Reengineered my Blackhawk Sig holster to accept my Ruger P95DC

[Qwk69buick]

Ok both pistols are based on the 1911 design layout, with updates and upgrades specific to each. There are similarities, which makes sense since both were designed for the same round, same capacity magazine, and I can verify the general dimensions are almost exact, length, height from bottom of trigger guard to the top of the slide inside of the holster absolutely match or there is no way it would have been possible, even items like the location of the chamber sits in exact place where the Sig chamber lined up, but that is where the similarities end, Sig didn't let a high capacity magazine dictate the design dimensions, so the P226 has a slim elegant frame, and the slide follows suit, it's no bigger or heavier than is necessary, because Ruger used a fiberglass reinforced polymer frame, it was always going to have a wide girth so it would have the necessary strength, so the slide is also Fat, it's a fat girl, and that was my challenge make the fat girl fit into the thin girls dress. I actually sold the Sig over a year ago, but the guy didn't want the holster, Blackhawk CQC. Last weekend I was looking at the holster and though what a shame it's going to waste, then on a lark I thought let's see if the Ruger will fit, I thought absolutely no way, but I gave it a try, it took a lot of effort, but it did slide in, and the biggest surprise was it slid into the lock and engaged. I considered that proof of concept, the next step was to make it work, having to use two hands to push together or pull a gun from a holster is problematic at best. Next step work the problem, taking a closer look it shouldn't have fit, the Sigs frame is half the width, and Blackhawk put a large amount of material in the holster to secure the gun in place, the entire holster is packed with excess plastic moulding to hold the pistol in place within the large outer casing. So I decided to see what I could remove without making it unusable, it turned out a lot, I started with the lower part of the holster since the plastic frame guides were a definite problem for the fat girl. I was able to use my drill and a grinding store to remove the excess, them I changed to my files and sandpaper for finishing work. Once the lower holster was opened up I did the same type of work in the upper area, since access was easier, and more detail work was required I did it by hand. After every step the pistol inserted and pulled out more easily after each modification I made. Then problems occurred, same problem the bracing material in all the little areas that was effectingu final fit, the largest being a half inch thick pad in the same spot as the widest part of the barrel. Ihad to shave that block from 1/2' x 2" down to about 2mm above the now adjacent panel. Again closer, but so far to go, the widest part of the frame, where was still interfering with each other I then had to do some very creative design work to stop interference making it not work as well as required. Where the widest and thickest spots met, shaving it flat wasn't enough, when the pistol was inserted the wide spot was rubbing the inner edge of the loose edge flap that attatches to the belt loop retainer and that to the belt. The interference pushed the flap out at an unacceptable angle, I thought I was banjaxed for a moment till I took a closer look at the spot from the outside, since the belt attached at that spot there was a lot of extra material on the outside for a strong attachment point, But it also solved my problem, I could remove more material in the interference area, I finally made a customized depression specifically fit to the widest spot where the frame, retainer pin, and slide lock come together. It was slow work being careful to remove no more material than necessary to clear the wide spot. I used sandpaper to form the area in the exact shape to make it work correctly. Once completed the flap and barrel fit together in the spot and no more interference. After all the excess material was removed from the outside holster shell the pistol fit, but only just, it filled every bit of available space that I had opened up, was filled top to bottom and side to side, if the Ruger had been fatter or the holster slightly smaller disaster, but barely still fits. Once the major renovation was done, fit and finish work was necessary. The only slight modification I made to the pistol was to file approximately 1/2 mm off each side of the trigger guard, completely unnoticeable, but made the trigger guard fit the locking mechanism perfectly with no friction on removal, all other adjustments were made to the holster to ease use with the pistol, for the most part such adjustments have involved wearing them around the house and doing the quick draw every few minutes, feeling for any friction, resistance, or binding. Most adjustments required just sanding an area to eliminate interference, I found even the screw meant to hold what I believe was some sort of spring to ease removal of the sig, it did nothing for the Ruger so I removed it, put it's retaining screw back in, I later found even the tension of the screw effected the pistol and holster. The