Old Faithful Holster Review, Ruger P89 -- by LJ126

"...You can adequately conceal and carry a large handgun --- and your holster makes all of the difference in the world."

~LJ126

Backstory
About a month prior to this writing, early June 2012, on what was otherwise just another late restless night devoted to Facebook and ZSDW browsing, I noticed something different about one of the little sponsored advertisements placed on my software-tailored profile sidebar. It stood out in a way that only a truly fantastic advertisement does by immediately attracting my attention, as I had never heard of Old Faithful Holsters before, and because the holster pictured looked absolutely top-notch. This simple sponsored sidebar ad did all but come out and dare me to get into contact with Thomas Tedder, founder of Old Faithful Holsters, and I accepted the challenge. This review, the first of a series of reviews on Old Faithful Holsters, is the product of that dare.

Can You CCW a Large Handgun?

As a licensed CCW permit holder from the Show-Me State, I have carried a fairly broad variety handguns concealed. I'm not exactly "Mr. CCW" or anything, many folks have more experience, but I'm not new to this and I carry a handgun about 99% when I'm away from home. Until recently, I always preferred the concealment and comfort that a smaller handgun offered. I was but yet another soul twisted by the "If it's big, you'll start to leave it at home" nonsense that pervades and perverts internet users from seemingly all corners of the World Wide Web. I, like so many others, was falsely conditioned to believe that a large and heavy combat sidearm would be too big to conceal and too uncomfortable to carry and that I'd start to leave it at home, and that humoring the thought is fruitless and absurd. So, choosing to remain armed, I chose to carry things like my Beretta 950B, my fairly compact Makarov PM, and occasionally the diminutive but ever-popular Kel-Tec P3AT. And there's no doubt that those are easier to conceal than my big Ruger (especially for smaller CCW'ers)... but are they more comfortable? To that, I say "no way." Not if you're wearing the right holster for your handgun.

Thanks to the holster being discussed in this review, I am a new convert. A combat sidearm-concealing zealot, if you will. You can adequately conceal and carry a large handgun --- and your holster makes all of the difference in the world. I now carry nothing other than my Ruger P89, and while I'll eventually upgrade, I have no intention of ever carrying anything lesser instead.

Down to the Nitty-Gritty

From a practical standpoint, the Old Faithful holster is pretty similar to a few other big name-brand tuckable IWB holsters. It is a molded, fitted kydex shell mounted to a thick side of leather, with belt clips mounted on both sides to hold the rig in place. But that's where the similarities end, and as we all know, the Devil is in the details. Let me show you what sets Old Faithful apart from the competition.

LJ's Old Faithful IWB Rig	Crossbreed Supertuck

LJ's Old Faithful IWB Rig

Crossbreed Supertuck

For instance, let's compare the Old Faithful rig for my Ruger P89 to that offered by Crossbreed. The Crossbreed is an excellent rig, but it falls short of the Old Faithful in several key ways. Before we even get started, I have to point out that Crossbreed DOES NOT offer a holster for my beloved Ruger P89 without a custom order - strike one right off from the start. In fact, Crossbreed's selection is pretty limiting --- hope you run a common handgun! But let's move on to technical differences.

First of all, note that the O.F. rig covers more of the handgun than the Crossbreed. This may or may not matter to you, but I like to have my front sight completely covered to help protect it from the hard objects into which I could accidentally bump the gun against.

Second, since we're speaking about the Kydex, notice how much thicker it is on the Old Faithful rig? Old Faithful uses 0.093 outer kydex, Crossbreed uses 0.06 kydex; in short, the kydex used by Old Faithful is more than one-third thicker, making it much sturdier, easier to re-holster your sidearm, and providing more protection to it. Thinner kydex is an inferior material that is easier to work with, but nowhere near as tough. As a boon, Old Faithful offers much more color selection as well - note my beautiful desert digital pattern!

Third, the Old Faithful provides for FOUR points of adjustable retention, and provides everything you need (including spare screws, rubber shims, a hex wrench and great instructions) to accomplish this task as ordered. If you happen to break or lose a screw, they will make it right - no questions asked. The Crossbreed... no points of adjustable retention - so if you want to make it tighter... I hope you like the way it comes from the factory, because you're basically stuck with it that way. You can loosen the Crossbreed, but you cannot tighten it beyond the point at which it was originally molded. However, if you want your Old Faithful tighter or looser, just bust out that provided hex wrench and get to work.

I'd like to issue a quick correction: Crossbreed and Galco also use steel clips, though with Crossbreed, this is not how their holsters came originally. They now use what they call the "SteelClip," and advertise it as coming with all of their IWB holsters.

As you can see, the Old Faithful stands above the competition in a few key ways, potentially making it a much better choice for you. That's not to say that the Galco or Crossbreed is a bad choice - they are the gauge by which all other tuckable IWB holsters are measured - but that they're potentially not the best and certainly not the only choice. If you want more details, I've posted a comparison chart from the Old Faithful website above, which you can click on for a higher resolution image if the print is too small to read.

Personal Impressions

"This is THE most comfortable holster I have ever worn."

