Reviewing the cheap stuff

[Mr-Dicks]

For obvious reasons everyone is always reviewing and comparing high end merchandise. This is true in almost any market out there and is especially true among the defensive arts fraternity. One always here’s things like “Nah bro, I binned all my other knives because my samurai ten thousand blows every other tac-blade out of the water” or “save yourself the trouble dude and get the diamond edition titanium grip plate thingy-ma-bob. You’ll thank me later.”

That’s all good and well because we all either shop for the best product we can afford, or save up for the best product regardless of how much it costs so it’s in most people’s interest to compare the “better” products out there. Thus, for the most part, buying premium items are preferred but for this review however, I’ll be doing something slightly different and reviewing a really inexpensive “necessity” if you own a handgun. I imagine that most of us own or have owned this product and so I really just want to give you my findings after a few months of ownership in terms of its use, performance, and quality in case it could help someone out there.

The product I’ll be reviewing is the cheap suede holster we all have seen in our local gun shops. This one in fact:



I hope to offer some insight on this product to those of us who either through budget constraints cannot afford the more expensive stuff like the infidels or the MTACs of the world, or are currently on a waiting list for an infidel or MTAC holster because they’re so darn scarce This review is also for newbies who have no clue as to the role of your holster so end up buying the cheap stuff because they don’t know any better.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but hopefully it’s something to consider owning… or not.

So, who is CSC?

On the metal belt clip of the holster is a neat little engraving with the letters “CSC” and some or other flower design. In fact I’m not even sure it’s a flower. The longer I looked the more and more it started looking like a naked lady with huge breasts. A couple of times it looked like a man roasting a turkey or a couple lovingly strolling on a beach. Once I swear it looked like mime, tight rope walking over a ravine, suspended a thousand feet in the air, with an accordion strapped to his left boot shoelace. But mostly it looked like a woman with large beautiful forty-four double deeeelicious… wait! What?

I had no idea who this company is and decided to dig around a little to find out. Turns out, it’s…

…actually I have no idea. After about 3 Google results pages, I gave up. I decided that this was probably good material for Robert Stack’s unsolved mysteries.

Pic of "CSC" engraving



That said, let’s consider firstly, as nutnfancy (of youtube’s nutnfancy/TNP fame) would say, the philosophy of use:

After the handgun, the holster is probably THE next most important thing in your self defence arsenal or system. In your handgun system, your holster epitomizes convenience. It allows you to secure your gun on your person, conceal it from the public, and allows you access to the firearm for immediate deployment when needed. To a lesser extent it protects your gun (think dings and scrapes from fellow occupiers of a bag or pocket).

A good holster would strike a good balance between concealability, comfort, retention, and quick and easy access. For this reason one can easily see why many would in fact recommend MTACs, INFIDEL, CKCS and so on. The CSC is very limited in this regard. The CSC holster does not strike this balance. In fact, it’s about as balanced as Bruce Banner.

The reason for this is because it is a pioneering solution for the safe storage of a handgun on your person. In other words, it’s an old outdated solution to a modern problem. It was created with the sole purpose of offering you a place to put your gun when not in use. That is it. It was not created with concealment in mind. Well that’s not really true. It is after all an IWB (inside the waistband) holster. What I mean though is that it was created to go inside your pants, but with little thought having gone into the effect it would have on your pants or rest of your clothing you may be wearing.

Further to this it was not created with re-holstering in mind. A gun, in my opinion is most dangerous to the user, or anyone close by really, when being re-holstered. And this system fails dismally at allowing this process to happen naturally. It is most unnerving when I have to put my gun back after being in the John or collecting it from the safe of a real gun free zone. It's fine around the house, but if you're already in public, it becomes a bit of a PITA.

A holster should be made of a stiff material which does not collapse after your weapon has been removed from it. A good holster, over and above being able to effectively conceal and retain your handgun, should also be able to allow you to remove and re-insert your gun with one hand. The CSC holster does not do this. It collapses after the gun has been taken out and additional care usually involving two hands needs to be taken when re-holstering.

Many people say “well I’ll just take the holster out of my pants, insert the gun and then holster them together” which I suppose is fine, but there are quite a number of scenarios where this simply isn’t practical. One example is having to run. Another is climbing a ladder. Still another is having to open a door. Can you imagine having to undo and redo your belt in order to un-holster and re-holster or put your gun on the floor each time while performing any of these tasks? Becomes a bit tedious, doesn’t it?

That being said, it is great at being a place to store my gun. It doesn’t do a bad job of concealing it either, but more on that later. Next though…

Quality:

Well as far as quality goes there’s not really much to say. This is really just a piece of material, in this case suede, a few inches of cotton and a piece of metal nicely folded over, stitched together and held in place by a wing and a prayer. To say that this holster is a quality holster is a blatant lie, and akin to saying Charlie Sheen doesn’t like sex.

Someone actually charged me a hundred bucks for this holster. But truth be told, I paid up without hesitation. You see the day before I bought it, that is, the first day I “EDC’d” a pistol, I went “South North American citizen” aka Mexican. (Without one in the chamber though. I’m not a total dumbass) It was excruciating. Not because my handgun hurt me in any way, but really it is mentally strenuous to say the least. I constantly thought it was going to pop out from under my trouser leg just above my shoe and then I’d have to explain to my previously school buddies why I brought a gun to a monopoly game.

Needless to say, I went out the very next day and got at least “something”.

