The start of a proper grip

[CraigS]

A few things I have learned from this forum and our own experiments w/ holsters. I make the kydex holster shells for our idpa Beretta 92s and hang them on Blackhawk paddle holster mounts. I want to thank GJM for getting me started on holster cant angles in a thread of his 1.5-2 years ago. When I am messing around w/ a holster I often use my phone to take pics from the front and the side to look at positioning. I have known for many years my belly is too big but had no idea what that does to cant. A holster mounted straight on the mount actually ends up w/ a cant of maybe 10-15degrees muzzle back. With the rules changing 2-3 times in the last 3 years, I have made a lot of changes. GJMs thought that the pistol position should match ones hand position when the hand hangs naturally makes absolute sense. But the angle of the hand varies quite a bit depending on holster height and also on variation between 2 and 4 oclock positions on the belt. This is my current holster. You can see it has a fair amount of muzzle forward cant and it is dropped maybe 1 1/4 inch from the standard position. I run it at 2-230 on the belt. I drop it further by strapping on the gun and mags but leave the belt kind of loose. I let it wander downward from the weight and tighten the belt when it drops as low as I am comfortable with.

We were messing w/ the MantisX yesterday and I asked my wife to start a draw but stop as soon as her hand touched the gun. Can you feel the entire backstrap along your palm or maybe just at the top or just at the bottom? I was glad she could feel it the entire length. BTW this is her holster. She shoots only our local IWLA action pistol matches so she can use a dropped and offset mount but I can't since the other club I shoot at is strictly idpa rules. This is one of the Blackhawk police mounts.

I'd kill to use her mount but, while the height is legal, the offset is not. While most of this doesn't work real well for EDC, (My M&P9c is carried high on my belt in a Crossbreed w/ a ton of muzzle back cant) I have found it really worthwhile just being aware of the differences that small changes can make. It is really nice to have our hands drop onto the grip and get a perfect grip right then, before the gun even leaves the holster.

[JCN]

I'm unclear what the drop and offset rules are these days. Supposedly a BOSS holster is now legal if the spacers are removed.

I'm reading through the Feb 2023 ruleset and I'm having a hard time finding the offset rules currently.

[JCN]

@CraigS

I think the latest rulebook deleted the dowel rod and one mag spacing for offset.



So offset is okay, I think.

[CraigS]

I agree, offset is not well addressed. Height is pretty specific w/ the 8.5.1.12 rule in your screen shot. The mid Atlantic IDPA rep Cody Claxton sent out an email w/ pictures of legal and illegal holsters. Unfortunately I have managed to lose it but my take was that my wife's offset holster would be illegal. I 'think' one of the pics of a legal holster was a Boss w/o the spacers. At our next match I will try to find someone who saved the email.