One of my local gun
shops carries a line of Bullseye brand kydex holsters that are
designed to be custom molded to your particular pistol. I wanted to
use my Beretta 92 for the Protector 1 class taught by Sheepdog Defense, and the required holster type is “kydex, no Serpas,” so I took my Beretta
in, paid my sixty dollars for the kit and pressing fee, and got a
strong retention inside the waistband (IWB) holster.
The Good
It
works.
 |
| Bullseye "Heat Press Go" kydex holster in "carbon fiber" texture |
The Bad
It has a leather back. I don’t like the
feel of leather against my skin, so I always wear a shirt tucked in
between my skin and the holster. I would have preferred 100% kydex, but “large frame auto, left hand draw, IWB” only had one option
that day, and it was the leather-backed design. The good part about
leather is that it is slightly more comfortable, but the bad part
about leather is that it gets wet, gets floppy over time, and can
stretch, making that “friction retention” holster looser and
looser.
My gripe about
leather aside, if you carry something with widespread adoption like a
Glock, odds are good you don’t need to get a custom holster. The
Beretta 92 may have been all the rage in the 1980s with the Lethal
Weapon franchise, but it’s a full size service pistol that isn’t
particularly good for concealed carry; however, I’m
6’1” and over 200lbs, so there is plenty of real estate to carry
a full size auto in my situation. I carry a Beretta because it’s what I use for Service Pistol competitions (choices for that are
limited to 1911s, Beretta M9 clones, and probably the new Sig Sauer M17 commercial
equivalents).
Currently, the
Bullseye Holster web site is less than helpful and I can find no
Amazon outlet for the brand. However they seem to be in stock with
multiple gun stores, such as Keene Tactical.
Does the Bullseye IWB heat-press-go holster get my recommendation? No, not unless you have no other option (my situation at the time) and absolutely need one right now, or you are getting an outside the waistband (OWB) holster in full kydex. The cost of convenience is what it is, and I don’t have a setup to mold kydex at home.
I’ve since found a full kydex IWB Beretta 92 holster for half the price of the Bullseye.
Holsters are like
firearms in that they are designed around a deliberate set of
compromises on material, size, texture, features, etc. There are no
“perfect” firearms or holsters, but you may find a pair that
perfectly aligns with the set of compromises you prefer, and if you
are carrying a more common polymer frame auto, you should have a lot
more options at a lot more price points.
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