It look like it. Quality wise I've always found Don Hume sort of meh. I'd look for a nice 070 if you want to step back in time. There are plenty out there.Originally Posted by TheNewbie
It look like it. Quality wise I've always found Don Hume sort of meh. I'd look for a nice 070 if you want to step back in time. There are plenty out there.
Is Don Hume not that great?
While the 070 was the king of true retention holsters when I first started, I never used one. The guys I knew that liked them really liked them. One buddy liked the security it provided him working as a rural deputy with poor radio reception before cell phones were as prevalent.
If I worked in some extra high risk gun grab environment, maybe a busy court system or prisoner transport, an 070 might be my holster of choice.
I had to look up the 070 to see if that was the same thing as the SSIII. That is what that holster reminded me of. The SSIII rigs were extremely secure and were excellent in that regard, but I did not care for them due to the fact that quickly securing the gun back in the holster was not as fast. During my uniformed years I found that I needed to quickly put my gun away to go hands on with people or do other tasks where it was critical that the pistol was properly secured far more than I needed a lighting fast draw.
Fast, proper one-handed securing of a weapon was/is critical when it comes to a holster for uniformed work in my opinion. The 070/SSII was a good rig, other than the speed it took to properly secure the pistol.
It may seem odd but the one thing I found that was a great use for the SSIII rigs was for use in the home when my oldest daughter was little. I wanted a way to keep a handgun readily available, yet not have her be able to get her hands on it. I ended up putting a Glock 21 in an SSII on a belt, over a bed post. The gun was kept without a round in the chamber. I could sit up from my bed, grab it from the holster and charge it in only a 2-3 seconds.
The holster was extremely secure anyways, but with the way the holster works, I figured that it was a very good choice. Then with the pistol having an empty chamber, the odds of a tragedy were quite low. She never fiddled with the guns anyway, as she was always allowed to examine any of them whenever she asked, so they held no fascination for her, but it seemed like a reasonable approach.
No, Don Hume, especially the current stuff, is nowhere near the quality of Safariland from the era they made the 070.
The 070 was very secure; however, slow to re-secure. They also had a steep break-in period that involved a lot of silicone spray and draws to get it to where you would want it.
A much quicker to re-holster option that is just as secure and very well made is the Raptor series. They were only made for a few years until Safariland ditched them for the ALS holsters that could accommodate a WML. They mimick the drawstroke of the 070. I used a 6270 with a Glock 21 for a couple years. They're fantastic holsters if you don't want a light and optic and can find one for your gun.
Do you think the Raptor offered anything over the ALS? Other than the fact you could get one for the USP 45 full-size ( I think).
This is more academic/gear nerd interest talk for me. I find the holsters of days gone by interesting. Though I wouldn’t feel terrible if I had to use an 070 or a raptor.
I’m disappointed at the meh take on Don Hume. Who is your favorite for current leather duty gear?
I still know guys rocking Serpas but I almost never see a thumb beak duty holster anymore. Not in uniform anyway.
I have high hopes for US Duty Gear. A couple co-workers and I bought their RDS holsters for our Staccatos and the quality is outstanding. They're reminiscent of the 6280's made in the early 2000's. They're supposed to have an ALS-style holster out any moment. That's what LAPD ordered for their FN 509's.
The Raptor and 070 were designed to prevent gun takeaways and they do it really well. The draw is to unsnap and then rock the gun back almost simultaneously. If someone is trying to take your gun from the front or the side the response is to pull your hip back and it keeps the gun locked into place. Back when I started defensive tactics were all based around these holsters and using them to help protect from gun grabs. Fourteen years after I stopped wearing one those motions are still ingrained in my brain. Pulling back dug the holster into the ejection port of the gun. In the academy we used to literally pick each other up by our holstered guns (all Safariland equipment) and you knew there was no way anything would break and that the gun would stay put. It helped build a lot of confidence. The Raptor is an improvement on the 070 because it snaps everything back in automatically making it even more secure. The thumb snap on the 070 breaks over time so even people that like them probably don't have them anymore unless they bought a spare. The Raptor also didn't need a massive amount of breaking-in.
The ALS holsters are nothing but plastic buckets with a rotating plastic mechanism that pivots off the ejection port of the slide. They work well, but they are nowhere near as secure as the 070/Raptor series. What they offer is much more versatility (such as using a WML or RDS).
If I hadn't have gone down the WML and 1911 rabbit holes (and now RDS rabbit hole) I would probably still be rocking a Raptor. It's simply a better holster in every way than the ALS if you're just holding the gun (and not a WML or RDS) and probably the absolute pinnacle or "security" holster design. The problem is that system can't work with a light or optic and was expensive to make which is what killed it.
...and I have one for my USP 45 and it works really well.
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