The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Crossbreed - Extensive Review & Comparison (pic intensive) video included

ev239 · September 10, 2007, 03:09 PM

I originally posted this in defensivecarry.com and sigforum.com, but I wanted to share it with all of you.
***************************

I've worn my new Crossbreed SuperTuck for about a week straight now so I feel like I can give an honest review of it. In this writeup I will detail my experience from the beginning with ordering and receiving in addition to the normal final product analysis.

Background:
My everyday carry (EDC) is a Sig P239 9mm which is reliable/reasonably compact and I love even though it's not the most efficient (weight/capacity ratio). I tuck my shirts in so that ruled out all OWB holsters and many IWB ones. Since I'd gotten my CCW about 5 months ago I make shifted a tuckable IWB holster which I posted about here. It works well, but I wasn't completely happy. After a lot of thought, hours of review reading, research and consideration I decided to order CB's SuperTuck Deluxe as my next holster.

Ordering:
I called them up (I believe I spoke with Mark) and asked a few questions which he answered promptly before placing my order. He told me about the two week trial period and about the lifetime warranty in case anything breaks on the holster. Sounds good so far. I've been using Comp-tac v-clips on my current setup so I asked if they offer velcro clips as well. They do and will subsitute one of the other pairs of clips for those. I choose to sub the j-clips (I'd rather have my belt do the supporting). From all the pictures I'd seen it always looked like the leather backing was kind of large and might interfer with a full combat grip so I asked Mark about that. He said doing that may reduce some of the comfort, but they can alter the leather for me for an additional charge. Me being the cheapskate that I am declined his offer. I figured that if it was a problem for me I could always do my own cutting (for free). Once I finished placing my order he told me it should take 4 weeks for them to complete the holster. Yay, that's much better than most of the other custom shops. I ended up calling back a little while later with an additional question which he answered to my satisfaction.

Receiving:
About 4 weeks later like Mark had said, I got a package in the mail from Crossbreed. Upon opening it I noticed something odd right off the bat. The kydex portion of the holster had a hooked trigger guard where the P239's is curved. I promptly called Mark up again and told him my discovery. He said very quickly that it was their mistake and they had shipped me the wrong holster. Apparently, they'd had several orders for P229's and mine got mixed up. I realize that they have been very busy with orders and can forgive an occasional admitted mistake. Of course, I was very disappointed. I mailed it out and about 3 weeks later (which is about 7 weeks after my original order) I finally received my SuperTuck! It came packaged in one of those brown mail packets with the bubble wrap built in. Included were the velcro clips installed on the holster, a set of the standard clips, and a long length of adhesive loop velcro to attach to whatever belt you'll be using (2" wide which for most will require some trimming).

Construction:

Crossbreed keeps their SuperTuck very simple. The leather backing is soft, but of sufficient thickness and size to almost completely cover the pistol except for the bottom 3/4's of the grip. The rough side is on the outside with the smooth side against the gun. The kydex portion is kept to a minimum to cover the trigger guard and most of the slide though it exposes the entire front sight. It is well flared at the opening and at the bottom. All the sharp edges are smoothed out so there's no chance of scratching yourself or your gun.

The rivets are well set and spaced for a solid hold on the leather. The clips are simply folded kydex with a hole drilled in the bottom for the attachment and the hook side of velcro glued/adhesived into place.

They are attached to the leather using a screw which is screwed into a neat "bolt" which is thin and is designed with little hooks that set inside the leather to keep from twisting. I was informed by someone that these are called "T" bolts. There is a circular piece of rubber between the kydex and leather to help apply friction to keep from rotating and also gives a little room for your shirt when tucked. There are 4 holes on each side of the leather for adjustability which are evenly punched out.

Fit:
Right out of the package the gun slid easily into the holster. Almost too easily I originally thought. There is a noticable amount of play with the holster off. Being used to an all leather holster which grabs the gun and requires more of a tug to draw it was at first a little disconcerting. Then I tried the fit with the holster on. With your body against the leather it pushes out and holds the gun firmly against the kydex. The draw with the holster on is very fast with only a slight click on drawing & reholstering. The stiff kydex allows for easy reholstering with no collapsing.

