The 1791 Gunleather Optic Ready Belt Holster is a sturdy, comfortable, beautiful, handcrafted leather holster that does an excellent job of retaining a handgun during open carry.
It is made in America, and costs $61.99 at www.1791gunleather.com at the time of this writing.
If you are looking for a nice, leather, outside-the-waistband (OWB) holster that fits a wide range of handguns at a reasonable price, you may want to check this one out.
Background
My favorite handgun is a Rock Island Armory MAPP FS, which I purchased after reviewing it on SurvivalBlog. I bought it because I can shoot the MAPP more accurately than any other 9mm handgun that I have tried.
The MAPP has only two drawbacks. One is that the MAPP is not rated for +P ammunition. The second is that there are not a whole lot of aftermarket parts and accessories for the MAPP. It is not a Glock 17 or 19 for which one can find every conceivable accessory in every color of the rainbow.
As a result, I have been looking for a good holster for the MAPP for quite some time without success. So it was with great joy that I discovered that 1791 Gunleather made a nice-looking leather holster for the MAPP FS. I had previously reviewed 1791 Gunleather’s premium rifle sling on SurvivalBlog, and had been impressed by the quality of the materials and workmanship.
I asked if they could provide me with a sample of the holster for testing and evaluation. They were kind enough to agree. A week later, a package arrived on my porch via USPS Ground Advantage.
First Impressions
The holster arrived in a 11.75 x 9.25 x 6.75 inch shipping box from 1791 Headquarters, 1835 NW 21 Terrace, Miami, FL 33142.
The shipping box contained a packing slip and the holster in a 9.13 x 9.25 x 3 inch clear plastic clam pack.
The specific version of the Optic Ready Belt Holster that fits the MAPP FS is size “2.4”. The parts for the MAPP are manufactured by Tanfoglio in Italy before they are shipped to Rock Island Armory in the Philippines for assembly. As such, it is virtually identical to certain models of the EAA Witness, Tanfoglio Stock I, and IWI Jericho.
Size 2.4 of the Optic Ready Belt Holster is described as also fitting the following pistols with (or without) top-mounted optics: Arex Rex Alpha, Arex Slovenia, Beretta 92X, Beretta Langdon Tactical 92 Elite LTT, Beretta M9, Canik TP9SF, Ceská Zbrojovka (CZ), Ceská Zbrojovka SHADOW 2, CZ 75, CZ 75B, CZ 97b, CZ P09, CZ P10F, FN 510, FN 545, FN Herstal 9 Longslide, FN Herstal FNS 40 Longslide, FN Herstal FNS5.7, FN Herstal FNX, FNX 45, Heckler & Koch P30L, Heckler & Koch USP 45, Heckler & Koch USP Tactical, Heckler & Koch VP Tactical, Heckler & Koch VP40, Ruger American, Ruger P85, Ruger P90, Sarsilmaz SAR9, Sig Sauer M17, Sig Sauer P226, Sig Sauer P226R, Sig Sauer P227, Sig Sauer P320, Sig Sauer P320 Tacops, Smith & Wesson M&P 10mm M2.0 4.6″, Springfield Echelon, Springfield XDM 5.25″, Springfield XDM4.5″, Tanfoglio Full, Taurus PT92-AFD, Taurus TH9, Walther PDP 4.5″, Walther PPQ, Walther PPQ Q4 Tactical, and the Walther WMP.
The information in the clam pack indicated that the holster has a lifetime warranty to repair or replace it absolutely free. This warranty applies to factory defects only and does not include normal wear and tear.
The clam pack also indicates that 1791 Gunleather products are “Handcrafted one at a time” using “100% Certified American Leather”.
I opened the clam pack. The delightful scent of genuine leather drifted through the room. The leather was a beautiful classic brown. The stitching was expertly done. The leather was of a very heavy gauge and double-layered in strategic places for extra durability.
The MAPP fit snugly into the holster with no room between the edge of the frame and the side of the holster that could allow little fingers or other stray objects to intrude and pull the trigger.
The holster also provided excellent retention. I could turn it upside down and shake it vigorously with the MAPP inserted without causing the handgun to fall out.
