Let me tell you a tale. A tale of a holster and a gun.Once upon a time, a long time ago, a young princess heard about Appendix Inside the Waist Band (AIWB) carry. Little did she know about this carry system and even when her handsome prince switched to AIWB she considered herself unable to acquaint herself to such a new and awkward mode of carry.The years rolled on and fondly did she look upon this means of carry with desire. But it was not to be.Then, one day, a knight shared his secret of the mystical weapon called, The Shield. It was concealable! She purchased one but still had no holster.Another knight sent her an Errand to try. The match was made. The relationship was forged out of mutual respect, superior concealment, comfort and ease of use. The kingdom rejoiced and they lived happily ever after.That’s the truncated version.It’s also the true version.When I got my safety-less S&W Shield and was considering my first AIWB holster Spencer Keeper’s Keeper was on my list of potential holsters, but not at the top. I feared his holster would be too thick and I wouldn’t be able to conceal the firearm well. I am, after all, a pretty petite female.Knowing I was searching for a holster, Spencer contacted me and asked me if I wanted to try his new holster he dubbed The Errand. It wasn’t out on the market yet and he wanted to see what I thought. He told me he wasn’t expecting miracles with concealment because I am so small but I could try it.I immediately accepted. I had nothing to lose. It was a chance to try one of his holsters without being out a lot of money and if it didn’t work out I could go back to my long list of holsters to start working through.I got it in the mail a few days after our conversation (November 8th, to be exact) and I don’t really remember my first day carrying with it. Or my second. Or my third. Or my first time going to town. Or the first time to sit down and nurse my baby while wearing it. Or the first time I fell asleep wearing it. In other words, the holster system immediately melded into my daily life and practices.It entirely surpassed all of my expectations for a concealed carry holster and even a way of carry. More importantly, however, was the fact that I could carry my Shield from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed in total comfort and concealment (if I chose) and even in unconventional clothing.At first glances it looks like any other kydex holster with a few oddities. If you’re curious, like me, you call Spencer and drill him for an hour as to what those oddities mean. In the true form of someone who understands guns and long-term carry, Spencer designed a purpose-built holster with a specific reason for pretty much every nook and cranny of the design.The Errand doesn’t rely on belt loops like a lot of conventional holsters. Instead it has a wide, stiff belt clip that is stippled on the tooth for better grip on casual wear like sweat pants or shorts. The whole point of the holster is that it’s meant to be something you could wear at one o’clock in the morning for a trip to the convenience store in your pjs, or bumming around the house in your sweats, or to and from the gym in shorts. No one wears jeans and a belt 100% of the time and the Errand is meant to fill that gap.Despite being designed to be easily worn in the comfort of sweat pants and belt-less shorts, it still fits snug with a belt and, of course, has more stability and perhaps a little more concealment when one is used. More on that, later.Spencer’s goal was to make the Errand as thin as possible. I asked him why he then chose to put the loop directly on the thickest part of the holster vs by the trigger guard where a lot of other AIWB holster makers put their loops or clips for a thinner overall profile. He said he’d considered doing that but without the stability of a belt, one of the heaviest parts of the gun, the slide, would be forward of the clip and could cause the gun to start tipping in.Having experienced that with another AIWB holster that was not fit well to my belt I understood how that could be a concern. The centrally located clip does leave the gun more stable on not-so-stable clothing.When I got the holster, at first I was a bit confused as to why it is so long. The length of the holster is about an inch longer than the gun itself. The tip tappers down on both sides to a comfortably rounded point that is open. I didn’t even get around to asking Spencer why this was before he started explaining that small guns like the Shield are heaviest in the rear and many holster makers leave their holsters so short that the gun can roll out over top of the waistband. Particularly those with generous midsections. The extra length of the holster keeps the gun from rolling out and the tapered, rounded tip eliminates pinching in the soft tissue of the thigh or groin but also allows air to circulate to cool hot muzzles while attending classes or having high round count range sessions.The entire rear and tip of the holster is covered with soft Velcro and this is for the application of Spencer’s unique foam wedges. I’ll admit that I thought the wedges were dumb, or at least unnecessary. Most importantly, they were ugly. Why that mattered to something you stuck in the pants? I don’t know. But I’m a chick. We chicks are funny about those things. I also didn’t feel like I needed them. The point is to cushion the bottom of the holster and press the muzzle out so that the grip will be held more snugly to the body. The