A new holster design shows promise

As readers of my wife's blog will already know, Miss D. has just received a new holster for her Valentine's Day present. It's from Dennis of Dragon Leatherworks, and exhibits his usual superb craftsmanship. I've attached a couple of cellphone pictures of it. They're not the greatest quality, but I'll put up better ones as soon as Oleg Volk can take time from his busy schedule to provide them. (I hasten to add that it's not pink, as it appears below: that's an optical effect of the poor lighting for the picture. It's actually more of a burgundy color, fading to black.)




I find Dennis' work intriguing. We'd set him a difficult task, having established that most conventional holster designs weren't sufficiently comfortable for Miss D., and/or didn't work with her limited range of mobility (caused by past injuries). Out of all the contents of my three boxes of holsters, we found only one (a Kydex holster for a Glock pistol) that hung at just about the right angle and height on her belt to allow her a relatively stress-free drawstroke, without causing the butt to dig into her ribs. We sent it to Dennis as an example, along with her gun, and asked him to modify his DL Classic design accordingly.

He's done a wonderful job, clearly putting a lot of thought into his design. He's incorporated snaps in the belt loops that make it easy to put the holster on, or take it off, without having to remove the belt; and the rear loop is mounted on a curved extension that pulls the gun into the body without the butt digging into Miss D.'s ribs. The angle at which the gun hangs is close to straight up-and-down, with minimal rake, but it also conforms to the body in a way that many up-and-down holsters don't (at least in my experience). Furthermore, the leather has been cut away deeply below the butt of the gun, making it easier to get a firm grip on the pistol when drawing it. I'm still analyzing all the elements of this design, but I think Dennis may have hit on a combination that many ladies will find very useful. It accommodates a woman's body structure better than any other holster I've so far encountered; and for those with physical limitations, it provides what may be the least stressful drawstroke possible from a strong-side holster.

I've ordered a second copy of the same holster from Dennis, this one in plain black to accommodate a standard Glock pistol. When it gets here, I'll have Miss D. and other ladies of our acquaintance test it and provide feedback. If they all like it (and I'm pretty sure they will), I'll suggest to Dennis that instead of treating this as a one-off special order, he might want to consider adding it to his existing repertoire as a new design. (If he does, I'll have to propose that he name it for the original purchaser!)





Peter