Great Concealed Carry Holsters from Blackpoint Tactical: Review

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When it comes to concealed-carry holsters, every manufacturer seems to have a unique interpretation of comfort, concealability, and accessibility. By accessibility, I mean the ability to get a strong grip on the gun and ease of drawing. I’ve reviewed holsters that were a 10 on comfort but a 2 on accessibility, an 8 on concealability but a 4 on comfort, or middle of the road on all three. In a discussion about this with a friend, she recommended that I give BlackPoint Tactical holsters a run. After viewing their holsters online, I ordered three that would suit my needs.

The VTAC IWB

The first holster that caught my eye was the VTAC IWB appendix carry holster. VTAC is an abbreviation of Viking Tactics, a company owned by Sergeant Major Kyle E. Lamb (retired), a highly respected tactical guru. Although this is Lamb’s first collaboration with BlackPoint Tactical, this is not the first holster Lamb has helped design, and it shows. This holster has been refined for appendix carry the way a Formula 1 car is refined for aerodynamics. Everything contributes to its performance, and there are no extraneous, hindering elements. The holster shape is minimal with enough Kydex to cover the pistol yet cut deeply to accommodate a red dot, and the belt clips are adjustable for ride height and cant. Also, there’s a Kydex pad to relieve the pressure point that is common with appendix holsters.

After clipping the VTAC IWB Glock 19 onto my belt, I was immediately impressed. It was a drop-and-go for my dad bod, I didn’t have to make any adjustments to ride height or cant, and the Kydex pad was in the right spot. This is a highly comfortable IWB holster. With a Glock 19, the concealment was great when wearing a loose-fitting T-shirt. I placed the smaller Taurus GX4 in the holster, and it concealed it under a snug T-shirt. Accessibility was excellent, and the sweat guard cover doesn’t go fully up the slide, which made getting a firm, high, and tight grip easy. Some sweat guards run the slide’s full length and block my thumb from establishing a good hold. Retention is excellent; the pistol feels locked and won’t fall out even if I do a backflip. Drawing and re-holstering are easy. The design of the clips kept the hook fully clamped on the belt yet was easy to pry open. The holster retails for $100 and is limited to a few Glock, SIG Sauer, and Smith & Wesson models and is only available in black. The VTAC IWB gets a 10 for comfort, a 10 for concealability, and a 10 for accessibility.

Mini WING IWB

When active, I prefer hip carry. The Mini Wing IWB is perfect for this. It gets its name from the small leather wings that connect the Kydex holster to the J-hooks. It is adjustable for ride height and cant by adjusting the clip height. The holster is a favorite of author Jack Carr. The leather wings offer several advantages over a Kydex or leather only holster. One is that the wings wrap around the contours of the body. This design allows for a slender Kydex shell and gives you a wide range of carry locations from the front of the hip to behind the hip and anywhere in between. It also aids in keeping the holster very flat against the body. For this review, I ordered holsters for a Springfield Armory XDS 4.0 and a Glock 17 with a Trijicon SRO and suppressor height sights. Out of the box, it rode fairly deep in my waist, which I prefer due to my love handles. The wings are what make this holster feel small; I only feel the back of the holster against my hip. Both pistols felt comfortable standing or seated and were easy to draw while seated in a chair.

When it comes to concealability, the XDS 4.0 with the short magazine disappeared under my large T-shirt. Since the Glock 17 is a bigger pistol, I bumped up to an XL T-shirt so the grip would not print. Like the VTAC IWB, I had a full high and tight grip on the pistol, and the tension was just right to break the pistol free or hold it in. The clips held solidly, too. The Mini Wing is available for many makes and models and a ton of colors with a base price of $99 for the standard holster and $110 for the light mounted holster. The Mini Wing gets a 10 for comfort, a 10 for concealability, and a 10 for accessibility.

F03 IWB Light Mounted Holster

The F03 IWB was designed by Bill Rapier, the owner and lead instructor of AMTAC Shooting. F03 IWB is a little beefier than the Mini WING IWB and has one wing, not two. It also uses metal clips that are designed to hold the holster to the belt under extreme conditions. The holster is adjustable for height and cant. Rapier designed the F03 IWB for a combative situation that is a hand-to-hand confrontation. It is meant to be carried forward of the 3 o’clock position where it is easier to defend against a pistol grab. When strapping on the holster, the front metal clip held the holster tight against my body, while the rear winged clip made movement comfortable. I can attest that the sweet spot for this design is a little forward of the hip. Although movement felt restricted in that position compared to the Mini WING IWB, I can get used to it, especially if I chose a smaller handgun and light combo than the Glock 17 with a SureFire X300U. Concealability and accessibility are excellent like the Mini WING IWB. The F03 IWB is available for many makes and models and several colors with a base price of $105 for the standard holster and $110 for the light mounted holster. The F03 IWB gets an 8 for comfort, a 10 for concealability, and a 10 for accessibility. I’m sold on BlackPoint Tactical holsters. For everyday carry, the VTAC IWB or Mini WING hit the trifecta of a concealed-carry holster higher than other holsters I’ve used. The F03 IWB Light Mounted Holster is a great holster that I’d use in a combatives training course without hesitation.

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