nifty trick I learned yesterday was the carbon fiber reinforced ballistic plastic polymer is extremely tough and durable but leave the holster in front of a small heater fan for a few minutes maximum 100° made that extremely hard outer surface became pliable, which allowed me to adjust the outer co er to fit the pistol even better, and removed an unattractive flare from the edge of the flap, The most amazing part is the fact that all the design features Blackhawk put into the holster to fit the sig specifically, line up with the same parts on the Ruger as if the holster had been customized for it instead. The cutout above the chamber, the slide is beveled on the edges of the top, those angles line up exactly with the angles that come to a point at the top making a nice little point at the top for the front sight to clear, the barrel of the Sig tapers at the end, and so does the holster, if the Ruger barrel had been any longer it would require ruining that end that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also an integral strong point. The barrel of the Ruger stopped exactly at the pinch point as if someone made it specifically to fit there. The pistol and holster required small adjustments to make the pistol leave the holster with zero resistance every time, and inserts in the lock securely. It's an early CQC holster, and the pistol looks and works amazing in it, strangely it looks much better in this holster for a sig, than any of the holsters they offer for the Ruger. Since general dimensions were almost exact, the pistol fits exactly the space from the top of the slide to the bottom of the trigger guard exactly, even the shape of the trigger guard, any other shape or different angles wouldn't work. It required a great deal of work, and many small adjustments but the end result is my old holster works with my new pistol exactly as it was intended to work originally. I will add photos once I learn to make them take up less memory, or feel free to email me the pictures are absolutely awesome, looks like they were always intended to be together. I added a couple of photos, one a basic side view after today's straightening of the top edge flare, and inside view of holster, and how much work, time and patience keeping in mind the majority of that was done with my hand and sandpaper., has went into clearing and shaping the inside of the holster so the Ruger would fit and function properly. The last picture is lengthwise from behind, showing the holster fit to the pistol, especially down the barrel how it fits the holster perfectly.. actually the number of coincidences in design that allowed the pistol to work in the application is pretty amazing. I looked at pictures of 2 other Ruger P95's yesterday and neither of them would work because they both had different trigger guards than mine and each other. To work with the lock mechanism at all the guard has to have a particular shape, curve up at the correct angle, and have the correct front edge including an extended tip between the horizontal and vertical edges to open and engage the lock. And the others that gave it the correct dimensions to fit in the same vertical space, the correct way to allow function. The slightly shorter barrel that extends to the farthest possible point down the holster tube, but ends exactly at the pinch point at the bottom., even the fact that in all the ways that it only barely fit, yet they all worked out in my favor. The fact that every situation that could have derailed this little project, and yet every one went in my favor when they shouldn't have, this realistically should have crashed and burned on day one, and yet it never happened. It was probably the most fun I have had in a long time , accomplishing so much with just my wits, my hand. And a stupid idea that happened to work when in all really should have crashed and burned when I made a pistol that I still have no idea how fit into a holster that only had half the room necessary to realistically have worked. If you look at the first picture it should give an idea how much plastic bracing there was moulded inside to fit a skinny girl securely in a fat dress,. I have made so many small adjustments to deal with the extremely wide exension off the frame, combined with the retainer pin/Slide lock. The only way to allow the pistol to be able to be easily removed from or add food the widest spot on the pistols or be ac it might not be impossible., in the side on photo I posted, right behind the release button I trimmed a small piece out to provide a relief for the opposite end of the retainer pin, and I grooved the underside to move the pin through the guides quickly , The lower side inside the holster all the work done from the low area about halfway backk, to the rear of the inside holster flap has been to facilitate either the stowage of the wide side of the pistol, and to allow it to be able to be quickly drawn. The wide side created to give extra strength to the retainer pin, which attatches to thslide stop bar and slide stip, it extends about 1/3" maybe more beyond the edge of the slide, it took quite some time to come up with the contoured pocket in the holster to solve the bulge problems.