To be fair though, the holster has not torn, cracked, or perished in any way. I didn’t even bother to “tailor make” any adjustments like shortening here or padding there and it hasn’t lost a stitch, or a clip or been bent out of shape. Well, it has sort of been bent out of shape. One could say that it is now a custom made GLOCK 26 holster because it has shaped to exactly the shape of my 26. It’s like an itty bitty GLOCK 26 cake mold.
Here's a pic of my G26 in the holster:



It’s a pity the camera really can’t pick it up too well, but on the inside one can clearly distinguish the slide serrations, ejector port, slide stop, mag release, grip texture and I can even see the actual shape of the take down pins. I am tempted to try and make the serial number print as well, but that would involve the last two holes in my belt and walking around on my toes like a Michael Jackson stick puppet going "hee hee" at everyone.



What this all means though is that my handgun will always fit exactly right into the holster which in turn will always feel a certain way against my body and in a world where muscle memory and system familiarity are important, this can’t be such a bad thing, can it?

Lastly, let’s talk about performance:

I said earlier that it’s not a bad place to store my handgun, and it’s not. It’s just not ideal. Look, I got this holster firstly because at the time I was on a tight budget. Later however, MTACs just weren’t available so had to make do. Sure there are other options, but I too fortunately or unfortunately am following the advice of others on this very site who say “get the MTAC. Don’t even bother with anything else”. In fact, as I write this sentence… Just placed an email order for an MTAC through Jacques at Hailstorm who says that stock should arrive in around three weeks *insert crumping smiley*

So, getting back to the performance of the CSC:

It’s a great place to put my gun while doing my normal day to day. It’s not abrasive to my skin and the gun doesn’t ride too low in my pants and neither is it so high that it tips over under the weight of the ammunition inside the grip. I am also able to “cant” it a bit to allow better accessibility, but more importantly comfort and concealability.

Below is a picture of it how I carry it. CAUTION!!! selfie imminent!!!:



As you can see, I have a bit of cushion for the pushin’ but amazingly the shape of my dough bank and the ability to cant the pistol makes the G26 a perfect fit… Well that’s BS. I need to start jogging or something

Here is a pic with a typical t-shirt I wear most days. Hey where did my gun go? It was here, really it was.


Yes I know that pic is utterly useless. Selfies: they’re a bitch!

For the most part, because I’m not visited by violence daily, this carry system is satisfactory as it works well and conceals my pistol well enough if I do my part. But, and it’s a big one, it is just that, a carry system. It is not a tactical carry system by any stretch of the imagination. All function it really serves is to ensure that my gun is in close proximity to me whether being under attack of driving to the mall. Sort of like how a golf caddy carries the bats around. Sure he can whisper some shit in your ear at the next hole, but really he’s just the bitch carrying your bag.

This holster system offers me no tactical advantage. It is difficult to deploy my firearm. It is difficult to re-holster my firearm, even with two hands and the old reach around. I cannot wear it with my CR Speed belt because this stretches the belt clip out so far that it becomes a dead giveaway under my shirt (in all fairness though, a hammer sorts that right out). It doesn’t really stay in one place all day either.

However, for all those bad points it still has quite a few good points which are:

It is cheap and available in most stores which is more that can be said for the premium stuff. It is maintenance free (relatively) and there are no special oils or creams or magic spells needed to take care of the holster. It typically forms part of the “if it breaks I simply get another one” group. It could probably be repaired fairly easy if needed or just simply replaced cheaply. It’s light and doesn’t quite accumulate your body juice in that area. It can be clipped directly onto my pants or onto the sad excuse of a belt as seen in the pics. It can clip onto shorts that take a belt. It can clip onto shorts that use a draw string. I have in fact on occasion worn a draw string shorts, clipped it on IWB, then pulled my trousers/jeans over that and tucked my shirt in all the way around. So technically it is tuckable It doesn’t add significant width to the already bulky G26. It’s cheap. Wait, did I say cheap before?

Tucked in shirt:


In summary:

Overall the holster is great if you simply don’t have the money or are waiting on your “one true love” to appear at your local gun shop. It allows you to at the very least carry your gun with you instead of having to leave it in the safe, or risk “mexican” carry.

From a tactical standpoint though it is less than ideal. It is not designed to be anything more than a place to put your handgun. It will probably frustrate you some days and others you will be amazed at its versatility. It will more than likely point out to you exactly what is needed in an EDC holster and assist you greatly in finding out what you like and don’t like, or need and don't need. It gets no favorable reviews from anyone really, but I believe, firmly, that each and every person must own at least one even if it’s just to be used as a learning tool.

So out of 5 stars I give it a 2.5 overall.

Thanks for reading, and apologies for the atrocious picture quality.

*ETA* for the life of me I can't resize that last pic. If it's crashed your server...

[The Beast]

Good post thanks. BG's don't ask what holster you carried in.

[SeanG]

Good review,
The writing on the clip looks like the El Paso leather works emblem.

[Skaaphaas]

What's with the CSC? It's an El Paso.

[Mr-Dicks]

What's with the CSC? It's an El Paso.

Yep. Thanks.

I've adjusted the content (slightly) to highlight this.

[ou bobbejaan]

Well done!

[JS4]

Heh-heh. Nice write-up!

You're right - most everybody has one of these... Last time I saw mine it was a ball of mould in a dank corner of a storage box somewhere...

[gwj DICKDEKOCK]

You're right - most everybody has one of these... Last time I saw mine it was a ball of mould in a dank corner of a storage box somewhere...

Pfff! Amature! I started out with a GLOCK 19 and a Geoff Carter. At least you have a proper holster by now...Now only the gun is lacking...

*popcorn*

[griffin]

Great thread, thanks for writing.

[Mr-Dicks]

LOL it was really just for shits and giggles but I'm glad you guys enjoyed :)