Old Faithful Holster: Initial Thoughts

After I picked up my CZ P-07, I needed a new IWB holster. After hearing about Old Faithful Holsters from Reddit and a couple forums, I decided to give them a whirl.

Old Faithful allows you to order their holsters in different stages: "U-Mold-It" which included unmolded, uncut Kydex and cut leather, "Quick-Assemble-Kit", which has the Kydex molded and both leather and Kydex drilled, and fully assembled.

Since I haven't molded Kydex before but am cost conscious, I opted for the middle of the road "Quick-Assemble-Kit". (tl;dr: don't.)

First things first, unpacking:

(CZ, obviously, not included). The kit came with everything it was supposed to - Kydex, leather (which is face down in the photo), hardware, clips, and a couple random pieces of leather.

The hardware is a mix of different length screws, rubber spacers, washers, t-nuts, and a small Allen key.

So... now what?

Here's issue #1: instructions. The paper that comes with the kit really isn't instructions on how to build the holster - just general instructions of use. There's a URL on the page, http://oldfaithfulholsters.com/category/holster-tutorials/, that I grudgingly typed into the computer. The last third of the instructions pertains to assembly. There's no written instructions on the page, just a video to watch.

In the video you're instructed to use a mallet to hammer the t-nuts into the back leather on a smooth, flat surface so as not to harm the face of the leather. But as I discovered, there's an issue with that - how do you hammer something into leather on a flat surface when the t-nut is actually longer than the leather is wide?

Note how the t-nut isn't flush with the leather.

 I watched the video again. No mention of this issue. On a hunch, I went to the main page and clicked on "tutorials" - lo and behold, the first video on this page was a year newer - and explained that the pieces of leather included were designed to sit underneath the t-nuts do give you the clearance to drive them in. This worked just fine.

At this point I'd add that you're given enough t-nuts to cover the extra holes for the adjustable clips - but I didn't put them in. There's no barbs on the ends of the t-nut that bite into the leather, and it seems to me even if you hammer them in with Mjolnir, unless you've a screw holding them from the other side, nothing will really prevent them from working back out.

Next I had to install the medium screws and spacers to mount the Kydex. This was the next issue - the screws use a very small Allen key, and the spacers aren't exactly uniform. This means you'll really have to press down with a little Allen key to get the screw to bite into the t-nut. A pain, but doable.

Finally, it's on!

Unfortunately at this point I found that the medium spacers were too narrow - the gun was causing the leather to bulge, and it wouldn't seat correctly in the holster. So I pulled it out, and saw something odd on my slide:

Well, that's not wear - at least on the other side...

So what's the culprit? This.

The silver marker that was used on the Kydex for my order rubbed off on my slide at top, and the "966" at bottom rubbed off on my trigger guard. Fortunately a little water and paper towel got it all off the polymer frame, but not off the slide. If you're not sure it's marker by looking at the pictures above, let me say I bought this gun NIB, have only put about 100 rounds through it, and it's never been in another holster before. Wear is minimal, if existent.

I went to try to install the larger spacers and screws, but even though it looks in the picture like there's plenty of room for the long screws to bite, that's definitely not the case. The screw has a very tapered head, and it sits on a washer and through the Kydex before the spacer. If I want to try the long spacers I will have to trim the ones provided because the screw simply isn't long enough to reach the t-nut, even with a good degree of force. So I'm calling it a night.

I'm rather surprised a company with a "50-year-warranty" and a "if you don't like it, we'll refund your money and you keep the holster" return policy would have issues like these. Honestly, I'd take a 5-year warranty and a "no refunds, we'll exchange" policy if it was a more easy assembly.

What would really make it easier/better?

• The correct link on the instructions. Better yet, how about printed visual instructions? Yes, some people don't like watching YouTube videos for instructions, especially when pausing is required to go back and forth. Heck, if adding pics/drawings is too difficult, at least write the steps down.
• I know that being in a business and selling a product for so long, you tend to think every install is intuitive, even when it's not. I've done the same thing in my business. Assume the purchaser has the ability, but doesn't know the process. Customers don't want to make mistakes and ruin their investment before they can enjoy it.
• Switch to a larger Allen key screw so we can exert more force to compress the spacers. Even a Philips or flat-head. I've used flat heads in other hybrid holsters with very solid results.
• If they don't want to do that, they could get the tolerances lower with the size of the spacers - make sure they're not too big. But that's a question of fractions of a millimeter, and they look hand-cut, so changing the screws would be easier.
• DROP THE SHARPIE, or at least mark the Kydex in a location the gun won't rub against it - what about that lower right-hand corner? 
• The worst part about the marker is that you can tell it'll continue to rub off over time. It's permanent but I will see if I can use a solvent to clean it off, if I have the time.

Overall, it's a good concept - save money by letting the customer assemble - but man, it's a pain in the ass. At a minimum, it's certainly not "quick".

I'll be contacting Old Faithful to see what they say and I'll update this when we resolve some of these concerns.