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I've been working with Kydex for some time, making some motorcycle accessories and other little things. Last night, I decided I'd try my hand at making a hybrid holster. There's really nothing to them, and by making your own you can add some little custom touches. I decided to make one for my Kahr K40. I've installed an extended, ported barrel, so all of the off-the-shelf holsters don't fit the way I would like. I also wanted provisions for an extra magazine. I figure I've got a total of about $12 worth of materials into this holster.

I used some olive drab .08" Kydex that I had lying around for the holster. I have a bunch of black .093" Kydex, but I thought that would be too thick and I'm not patient enough to wait for more .08" just to make the holster black. Besides, it's and IWB holster, so who really cares what color it is? The leather is natural (undyed) 9 oz shoulder and I used "black chrome" rivets and Chicago screws for assembly. The belt clips are universal spring steel clips. Everything but the Kydex came from Tandy Leather Co.

After molding the Kydex to both the gun and the mag and cutting off any unneeded material with my bandsaw, I dressed the edges of the Kydex and riveted it to the leather. Then, I reheated the Kydex and moulded the whole holster to the contour of my side where it will ride. I punched three holse on each side to allow for some adjustability [abbreviated profanity deleted] the belt clips and installed them with some leather washers and the Chicago screws. A little Loctite will make sure the screws don't come undone during use. Finally, I trimmed the leather to it's finished shape and sanded the edges to a smooth radius. I know a lot of guys like the "combat cut" where there is no leather behind the grip. However, I'm a heavy sweater, so I want the extra protection between me and the grip. Also, the checkering on my grips tend to get fairly harsh against you skin after a while.

Anyway, that's what I came up with. I learned a few "next-times" and had a fun evening playing with leather and Kydex. I may punch one more hole in the front so I can give it just a little more cant. The retention of the holster is just right: smooth and easy to draw, but the gun isn't going ANYWHERE on accident. (I've already given it the "jump up and down and run around" test.) The mag is easy to reach with my off hand, and I can store a standard or extended mag there with no problem. Due to contouring the holster to my body while I was building it, it's already more comfortable than most of my "broken in" holsters. I wore it for the better part of today and it feels great.

Your holster looks as good or better than many of the commercial products.

nicely done. I do like the built in mag holder as well.
I wonder how comfortable it will be once it is broken in?

Nice shirt.

Looks to me like you did a bang up job on your new holster. Cuts way down on the lead time also!!

Very cool! Thanks for the information and the pictures.

Very well done. I would love to try some projects. Where do you get your kydex?

Thanks, guys! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although there are a couple of things I'll do differently on the next one.

I buy my Kydex from Knifekits.com.

Warhammer wrote:Thanks, guys! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although there are a couple of things I'll do differently on the next one.

I buy my Kydex from Knifekits.com.

I'll check them out, Thanks..

Nice looking rig. I am in the process of building a small vaccum press. What method did you use to form the kydex?

donniet wrote:Nice looking rig. I am in the process of building a small vaccum press. What method did you use to form the kydex?

I just heated it with a heat gun and hand pressed it over the gun and mag. Of course, a heavy pair of work gloves is a really good idea with this method. I've thought about building a simple molding press, but for lower volume like I do, it really isn't neccessary.

Update:
Well, I wore the new rig to church today to test it out. This was a little different because we did "worship in the park" and had a BBQ after service. I wore jeans and a polo shirt, and nobody seemed to notice the rig under my shirt. I even played bocce and participated in a GPS scavenger hunt with no issues. The holster remained comfortable the entire time. The only issue I had was when I was helping with tear-down (loading chairs and tables into my truck, taking down decorations, etc...). After having the rig on for 6 hours of stand up, sit down, run through the park activity, the rear clip migrated up high enough to lose it's grip on my pants. (I had the clips on my pants, but under my belt.) I don't think this would have happened if the clips were over my belt. I usually run the clips under the belt because they show less, but I wear my shirt untucked, so this probably isn't neccessary. I'll have to decide if I want to go ahead and run the clips over my belt or just make some J clips to replace the metal clips I used. Overall, I think it was a really successful maiden voyage.

Next time:
1. I think I'm going to make the next one with more cant built into the rig, rather than relying on clip adjustments for cant.
2. I'm also thinking about extending the Kydex onto the area where the clips mount. This will enable me to heat form the shape of the holster all the way out to the edges.
3. I'm also debating over color... I need to order more .08" Kydex, so should I do basic black, OD, brown, or digi camo? Since it's IWB, color really doesn't matter as long as it's not something so bright that it draws attention if the cover garment rides up.
4. Another thought is to punch holes and stitch the Kydex to the leather rather than using rivets. It would be a lot more work, but might look really cool in chocolate brown Kydex on natural leather with white thread. I could still rivet the corners for extra strength.

We'll just have to see what the next one ends up looking like.

How do you feel about having the extra mag on your strong side? Have you practiced reloading with your new rig? I would just worry about an "OH CRAP" moment and reaching across to grab mag.

It does look good though

chefkristian wrote:How do you feel about having the extra mag on your strong side? Have you practiced reloading with your new rig? I would just worry about an "OH CRAP" moment and reaching across to grab mag.

It does look good though

I was thinking the same thing. If you needed to reload you would either have to reach across your body or switch hands...


just become ambidextrous!

Nice work sir!

I like the idea of having a mag holder and pistol holster together. I hadn't thought about having to reach across the body to get the mag.

I know how much trouble I have holding holster, pants and shirt in place when dressing "tucked" with the supertuck. I don't know if I have enough hands to put a mag holster on the weak side, pistol on strong side and still be able to dress myself.

chefkristian wrote:How do you feel about having the extra mag on your strong side? Have you practiced reloading with your new rig? I would just worry about an "OH CRAP" moment and reaching across to grab mag.

It does look good though

I've been practicing reloads and they really aren't appreciably slower than having the mag on the weak side. They're actually quicker than the way I was carrying the spare, which was in my left front pocket. The mag is actually very easy to reach and it ends up oriented in my hand just right to slam it home. I guess the major factor in how well this would work for anyone is how much belly they have to reach across. I've recently dropped about 2 inches off of my waist and I'm working on losing more. I figure the more Iose, the faster my reloads will get!

I should get more Kydex in about 2 days so I can start on Version 2. This one will be chocolate Kydex on chocolate brown leather with black stiching rather than rivets, and I'll burnish and dye the edges black. I figure can trim about an inch off of the overall width of the rig by usinf stitching instead of rivets. I'm also going to make my own belt clips from Kydex and use them to adjust cant and depth rather than using multiple holes in the leather. This one should look nicer, even though it is an IWB holster and won't really be seen anyway.