Leather IWB & OWB Holsters, Handmade in the USA
These are the holsters you put on every single morning. Three of them, and the test for all three is the same: by mid-afternoon you should have forgotten it's there.
Every one is cut from full-grain Wickett & Craig, wet-molded to your specific handgun, and built one at a time in Arizona by the man writing this.
The Insider: inside the waistband
My leather IWB holster, and the one more of my customers carry than anything else I make.
Full-grain Wickett & Craig lined with a second layer of 3 oz. Wickett & Craig, so it holds its shape and never marks your pistol's finish. Wet-molded to your gun for a click-in fit: the retention comes from the mold itself, not from a screw compensating for a loose one.
Cut to clear a red dot, so an optics-ready pistol drops straight in. It rides on DCC Monoblock clips for a stable, low-profile carry, and the optional MODWING pulls the grip in tight to kill printing.
Built appendix or strong-side, right or left hand, in brown, black or mahogany, with stamping if you want it.
The Classic Pancake
The classic. Near enough unchanged for a century, because it works: two belt slots that pull the holster in tight against your hip so the pistol rides close and flat.
This one is about comfort. If you want to conceal, but you want comfort more than you want concealment, the pancake is your holster.
Outside the waistband is always more comfortable than inside. Nothing is pressed between your belt and your body all day. What you trade for it is concealment. You don't hide an OWB holster as completely as an IWB, and anybody telling you different hasn't worn both. That's the trade, and for a lot of people it's the right one.
Wet-molded for the 1911, Glock, Sig, and medium-size revolvers and smaller. I don't build it for the big wheelguns. A heavy, long-barreled revolver hanging off a pancake isn't comfortable, and comfort is the entire reason you'd choose this holster in the first place.
The SideKick: Avenger style
My take on the Avenger, the classic Bruce Nelson design. It runs two belt loops: one out on a wing, one behind the holster body. That's not styling. Splitting the loops that way is what makes room to cut the holster open for an optic.
Which is the whole reason to choose it: you're carrying a red dot.
If you carry an optic and you want to carry outside the waistband, this is the most concealable way I know to do it. Comfortable enough for every day, and the sight channel clears.
I don't build the SideKick for revolvers. Revolvers don't wear optics, so there's nothing here for the design to solve. If you're carrying a wheelgun, the pancake is the better holster and that's where I'll point you.
Which one you actually want
It comes down to one question: are you carrying an optic?
Optic, outside the waistband: the SideKick. It's cut for it, and nothing else I make conceals a red-dot pistol OWB as well.
No optic: the pancake. It conceals a little tighter. No reason to give that up for a feature you aren't using.
Revolver: the pancake, medium-size or smaller. I don't build the SideKick for wheelguns.
The difference between the two is one detail, and it's worth understanding. The SideKick's rear loop sits behind the holster body, which puts a little room between the holster and your belt. It stands off a touch. The pancake's two slots sit further apart and both pull inward, sandwiching it flatter against you. So the SideKick takes up less belt, the pancake rides tighter. That's the whole difference, and if you're not running an optic there's no reason not to take the tighter one.
When each one is the wrong answer
Worth saying plainly. I'd rather you bought the right holster than bought from me twice.
The Insider is the wrong answer if you're carrying something very large, or a large revolver, and it's the wrong answer for hiking, hunting or backpacking. Inside the waistband just doesn't make much sense out in the field.
The pancake is the wrong answer if you want to carry a large revolver, if you need deep concealment, or if you're running an optic. Mine doesn't do those three.
The SideKick is the wrong answer if you're carrying a revolver, or if you need deep concealment.
Which leaves two things worth spelling out. If you need deep concealment, you want the Insider. Neither outside-the-waistband holster is going to get you there, and I won't pretend otherwise. And if you're carrying a large revolver, or you're headed into the backcountry, none of these three is your holster. That's what the Outdoorsman hip holster and the Draekan chest rig are built for.
How they're built
Full-grain Wickett & Craig, lined. Wet-molded to your specific firearm: not to a family, not to something close. Burnished edges, stitched through. Brown, black or mahogany, with stamping if you want it.
What I build most
The HK CC9 and HK VP9CC are far and away the two I make most often, followed by the Glock 43X, the Sig P365 X-Macro, and most of the modern micro-compacts. On the pancake side it's mostly 1911s and full-size revolvers. If you carry something less common, I've likely got the mold, and if I don't, I'll tell you straight.
Current lead time: approximately 4 months on all custom holsters.
Didn't see your firearm? Click here and I'll tell you if I can build it.