Seriously. This isn't sales hype; I'm not making any return from Old Faithful from what I'm writing here, nor am I obligated to give a glowing review on any donated item. These were, and without exaggeration, the first words out of my mouth to my awesome girlfriend Maricely, regarding my Old Faithful Holster. After saying them, I wiggled around like a worm, bent over, hopped a few times, did squat-thrusts and then followed the statement with, "I LOVE this holster! We need to get one for you too!" And it's absolutely true after weeks of daily wear and testing - in fact, as it has begun to break-in, it has grown even more comfortable.

The weight of the big Ruger P89 - almost three pounds fully loaded with my preferred carry load - seems to immediately melt away when the handgun is holstered. The handgun does not catch or snag on my clothing, and can be comfortable worn from about the 2:30 - 5:00 position on your body (I prefer about 3:30) if your belt buckle was 12:00 Noon on a clock face.

I do have some notes to share, however. As it came out of the box, I felt the need to tighten all of the adjustment screws on the rig. This is mostly a matter of personal preference - I like as tight a retention as I can get for two reasons. For one, I want it to be hard for an unauthorized person to rip my handgun out, and I'll take every single ounce of retention to slow them down if I can get it. Screw the finish on my handgun. Second, a tighter retention is not going to make the handgun harder for me to access because I've trained myself to literally RIP the handgun out of the holster with every ounce of strength that I can muster. This is in the event that I have to withdraw the handgun when someone is holding my wrist, arm, or if I'm sitting or laying in a way that makes accessing the gun more difficult. I suggest you train yourself the same way for those reasons. A holster with a few pounds of retention isn't going to stop me from tearing that gun out, especially if I'm pumped full of fight-or-flight mechanism. The design of the Old Faithful holster will prevent you from making it so tight that the steel belt clips can't hold the holster in place, so tighten away.

As the instructions supplied with the holster points out very clearly, as the holster breaks in, some of the screws may require additional tightening, or potentially even loosening! I did have to make a few adjustments after a few days of wear, as the holster began to mold to my rather large hip. Should you need it, as I did, there are shorter screws supplied to help keep the tips of the screws from poking through and digging into your leg on the backside of the rig!

I did try moving around the belt clips to allow for deeper carry, but I was not pleased with this arrangement. It was too different from that which I'm used to, it was just too deep! I went back to the factory settings before long, before I got too used to it being weird.

After wearing it around under layers in 100F-115F weather, a lot bit of sweat and moisture managed to make it's way into the backside of the leather of the rig. To provide some protection, I allowed the rig to dry completely overnight and then applied a little bit of leather lotion to the backside. This provided an unnecessary additional layer of moisture protection to the rig, also giving it a very attractive aged look as well - it does not come with this appearance new. As you can see on the picture on the right, the rig has also really taken form too!

To view the ZSDW Forum thread, which allows for Q/A with the reviewer and rest of the ZSDW crew, please visit:
Discussion for LJ's Review of the Old Faithful Holster

LJ's Official ZSDW Rating

I have nothing negative to say about this holster - period. It makes carrying my Ruger more comfortable than carrying my Makarov PM, and the former is no less than twice the handgun. The holster is superior to any of its better known competition, and is offered for more handguns and can be purchased for considerably less (especially if you buy the kit.) Everyone I have spoken with at Old Faithful Holster has been exceptional in their level of service and attention to detail, and I will certainly do business with them again in the future. In fact, if I ever purchase another holster of this type, it will be from Old Faithful. This is my favorite holster, bar none.

Don't believe me? Many others on the internet are saying the same thing. Check them out for yourselves. Visit the Old Faithful Holsters website at http://oldfaithfulholsters.com/ and accept this dare from me - I dare you not to love your Old Faithful holster. In fact, there's no reason to not try it, since there's a 30-day risk free trial with your purchase.

LJ's Rating: Five quivering zombie heads - the highest score possible.

Still having doubts about the quality and durability of an Old Faithful Holster? See the video below!

LJ126	Latest page update: made by LJ126 , Mar 8 2013, 9:01 PM EST (about this update About This Update Edited by LJ126 3 words added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: Faithful Holster LittleJon126 Old Old Faithful Holster Review Review Ruger P89 More Info: links to this page

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Discussion for LJ's Review of the Old Faithful Holster (page: 1 2)

Mar 21 2013, 5:20 PM EDT by LJ126

Thread started: Jul 9 2012, 3:25 PM EDT Watch

http://www.zombiesurvivalwiki.com/page/Old+Faithful+Holster+Review%2C+Ruger+P89+--+by+LJ126

Check it out, tell me what you think. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask, as this may remind me of notes that I need to add to the article.

Here's the address to their website. Check 'em out, especially if you've never heard about them and are in the market for a new IWB holster. Take a minute and browse around
--- http://oldfaithfulholsters.com/ ---

Here's the address to their assemble-at-home "Stage 3" version of the same holster I reviewed. It is a complete unit, you just have to put it together yourself. No cutting, trimming, drilling or tapping required. There's a pretty large selection of handguns to pick from, also.
--- http://oldfaithfulholsters.com/gun-holster-stage-3-forward-cant/ ---

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Old Faithful Holster Review, Ruger P89 -- by LJ126

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