cphilip

Any tips on this. I got this Alessi duty holster off the eBay distributor for my kid. It is the basic Duty holster. It is listed as fitting a G17 and a G22. It is SUPER tight on the G22.

I have inserted it to just let it sit for now till I asked you guys and gals about how to go about the process. As of now its a hair shy of the retainer snap lining up and snapping... but its close... but its dam tight!

Help a holster newbie out.

Added on edit, the kid says he can borrow a training dummy... and he thinks heat and insertion is the way to do it. Confim?

Added again.. on edit: Do any of you leather experts that we have on this board make Duty Belts?

__________________
www.cphilip.com

Hobbes

Putting the gun in a plastic bag and inserting in the holster will loosen it up. I don't know about the heat thing...

Thumper

Yeah, try what Hobbes said with the plastic bag and don't use heat!
Keep working with the snap till you get it snapped and let 'er sit for a few days!

__________________

USMC 1968-1971

ALWAYS carry! - NEVER tell!

"Don't go to stupid places, with stupid people, and do stupid things!"

cphilip

Ya think the use of the dummy gun is a good idea? It is a replica G22 for training.

__________________
www.cphilip.com

Redneck Repairs

No frikkin heat on leather ... just put it in a ziplock bag and put it into the holster for a day or two .. take your days off or whateaver and stay home if its the only pistol you have .. just that will do fine . if the holster attempts to close back up ( some polimer lined ones will ) do double bag the pistol and do it again .

Edited to add Heck i gave my age away , re the old safariland composite holsters lol .

__________________
Make sure you get full value out of today , Do something worthwhile, because what you do today will cost you one day off the rest of your life .
We only begin to understand folks after we stop and think .

Criminals are looking for victims, not opponents.

cphilip

I think the heat he was refering to is just warm. Not cold. Like in a warm place or something. He also may be reffering to plastic synthetic holsters or something.

Will try the bag approach. No need to be in a hurry. Its not an issued gun nor an issued holster. And it is complete leather. One of Alessi's duty models.

__________________
www.cphilip.com

Redneck Repairs

Hey if its not issue and you can do it , well bag the pistol , and let it set for a weekend . Just please dont use heat or shoe stretch , ect on gun leather .

edited to add if that dont fix it , contact lou himself and i bet he will make good on the holster one way or another .

__________________
Make sure you get full value out of today , Do something worthwhile, because what you do today will cost you one day off the rest of your life .
We only begin to understand folks after we stop and think .

Criminals are looking for victims, not opponents.

cphilip

Ok... going to go back down to the shop here in a few and extract it, bag it and then bring it up here to the house to sit. Its warmer here as I am not heating the shop right now and it will at least be at a normal room temp up here.

It does go in. And it gets to almost to snap with just a forceful insertion. It's a nice holster. Will be above average for duty use I suspect. And everything I find says G17 and G22 are the same so I have no reason to believe it won't conform to my wishes. At least not at this point.

Let me ask you this, Pistol in bag then into holster or bag in and then pistol? And is the purpose of the bag more to give a slippery slightly thicker layer to form too or to protect the pistol? I guess it could be both.

__________________
www.cphilip.com

cphilip

Think I got it.

For one thing there is a tension (I think?) bridge down below the trigger guard area... that I losened. An allen head bolt and a nylock go through there and goes through what appears to be a plastic bridge down in there. I assume this is for maintaining a gap but also brings it down snug in that area.

Then,with that loosened a bit and with the gun in a plastic bag, I was able to push it down enough to get it snapped. Just barely but snapped in there.

So now just the wait. Thanks for the help.

__________________
www.cphilip.com

Mark Garrity

cphillip,
Wrap the pistol in a thicker plastic bag; like freezer bag thickness, and put it in the holster and let it sit overnight. Seeing that you purchased the holster on E-Bay, part of the issue may be the fact that I don't think Alessi has made duty holsters in quite some time. in the past few years I think he's been sticking to concealment gear. That said, your holster may be built for an older G17/22 without light rails. The rail guns are thicker dimensionally throughout the dust-cover area, and this could effect overall fit. On a tightly detail molded holster like one of Alessi's concealment holsters (or mine) you wouldn't even be able to fit a G17 rail-gun into a holster made for an older version. Duty holsters are by their nature less detail molded and more forgiving in dimensions. I would make sure the dummy gun is a rail gun, (if that's what your son's pistol is) and go from there.

__________________
"He who makes things with his hands is a laborer, he who makes things with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who makes things with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist."
www.garritysgunleather.com