Gun Gear: Crossbreed SuperTuck Deluxe

Make: Crossbreed Holsters
Model: SuperTuck Deluxe, Cowhide with Combat Cut option

This is the second holster I've evaluated for my p229 Holster Hunt.

I'd read some very good things about the Crossbreed kydex/leather hybrid holsters, but also quite a few negatives.  But the basic premise seemed sound: use a large piece of flexible leather against your body to distribute weight and then use kydex to hold the gun in place (and reduce the price).

I got this holster on eBay, and $68 with 3-day delivery sounded a lot better than $86 with a 4-week delivery if I were to order directly from Crossbreed.  Seemed like a great deal.  But as soon as I pulled it out of the package, I realized I'd been a little too quick on the bid button.  The holster was actually meant for a p229R (with rail), and of course, mine is the non-railed version.

Being that the holster is Kydex, it is form fitted to the shape of the frame, and the p229 and p229R are just different enough to where my p229 wiggles around too much when holstered.  So that was a bummer, but then I realized that my p226R should theoretically fit pretty well, and indeed it did. 

I was tempted to just put the holster back up for sale on eBay and order the correct p229 version from Crossbreed, but then I figured since I already had it in hand, why not just evaluate it using the bigger p226R?  If it was comfortable with the full-size pistol and concealed decently, things could only get better when I switched down to the smaller p229.  In fact, I thought that maybe I would just keep this one even if I do end up ordering the p229 version.  While I don't really have any plans to carry the big p226R concealed, it wouldn't hurt to have a holster for it just in case (like maybe when the p229 is at the gunsmith's for example).


Impressions
So Crossbreed markets these by saying that everything (including style) is absolutely secondary to Comfort.  I have to say, I think they've nailed it.

At the time of this writing, I've only spent a few days wearing it, but after awhile, you don't notice it anymore than you would a little knife pouch on your belt.  That big piece of leather really does the work of distributing the weight of the gun, as well as making sure that nothing is pressing into your body in any one particular spot.  And again, this is with the full-sized p226R.


A Note on Retention
So my range holster of choice is typically a Kydex rig.  As such, I'm used to the pistol having that nice friction lock when it's fully seated in the holster.

But even though the p226R fits into the Crossbreed Kydex perfectly, there is absolutely zero retention.  If you turn the holster upside down, the gun will fall out before you even get it straight up and down.  The interwebs have more than a few reports of similar cases.  It seems like it's hit or miss; sometimes it retains well, sometimes it doesn't.  Crossbreed apparently supplies directions on how to shrink the Kydex for a better fit, but many people say that shouldn't be something the owner should be forced to do, and I agree. 

However, note that this problem only exists when the holster is not rigged on your belt.  Once it is properly secured, the belt holds everything in place very well.  With the gun holstered inside my waistband, I basically did every shimmy, shake, jump, spin, and twirl I could muster, trying to get it to come loose or pop out, and it never even budged.

So would I prefer it if the gun did lock?  Absolutely.  Does it really effect the performance of the holster in daily, practical applications?  So far, I don't think it does.  You'd probably have to get hit by a bus to knock the thing loose, and at that point, you've got much bigger problems than a stray pistol.

If I do eventually order the right version from Crossbreed for my p229, though, I'm hoping I'll get one that has good retention.


The Gist
So far, I can't really find fault with this holster.  It's very, very comfortable.  Build quality seems excellent.  Price is even pretty decent.  Could I have found my ultimate concealment holster on just my second try?  Time will tell, but so far, so good...




















This is a very sturdy metal belt clip.  You can also tuck a shirt in behind it.

The back is rough leather which keeps it solidly in place when drawing and reholstering.  "Rough" is too strong a term, though.  It's definitely not sandpaper rough.  Anyone who thinks this is rough on their skin needs to grow some chest hair.

Note that all the metal points you see here are so far recessed into the leather that you'd never feel them on your skin, either.




















Detail of the rivets on the holster.

















