It began as a simple mission and we (@Flamingo and myself) chose to accept it - take the now ephemerally available Safariland CD-6 Split-Six style speed loader holder and bring it into the early 21st Century (hey we're revolver guys, we're always two decades behind). Importantly, improve some things about the Safariland holder, namely the poor retention and tendency of 1.5" belts to ride too high and cause unwanted activation of spring-loaded speed loaders (particularly ones like Jet Loaders). We ordered some kydex, grabbed a heat gun, and put two dudes with about 110 IQ points between us on the task.
What you see below are four prototypes, plus our CD-6 inspiration. We are still in design and prototyping phase. But we've come along enough to feel comfortable sharing with you guys where we are going. We want to gauge if our requisite revolver toters are interested in these. That's partially to figure out how far to push our prototyping beyond, "FUGLY but Functional" to "Functional and Aesthetically Pleasing" and further refine our workflow for potential production.
Let me walk you guys a bit through what we've done so far and where we're going:
Figure 1:
Left, Safariland CD-6 with Jetloader in it. Note that there is no retention besides the spring pressure. These carriers work fine on a square range, they drop loaders if you move fast. You can add an o-ring or some other retention device to these. It helps, but loaders still dislodge easily under movement and Jetloaders easily activate in these.
Second from left, Prototype 1 shown with an HKS J-Frame loader. This was molded by hand in Flamingo's basement with a heat gun and an Atlas belt. The addition of rolling the edge of the kydex to form a lip, vastly improves retention, however this is basically a vaguely u-shaped hunk of kydex. That said, with the addition of the elastic belt keeper (shown below and to the right), retention was excellent and speed was still there.
Second from right - Prototype 2 - It's not really a working prototype, but the biggest changes between Proto1 and Proto2 - we made a model to mold around, added a $13 Goodwill toaster oven, and I made a home-made kydex press for us. These changes brought us more uniformity overall.
Prototype 3 (right). Molded around our model, which is sized to be roughly similar to a Safariland CompII for an L-Frame loaded with .357 Magnums. This is the first Proto with divots to hold a rubber o-ring as our retention device. We are experimenting with o-ring sizes and placement, but what we have uncovered is, this works very well. It adds the right amount of retention without being bulky and is easy to slide on and off. The motion used to put the o-ring on is similar to that of something you might have practiced in 7th grade Health Class.
Finally, we have Proto4, which is very similar to Proto3, except we started a bit wider and worked to get our speed loader centered and then rolled lips on both sides. This is where we ended today and where we feel that we're getting a step closer.
We are we in this process: Retention is dramatically improved over the CD-6. While access and speed is very similar to the CD-6. Concealment is effectively the same. Are we ready? No, not yet, but we know now where our next steps and refinements will be. Partially, in the realm of improving our aesthetics and our fit and finish. In addition to making a better model for molding, improving our kydex press. We anticipate making at least two sizes for ourselves (J and L), possibly a K-Frame size. Right now you can run a K and L in the same carrier but the retention is best with the L. Increasing retention with the o-ring is one way to keep things simple, but it may be best to have three sizes. We're working to refine if we can run HKS and Comps in the same carrier, you can run Jetloaders and Comps in the same carrier currently.
How can you help us? Give us a sense if you're interested at all - and what size(s) you might be interested in.
So there you have it: Flamingo and Rob's Tools Present the SLAB.