[Mackie244Bud]

That's tough to read
Maybe this helps.
I can't do a thing about the shaky camera hands...LOL
Why don't you try resting the camera or your phone on something so you can take a steady shot.
I'm glad that reworking the Blackhawk holster worked out for you.
Projects with a successful conclusion is always a good thing.

Mackie244 / Bud

Ok both pistols are based on the 1911 design layout, with updates and upgrades specific to each.
There are similarities, which makes sense since both were designed for the same round, same capacity & magazine.
I can verify the general dimensions are almost exact, length, height from bottom of trigger guard to the top of the slide.

Inside of the holster absolutely matches or there is no way it would have been possible.
Items like the location of the chamber sits in exact same place where the Sig chamber lined up, but that is where the similarities end.
Sig didn't let a high capacity magazine dictate the design dimensions, so the P226 has a slim elegant frame, and the slide follows suit.
it's no bigger or heavier than is necessary, because Ruger used a fiberglass reinforced polymer frame, it was always going to have a wide girth so it would have the necessary strength.
The slide is also Fat, it's a fat girl, and that was my challenge to make the fat girl fit into the thin girls dress.
I actually sold the Sig over a year ago, but the guy didn't want the holster, Blackhawk CQC.
Last weekend I was looking at the holster and thought what a shame it's going to waste, then on a lark I thought let's see if the Ruger will fit.
I thought absolutely no way, but I gave it a try, it took a lot of effort, but it did slide in, and the biggest surprise was it slid into the lock and engaged.
I considered that proof of concept, the next step was to make it work, having to use two hands to push together or pull a gun from a holster is problematic at best.

Next step work the problem.
Taking a closer look it shouldn't have fit, the Sigs frame is half the width, and Blackhawk put a large amount of material in the holster to secure the gun in place.
The entire holster is packed with excess plastic molding to hold the pistol in place within the large outer casing.
So I decided to see what I could remove without making it unusable, it turned out a lot.
I started with the lower part of the holster since the plastic frame guides were a definite problem for the fat girl.
I was able to use my drill and a grinding stone to remove the excess,
then I used my files and sandpaper for finishing work.
Once the lower holster was opened up I did the same type of work in the upper area, since access was easier, and more detail work was required I did it by hand.
After every step the pistol inserted and pulled out more easily after each modification I made.
Then problems occurred, same problem, the bracing material in all the little areas that was effecting final fit, the largest being a half inch thick pad in the same spot as the widest part of the barrel.
I had to shave that block from 1/2' x 2" down to about 2mm above the now adjacent panel.
Again closer, but still far to go, the widest part of the frame was still interfering with each other.
I then had to do some very creative design work to stop the interference, making it not work as well as required.
Where the widest and thickest spots met shaving it flat wasn't enough,
when the pistol was inserted the wide spot was rubbing the inner edge of the loose edge flap that attaches to the belt loop retainer and that to the belt. The interference pushed the flap out at an unacceptable angle.
I thought I was banjaxed for a moment until I took a closer look at the spot from the outside.
Where the belt attached there was a lot of material on the outside for a strong attachment point.
But it also solved my problem, I could remove more material in the interference area.
I finally made a customized depression to specifically fit the widest spot where the frame, retainer pin, and slide lock come together.
It was slow work being careful to remove no more material than was necessary to clear the wide spot.
I used sandpaper to form the area in the exact shape to make it work correctly.
Once completed the flap and barrel fit together in the spot and no more interference.
After all the excess material was removed from the outside holster shell the pistol fit, but it filled every bit of available space that I had opened up, top to bottom and side to sid.
If the Ruger had been fatter or the holster slightly smaller disaster, but barely still fits.

Once the major renovation was done, fit and finish work was necessary.
The only slight modification I made to the pistol was to file approximately 1/2 mm off each side of the trigger guard.
Though completely unnoticeable, it allowed the trigger guard to fit the locking mechanism perfectly with no friction on removal.
All of the other adjustments made to the holster was to ease the use with the pistol.
For the most part such adjustments have involved wearing it around the house and doing the quick draw every few minutes,
feeling for any friction, resistance, or binding.
Most adjustments required just sanding an area to eliminate interference.
I discovered that the screw meant to hold what I believe was some sort of spring to ease removal of the Sig, did nothing for the Ruger.
So I removed it and put it's retaining screw back in.
I later found even the tension of the screw effected the pistol and holster.

The nifty trick I learned yesterday was that the carbon fiber reinforced ballistic plastic polymer is extremely tough and durable
but leave the holster in front of a small heater fan for a few minutes maximum 100° and the extremely hard outer surface became pliable,
This allowed me to adjust the outer cover to fit the pistol even better,
and removed an unattractive flare from the edge of the flap.

