Putting that first junky holster purchase back to use

[Soybomb]

Probably like a lot of gun owners, I bought my first holster without knowing much about them. I wound up with the common uncle mikes. I eventually found out how poor a holster it was. The generic size meant the gun pushed too deeply into the holster keeping me from getting a proper full firing grip on the gun. It had no cant making it harder to conceal. The placement of the clip did nothing to help concealment or placing the grip at the right height compared to my pants. It got tossed in the holster box and replaced by quality custom leather.

I've recently been using it some lately though. Most people (gun people at least) probably keep a loaded handgun for self defense in the home. I've never been a big fan of just throwing them in a night stand drawer or anything, I like the trigger to be covered. I've made a few modifications to my holster that make it useful again.




You can see the sewing done at the front and bottom of the trigger guard. The front stitching keeps the gun from being inserted too deeply, the bottom helps to snug it up a little more. I used some heavy waxed thread I use for making leather holsters but any thread you have will probably work just fine.

I also added a small loop of 1" wide non-roll elastic to hold a flash light. It didn't take long to sew it in place. If your favorite light has a clip might not even need to do that.

Now my worthless holster can hold a handgun, a reload, and a flashlight in one safe package. Grab it and move everything to another room quickly if you need. It won't get seperated in the night stand. The trigger won't be pulled as you reach in the night stand for it. The holster still has its belt clip which could be used if you wanted. I think you could even mount a 1.5" wide piece of steel bar stock set off by a few washers in places like under a desk, bed frame, or behind a headboard and use the clip as a way to easily mount and move your gun around.

 

[blkbrd666]

I use those same holsters as car-carry holsters. I remove the metal clip and the velcro cloth keeps them from sliding when you shove the holstered gun between the seat and driveshaft hump. I have sewn the end shut to keep trash out of the barrel. They keep the pistol grip-up and ready to draw in the car, and the spare mag is in a handy location. When I get home, it's easily transported to the nightstand and stays ready.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

While a Bianchi "Professional" IWB is hardly junk, I did not find it very satisfactory for carrying on my person. I affixed Velcro strips to the back side of the holster (this required the additional help of contact cement) and the inside of my car's center console storage bin and now have a car carry holster. The design of this holster permits it to be used with several handguns of roughly equal size.