Necro thread time
My stuff isn't nearly as purdy as everything else in this thread, because my stuff is plastic.
Someday I might spring for a vaccuum former, right now I do everything hand-pressed, and while I have a couple standard designs, I don't use patterns, because kydex shrinks as its' heated so you can't cut a piece to X & Y dimensions and be sure that it will be exactly as you want, so the piece gets pressed oversized, then the rough shape is drawn on using colored pencil, I'll adjust the lines as necessary for clearing the grip, leaving enough space for the rivets, etc the desired height of the sweat guard and ejection port cover, etc. I leave a tad extra on these dimensions in most cases, as between cutting & sanding I'll be down to roughly where I want. You can always take material off, but it cannot be added back when its gone.
Final adjustments to retention are done by heating specific areas and loosening or molding tighter.
I have a love-hate relationship with "adjustable retention" - I've come to love hating it and prefer non-adjustable designs, or at least those that adjust using a chicago screw below the trigger guard. Retention on an IWB tends to change when the holster & gun are not actually being worn - it can seem too loose sometimes, but add in the force of your belt pulling the gun and holster in, and your body pushing the gun and holster out and you're just right. I don't like the Phlster "fuckyou" level of retention, nor do I like the Uncle Mikes "fall out randomly" level of retention. If I wanted the gun to be really secure on the draw, I'd just carry in a Safariland 070.
I've played with using the ejection port as a retention point, and grew away from that. Now all my designs focus the primary retention point on the trigger guard.
My stuff isn't nearly as purdy as everything else in this thread, because my stuff is plastic.
Someday I might spring for a vaccuum former, right now I do everything hand-pressed, and while I have a couple standard designs, I don't use patterns, because kydex shrinks as its' heated so you can't cut a piece to X & Y dimensions and be sure that it will be exactly as you want, so the piece gets pressed oversized, then the rough shape is drawn on using colored pencil, I'll adjust the lines as necessary for clearing the grip, leaving enough space for the rivets, etc the desired height of the sweat guard and ejection port cover, etc. I leave a tad extra on these dimensions in most cases, as between cutting & sanding I'll be down to roughly where I want. You can always take material off, but it cannot be added back when its gone.
Final adjustments to retention are done by heating specific areas and loosening or molding tighter.
I have a love-hate relationship with "adjustable retention" - I've come to love hating it and prefer non-adjustable designs, or at least those that adjust using a chicago screw below the trigger guard. Retention on an IWB tends to change when the holster & gun are not actually being worn - it can seem too loose sometimes, but add in the force of your belt pulling the gun and holster in, and your body pushing the gun and holster out and you're just right. I don't like the Phlster "fuckyou" level of retention, nor do I like the Uncle Mikes "fall out randomly" level of retention. If I wanted the gun to be really secure on the draw, I'd just carry in a Safariland 070.
I've played with using the ejection port as a retention point, and grew away from that. Now all my designs focus the primary retention point on the trigger guard.