{"id":4525,"date":"2017-04-03T09:29:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T14:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=4525"},"modified":"2017-04-03T09:29:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T14:29:16","slug":"repairs-thoughts-aliengear-holster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=4525","title":{"rendered":"Repairs and thoughts on an AlienGear holster"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past couple years, my go to IWB holster has been an AlienGear<\/a> CloakTuck 2.0 holster. \u00a0It’s a rather affordable hybrid holster that has a plastic shell attached to more flexible backing. \u00a0The most common material used for this kind of backing is leather (and that is what the original AlienGear holster uses), but AlienGear decided that it could make a more comfortable holster by using multiple materials.<\/p>\n

The 2.0’s backing actually uses 3 different materials. \u00a0The gun rests against a thin leather layer, which lays on top of a sheet of plastic for rigidity, and then a layer of neoprene against your body. \u00a0These three layers are sewn together, with nuts embedded in the backing to mount the shell and belt clips.<\/p>\n

This backing worked fairly well, until the plastic broke. \u00a0By the nature of the holster, there are two flex points on the holster, and the plastic appears to have cracked on those lines. \u00a0You can clearly see the crease on the left side at the logo in the picture below. \u00a0There is a similar crease on the right side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I found out the hard way, the leather and neoprene layers are strong enough that the holster still functioned. \u00a0Honestly, if it wasn’t for some close inspection of the holster after noticing a considerable amount of flopping while attached to pants I wasn’t currently wearing, I’m not sure when I would have noticed. \u00a0The cracks did not affect the retention of the pistol, but I was concerned about the long term strength of the holster after those two cracks appeared.<\/p>\n

Remembering that AlienGear has a lifetime warranty, I contacted them about my options. \u00a0They quickly informed me that they would replace the backing with another 2.0 backing for free, or, for $12, they would send me a 3.0 backing. \u00a0Given that I had already experienced this issue with the 2.0 holster, and they no longer make that holster, I decided to go with the newer design. \u00a0They informed me that they should be able to shipped the backing in two or three days. \u00a0I actually received notification that the backing had been shipped later that day.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a couple days, and the new backing plus extra hardware arrived in the mail. \u00a0As you can see, they’ve made a few modifications with the new version.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Forgive the cat hair. That stuff gets everywhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They have replaced the leather layer with a rubber material. \u00a0They also chose to go with removable propeller nuts to mount the belt clips. \u00a0The rubber may be more durable, but I’m not sure. \u00a0I do like the change in the mounting hardware, as random posts sticking up and not being used annoys me.<\/p>\n

Oh, they also changed the backing where the neoprene covers the permanently fixed hardware. \u00a0My 2.0 backing did show some rust where it was exposed to my sweat. \u00a0I know that some folks have complained about this.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
rust on the old 2.0 backing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new backing did come with all new hardware, but all the old hardware can be used on the new backing. \u00a0The only difference is the requirement of the included propeller nuts that I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Good as new!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So… here are my thoughts so far.<\/p>\n

It is, as advertised, a very comfortable holster out of the box. \u00a0The neoprene helps in two ways. \u00a0First is the obvious sweat shield that it provides. \u00a0The second is the fact that neoprene grips your shirt\/body. \u00a0I’ve had issues with leather IWB holsters causing my pants to fall down because they’re slick on the body side.<\/p>\n

Retention is good. \u00a0With the screws, you can adjust the retention to your liking. \u00a0The screws can back out over time, but a dab of blue Locktite will solve that. \u00a0I prefer this over rivets that I’ve seen in other holsters of this type.<\/p>\n

I’ve worn the holster with the 3.0 backing for a couple days, and I can tell that it is stiffer than the previous version. \u00a0Still comfortable, but I can tell that that steel insert is there. \u00a0As for its durability compared to the 2.0 backing? \u00a0We’ll see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past couple years, my go to IWB holster has been an AlienGear CloakTuck 2.0 holster. \u00a0It’s a rather affordable hybrid holster that has a plastic shell attached to more flexible backing. \u00a0The most common material used for this kind of backing is leather (and that is what the original AlienGear holster uses), but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}