When you hear about the animal known as the Black Bear, you think of a tough animal from the mountains or wooded area, this is the same thing that I look for when it comes to a holster for any of my firearms. When it comes to my pistols I always like to have at least 2 quality holsters for the pistols that I am using. Over the course of the last few months, I have been going over different Kydex companies doing my research. This time around I have found something that shows a lot of promise for my needs as a holster and is noteworthy enough for me to be able to bring to the table. For the course of this interview when it comes to my review, I will be going over an Outside the waistband holster for my Glock 19X from Black Bear Custom Kydex.
The first thing that I absolutely want to go over is the retention capability of the holster. Usually, when it comes to holster retention there are a lot of different holsters that you would have to adjust the retention to at the beginning for the pistol that the holster was made for. Let’s face it, when it comes to pistol molds, there are times in which the measurements are correct but you need to do some fine-tuning to the finished products.
This happens, it happened to me a lot when it came to ordering custom Kydex holsters. When it came to Black Bear, I was pretty much good to go when it came to the holster retention wise. The pistol stayed within the holster very well, and I made sure to perform different activities and scenarios in which the holster would be put to the test, such as running, jumping, etc. All in which these activities passed my retention test and I was at ease knowing that my 19X wasn’t moving.
Stemming off the retention of the holster, I would like to go over drawing and reholstering my Glock 19X over a period of time. Like I said previously when it comes to holsters that you first receive from a Kydex company. Sometimes, there are different holsters that need to have the retention adjusted in order for it to perform at its maximum potential. When it comes to all of my equipment I want to be assured that the maximum effectiveness of everything I use is made available to me. So when it came time to test the drawing and reholstering fundamentals of the pistol with this holster, I needed to make sure that things were at 100%. Holstering and drawing from the hip with this pistol were extremely smooth and I didn’t have to worry at all. Adjusting retention was something that I did not need to do. As I previously wrote the mobility tests that I had performed while wearing a holstered firearm exceeded all of my expectations.
With the retention portion of the review going above and beyond what I was looking for, the next thing that I would love to go over is the type of backing used on the holster. Personally, when it comes to the backing of my holster, especially when it comes to Open Carrying, I like using a paddle backing. Black Bear Custom Kydex went the extra mile I feel when it comes to this. The paddle backing is an adjustable paddle attachment from Blade-Tech USA.
There are two different important notes that I would like to touch on when it comes to this holster in terms of the backing. The first thing that I would like to is the 3 different areas of adjustment that come with the holster. In the back of the holster, 3 different rows are cut out in the holster that allows you to adjust the backing as you see fit. When it comes to the holster, the backing was at the 1st row. This made it uncomfortable to holster your firearm. I would run my hand into the top of the Kydex and my pants. This was an easy fix though, all I needed to do was adjust the paddle accordingly to the 3rd set of holes moving the holster up.
The second thing that I would like to cover when it comes to the Blade-Tech USA adjustable paddle is the fact that there is an adjustable belt lug. I did some research on the Blade-Tech USA website in reference to the belt lug and noticed that the belt lug adjusted to belt widths in a range from 1.25” to 2”. I like that there is the ability to have an adjustable belt lug due to the fact that the holster can either change users or the user obtains a different belt with a different width.
When it comes to the holster I am pretty pleased with how it was made. The holster didn’t have any type of sharp edges and everything was extremely smooth. For my final thoughts, I would have to say that the holster did exceed my expectations. The retention coming right off the production line was good and the fact that they had outsourced to a company that produced a good back paddle received good marks from me as well. The only thing that I really could say that isn’t even a negative comment about the holster is that when it comes to the adjustments the back paddle may need to be moved. Overall, when it comes to my Glock 19X this is a fine holster that I can see myself using for a while.