Testing
I serve as one of the pastors of a church in our community. Most pastors in our area do not come into the church office openly carrying a handgun on their hip. Many people in the community would view such a practice with alarm. So I would not be able to test the holster by carrying the MAPP to work.
Instead, I attached the holster to the belt of my chore pants, and carried the MAPP in it while I was out working around our property.
I wore the holstered MAPP while moving firewood from a round wood stack to the wood shed.
I wore the holstered MAPP while laying on the ground threading a section of garden hose under the deck. It wasn’t particularly comfortable laying with the holstered MAPP pressed between my hip and the ground, but the holster did an excellent job of retaining the handgun as I rolled and crawled around.
I wore the holstered MAPP while mowing the lawn and while gathering fuel for a couple of rocket stoves.
I wore it while cleaning our outside wood boiler, and while splitting firewood.
I wore it while rototilling the garden, and while sitting at the kitchen table working on a computer.
I wore the holster in the sunshine and I wore it in the rain.
I wore it when the pest control guy came, and when a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses came to the door. No one seemed at all frightened. I guess I look pretty peaceful even when I am packing heat.
In any case, I wore the holster under a wide variety of circumstances and conditions, and experienced absolutely no problems at all…
… or maybe I should say, almost no problems at all. There were three somewhat minor issues.
The first issue was that it took a little while to put the holster on, and it took a little while to take the holster off. I began to wonder about the potential advantages of a clip-on style holster rather than one with belt loops.
The second issue was bumping the handgun when passing objects at close quarters. More than once I bumped it on the door frame of the woodshed while walking around the side of the wheelbarrow. And happily the polymer grip of the MAPP did not scratch my truck when I bumped it several times passing between the refrigerator in the pole barn and the side of the truck. Moving the holster behind my hip rather than on my hip helped with this, and continued practice helped even more.
The third issue was that the weight of the MAPP on my belt tended to drag my pants down on that side of my body. I could begin to see the attraction of a Sam Browne belt. Fortunately, I usually wear suspenders as well as a belt when I am working outside. I don’t like to feel my pants working their way down when I am running a chainsaw, carrying a load of firewood, or doing other tasks that occupy both hands at once. So I just tightened my belt, tightened the suspenders, and the problem was solved.
Holster History and Innovation
Holders for hand weapons have been around for almost as long as the weapons they held. For example, in the Bible we have references to a quiver to hold the arrows for Esau’s bow (Genesis 27:3), a shepherd’s bag to hold the stones for David’s sling (1 Samuel 17:40), and a sheath to hold Peter’s sword (John 18:11).
The earliest handguns were much too large and unwieldy to be carried on a belt. But as they became smaller and easier to operate, firing them from horseback became a possibility. Thus, the earliest handgun holsters were saddle holsters. They were often shaped somewhat like an ice cream cone with a narrower section lower down for the barrel and a symmetrical wider section near the top of the holster for the lock and grip.
As handguns continued to become smaller, it became possible to carry them on one’s person, often thrust under a sash or belt, or connected to the sash or belt via a clip on the handgun.
By the mid-1800s the invention of revolvers of an appropriate size made belt holsters more practical. As a result, it is not unusual to note holsters on the belts of soldiers in photographs from the American Civil War.
The Buscadero-style holster that we associate with the Old West was actually not invented until the early 20th century. It was utilized by actors like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and William Boyd in Westerns. In this way, a style of holster that was never used in the Old West became associated with that period in history.
Although leather has been the material most often utilized for holster construction throughout history, other materials like cotton canvas, ballistic nylon, and increasingly Kydex have also been used.
Conclusion
The 1791 Gunleather Optic Ready Belt Holster is a beautifully handcrafted leather holster that securely holds my MAPP under a wide variety of conditions and circumstances. I am very happy with its performance, and recommend it to the attention of others who may need a good OWB holster for an appropriately sized handgun.
Disclaimer
1791 Gunleather provided me with a sample of their Optic Ready Belt Holster for testing and evaluation. Rock Island Armory loaned me a sample of the MAPP FS for an earlier review. I subsequently purchased that sample. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.
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