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Product : Bulldog Custom Gun Leather Summer Special IWB holsters

Source : Bulldog Custom Gun Leather

Price : $65 + 5.65 shipping via USPS Priority Mail

Average Delivery Time : Currently 5 to 7 weeks

Review:

I've been a leather holster fan since I started carrying concealed, three months after the Texas Legislature approved CHL for citizens back in 1995. While I was waiting for my initial carry permit, I looked at every holster I could get my hands on. Most of the off the shelf stuff wasn't close to comfortable for me, custom holster makers weren't exactly common place and I didn't want to 'mexican carry'. I carry two types of pistols 99.9% of the time, Colt Commanders or Glock 23's.

I do occasionally carry a Smith J Frame, a Ruger SP101, a Glock 27 and a couple of others, depending upon the weather, my dress and perceived potential threat level. I *never* look for trouble, and will go to great lengths to avoid people or places I feel may be hazardous to my health.. But, in today's world you can find yourself in a situation without warning, and all the planning in the world can still leave you in a bad place at the wrong time.

I go a little over 6'5 and weigh just over 250 lbs, so I'm not your average sized individual. While this isn't a big deal if you're looking for a dress shirt, or a pair of slacks, finding a holster that fits right without digging a hole in you, moving all over the place or being made to fit smaller framed people can be (and is) a significant problem.

First of all, any holster I carry has to hold the gun in place and not move around. When I strap on, I want the gun to be in the exact same spot every time I reach for it. Secondly, it has to be comfortable. If it isn't comfortable, I'm not going to wear it - period. Third, it has to position the gun where having significant girth won't cause me to have to dig for the gun when I need it. I want smooth as silk access, 100% comfort and rock solid positioning under any circumstance I find myself in, sitting, standing, walking or running.

Most holster makers turn out a few styles of holsters, and adapt each for different guns. It's no easy task to make a holster that everyone will be happy with, so, most try to build what will fit the majority of customers and forget about the rest. I would probably do the same.

Over the years, I've owned over 20 holsters of various materials, from some of the most infamous holster makers. I, like many others have a drawer full of holsters that just don't work for me. As a result, I turned into a holster snob. Give me leather or give me death. Don't give me cheap, mass produced leather that doesn't hold up, and absolutely don't give me some stamped out for the masses generic piece of crap and expect me to be happy with it. I don't like lightweight materials, because they trash out in no time with the daily use I put a holster through. I don't like holsters that are made from materials that are too heavy, because they usually aren't comfortable. I like Kydex for OWB and range use just fine, but for carry, a Kydex holster just isn't comfortable for me.

I have finally learned shark skin wears well and is usually comfortable. It holds up for the long haul and for the most part is just about ideal for me.

I traded into a G27 last year. Nice little gun, decent caliber, no frilly crap, all business, just like I like. The only problem this presented is I didn't have a carry holster for a G27 because I've always carried medium framed autos.

I got to the point of giving up on waiting on Milt Sparks, Rosen Leather and the other 'premium' holster makers I've always bought from. All are well over 6 months for delivery and at least one of them didn't seem too interested in selling 'just one holster'. Nice. It may just be 'one holster' to them, but, it's an integral part of my daily life - every day, bar none.

So, I decided to look elsewhere for a holster, and they can all KMA.

Randy Cooley has been a Member here at GlockPost for a while and I found out he was making holsters. I took a look at his website http://www.bulldogleathercompany.com and liked what I saw, so I thought I would see if he could make me a holster for a G27. He had a back log, as all damned good holster makers do, but Randy said he could turn one out for me and put some priority on it because I was holsterless.

Very nice, a holster maker without attitude, willing to help me out of a jam. I said great, let's do it. Randy provided this holster as an unsolicited freebie. I promised in return to give it an honest and candid review. If it sucks, I'm gonna say it sucks, if it's great, I'm gonna say it's great, because I don't endorse anything, from anyone unless I like it. Life is too short to suck up to anyone for a freebie holster or give a good review to anything if it doesn't deserve one.

That being said, Randy shipped the holster well before I expected and it arrived while I was overseas. I didn't have time to give it any carry time while I was home in April, because I was in and out in less than a week.

One of my nieces talked me out of my G27 while I was overseas working, Along with the G27 went the holster. I got caught up in the whole RTF2 thing on the G23's and decided to stay with a G23 for both my carry guns. No biggie, except my niece uses the G27 as backup on her job. She works for a semi-local PD on the gang unit. Officers are provided an issue weapon, but, they are on their own for a BUG. She carries a G23 and decided she had to have a G27 as a backup. first, because it's a great gun, and second, because she knew she could sweet talk me out of it. It worked too.

She has been carrying the G27 daily in this holster for about 4 months now.

In the meantime,, I needed another G23 holster, so I PM'ed Randy and asked if he could make me a G23 left hand holster for my off side carry to go with my new (to me) G23 RTF2. He said no problem, he would get right on it and ship it as soon as he could get it done. It arrived a couple of weeks ago. I got home for a few days last Thursday and have been wearing the holster full time since them to see how I like it and how it rides.

