Uncle Mike's Kydex Hip Holster Review
Written by Tyler

  
Whether it is my ongoing pursuit to obtain 'real' tactical gear or just the fact that it has a 'cool' factor, I find myself purchasing more and more equipment designed for real world scenarios then I do for 'the game' of airsoft.  So my latest purchase is the Kydex hip holster from Uncle Mike's of Oregon.  I had originally planned on purchasing a similar holster from a competing company but when I saw the price, I decided that I couldn't go wrong.

The Kydex hip holster from Uncle Mike's is made of hard injection molded plastic.  I don't know what type of plastic but I am sure that it has some life to it.  The good thing about this make up is that it will not stretch or get deformed under regular use.  With a real firearm, you don't really have to worry too much about that because the gun would stay in the holster more frequently then when you are playing airsoft.  As I am sure you know, with airsoft you find yourself holstering and drawing your airsoft gun quite frequently during the games or before and after regenerations.

The holster that I purchased was for the Glock models.  My primary sidearm is the KJW Glock 23 full metal so that is what this review is about.  I was hesitant about purchasing the holster because I was sure if it would 'really' work.  But after a realizing that the KJW Glock 23 is basically just an airsoft 1:1 scale of the real Glock 23, 19, etc, I decided that it should work fine.  When I was at the local shooting range a while back, I had seen this holster and debated about purchasing it.  I finally grabbed one off of the shelf and went to the back gun counter.  I asked the guy behind the counter to allow me to see how the 'real' Glock 23 fit into the holster.  He showed me how it fit and I was sold.

After returning home, I took my airsoft Glock 23 and holstered it just as I did it's real counterpart.  I was very happy to see that it holstered exactly like the real one did in the store.  The way this holster works, is that it has a molded area that fits into the trigger guard.  When you holster the weapon, you are actually pushing your trigger guard between this piece and it 'snaps' into place for a nice secure fit.  This 'area' also gives you an index point for your trigger finger so that you can have proper hand placement when you are drawing your weapon.

One of the things that I noticed about 'universal' holsters, commonly found with airsoft replica gear, is that you have to (or should) hold your thumb at the back of the slide to keep the gun from cycling while you holster it.  With the Kydex hip holster, I didn't have to do that at all and that was a 'big' selling point for me, because it just makes holstering your weapon that much faster and convenient during games.

I wanted to see how secure the holster held my Glock so I decided to turn the holster upside down while my weapon was holstered.  I was curious to know if it would fall out or be 'loose'.  The holster held the gun in place perfectly.  I didn't 'expect' the holster to allow the gun to drop but I wasn't going to leave it up to chance.  This is great considering that if you play hard, there will be times in which you find yourself upside down or at least in some type of opposing vertical position such as if you are climbing walls or trees or just laying on your stomach.  This holster holds the gun intact, another great point of why it is better than the 'universal' holsters.

There are no thumb breaks, bands or straps that need to be fastened or undone during weapon draw or holstering.  This makes quick target acquisition much easier because you can keep your eye and concentration on the target you are engaging without having to fumble around with the thumb break or the 'snap' holding the weapon.  I found that with my universal holster, even though it was a nice fitting holster, when ever I holstered my weapon, I had to 'snap' it in and adjust the tension just so that my sidearm wouldn't fall out.

I don't own a 'full size' Glock so I don't know how the length is on that, but with the smaller mid-sized Glocks such as the KJW 23 and it's real counterpart, the final placement of the end of the barrel is perfect.  I say this because there have been times that I have had to 'plant' my body and ultimately my holster into a pile of dirt or debris and then I come to find out that the barrel of my sidearm is dirty.  With the Uncle Mike's Kydex holster, the end of my gun sits in about 3/4 of an inch protecting the barrel from any dirt mounts that I may encounter during game.

The way that the Kydex holster is designed, allows for a full and complete tactical grip of your sidearm from the start.  This is especially critical when drawing your weapon in a tactical emergency such as if your rifle had a malfunction or your are just 'surprised' by your opponent.  With some of the universal holsters, it doesn't allow for a good grip and upon withdrawing of your sidearm, you actually have to 'reposition' your grip for a tactical advantage.  This holster not matter how many times I grabbed the gun, I had a near perfect, if not perfect, grip on the weapon each time and I was in complete control of my sidearm.

The weight of the holster is nice as well.  It weighed in at a mere 4.4 oz.  and being that it is made of injection molded plastic, it isn't going to 'soak' up water or moisture and get heavier.  That is of course, if you ever happened to get wet.  Or if you play pistols only games in the rain.  So when your weapon is not in its holster, you really don't even feel the holster there which makes a big difference because you don't have to 'adjust' your stance in awkward shooting positions.

When the gun is holstered, the Kydex holster holds your sidearm in position.  I didn't find that it was 'sagging' or leaning in one direction during heavy movement.  This is another key point of being fast and tactical with your equipment.  If you have to 'look' for your weapon, you might as well just give up.

The holster that I purchased was the belt loop holster set up, but they do have a paddle set up if that is more your style.  The place that I purchased the holster from was selling the paddle version for about $3.00 more than the belt loop set up.

I only found two small things about the holster that I did not like.  Now these are small things that for the most part are just a personal preference thing and in the real world or even in an airsoft game, it may not make a difference.  First, I did not like that fact that the belt loop set up only accepted belts up to 1.75" inch width.  The reason this was a big deal to me, is that I have a 2.0 inch duty belt and I had to thread my belt in a little awkward to make it work.  I did measure it at the gun shop but I didn't really care.  This is a small thing and really I didn't notice anything significant while I was wearing the holster.  Again, this is just a personal preference thing. 

The second thing that I did not like was the actual noise that it made while I was holstering and drawing my weapon.  As I told you, the gun has to 'squeeze' between the holster to fit properly and that makes a bit of noise.  Then when you draw the weapon it makes about the same amount of noise.  The reason this bothered me is because, even when I am playing pistol only games, I try to keep my weapon holstered as much as possible.  I do this because it gives it a more realistic 'feeling' when I am playing, that I have to actually 'draw' my weapon when I am engaged and because it is just kind of a pain to have to always have my weapon at ready even when I don't get engaged for a while.  Well, with my style of playing, this posses a problem because if I just so happened to encounter an opponent and he or she doesn't know that I am there, how am I suppose to draw my weapon without giving up my advantage?  I would have to either 'hope' that they don't hear my draw my weapon or I would have to go around the other side of the building (in CQB) to draw and then re-engage with stealth.  So, again it is a personal preference thing, so if you 'always' have you weapon drawn, it won't matter but then again, if that was the case, you wouldn't really need this holster.

So in short, this is an awesome holster and I highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a more realistic 'feel' to their gear.  The price that I paid for the Uncle Mike's Kydex hip holster was full list price of $19.99, but I have found them on the web for $13.99.  They may be even cheaper than that but I'll let you guys do the research.  For more information on the Uncle Mike's Kydex holster, visit www.butler-creek.com and click on the holsters and belts link.

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