On/Off:
Is this holster easy to put on and take off? In a word, no. It takes between 1-2 mins to position it on my pants, then thread my belt on taking care to maneuver it around the clips before fastening it, and then tucking in the shirt finally adjusting it so it's equally bloused. If you're going to tuck then you have to live with this method. I've accepted that.

Comparison:
Here I will compare it to the holster I've been using. To read a description of this holster go here. The only difference is that I have since purchased velcro clips from Comp-tac and been using them.

Main Holster Body:
The Don Hume holster is well made with good stitching and boning. It has a sweatguard and holds my gun firmly. Though it is fairly stiff it will collapse some after the gun is drawn which makes one handed holstering, while not impossible, more difficult. The rough part of the leather is on the inside to help grip the gun with the smooth sides on the outside. It does a great job of gripping the gun, but IWB it slides and has a tendancy to sag. The Don Hume portion looks like it did the day I got it so it looks like it should hold up well to years of use. The leather attachments are more worn, but don't show any signs of tearing. One thing about the attachments is that when in the bathroom sitting down, the holster has a tendency to flop either in or out.

The SuperTuck has a large piece of leather which resists sagging since the rough side is against the body. This makes it grab the gun less so drawing the gun is very easy. This is a pro and a con so it all depends on what you prefer. One con to such a large piece of leather is that from the "factory" it does interfer with a full combat grip. After wearing it a few days I went ahead and cut a small amount so that my hand can get a much more positive grip. I don't know why they would charge extra to trim that little bit off. The hard kydex won't collapse so one handed reholstering is a cinch. Because of the large leather when in the bathroom sitting down it helps keep the gun vertical and not flop one way or the other.

__________________
Mine
Sig P239 (9mm)
Norinco 213 (9mm)
Kel-tec P-3AT (380)
Bersa Thunder22 (22lr)

Wife's
Ruger SP101 3" (357mag)
Walther P22 (22lr)
Charter Arms Undercover (38spl)

