skvinson

Raven's home page has links to a couple sites that sell their products. There are pictures on one of those sites of the various add-on clips, etc.

The Malabar Front

If it works well, it has a lot of potential. I'm anxious to see the pictures.

pbanbury

Austin,

Yeah, the website is not very professional, you are better off going to the link to The Malabar Front here:

The Malabar Front

It is one of the owner's site for sales. It always shocks me a little when I come across a lame website. I wish everyone would get their priorities right! But its a small company, only a few years making holsters, and not focussed on growth. Whatever happened to businesses like those I wonder?

So I picked up the phone and called Raven, and talked with Jay for a while. He related the company's history and did a good job describing his customer base. I thought I would take the owner at his word about the development and history of the holster with various undercover high speed low drag types. I felt comfortable about his word based on a reference from the guys at Strider Knives (another company that was small a few years ago with a feeble website), who I know firsthand, but thought I would buy one and get a hands on experience before giving it a thumbs-up.

Like you Austin, I don't like lame new ideas. Further, I don't really believe products with good websites or popular acceptance are always better- cynical, curmudgeonly, careful? I took a gamble and sent my 70 odd dollars for a look-see.

My carry gun is an XD9sc. I use a Wilderness 5 stitch belt, find it to be substantial and comfortable, as do many. Comp Tac worked with me to get the fit right, and it was an improvement over previous holster, but too square for my body- I wore it 10-12 hours a day for quite a while and was somewhat satisfied, but on the lookout for something better. The concealment was OK, but again not complete. Maybe I missed something or am paranoid. Note I do not knock the C-tac. It works for a lot of people, I let my buddy try it who has a bit more girth and it seems to work out well.

Parachute cord? Huh? No, the clips that adapt the holster are quite substantial. Not as beefy as my Blackhawk Serpa, but more so than my C-tac. They go on and off with the same size screws as Comp-Tac uses, though a philips head. You can go from paddle to IWB to tuckable, to OWB. Because of the curve they hold the rig close at the sides and top, and I like that. Definitely closer than any of the three holsters I have used with this gun.

Note how well the Kydex is formed to the gun. Yes, the Pierce magazine extension makes printing more pronounced, but it makes double taps much more accurate for me.

OK, I finally figured out photobucket, but am a lame photographer:

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Exechobo

aus71383

"Hey I have that rug!" - my wife.

Looks like it works! I still don't quite get it - are all the holes/grommets along each side threaded? and you screw it together with whatever clip you want to use? What makes it conceal better than your old holster?

For me, concealing is made difficult or easy by a few things: Position/cant, thickness of the gun, and clothing. What does this holster do different?

Austin

white79bu

I am looking at ordering a holster but I am looking at the one with the light. It would be for my M&P45 w/ insight ssl-1 light. I am just trying to decide if I want to carry the light or without. Has anyone else thought about carrying a weapon mounted gun for CCW?
(I already carry a surefire g2z light)

AZ Husker

What a poor choice of a brand name..."Raven", long known as the worst handgun maker in the world!

pbanbury

Hey Austin,
The holes are the rivets that hold the two pieces of Kydex together. I think the two piece sandwich enables them to make the whole thing thiner at the sides (front and rear of the gun). They are nice heavy rivets, and look to be very well fit and seated. May be a source of weakness, so I will inspect regularly, but rivets do hold some high tech stuff together don't they?

The various belt loop and hanger thingies then screw through the revets- Raven spaces the rivets to allow additional pieces like mag carriers and light holsters to then also link up via the same screws. Hence they call it a system.

To answer your question, the holster challenges concealment by adding thickness. Leather and double leather, thick kydex, clips placed over the holster all add thickness to the Rig. What I think Raven does well is use thin kydex, and ensure the edges along the front and back of holster (leading and following edge) curve to the body, thus reducing the overall size of the blocky thing. Leather does this really well too, of course, but I am kinda a kydex guy for this gun and EDC. So to me it is a good choice- so far.

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Exechobo

Jaystekan

WOW pbanbury, Raven should be paying you to advertise their product. nice looking holster. I am in the market for a holster right now for some of my guns. The raven looks interesting. Their website sucks, but maybe after a few more reviews, I may give them a shot.

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Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

pbanbury

Sorry if I came across overly enthused about this product. I meant to just give some creds and exposure to a holster I found to be on a par with others that more people are aware of, cause I haven't seen much on this company. Of course, that IS the purpose of advertising isn't it?


Hmmmm, might there be a fee in here somewhere??? Well looking at the website, I am guessing the Co. has a pretty small budget for that sort of thing, so I am SOL again!!

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Exechobo

BluesStringer

Hey, I'm glad you were so enthusiastic! If you weren't, I probably wouldn't have checked out Raven and just bought one! Yeah, I read this thread this morning about 8:00 am, and just finished ordering one after a few emails with Jay to work out some special needs I had, which he was more than willing to help me figure out.

I recently bought a Crossbreed Super-Tuck Deluxe for my RAMI and was so impressed with how comfortable an IWB holster could be, that I set about trying to find one for my Smith & Wesson 4563TSW. I've been pouring over the long list of holster manufacturers in this part of the forum, and had just about decided to just go with another Crossbreed for the Smith, when I started reading some of the threads in this forum while I mulled it over one last time. I admit that I was a bit put off by Raven's sorely lacking website, but I stuck with trying to figure out how to navigate it and realized that, not only could I have a high-quality tuckable IWB, belt-slide AND pancake rig, all for under $100 bucks, but that same holster will accommodate my gun with my TLR-2 light/laser attached. That cinched it, and I ordered it. Jay said to give him two weeks to adapt some Crossbreed-style V-Clips where the standard Overhooks go in the pics above, which will work perfectly with the Belt Man gun-belt that should arrive any day now with the optional Velcro sewn into the entire usable length.

Thanks for the lead pbanbury! I'm stoked!

Blues

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"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." -- George Washington

pbanbury

Good luck with the new rig Blues. Let us know how it works out for you.

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Exechobo