The most amazing part is the fact that all the design features Blackhawk put into the holster to fit the Sig specifically, line up with the same parts on the Ruger as if the holster had been customized for it instead.
The cutout above the chamber, where the slide is beveled on the edges of the top, those angles line up exactly with the angles that come to a point at the top making a nice little point at the top for the front sight to rear, the barrel of the Sig tapers at the end, and so does the holster.
If the Ruger barrel had been any longer it would require ruining that end that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also an integral strong point.
The barrel of the Ruger stopped exactly at the pinch point as if someone made it specifically to fit there.

The pistol and holster required small adjustments to make the pistol leave the holster with zero resistance every time, and inserts in the lock securely.
It's an early CQC holster, and the pistol looks and works amazing in it.
Strangely Sig looks much better in this holster than any of the holsters they offer for the Ruger.
Since general dimensions were almost exact, the pistol fits exactly the space from the top of the slide to the bottom of the trigger guard exactly.
even the shape of the trigger guard, any other shape or different angles wouldn't work.
It required a great deal of work, and many small adjustments but the end result is my old holster works with my new pistol exactly as it was intended to work originally.
I will add photos once I learn to make them take up less memory, or feel free to email me the pictures are absolutely awesome,
looks like they were always intended to be together.
I added a couple of photos, one a basic side view after today's straightening of the top edge flare, and inside view of holster, and how much work, time and patience.
Keep in mind that the majority of that work was done with my hand and sandpaper that went into clearing and shaping the inside of the holster so the Ruger would fit and function properly.
The last picture is lengthwise from behind, showing the holster fit to the pistol, especially down the barrel how it fits the holster perfectly..
The number of coincidences in design that allowed the pistol to work in the application is pretty amazing.
I looked at pictures of 2 other Ruger P95's yesterday and neither of them would work because they both had different trigger guards than mine and each other.
To work with the lock mechanism at all the guard has to have a particular shape, curve up at the correct angle, and have the correct front edge. Including an extended tip between the horizontal and vertical edges to open and engage the lock.
And the others that gave it the correct dimensions to fit in the same vertical space, the correct way to allow function.
The slightly shorter barrel that extends to the farthest possible point down the holster tube, but ends exactly at the pinch point at the bottom.
Even the fact that in all the ways that it only barely fit, yet they all worked out in my favor.
The fact that every situation that could have derailed this little project, and yet every one went in my favor when they shouldn't have.
This project realistically should have crashed and burned on day one, and yet it never happened.
It was probably the most fun I have had in a long time , accomplishing so much with just my wits, my hand.
A stupid idea that happened to work when in all really should have crashed and burned when I made a pistol that I still have no idea how fit into a holster that only had half the room necessary to realistically have worked.

If you look at the first picture it should give an idea how much plastic bracing there was molded inside to fit a skinny girl securely in a fat dress,.
I have made so many small adjustments to deal with the extremely wide extension off the frame, combined with the retainer pin/Slide lock.
The only way to allow the pistol to be easily removed from or add food the widest spot on the pistols or be ac it might not be impossible., i
In the side on photo I posted, right behind the release button I trimmed a small piece out to provide a relief for the opposite end of the retainer pin, and I grooved the underside to move the pin through the guides quickly ,
The lower side inside the holster all the work done from the low area about halfway back, to the rear of the inside holster flap has been to facilitate either the stowage of the wide side of the pistol, and to allow it to be able to be quickly drawn.
The wide side created to give extra strength to the retainer pin, which attaches to the slide stop bar and slide stop, it extends about 1/3" maybe more beyond the edge of the slide.
It took quite some time to come up with the contoured pocket in the holster to solve the bulge problems.

[Qwk69buick]

I was asked more than once why not buy a new one? Already own one that gave me some real enjoyment figuring out how. This version is the only P95 that would work, the DC has a very specific shaped guard that is the only one to fit the lock like a key. Last, this one 10YO is an early actual CQC, the new ones are really unattractive even more so for the P95. Someone tells me something can't be done I have to try, one of their technical people from Blackhawk emailed me, wanted pictures, said it probably wouldn't pass quality control at the factory, but it was some pretty clever solutions to a challenge most people wouldn't take on at all. They contacted me because they didn't think it should have been possible, I have to thank Ruger for doing a bit of borrowing from Sig or it wouldn't have been, the trigger guard dimensions from TG to slide that fit perfectly. There are more, but they put in that Fatgirl body and it became much less evident till you try something like this.