September 10, 2007, 03:09 PM	#1
ev239 Member Join Date: September 10, 2007 Posts: 42	Crossbreed - Extensive Review & Comparison (pic intensive) video included I originally posted this in defensivecarry.com and sigforum.com, but I wanted to share it with all of you. *************************** I've worn my new Crossbreed SuperTuck for about a week straight now so I feel like I can give an honest review of it. In this writeup I will detail my experience from the beginning with ordering and receiving in addition to the normal final product analysis. Background: My everyday carry (EDC) is a Sig P239 9mm which is reliable/reasonably compact and I love even though it's not the most efficient (weight/capacity ratio). I tuck my shirts in so that ruled out all OWB holsters and many IWB ones. Since I'd gotten my CCW about 5 months ago I make shifted a tuckable IWB holster which I posted about here. It works well, but I wasn't completely happy. After a lot of thought, hours of review reading, research and consideration I decided to order CB's SuperTuck Deluxe as my next holster. Ordering: I called them up (I believe I spoke with Mark) and asked a few questions which he answered promptly before placing my order. He told me about the two week trial period and about the lifetime warranty in case anything breaks on the holster. Sounds good so far. I've been using Comp-tac v-clips on my current setup so I asked if they offer velcro clips as well. They do and will subsitute one of the other pairs of clips for those. I choose to sub the j-clips (I'd rather have my belt do the supporting). From all the pictures I'd seen it always looked like the leather backing was kind of large and might interfer with a full combat grip so I asked Mark about that. He said doing that may reduce some of the comfort, but they can alter the leather for me for an additional charge. Me being the cheapskate that I am declined his offer. I figured that if it was a problem for me I could always do my own cutting (for free). Once I finished placing my order he told me it should take 4 weeks for them to complete the holster. Yay, that's much better than most of the other custom shops. I ended up calling back a little while later with an additional question which he answered to my satisfaction. Receiving: About 4 weeks later like Mark had said, I got a package in the mail from Crossbreed. Upon opening it I noticed something odd right off the bat. The kydex portion of the holster had a hooked trigger guard where the P239's is curved. I promptly called Mark up again and told him my discovery. He said very quickly that it was their mistake and they had shipped me the wrong holster. Apparently, they'd had several orders for P229's and mine got mixed up. I realize that they have been very busy with orders and can forgive an occasional admitted mistake. Of course, I was very disappointed. I mailed it out and about 3 weeks later (which is about 7 weeks after my original order) I finally received my SuperTuck! It came packaged in one of those brown mail packets with the bubble wrap built in. Included were the velcro clips installed on the holster, a set of the standard clips, and a long length of adhesive loop velcro to attach to whatever belt you'll be using (2" wide which for most will require some trimming). Construction: Crossbreed keeps their SuperTuck very simple. The leather backing is soft, but of sufficient thickness and size to almost completely cover the pistol except for the bottom 3/4's of the grip. The rough side is on the outside with the smooth side against the gun. The kydex portion is kept to a minimum to cover the trigger guard and most of the slide though it exposes the entire front sight. It is well flared at the opening and at the bottom. All the sharp edges are smoothed out so there's no chance of scratching yourself or your gun. The rivets are well set and spaced for a solid hold on the leather. The clips are simply folded kydex with a hole drilled in the bottom for the attachment and the hook side of velcro glued/adhesived into place. They are attached to the leather using a screw which is screwed into a neat "bolt" which is thin and is designed with little hooks that set inside the leather to keep from twisting. I was informed by someone that these are called "T" bolts. There is a circular piece of rubber between the kydex and leather to help apply friction to keep from rotating and also gives a little room for your shirt when tucked. There are 4 holes on each side of the leather for adjustability which are evenly punched out. Fit: Right out of the package the gun slid easily into the holster. Almost too easily I originally thought. There is a noticable amount of play with the holster off. Being used to an all leather holster which grabs the gun and requires more of a tug to draw it was at first a little disconcerting. Then I tried the fit with the holster on. With your body against the leather it pushes out and holds the gun firmly against the kydex. The draw with the holster on is very fast with only a slight click on drawing & reholstering. The stiff kydex allows for easy reholstering with no collapsing. On/Off: Is this holster easy to put on and take off? In a word, no. It takes between 1-2 mins to position it on my pants, then thread my belt on taking care to maneuver it around the clips before fastening it, and then tucking in the shirt finally adjusting it so it's equally bloused. If you're going to tuck then you have to live with this method. I've accepted that. Comparison: Here I will compare it to the holster I've been using. To read a description of this holster go here. The only difference is that I have since purchased velcro clips from Comp-tac and been using them. Main Holster Body: The Don Hume holster is well made with good stitching and boning. It has a sweatguard and holds my gun firmly. Though it is fairly stiff it will collapse some after the gun is drawn which makes one handed holstering, while not impossible, more difficult. The rough part of the leather is on the inside to help grip the gun with the smooth sides on the outside. It does a great job of gripping the gun, but IWB it slides and has a tendancy to sag. The Don Hume portion looks like it did the day I got it so it looks like it should hold up well to years of use. The leather attachments are more worn, but don't show any signs of tearing. One thing about the attachments is that when in the bathroom sitting down, the holster has a tendency to flop either in or out. The SuperTuck has a large piece of leather which resists sagging since the rough side is against the body. This makes it grab the gun less so drawing the gun is very easy. This is a pro and a con so it all depends on what you prefer. One con to such a large piece of leather is that from the "factory" it does interfer with a full combat grip. After wearing it a few days I went ahead and cut a small amount so that my hand can get a much more positive grip. I don't know why they would charge extra to trim that little bit off. The hard kydex won't collapse so one handed reholstering is a cinch. Because of the large leather when in the bathroom sitting down it helps keep the gun vertical and not flop one way or the other. __________________ Mine Sig P239 (9mm) Norinco 213 (9mm) Kel-tec P-3AT (380) Bersa Thunder22 (22lr) Wife's Ruger SP101 3" (357mag) Walther P22 (22lr) Charter Arms Undercover (38spl)