Kydex vs. leather?

I carry Appendix-IWB in kydex (Glock 19/26). It isn't uncomfortable to me. FWIW, I'm 5'11" and weigh 218lbs.

In fact, the kydex is thinner than a comparable leather holster would be, not needing the band around the top to help keep it open.

I wear mine daily for EDC, and it isn't bad for extended driving trips I often have to make.

Also, I recently refinished the slide of my G19 with GunKote and after a couple hundred draws, there isn't any sign of finish wear yet.
 
Milt Sparks Holsters, Inc.

Well, I own and use both, but all my IWB are leather.
Because they don't crack, leaving sharp edges.
 
Im sticking to leather for IWB I think. I cant see the Kydex holster being as comfortable. Like the poster said sharp edges as well. Both holsters are going to wear your gun down.
 
In the rare case they might crack or break, which is just that, rare, you can easily round off the edges or points with a file and some sandpaper. Out of about a dozen or so kydex holsters I currently have and use or others I have had, the only one that has ever had the issue, was the one in the pic.

You'll never know just how comfortable they are or arent, until you try one. Talking about it here, just wont get it done. You'll just have to pony up the money and figure it out for yourself. Like I said earlier, they both feel the same to me (assuming proper time of year and conditions), so I really doubt you'd notice the difference. Both are shaped to the gun, and both imprint on you, just the same, and if anything, the kydex are often smaller in that respect. If youre not accustomed to carrying IWB, both will feel uncomfortable to you, until your body acclimates to the gun being there, so both will feel off until it does.


Luckily for us these days, we now have plenty of choices and types to choose from to solve our problems. There was a time, when we werent so lucky, and the choices were few, especially if you carried something other than what was fashionable, or you wanted something that was a little more "radical" at the time, and you just had to make due or modify things the best you could to get them to work. Now you can pretty much get anything you want, and off the shelf to boot.

Pick what suits you and youre lifestyle best, and you'll probably be fine. Truth is though, you'll never be happy, and you'll try everything new that makes you all warm and fuzzy, until you get it anyways. Just like what rides in that holster, the holsters themselves are also a sickness, and I believe we all got it pretty bad. :)

That said, you have two choices. A big "holster" box, or EBay, Gun Broker, etc. :)
 
Thanks for the info. I think I might get one for my 1911. I like IWB and am open to different ways of carry. I like the idea of it fighting the elements. I think I will try one, thanks AC130. Still like my leather though :D.
 
I'de have to say i would and do vote for leather as well.It looks and smells better.

Something about a stainless steel gun and good leather,they work well togather.
 
AK, if you only knew to whom you speak . . .:D . . . so on the one hand, OCD me is inclined to agree with you. On the other hand, I get rid of a lot of my OCD in the decision leading up to the buy - and then, I rest my case. Unless something really, really bad comes up, I tend to work around, protect and defend my decision against all its enemies, foreign and domestic. ;)

. . . HOWEVER, I really have enjoyed the input I've received in response to my original post - so all you guys, a big THANKS!:)
 
Kydex or plastic are great for the outdoors. They do not retain moisture, and if wet, can be wiped down in a minute.

Therefore, I use Fobus paddle for camping. Easy off/on in the tent on those cold nights I end up sleeping with the pants on.

For normal everyday use, I use a leather.
 
I use plastic for my Glocks, go figure. An Uncle Mike's Kydex for the G26, which works perfectly for riding my bike, and for the G29, a Galco Matrix MX7. Plastic guns, plastic holsters. Both work great. For my EDC, though, it's Don Hume leather.
 
Formed synthetic vs leather is about aesthetics. Leather requires regular maintenance. Cleaning, etc. Kydex does not.
"...duct tape was a feeble attempt at..." Regular shoe polish fixes that. Has waxes in it that water/sweat proofs leather. The adhesive on duct tape is not water proof.
 
Shoe polish, oil's, Sno Seal, you name it, I've tried them all, and none worked longer than a very short time. I was trying the duct tape as a barrier for lack of anything else to try.
 
For years, I'd always sought the best waterproof leather boots I could find for bird hunting in the woods of Vermont. I treated them with every waterproofing material in the market - but sooner or later (and usually way sooner) they always failed to be waterproof. Eventually, I tried hunting in full lace up rubber barnyard boots - and I never looked back. As much as I love leather - and it does have its place - it isn't what I'd choose in moisture intensive situations.

That said, I'm sure that there's a place for leather holsters and for Kydex holsters. You guys are helping me to sort out the strong and weak features of each. Keep it coming! . . . and, THANKS!
 
oboe
Thanks for that protocol, RETG. Where do you live? What climate?
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I live and work in a desert, but most (not all) of my camping is done in the mountains of CO, WY, ID and/or MT. I guess I should have added, the statements are in regard to my everyday handguns (Berettas/SIGs).

Since I do some camping in some serious bear country, I also take along a Ruger .454 Alaskan in a nylon holster and some potent bear spray in a nylon carrier.
 
Milt Sparks Holsters, Inc. (and Galco)

Leather requires regular maintenance :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: uh-oh
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This floored me, as I have never done anything to my leather holsters for ever.
Wait, I remember wiping the mud off oneamy Sparks 1ATs (the one for the Witnesses) once.

I only have one made-for-me-me-me Sparks 1AT and HSR now, but I have truthfully never done any maintanence -except that one time I wiped the mud off with an old rag made of t-shirt- ever. Not on my Royal Guard, either. Or a couple other moo-rigs.
I admit my gear has been used in all weather conditions from hot to frozen, in torrential rain and blizzard-snow, and everything in between.

I DO wipe down my not-moo holsters occassionally, because sand and dust and grit and crap gets stuck in their insides.
 
It sounds like the leather proponents are comparing OWB's to IWB's more for the comparison and more to make their points. IWB's, while more protected to most of the elements, are worse in the moisture respect when it comes to the holster getting wet, and remaining wet. OWBs might get wet on occasion, but they are also "exposed" and have air around them to allow them to dry, and they are not usually "constantly" wet, like an IWB that doesnt have the luxury. What the IWB is constantly exposed to wetness wise, is also often lot different than what an exposed OWB is.

I clean all my IWB type holsters on a fairly regular basis, and attend to them as necessary, regardless of what they are made of. You have to if you actually wear them on a daily basis, just like you need to attend to your gun that rides in it (dust and dust bunnies being the #1 issue most of the time). Leather definitely takes more work and isnt as easy or as thoroughly cleaned as kydex, and usually has less than satisfactory results when it is done. Leather will and does embed much more dirt and abrasives than kydex. Its just the nature of the beast when you consider the material. Kydex is basically impervious to it, unless you pretty much deliberately work at getting it embedded.

While I have actually had mud in my Blade Techs IWB's, on a couple of occasions, due to choosing the wrong path or the wrong canoe mate, I'm much happier it was the Blade Tech, and not my Sparks VMII I was wearing at the time. A quick dunk in clean or cleaner water, a wipe with a dry rag, and the holster was clean and dry. Leather isnt always that easy, or accommodating, and there would probably be a very good chance, it was already wet long before the dunking, and now just more so and for a longer time.
 
Just a thought on the Comp-Tac's here, and its just my personal look at them. I always thought they built them "backwards", as the leather is on the wrong side, and the holster should be built in reverse, with the kydex against the body. But thats just me.

Other than that, they do look well made and thought out, other than the backwards part. :)
 
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