You get no fewer than three Celtic crosses (one here, and one on each belt clip).  I think they could have skipped the ones on the belt clip since you want those to be as innocuous to casual glances as possible.

Gun Gear: High Noon Bare Asset

Make: High Noon Holsters
Model: Bare Asset

This was the first holster I evaluated in my p229 Holster Hunt.

I found this holster in a gun forum classifieds section.  High Noon seemed to have a decent reputation on the interwebs, and for just $20 it seemed like a worthwhile gamble. 

High Noon makes higher end leather holsters with longer turn-around times, but the Bare Asset is one of their "stocking items" and costs about a fifth of the price.  Given that, I wasn't expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got my hands on it.

This is a very soft, very thin holster, but feels well made.  There's a good metal belt clip that does exactly what it's supposed to do.  What really surprised me was that even though there's no metal strip to stiffen the mouth of the holster like you'd see on higher end models, there's a thicker strip of leather there that keeps it open just wide enough to let me re-holster one-handed very effectively.

I really wanted to like this one, mainly because if it did the job right, I'd only be out $20 and I would have nailed the perfect holster on my first try.  But on the first day of wearing it, I realized it wasn't going to be that easy.  I wore it at the 4 o'clock position and within a few hours, I noticed that my lower back was actually aching.  It was odd since it wasn't a jabbing pain like the gun and holster were poking me in the side.  It was more like a general muscle ache you'd get from repetitive strain.  Hard to say exactly what the cause was, but there was no getting around the fact that it just plain hurt.  I wanted to try to wear it eight straight hours, but eventually I just had to give up.

I actually don't think this was due to any intrinsic fault of the holster itself.  It's well made, and does what it says it'll do.  I think this is just back to the problem of every holster fitting differently on every body.

I do like the overall fit and finish of the product, though.  I'll have to revisit High Noon when it comes time to get a holster for the pocket revolver.

Knife Gear: Emerson CQC-7A-SF

Make: Emerson
Model: CQC-7A-SF

It's hard to talk about this knife without talking about the progression of EDC knives I've been through of late.

For the gun folks, the analogy goes as follows... 

The Benchmade Griptilian was my Garand: it served me well for years and was a real workhorse. 

The Griptilian was eventually replaced by the Kershaw Shallot (see post) the same way the M14 replaced the Garand.  The Shallot was a decent knife, and seemed to address a few things I didn't particularly like about the Griptilian (namely its bulk and handle material), but its service was as short-lived as the M14's.

Then the Emerson arrives on the scene like the M16.  There is some initial doubt and hesitation, but it is nonetheless adopted, and now I can't imagine carrying anything else.



vs the Black Shallot
I still prescribe to the theory that the "right" knife for you is whatever feels best in your hand at that particular phase of your life.

I really did like the Black Shallot, but somewhere in the back of my mind it bothered me that the SpeedSafe action, while very smooth and reliable, required that you hold the knife in a particular way and used a particular finger in a particular motion to activate it.  So sure, in a no-stress situation with nothing to lose and time to spare, opening it was a breeze (and just plain cool, to be honest).  But could you do it with gloves on?  Left-handed?  With greasy hands?  With the knife upside-down?

I would just hate to need the knife for that once-in-a-lifetime moment where I needed to cut a seat belt with bloody, injured hands and not be able to get the thing open.

Kershaw actually makes a knife called the Avalanche that's pretty similar to the Shallot except that it has a thumb stud on the blade to assist with opening.  I had actually planned on trying that out instead when the Emerson landed in my lap...

Enter the Emerson
I lucked out in that my shooting buddy had also been on the hunt for a new EDC to replace his own Griptilian.  He tried the Emerson but it didn't quite fit his liking.  So money traded hands at the range one Sunday morning and I became the proud new owner of an Emerson folder.

So this knife is actually one of the Prestige Line collaborations with Action Concepts.  It's a CQC-7 except with a spear point, which I definitely preferred over the standard tanto (mainly for aesthetic reasons, I think). 

