[jimbob86]

Americans have an almost ingrained belief that a "proper" holster is one that allows the gun to be drawn (and fired) in the easiest, most expeditious manner possible/practical. No one else does (unless they have adopted the American attitude).

You say this as if it were a bad thing, and because no one else does it, it must be so .....

Even our GI flap holster works faster than other nations versions. Germany went through both world wars with full flap holsters that buckled shut. We had a holster, they had a luggage case.

Since the principal advantage of a handgun is that it is handier than a long gun (at the expense of being relatively low powered), I see no reason to tote one around in a luggage case. Either it is immediately accessable, or it just dead weight.

I've read somewhere that most 20th century European militaries saw the pistol as a sort of badge of rank, much like the sword became after the advent of the rifled musket ..... the Americans, OTH ...... we wanted a handgun that would drop a horse, or a crazed Moro, and RIGHT NOW.

Certainly there are better holsters for speed of the draw, and there are lots of circumstances where that is the paramount consideration. But there is nothing else that both allows you to have the gun on you, AND protects the gun from the elements as well as the flap holster.

Are guns and ammunition now so fragile that they must be protected from "the elements" ..... moreso than their bearer? I would hazard a guess that the flap holsters were a holdover from C&B black powder days, when one really had to "keep your powder dry" ..... once the self contained smokeless cartridge was perfected ..... not so necessary any longer, but militaries have greater organizational inertia than any other group, I think ....... nearly always gearing up to fight the last war......

"Organizational Inertia": that does explain a great many things, including why the NRA and various Hunter Ed programs still try and teach "The Ten Commandments of Gun Safety" to 10 year old kids, when the vast majority of people can remember no more than 5 related things in a group.......

Jeff Cooper codified the FOUR RULES going on 1/2 a century ago ...... everything you need, nothing you don't ..... yet there are always folk that think they have a better way ...... and because Jelly Bryce or Sykes and Whoever advocated having your finger on the trigger that makes it a good idea(FWIW, they advocated point shooting, as well) ..... do you see anyone today able to use their methods and come anywhere close to the times and number of hits attained by even an average IDPA participant?