Our holsters originally were compression-formed by hand from Kydex. They are now vacuum formed and CNC trimmed. We switched to Boltaron years ago (2012-ish) after repeated issues with Kydex's quality control (or lack thereof). When people inquire via phone or email, the staff is trained to simply explain that they are formed differently now, mainly because most people aren't interested in an in-depth explanation of plastics manufacturing processes. I apologize if our CS staff's explanation left you to make assumptions as to just what this process was, but I can assure you that the holster is NOT a "cheapened product."
We were one of the last holster companies to adopt vacuum forming and CNC routing. Nowadays, the vast majority of holster companies -- even the 1 and 2 man shops -- use the same process to make holsters. That's because it is faster, more consistent, and more cost effective. For eleven years, we have consistently made incremental improvements to our products and processes, and I can tell you that the Phantoms coming off the line today have better fitment, more precise form, and a superior consistency than ones we produced even two or three years ago. It's a continuous evolution, which is also why our product images aren't always 100% current on the site. If I did a re-shoot on product images every time we made a change or improvement, I'd be spending an incredible amount of money on product photography that could be better used in making improvements to the company and products.
The opened bottom near the muzzle of the pistol is a change we instituted due to demand from our .gov and .mil contracts. They found that during CQB, it was not uncommon to have ejected casings from the pistol bounce off the wall (usually in residential hallways or passageways on-board ships) and fall into the mouth of the empty holster. The opening at the bottom was not big enough to allow the casing to fall through, and the casing prevented reholstering the weapon. Unless the shooter had VERY long fingers, the only way to get the casing out was to invert the holster, which meant taking it off or doing a hand stand or cartwheel...none of which are good options in that scenario. After multiple trials, the opening you now see on the holster was selected because it ensures that even a spent .45 ACP casing will fall straight through. We felt that this fix was worthy of applying even to products sold to civilians.
The fact remains that, whether vacuum formed, compression formed, or injection molded, our products are priced based on their design and performance attributes; not their manufacturing method. Cheap, shitty holsters are cheap and shitty because that's how they are designed. Being injection molded isn't what made them shitty -- their design and tooling did. Our injection molded products are actually vastly superior to our products that are thermoformed from extruded sheets of polymer, simply because injection molding allows us to do things that are not possible with bent pieces of plastic. Don't be so quick to judge a product based on which manufacturing process was used; look instead at the execution of that process.
Michael Goerlich
Owner
Raven Concealment Systems, LLC
www.ravenconcealment.com
I ordered one of the first Eidelons when they were released. The holster has seen thousands of rounds of use and a lot of daily dry fire and is still my go to holster. I've even done some grappling/BJJ while wearing a SIRT with mine. I've owned all the holsters we all discuss on this site, but have continued to use the Eidelon simply because it offers the best combo of concealment and ride height for me. I say that to LOL at the OP calling their injection molded products "cheap" or poorly designed.
Last edited by Tamara; 06-05-2017 at 11:39 AM.
That's not entirely zir fault. There is a weird sorta pride people have in foam pressed holsters, so much so that there is backlash against them. Neither are necessarily better or worse, it's merely a matter of scale and volume on the manufacturing side. As some holster makers strive towards speed and consistency, as sales dictate, others seem to stress hand made and assign some amount of pride in that. All of that is ironic as years ago the biggest concern was the lead time to get an RCS holster. Now it's mostly gone and many seem to feel that RCS has cheapened things and they spread that around in an effort to elevate their own products.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
I like my rifles like my women - short, light, fast, brown, and suppressed.
Michael - i have been a customer for several years, and have at least a dozen of your phantom holsters.
Is it possible to order an HK 45C holster, as it is no longer listed on the website?
If the Eidolon is indicative of the way they have innovated and make injection molded holsters then I am impressed and would definitely buy another.
I do, however, have to say that I think they are overpriced. Injection molded parts cost less and require less hand fitting so I don't see why they cost so much. But the Eidolon solved AIWB carry for me so how much is that worth?
Last edited by Irelander; 06-05-2017 at 12:25 PM.
Jesus paid a debt he did not owe,
Because I owed a debt I could not pay.
In my humble opinion, everyone gets to decide for themselves whether a product is worth the price point it is offered at. The manufacturer or vendor can decide to adjust based upon market response.
I'm not sure that I would feel comfortable telling a business owner that his product is priced too high as I don't know anything about his bottom line, his startup costs or his lifestyle.
"Is it worth it to me" and does it offer something superior to the competition is what it would come down to. And by "superior" I mean any number of things...the quality of the product, the integrity of the owner and the business, made in the USA and the like. All of which, to my mind, are valid considerations.
Judging by the popularity of RCS and the ubiquity of their parts used by other makers and vendors, I'd say they must be doing something right.
There's nothing civil about this war.