holster was very snug to my tiny little body. So for the first month I didn’t put them on the holster.When I called Spencer to talk to him about the holster one of the first things he asked me was if I used the wedges. The holster comes with two but replacements can be purchased from his website. I confessed that I had not. “You should try them,” he chirped, and left it at that.I felt guilty. I also felt like if I were to do a thorough review I should at least try so I could explain why I chose to leave them off. I wasn’t entirely sure where I wanted to put one because I really didn’t feel like I needed it. Then I remembered that in one pair of my jeans when I wore the errand I would get the slightest bit of chaffing on the inside of my right thigh. I figured that was a good place to start.I put the wedge on the bottom of the holster so that it wraps around that area and it has stayed there ever since.My only complaint is that I didn’t do it sooner…
A couple of weeks ago I received a Keepers Concealment AIWB holster for T&E. From BaiHu’s review thread, it sounds like this holster is going to be known as the ‘Keeper.’I’ve been carrying AIWB for about two years now. That entire time I’ve been using a modified holster that worked very well. So well, in fact, that I haven’t bothered trying any of the various AIWB holsters that are popular – they just didn’t have the combination of AIWB features that mine had.The Keeper became my new favorite holster almost from the moment I put it on. I had initially intended to begin evaluating the holster in dry fire, and not immediately switch to a new and untested holster. But the Keeper was so good that I just kept wearing it. The reason it’s my new favorite holster is the ride height. My old holster has a pretty great ride height and works very well. The Keeper has both a high and low ride position for its wide single kydex belt loop. In the low ride position, it is about the equivalent of my old holster, which allows for a full grip while the gun is holstered. I’m running mine in the high ride position. Getting a master grip on a gun carried in the Keeper in the high ride position is so easy it’s like reloading with a huge funnel magazine well. There is enough room between the frontstrap of the gun and the belt that it is pretty hard to miss the grip. Although I have not run tests and compiled data, my subjective impression is that my ability to rapidly acquire a proper master grip when using the Keeper is enhanced. I cannot overemphasize this point. This holster is great to draw from. Drawing well is one of the most important overall features to me in a holster, and the Keeper delivers big time. This is the selling point for me.I’d like to solicit Caboose’s comment on the ride height as well. He’s used the Shaggy, my modified holster, and the Keeper. I think he said the respective ride heights went in that order, from lowest to highest.The Keeper is also great because it does all the important things an AIWB holster should do. The shape of the kydex in the trigger guard area levers the butt of the gun into the abdomen, increasing concealability. The foam wedges velcroed onto the body of the holster can push the muzzle away from the body slightly, which increases safety, as well as concealability by levering the whole grip/back of the gun into the abdomen, and improves comfort by having soft foam in contact with your groin/thigh area instead of all hard holster body.I’ve worn the Keeper with two different belts so far: my old, worn Ted Blocker leather belt, which worked fine, and now a Wilderness belt. It works especially well in combination with the Wilderness belt because of the velcro on the outside of the kydex belt loop. You can get the belt loop sandwiched between two layers of belt and it is further locked in place with the velcro. When worn this way, the Keeper is rock solid on the belt. The holster doesn’t shift or slide or rock, it just stays perfectly in place. I think that factor also contributes to the ease of drawing from it since the consistency of gun position is increased.The Keeper is not tension adjustable, but the tension it comes with is perfectly acceptable to me. I would probably prefer a slightly tighter fit, but it’s fine how it is, and I understand that adding tension adjustment would add a little bulk to the holster. As it is currently constructed, the Keeper is a really slim holster with very little extra mass. This makes the holster more comfortable for me, especially when squatting or bending down, since it takes up less space in my pants.I find myself using both the large and small foam wedge in combination with each other to push the muzzle as far away from my body as possible. I’d like even more of that effect with even larger pieces of foam.My understanding is that a few Keepers have made it through the testing of ECQC. I’ll be taking my copy through that class in October.Bottom line for me is that the Keeper does what I want it to do, especially draw well, and does everything else I think an AIWB holster should do. The best endorsement I can give is that I am wearing this holster every day by choice, and will be buying a backup copy because this is now a very important piece of gear to me. I figured it would be good since Spencer (Prdator) is such an awesome shooter himself, who is personally familiar with running an appendix rig, that he would know how to get the holster just right, and I think he did…
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