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Product: Urban Carry LockLeather IWB

Holster Type: A hybrid holster with a leather shell and a small Kydex part inside to lock around the trigger guard to hold the gun in place.

Weight: 4.3 oz

Price: At time of writing, $69.95.

The basics.

This was not the review I expected to write when I ordered this. I really thought I was going to love this holster and I don’t. And I think it’s at least partially my fault. I’ll get to that later.

First, I’m not sure whether I call this a hybrid holster or not but Urban Carry does so I’ll roll with it. It’s all leather except for the belt clip and a little piece inside the holster that locks around the trigger guard to provide retention. The gun I bought this for was a Sig Sauer SP2022.

Advantages:

• 10 Year warranty.
• It’s one size fits many; you put in your gun’s manufacturer and model and it tells you what size to order.
• Comfortable for all day carry.
• Really excellent leather.
• Bulk is minimal so doesn’t add to your concealment burden.
• Retention is adjustable.

Disadvantages:

• It’s not tuckable.
• Neither cant nor ride height are adjustable.
• I’m not impressed with a single clip on a larger gun like the Sig.

From the top.

Even though the SP2022 fits the commonly used definition of a compact
gun I don’t really think it’s all that compact. And this is the part where I think part of the fault here is mine. I do wonder how much more I would like this holster had I purchased it for a smaller gun.

Leather IWB holsters all share a flaw: to hold the gun up you need to have a good belt and you need to tighten that belt enough to hold the gun up and in place. The tighter the belt the more pressure you put on the mouth of the holster. That tends to hold it closed and makes it harder to re-holster. It also provides more retention which is often a good thing. In this case it’s not necessary. Which brings us to the LockLeather system.

LockLeather system.

As you can see in the picture below there’s a small clip down in the holster that just grabs on to the trigger guard of your gun and holds it in place. I played around with this before I started carrying the gun so the leather hadn’t formed to the Sig yet. That little clip works very well. I could adjust it from all the way to almost no retention at all up to where I could hardly get the gun out.

I finally settled on a retention I liked and it stays there. I have adjusted it a bit from time to time as the leather forms itself around the SP2022 better.

The LockLeather page on Urban Carry’s site explains the system in detail; it’s worth a look.

It has a single clip.

It’s a serious clip. It’s metal and very strong. Be aware of that if you have issues with finger strength. Once I get it on my belt it isn’t coming off until I take it off on purpose. I think one clip, especially of this quality, might be fine for a Shield, P365, Hellcat, or something like that. I don’t like it for this gun. It allows some gun grip angle changes during the day as the clip changes angles on my belt. I don’t care for that.

On the other hand, putting it on and taking it off is easy. Especially the “off” part. This is one of the trade offs Urban Carry made with this holster. The single clip removes bulk which reduces your carry burden throughout the day. The price is that larger guns can cause it to shift some.

Adjustments.

It could use a couple more. Notably cant and ride height. All that’s adjustable is the retention and that’s great. I just wish I could play with the positioning some more. I have to be really picky about the location on my hip; it takes me more time than I’m used to for me to get ready to leave the house to get the gun in just the right place.

The ride height is a little low so I can’t get a full grip on the gun immediately. I need to use a couple fingers to get it started out of the holster. The size of the Sig works against me here. I could probably get a better grip on a gun with a smaller grip.

Reholstering.

As I’ve mentioned before, the idea of speed reholstering is silly. The tighter the belt the harder it is to re-holster with a leather holster. That really comes into play with, you guessed it, a bigger gun. My loaded SP2022 weighs 35 oz. With the holster it’s just under 40 oz., or over three pounds, on your side every day.

That weight must be held in place. If you have a cheap belt you could have issues. I have two quality belts that I normally use to carry with. One is nylon and the other is leather with a steel core running through it. Both are good but for this gun/holster combo I only use the steel core one. I have to tighten it down quite a bit which makes putting the gun back in the holster kind of a chore.

My normal procedure in the morning is to put my holster on exactly where I want it, holster the gun, then tighten the belt. A couple practice draws and I’m all set. I have a slight preference for hammer fired guns over striker. I can ride the hammer as I re-holster. Sometimes re-holstering this gun causes the slide to move back slightly. I think re-holstering should be done with deliberation and this combination reinforces that.

Quality.

Top notch. Excellent leather, strong clip, good Kydex. It has a 10-year guarantee that I don’t expect to need. The holster also came in a microfiber sleeve that can also be used to wrap around the gun to assist with the process of forming the leather to the gun. I didn’t see the need for it but the option is there.

Conclusion.

As I said at the beginning: I really expected to like this holster more than I do. I do think it’s partially my fault; I just asked too much of it. In retrospect I wish I’d have gotten one of these for a smaller gun. They also make OWB versions that would solve my dilemmas with this holster.

It’s a quality holster from a reputable manufacturer. If that’s something that appeals to you then go to Urban Carry’s site and check them out.