Home made hybrid Glock holster

[BT8850]

Took a stab at making an IWB holster for my Glock 22 (I know, sadly not a 10mm yet). Personally I don't think it turned out too bad, still needs cleaned and final finishing. I've been wearing it past couple days and like it a lot. Even for a full size double stack pistol it hides easily under a flannel or sweatshirt, not too bad under t shirt either. Stays right where I put it, worn at about 4 o'clock. Thoughts? Suggestions for next one??

Leather was given to me, originally sourced from a sportsmans show, big box of scrap purchased for 10 bucks from a civil war reenactor that made shoes, clothing, etc. 

Belt Clips were from amazon, Tandy leather co, 6$ a piece which is a little salty for me, will be making my next ones

Kydex came from amazon, 8 pack of .060 12"x12" (11.5x11.5 actual) for $26 shipped, only used half a sheet on this one

Rivets are just aluminum pop rivets from Lowes, believe 5/16", pulled them through a little ways against the washer then knocked the pin out and flattened the "fastening end" with a punch - somewhat crude but works very well. $6/50pack




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[Rich10]

That looks good.  I have a hybrid rig for me G19c.  It is very comfortable and conceals great. 

[BT8850]

Thanks! I'd believe you, have a few friends that carry 19's and they like them a lot for the purpose, just that little bit of size reduction over the 17/22 helps. I put one into my holster and even though its a Gen 3 19 still fits like a glove. Looking forward to putting some miles on this baby!

[The_Shadow]

Congrats!  Looks like it will serve your needs.!

[BT8850]

Thanks! I believe it will. Was initially not thrilled about the idea of jamming a huge piece of leather in my pants but its not anywhere near as bad or uncomfortable as it looks, i'm impressed

[sutehk]

BT8850, how did you form the kydex?

[BT8850]

BT8850, how did you form the kydex?

To get the initial form cut one of the 12x12 sheets in half and put it in my oven on an upside down cookie tray at ~315*F. My oven element is about shot so the actual heat could be +/- 50* so take that for what you will. I just let it in there long enough to get floppy, about the consistency of sliced cheese.

Laid the gun on a small piece of plywood and when the kydex was nice and floppy in the oven I pulled the tray out and slid the kydex off over top the pistol. Then I just shimmyed it around a little to get it to line up where I wanted it and then laid a piece of foam overtop and I put all my body weight on to the foam to form it around the gun. Then you just wait a few minutes and the kydex will be cool enough to hold its form.

Now you have a piece that's formed but with the foam method i wasnt able to get the edges all the way down flush. So what I did was took the cooled piece, used big scissors to rough cut it so I had a smaller workable piece, then used a heat gun to heat up the edges and then finish formed them around the gun by hand with oven mits on. Its a crude and unscientific process I used but the results were decent and definitely usable.

Also, if you decide to try it, there are awesome videos on youtube that will give you alot better understanding of it. I've made 3 holsters and have learned more each time. One thing i've found that works really well is when you have your rough cut piece and its formed the way you want it, a bench grinder with a "fine" stone on it works great to round edges and take of extra material. Makes a mess and smells but hey, it works well. Then you just finish the edges with a little bit of sand paper and bada bing bada boom, one formed piece of kydex with smoothe edges thats ready to rivet onto some leather or do with whatever you please!

[sutehk]

Thanks BT, I was wondering how you formed the kydex so it was flat around the edges. Plywood was an idea I was tossing around but I wasn't sure if the kydex would pick up the wood grain. I did find the YouTube videos helpful. I may try the vacuum bag idea with my shop vac. I would like to mimic a CrossBreed for my 1066. How are those belt clips working out? Do they keep a tight hold during the draw?

[BT8850]

No problem at all. You are correct, the impression of the grain was in the Kydex. It was really noticable before I did the rough but beause the plywood I had was pressed/chip board, you know the cheap sheathing stuff. Once I cut it down to size and made the edges as narrow as I wanted you barely see any of the imprints on the front side, although you can see them on the shiny side of the Kydex which is on the inside of the holster. If you use mdf board to press against it ought to give you a really flat edge.

The vacuum forming stuff is really neat to see. They can get really good definition out of those things. If you decide do go down that road let us know how it works out!

The belt clips are acctually fantastic. They do keep a really nice hold while drawing. They keep that baby right where you put it, it doesn't budge. I actually clip it on my pants behind the belt but the clips are big enough to go over the belt if you so choose and I believe they'd hold even better if you wear it that way. I've been wearing it a few hours a day for the past week and everything seems to be going smoothly. The only thing I'm going to change/redo is drill out the rivets that hold the clips to the leather. I must not have gotten enough tension when I squeezed them because the clips are not stationary, they use the rivet as a pivot point and kind of swing side to side if you see what I'm saying. I haven't completely decided if it's a bad thing or not because it does allow a little more flexibility, only way to find out is redo em nice and tight. And hey, if I don't like it, rivets are cheap