An interesting failure that almost worked :)

[Jim in Tucson]

If you're going to do "edgy" things, sometimes it's not going to work out.  That's no reason not to try .

This critter was my attempt to do something like an IPSC "skeleton competition rig" like this:

http://czcustom.com/cr-speed-xd-wsm-ii.aspx

...except with a "western flavor".



The result was this kydex/leather/conchos/paracord mixed media monster:







These pics were taken immediately after finishing, and I didn't realize some of the dye used on the blond-colored lace hadn't dried on the kydex...so under the camera's flash those ugly black blotches poked out.  They wiped right off afterwards, so try and ignore that part .

This pre-dates my experiments with the "hacksite" so the gun had a custom dovetail front base and square Novak blade (painted red).

The whole front of the holster was an open breakfront.  This is basically a kydex holster, with a single leather sheet covering the worst of the hideousness under there and acting as the rearmost belt mount.  The paracord formed the forward edge belt mount point at various heights, in other words I could set it up straight as seen here, "FBI forward rake" or a rear-tilt if I wanted to. 

Oh, and the rearmost concho is hiding some lacing connecting the layer of leather to the kydex skeleton underneath.

So what went wrong (besides looks)?  The kydex used was too thin.  I used two overlapping layers of .060 kydex to make the "grab", squeezing the gun from behind (up under the triggerguard and cylinder).  Wasn't thick enough.  Given enough .125" grade kydex I suspect this IS a workable design, but I've come to love the crossdraw setup I'm doing now and that can't be made any faster via a breakfront (or "breakback" for that matter) kydex funkyness.  The current setup (the one with the yin-yang inserts) rides much higher than this design ever will so...this concept is at a minimum set aside for a later time - maybe.

Feel free to play with the idea.  In theory this could be the fastest damn SA speed-draw rig anybody ever built, once fully debugged .

[JD Alan]

On the positive side, no one else one like it!

[Jim in Tucson]

We ain't even gotten to the single weirdest idea I've had yet.  Involving a mod to the gun that I have -=no=- idea how I'm gonna holster, unless I go back and resurrect the creature feature shown above.

See...what happens when you ditch the conventional ejector system on an SAA-type like my NewVaq, and add in a compressed air cartridge and trigger so that once dry, you can flip the loading gate open, hit a button and spray all six empties in the air at once as you spin the cylinder?  And then reload with a spring-loaded tube of some sort, again while spinning the cylinder?  Is a three-second total reload possible?  Dunno.  I think one day I'm gonna try and find out...I'm already way SASS-illegal, I'm wondering if I can keep up with IDPA revolver...

'Cept then, how in hell do I holster such a critter?  It'll be fatter at the barrel than the cylinder.  Sucker already looks like a prop gun from "Firefly".  The holster would have to be breakfront somehow, otherwise pulling it out would be like the holster has to give birth every time.

Those questions are for another day .

[Ned Buckshot]

Please remember this is just my opinion, that and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks so here goes.

If this was my project I think I would try and incorporate a little of the traditional single action holster design into this, I.E. just the basic outside shape. That way you would lose the square thing on your hip look.

You can keep what ever under that but like a facade of sorts. I havn't worked with Kydex much but it seems preety adapatable and may even be able to be utilized in a basic cowboy style and still give you a front break design.

Of course all this is all pure speculation on my part but......

Let me know what you think , I can easily trash all these ideas if someone points out where and why it wouldn't work.

Ned

[Jim in Tucson]

Longhunter is selling fully traditional-looking and SASS-legal rigs with kydex cores, at big-bucks prices:

http://www.longhunt.com/leather/longhunter-shootingsystem.htm

So there's no question that can be done.

Once you go breakfront however, it gets...interesting .  Real fast .

[Biscuit Joe]

I've built  holsters for mounted shooting using Kydex.
Yeah some folks like it. I don't think it is all it's cracked up to be by some when used in between leather.
As a stand alone I think it is fine.
As a filler for a leather sandwich? I'll pass.
IMHO for what it's worth?

[Jim in Tucson]

As a filler for a leather sandwich? I'll pass.

We agree.  And that's not quite what the "failure rig" in the first post does.  It's much closer to a pure Kydex rig than, say, Longhunter's "sandwich critter" and the leather in mine was mostly decorative - by that I mean, the one structural part of the leather forming the rear belt loop could have also been done in kydex and it would be the same rig.