The Holsters :

G23 Left Hand and G27 Left Hand Bulldog Custom Gun Leather Summer Special

Front




Back



Close up of stitching detail



Holster to gun fit - G23



Holster with G23 RTF 2 in it - overall fit



Boning and Custom/Internal Fit Detail




2nd Gen G23 in Bulldog Custom Gun Leather Summer Special (top) and G23 RTF2 in Milt Sparks Summer Special II (bottom) overall fit



Report on the G27 Holster from my niece

My niece came over to visit me since I'm home for a few days. I asked her where the hell was my money for the G27 and holster ? She sweet talked me right out of both. I asked her about the holster and how it rides, is it comfortable and in general is it worth a damn. She says she likes it, it has held up perfectly and is comfortable to the point where she doesn't feel it at all to the point where she had to get used to not putting a hand on it to see if it was still there. She says it has held up in her daily duties driving, running and general carry without any discomfort or movement at all. In short, I'm not getting it back.

She sold a Galco she bought when she decided to go with a G27 because it wasn't as comfortable and 'rode at a funny angle', felt like it was going to come loose all the time. It didn't, but it did move around enough to make her conscious of it. One of the things I hate about a lot of holsters.

Report on the G23 Holster from me

OK, I gotta admit, I'm a curmudgeon. I hate change. When something works for me, I don't like to mess with it. I've been buying Milt Sparks shark skin holsters and almost nothing else for the past 10 years or so. They work, they hold up, they're comfortable. But, their delivery time frame wouldn't work for me, and I liked what I saw in Randy's holsters. I've been wearing the Bulldog Summer Special since I got home. Trying to make sure the G23 RTF2 doesn't wear a hole in my hide, everything is secure and stays put, and it doesn't dig in me when I move around or drive etc. I gotta tell you, it's nice, real nice, as in glove smooth, rock solid, I can't find anything to whine about nice.

Fit and finish on the stitching and boning is simply fantastic. Zero 'issues' with it, and I've looked at it closely. Good, heavy stitching, nice and tight, so it won't come apart after two summers of sweating right up next to me. It's rigid as hell, heavyweight leather, but when it rides you can't feel a thing. It doesn't dig into my hip bone, it rides nice and high so I can snatch the G23 out in a hurry without having to dig under/around my belt or into my body to get a hold on the grip of the G23. It pulls in nice and tight when you cinch it in place, but, you can still get to it with zero interference.

It about took a crowbar to get the G23 into the holster the first 2-3 times. This holster is tight as a banker, but it has loosened up a little over the last few days. I can still turn the holster upside down with the G23 in it and the G23 doesn't budge - exactly like I like it. You still have to give it a nice yank to get it out, but nothing like it was the first day or so. I suspect it will wear in fine.

The snaps on both are one way, anchored with allen head screws. They look to be the same straps MS and others use. They aren't some el cheapo flimsy crap. One snapped, they stay put. They pop off real easy with a snap, as long as you open them in the right direction. Otherwise, they aren't coming open.

I tried the G27 holster for a while yesterday when my niece was over. It almost killed me. It dug into my hide and drilled into my hip. I really didn't understand why, so I took both and put them on a belt and compared them. Both ride the same height, both ride at the same angle, both made with the same leather and stitching. Only difference, as you can see in the pics, is the G27 is shorter than the G23.

Due to the G27 being smaller (shorter) when I cinch it down, with the belt in the center of the holster, there isn't enough length on the G27 to get past my hip. so, the tip cinches in right about mid hip bone. Great for walking around, but sitting is painful.

As a result, I got to thinking back as to why I decided on the mid length autos to begin with. I used to have a P230SL Sig in a .380 that I was going to use for a BUG, but the same thing happened. It was too short to ride comfortably in any holster I could find at the time. I tried several different cants and never found one that was 100% comfortable.

So, due to my size, it's better for me to carry a gun with enough length to get past my massive hip bones. My niece says she doesn't have any problem at all and neither does her husband. he's about 6ft or so, and heavy.

I've been carrying a G26 in the G23 holster today just to see if that is any better. It is definitely better. so, if I ever decide to carry a G26/G27/G33 in the future, I'll carry it in a G23 holster for comfort. There isn't a whole lot of difference in length in the two guns, so that will work for me just fine.

Summary :

I like the quality of these holsters.. It's easy to see Randy puts a LOT of personal attention to detail in these. Kind of amazing really. I've seen a lot of holsters over the years and never really sat down and compared one to another. Take a look at the internal fitting detail in the pic above, you can see where it says 'Made in Austria' and 'Glock Inc, Smyrna GA' in the rough (in)side of the leather. You like a well fit holster, this is it.

I pay a LOT of attention to the thread and stitching on a holster because if that sucks, the holster isn't going to hold up long term. If a thread or the stitching comes loose, I don't have the skills necessary to repair that myself and I know damned well any of the holster makers aren't going to take care of something like that overnight. This can potentially leave me without a carry option, or being forced to use a crap holster while my regular rig is out getting repaired.

The mouth of both holsters is reinforced to allow for one hand reholstering, the dye on both looks great and doesn't come off when you sweat on it. I did that yesterday, and am going to do that again tomorrow. No dye on my shirt, pants, belt or hands.

I guess the biggest question is, would I buy another if I needed it. That answer is definitely yes I will. I need two more for my Commanders and one for G17 so, I'm going to take a look at the holsters I have and see what I can use and what I can't, then order what I need from Randy.

I know, ordering a holster from a new source can be like ordering a brain transplant from a guy in a back alley, sounds good, but until you do it, you'll never know if it's worth the risk or not. I didn't have a real choice due to my time constraints, or I can promise you I'd be waiting on a Milt Sparks right now. My time constraints turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Glad I ordered these from Bulldog Custom Gun Leather. Now, I know I can get damned good leather from someone who cares about what they turn out, and I have a new go to guy for my carry leather.

I'm 110% happy with the holsters, and as you can probably tell from the above, making me happy with a holster isn't easy.