I loved the knife, but like the army and their M16, I did have some initial reservations about adopting it as my standard EDC.  I had just gotten used to the slimness and disappears-in-your-pocket feeling of the Shallot, and this was a return to a bulkier knife. And I have to admit, I still thought the SpeedSafe opening was just plain nifty, not to mention I'd only just bought the knife a few weeks back!

But I ended up carrying the Emerson for a few days just to feel it out, and just like Stoner's rifle, it slowly grew on me.  First off, the thing just feels rock solid.  It feels more like a tool than a knife, if that makes any sense.  There's plenty of G-10 real estate to give you all-condition grip, and the blockish handle is pure utility.

I'd never had a knife with a thumb stud before, but I now believe it gives you the most purchase in different situations than either thumb-hole or thumb-stud.  I actually used the knife during a full day at my storage unit cutting up boxes, constantly opening and closing it, the whole time wearing heavy work gloves.  I feel pretty confident I can get this knife open under almost any circumstance.

It's definitely a bit thicker than the Shallot, but nowhere near as bulky as the Griptilian was.  For EDC, that comfort factor is always something to consider.


The Gist
A no-frills, hard-use, more-tool-than-knife knife.


In Comparison
From left to right: Benchmade Griptilian, Kershaw Black Shallot, Emerson CQC-7A

Emergency Gear: Alco-Brite Stove Kit

Make:  Alco-Brite
Model:  Gelled Alcohol Fuel Canister and Stove Kit


I have an old MSR backpacking stove that runs off IsoButane, but for emergency shelter-in-place scenarios, I needed a stove that could be used safely indoors and one that could sit unused on a shelf almost indefinitely.

I was going back and forth between the Alco-Brite and the Esbit pocket stove, but my impressions are that the Esbit is best suited when you need something extremely light and compact and are willing to trade some performance for portability.

The 16oz Alco-Brite canister has about the same size and weight as a can of soup, so while it's heavier and bulkier than the Esbit, it's still relatively portable if you need to pack it.  I was able to boil a cup of water in 8 minutes (which is exactly what their published figure states) and supposedly the fuel will last between 4-7 hours.  Other than a slight smell of "sterno", it was very clean-burning and absolutely no mess or residue.

I only wish that the canister had some sort of screw-on top instead of the lid that you have to pry off.  While it's easy to get the lid off with a screwdriver or knife, and it's easy to knock back into place, you'll probably be doing this over and over again I could see it potentially becoming a hassle.

But other than that, this little stove fits the bill for an emergency indoor stove so perfectly that it's hard to complain.

The "stove" is really nothing more than two metal pieces that snap onto the fuel canister.  It's simple but effective.



The piece that goes at the top of the stove has an additional metal damper that swings in and out, allowing you to adjust the heat.  Closing it completely will snuff out the flame.

Emergency Gear: Fisher Military Space Pen

Make: Fisher Space Pen
Model: Non-Reflective Military Matte Black Cap-O-Matic
Manufacturer's Product Code: SM4B


It was just about impossible to resist a piece of gear with the model name "Non-Reflective Military Matte Black Cap-O-Matic".  Seriously, you had me at "non-reflective"...  Not to mention that the Fisher company is quick to point out their long history with both the US and Russian space programs.  You would think this would be the alpha and omega of all tactical aerospace writing instruments.

Of course, the big selling point for Fisher is the pressurized ink cartridge that will work in extreme environments where you're average Bic won't (freezing temperatures, upside down, zero gravity, etc.).  I figured this would be the perfect addition to my EDC pack.  At first I was looking for smaller "wallet" pens, but I think those are better suited to keychain-type EDC's.  There was still plenty of room for a full-sized pen in my EDC pouch and so I decided to just go with something that would be comfortable to write with.

