked for my situation. So I made announcements at Cowboy and Bullseye shoots and put together an initial order large enough to become a dealer. I ordered a top of the line cowboy rig and shotgun belt for myself and a CC PS10 for my own use and others ordered CC PS10, PS18, PS6, and CC mag pouch.
I was impressed with the fit and finish of the premium cowboy holsters and was very pleased. But less so when after a little dry fire practice the stitching on one of the cowboy holsters broke and unraveled and would catch on the gun each time I drew it. Bob did fix it claiming mine was the first one to ever come loose.
I was also initially impressed with the speed and utility of the premium shotgun belt but then after limited competition use the pouches loosened up and shells would readily fall out during stage movement; it was very annoying to reach for shells and find nothing there.
I was not impressed with the PS10 that I received for my 1911. It seemed pretty standard fair for the price with a nice finish but had a poor fit that caused me to relegate it to a closet. Later when I talked to the other shooters I had sold the other CC holsters to I was told they had been disappointed also and theirs were gathering dust because of the poor fit. There was not much interest in Mernickle's after that. I did order and for a short time used a generic leather cowboy style rifle butt cover that Bob promoted as a low cost/high profit item, but didn't like the way it was designed and didn't find any local interest for it.
Despite the problem with the one cowboy holster I was generally pleased with the cowboy rig and when I bought a couple other cowboy guns to play with I ordered a couple of holsters from Mernickle's for them. When I received them one holster fit perfectly and one did not fit properly. What bothered me more however was that inside the box was a nasty note stating that since I wasn't ordering lots of product they had pulled my dealer status until such time as I placed another large order. I was pretty upset and feeling I had been lied to I switched to another holster maker with a reputation for excellent holsters and customer support. Their competition style holsters were a little heavier and bulkier but had more reliable quality control and functioned every bit as well for cowboy competition and everyone who bought their competition rigs seemed pleased with them.
When discussing gear with another shooter at a State Tournament I mentioned the good and bad of my experiences with Mernickle's and how angry I was with their business practices and poor treatment. He knew Bob Mernickle and felt it probably wasn't Bob but his over zealous wife, who handled that end of the business, who had sent the nasty letter and he suggested calling Bob and speaking to him directly. Eventually someone was interested in getting a cowboy holster rig and shotgun belt like the one I had from Mernickle's and I did call Bob to see if he would honor the dealer agreement he had set up with me. When I managed to speak with him he responded by spending about 20 minutes berating me over and over for my small infrequent orders and claiming that all my orders were for myself and I wasn't a dealer at all and I should have been out there hustling to sell his products and he wasn't going to allow me to place another dealer order unless I purchased a lot of product and could do so on a regular basis - and hung up on me. It left a bad taste.
To sum up, from my limited experience the Mernickle top of the line cowboy rig that I tried was up there with the best competition rigs of other manufacturer's when made and fitted properly. Poor quality control however made fit and durability highly variable. All of the Mernickle CC holsters that were tried locally were disliked for their poor fit to gun. Possibly they were all part of a bad batch, but I can only speak to what was experienced. When problems arose with Mernickle's products (e.g. loose stitching) he was willing to do a quick fix but seemed aggressive rather than gracious or apologetic. Overall my interactions with Mernickle's left me feeling deceived and abused and happy to take my business elsewhere. I had heard good words about Bob from several sources so perhaps my experiences are atypical.
