Being primarily an OWB guy, I always thought the idea of sandwiching a pistol between a hunk of leather and kydex, then cramming the whole get up in my pants, sounded like it would be incredibly uncomfortable.... until today, that is. I never would have even considered purchasing a hybrid IWB rig except I received a couple pairs of jeans this past Christmas that were a little large in the waist. Instead of exchanging them, I thought, "What the heck? Let's use this as an opportunity to see what all the hoopla surrounding these hybrids is about." After shopping around and seeing Old Faithful's 30-day challenge guarantee, 50 year warranty, and price, I figured I couldn't go wrong, so I ordered the Old Faithful IWB "Quick Assemble Kit", which arrived earlier today.
Assembly of the holster was a breeze... such that there really isn't much to write about. A couple of things to note... I really liked that they included a couple of different screw and spacer lengths for attaching the kydex to the leather backing, since as the holster gets broken in, it may become necessary to switch to a shorter screw and spacer to maintain proper tension on the firearm. I also liked the idea of screwing on the kydex instead of using rivets. If I ever replace my current carry weapon, all I need to do is order another kydex shell or form one myself and screw it onto the leather... sure beats buying a whole new holster.
Now onto comfort and concealability. This rig concealed my full size M&P 9mm extremely well, and I was thoroughly impressed with the comfort when I took it for a test run. Like I said before, I was going into this fully expecting a high level of discomfort that because of, I would either have to utilize the money back guarantee or just get used to it. Even though it was the first time wearing the rig, I began to not notice it after an hour or so because it was so comfortable. I didn't even really notice it when sitting and driving. I'll even go one further and say it was more comfortable than my OWB rigs due to not having to cinch my belt down quite as tight to keep the pistol pulled in nice and close. Being that comfortable on the first day, I can only imagine it will just get better with time. Of course, YMMV.
The only complaint I have with the holster is purely cosmetic. One their website and in several video reviews I have seen on the holster, the company logo is heavily stamped into the leather backing. On the one I received, the logo is lightly stamped and colored in. This isn't too much of an issue actually since it will rarely, if ever, be seen, but it does look a little cheesy. The coloring also came off onto the polymer of my pistol as evidenced in the photo below showing a bit of the coloring having been rubbed off of the logo. I would have preferred the heavily stamped logo with no coloring, but if this is the only thing I have to complain about with this holster, I can live with it.
Sorry this is so long.... I definitely didn't intend to write a book here, so I'll wrap this up now. All in all, I think this holster is going to be a great addition to my carry repertoire. I'll still carry OWB from time to time, but it will be nice to have this around when better concealment is needed. I guess I should thank my mother for gifting me the wrong size pants and inadvertently introducing me to a new mode of carry.
Assembly of the holster was a breeze... such that there really isn't much to write about. A couple of things to note... I really liked that they included a couple of different screw and spacer lengths for attaching the kydex to the leather backing, since as the holster gets broken in, it may become necessary to switch to a shorter screw and spacer to maintain proper tension on the firearm. I also liked the idea of screwing on the kydex instead of using rivets. If I ever replace my current carry weapon, all I need to do is order another kydex shell or form one myself and screw it onto the leather... sure beats buying a whole new holster.
Now onto comfort and concealability. This rig concealed my full size M&P 9mm extremely well, and I was thoroughly impressed with the comfort when I took it for a test run. Like I said before, I was going into this fully expecting a high level of discomfort that because of, I would either have to utilize the money back guarantee or just get used to it. Even though it was the first time wearing the rig, I began to not notice it after an hour or so because it was so comfortable. I didn't even really notice it when sitting and driving. I'll even go one further and say it was more comfortable than my OWB rigs due to not having to cinch my belt down quite as tight to keep the pistol pulled in nice and close. Being that comfortable on the first day, I can only imagine it will just get better with time. Of course, YMMV.
The only complaint I have with the holster is purely cosmetic. One their website and in several video reviews I have seen on the holster, the company logo is heavily stamped into the leather backing. On the one I received, the logo is lightly stamped and colored in. This isn't too much of an issue actually since it will rarely, if ever, be seen, but it does look a little cheesy. The coloring also came off onto the polymer of my pistol as evidenced in the photo below showing a bit of the coloring having been rubbed off of the logo. I would have preferred the heavily stamped logo with no coloring, but if this is the only thing I have to complain about with this holster, I can live with it.
Sorry this is so long.... I definitely didn't intend to write a book here, so I'll wrap this up now. All in all, I think this holster is going to be a great addition to my carry repertoire. I'll still carry OWB from time to time, but it will be nice to have this around when better concealment is needed. I guess I should thank my mother for gifting me the wrong size pants and inadvertently introducing me to a new mode of carry.