So as soon as I took it out of the packaging, I realized my first mistake.  The "cap-o-matic" part hadn't really registered with me when I bought it online, and I had wrongly assumed that it had a regular cap that you remove (it's easy to make that mistake if you're just looking at a picture of it).  Of course, it makes much more sense for it to just be a click type pen (no cap to lose, one-handed operation), but I knew that if I left a clickable pen in my EDC pack I'd end up with ink marks everywhere since that pack gets prodded, squeezed, and bounced around quite a bit.

So then I figured that if it wasn't meant to live in my EDC, I'd just use it as an everyday pen and still feel pretty good that I'm using a pen designed for military and law-enforcement personnel.

Except... it doesn't really write that well.

Now I'm definitely not a "pen guy", but I do enjoy a nice, smooth line of ink when I scribble something on paper.  I'm actually partial to the Uni-ball Signo 207, which you can probably find for about a dollar apiece online without searching too hard.  And so I figure that my $7 military space pen that can write upside down has got to be at least as good as my Uni-ball, if not ten times better.

And since I'm not a pen guy, it's a bit hard for me to describe what's lacking.  To me it just seems like the ink line is just thin and "weak".  It also feels to me like you have to hold the pen more upright than I usually do if you want to get a smoother flow.  I also noticed that if you don't use the pen for awhile, the first time you touch it to the paper, the ink is very, very weak making the first letter you write a lot lighter than the rest.  This sort of jives with what I've read about how the pressurized ink cartridge works.

So note that this isn't necessarily a "bad" pen.  It's just that for normal, everyday writing it's really no better than your average ballpoint.  I'm pretty sure it would shine under extreme conditions, but I was hoping it would also be a better pen during non-extreme situations (70 degrees, normal earth gravity, sitting upright at a desk).

So it's unfortunately not as good as my run-of-the-mill Uni-ball, so I don't think I'll end up using it for note-taking.  And with the Cap-O-Matic, I don't trust it bouncing around loose in my EDC.  I think it'll just end up with the bulk of the disaster supply, probably inside an admin pouch along with an all-weather notebook.

MOLLE Gear: Eagle Becker Patrol Pack

Make: Eagle Industries
Model: Becker Patrol Pack MOLLE
Color Pictured: Khaki

Impressions

I love this pack.  It's versatile, it's adaptable, it's low profile when almost empty, but expands three fold to accommodate a heavy load.  Throw in the fact that it carries Eagle's reputation for making top quality gear and you just can't go wrong.

This bag pretty much has a MOLLE loop everywhere you can think of which makes it insanely configurable.  As usual, the interwebs will be full of pictures of this pack clean and bare, so I'll only show pictures with several pouches mounted to give you some idea of how it looks with gear on it.

The picture at the top of the post along with the next two here show the bag filled to about average capacity (it could handle more).

Now here's the same bag but with less inside.  Notice how the main flap folds neatly down into place.

The small pouch you see at the bottom is a Tactical Tailor horizontal utility pouch (1H).

The pouch on the left is a Tactical Tailor strobe/compass pouch.  On the right is a 50 Series Universal Hardcase.

On the left is a Tactical Tailor 7.62 single mag pouch.  On the right is a TAD Gear folding dump pouch (RDDP1).

The main compartment has a weatherproof top...which rolls up and fastens with a Fastex buckle.

When there's not much in the bag, I like to push the weather proof cover down into the main compartment to keep it out of the way.

Here's a shot with the top flap open to expose the additional rows of MOLLE.  There's more MOLLE than you'll know what to do with...

The main compartment has side pockets front, rear, and on both sides.  This shot is taken with the pockets pulled into view.

This is the same angle but with the side pockets pushed out of the way.

The top flap has a zippered pouch compartment for misc items.

The zippered pouch open.

Big beefy handle at the top.

You can run your drinking tube through a hole in the top flap, otherwise it seals closed with a hook and loop patch.

The fabric on the back is lightly vented.  The straps are padded.  It comes with an padded waist belt, but I've removed mine and haven't yet needed it to make the pack comfortable.

This tag means you've likely got a quality piece of merchandise.

