A couple of months ago I was contacted by a company called HW Holsters about testing some of their products in a new hot pink Kydex - as I was already looking into a Kydex holster for my TRMR I was excited to give their products a test. In this review I have tested the Kydex TRMR holster and a holster for my WE Glock 18C, both in hot pink (who DOESN'T love hot pink?! Haha)
So what exactly IS Kydex? Kydex is a line of thermoplastic acrylic-polyvinyl chloride materials
manufactured by a company called Kydex LLC and is manufactured in Pennsylvania, U.S. This material has a wide variety of uses for real steel, cold steel and Airsoft. The Kydex sheet was originally produced in 1965 by Rohm and Haas to be used on the interiors of planes but the line was purchased in 1987 by Kydex and the rest is history!
manufactured by a company called Kydex LLC and is manufactured in Pennsylvania, U.S. This material has a wide variety of uses for real steel, cold steel and Airsoft. The Kydex sheet was originally produced in 1965 by Rohm and Haas to be used on the interiors of planes but the line was purchased in 1987 by Kydex and the rest is history!
There has been a surge in the popularity of Kydex holsters in Airsoft over the last year or so and their main attraction is that they are virtually maintenance-free unlike a lot of the traditional fabric and leather holsters. Due to the nature of the material, any dirt or dust can simply be wiped off and they retain their shape throughout their lifetime. Kydex holsters are ready to use straight out of the box, they don't need to be broken in like some holsters finished in leather etc. Some of the advantages of Kydex holsters are as follows: they are waterproof, scratch resistant, holds shape and the friction between the firearm and the holster is low.
One aspect that makes me nervous of using Kydex holsters is the clearance between the gun and the Kydex - is it enough to to ensure the finish isn't rubbed off? I have been assured that when made correctly the holster won't wear the finish any faster than traditional fabric/leather holsters.
First up on the agenda is the multi shot TRMR holster! Firstly the colour was a lot brighter than I was expecting - never the less, a colour right up my street! Admittedly when I first opened the packet my first impressions of the TRMR holster weren't great, I thought it was quite thin and I had some trouble in opening the clip to attach it to the molle system (damn those long nails!) I utilised a flat head screwdriver to open the clip and set about attaching it to my Plate Carrier, it was really easy to attach to the molle system on my PC and really easy to fasten. I gave the holster a good tug to check that it was stable and fastened securely and it was good to go. The multi shot TRMR fitted securely in the holster with very little movement - the testing for this product may have given people the impression I was very odd, jumping up and down frantically to test the security of the holster. It has to be said, and is pretty obvious that you should only keep the TRMR that it is made to accomodate in it - otherwise you risk losing your TRMR. Deployment is easy and can be done one handed - overall I am very impressed with this piece of kit!
Now for the Glock 18C holster, I usually prefer a universal fabric holster and I will probably continue to use them as I vary my loadout quite a bit and that is the only limitation with the Kydex holsters - they can only hold one type of pistol. The colour is great and the streamline shape of the holster is definitely a winner if you like slick, low profile loadouts so aesthetically the holster is a a solid choice. The pistol fits secure within the holster and there is no chance of it discharging whilst holstered. Overall, I really like this holster, but I have a couple of complaints - the sound that is made when holstering/unholstering the pistol sounds very scratchy, and when I checked the inside of the holster the friction had caused some damage to the paint work. I feel this wouldn't be that much of an issue with a pistol that doesn't have such a delicate paint job, and if it did, it would look more battle worn than anything else. But with the paint job my pistol has, it wasn't an ideal holster for it.
All in all, I feel HW Holsters have developed a strong line of products that offer Airsofters an alternative to the conventional holsters. I am definitely very taken with the Kydex TRMR holster and this will become a statement piece in my Femme Fatale loadout but I feel the pistol holster needs a few adjustments.
First up on the agenda is the multi shot TRMR holster! Firstly the colour was a lot brighter than I was expecting - never the less, a colour right up my street! Admittedly when I first opened the packet my first impressions of the TRMR holster weren't great, I thought it was quite thin and I had some trouble in opening the clip to attach it to the molle system (damn those long nails!) I utilised a flat head screwdriver to open the clip and set about attaching it to my Plate Carrier, it was really easy to attach to the molle system on my PC and really easy to fasten. I gave the holster a good tug to check that it was stable and fastened securely and it was good to go. The multi shot TRMR fitted securely in the holster with very little movement - the testing for this product may have given people the impression I was very odd, jumping up and down frantically to test the security of the holster. It has to be said, and is pretty obvious that you should only keep the TRMR that it is made to accomodate in it - otherwise you risk losing your TRMR. Deployment is easy and can be done one handed - overall I am very impressed with this piece of kit!
Now for the Glock 18C holster, I usually prefer a universal fabric holster and I will probably continue to use them as I vary my loadout quite a bit and that is the only limitation with the Kydex holsters - they can only hold one type of pistol. The colour is great and the streamline shape of the holster is definitely a winner if you like slick, low profile loadouts so aesthetically the holster is a a solid choice. The pistol fits secure within the holster and there is no chance of it discharging whilst holstered. Overall, I really like this holster, but I have a couple of complaints - the sound that is made when holstering/unholstering the pistol sounds very scratchy, and when I checked the inside of the holster the friction had caused some damage to the paint work. I feel this wouldn't be that much of an issue with a pistol that doesn't have such a delicate paint job, and if it did, it would look more battle worn than anything else. But with the paint job my pistol has, it wasn't an ideal holster for it.All in all, I feel HW Holsters have developed a strong line of products that offer Airsofters an alternative to the conventional holsters. I am definitely very taken with the Kydex TRMR holster and this will become a statement piece in my Femme Fatale loadout but I feel the pistol holster needs a few adjustments.
If you fancy getting yourself a Kydex holster from HW Holsters, check them out at www.hwholsters.co.uk and www.facebook.com/hwholsters.
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