MOLLE Gear: TAD Gear BC4 Pouch

Make: TAD Gear
Model: BC4 Nylon Storage Pouch
Color Pictured: "Coyote Khaki"

Attachment System: Integrated hook and loop straps
MOLLE Footprint: 2 loops across x 1 loop high

Intended Purpose: Holds one BATUCA battery case
"Everyday MOLLE": Holds a set of keys or handful of quarters

Impressions
This is one of the pouches I bought when I visited TAD Gear's brick and mortar shop here in San Francisco for the very first time.  Honestly, I think I bought it simply because it's one of the smallest MOLLE pouches I've ever seen.  It's one of those pouches you buy first and figure out a use for later.

It's perfect for keeping one key item readily accessible, and with such a small MOLLE footprint, you can really put it almost anywhere.

The only thing I'm not crazy about is TAD Gear's hook and loop attachment system.  In this small pouch, the hook and loop runs the full length of the strap (that's not the case in TAD's larger pouches) so you have to maneuver the loop part underneath your MOLLE and then get the hook section fully underneath that.  Given the strap is so short, it's not that it's hard to do - it just feels harder than it needs to be.  And like many people, I always have the nagging feeling that the hook and loop is wearing out every time I open and close it.

But it's a convenient little pouch with a dozen possible uses (as long as you think small).
 

Never been a fan of the hook and loop attachment system, but in a pouch this small, it does the job adequately.

Good for a set of keys.

Shown with a Swiss Army Classic and a Fenix E01 for scale.

The pouch has such a small MOLLE footprint that it can be attached where few other pouches can.  This is a perfect utility pouch to mount on that single strap of MOLLE that runs down the strap of your pack (in this shot, a Gerber Evader).

Shown with a Grimloc for scale.

Knife Gear Comparison: Kershaw Black Shallot vs Benchmade Griptilian

Make: Benchmade
Model: Griptilian 551

Make: Kershaw
Model: Black Shallot 1840CKT


I will not even attempt to sell you on which of these knives is better overall; that's truly a personal choice.  I once read that the right knife for you is the one that just "feels" right in your hand (same as a pistol, I suppose).  Both of these blades are quality pieces of hardware, made in the US by highly reputable manufacturers.  I'll simply try to compare and contrast them as Every Day Carry knives.

Opening Mechanism

The Griptilian uses Benchmade's AXIS mechanism and it amounts to having three ways to open the knife.  You can use the traditional thumb stud and simply push the blade out until it locks.  You can pull backward on the AXIS thumb stud which essentially lets the blade drop free and either gravity or a flick of the wrist will get it the rest of the way.  And finally, on most Griptilians I've seen, a more energetic flick will snap the blade open (though this can take some practice).

The Shallot uses Kershaw's SpeedSafe assisted opening, which only requires you to get the blade moving a small distance before the mechanism takes over and snaps the blade quickly and solidly into place.  Note that unlike other SpeedSafe models (like the Leek or Chive), the Shallot has neither a thumb stud on the blade or a safety lock.















Getting a Grip
The Griptilian is almost an ounce lighter, but the handle is considerably thicker.  That means it feels big in the pocket, but also gives you plenty of material to wrap your fist around.  The handles have good checkering and also have a slight bulge to them which again makes for a secure, comfortable grip.

The Shallot is thinner, heavier, and while the handles are flat, smooth stainless steel, they also have a more dynamic contour to them.  This, combined with a deep forefinger groove means that if the overall shape fits your hand, chances are you'll find the grip to be equally secure and comfortable.

Left or Right, Up or Down?
The Benchmade can only be carried tip-up, though the clip can be put on either side of the knife.  The AXIS lock has studs on both sides which means that it's easy for both lefties and righties to close the knife. 

The Kershaw, on the other hand, can be carried either tip-up or tip-down, but the clip cannot be put on the other side of the handle.  It's also worth noting that the Kershaw is a liner lock and therefore rather awkward to close for lefties.