You all know the story, you have a gun, you carry concealed, and you’ve looked diligently for a holster that meets all your concealed carry needs. You research, read reviews, study what material types work best in what environments, and finally, make your decision. Then you patiently wait the 4-6 weeks it takes for manufacturing and shipping only to receive a holster that, as it turns out, isn’t perfect. It’s not comfortable. It pinches you when you sit down, prints, and so on, so it gets thrown into the box of old holsters you keep in the back of the closet, right? Over the years, you’ve managed to amass a pretty impressive collection, but how do we fix this? What features make a genuinely great holster? One that’s adaptable to multiple environments, clothing materials, and body types? The answer to that question is simplicity.
I worked as a Federal Air Marshal for almost nineteen years. I carried concealed every day in various environments, and like everyone else who carries, I too ended up with that box of old holsters in the closet. That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands and design a holster that actually works. Something that met the stringent needs of federal law enforcement but also offered the comfort and concealability we all crave. It took several years to get things perfected, but eventually, I landed on the holster design that came to be known as the Q-SERIES STEALTH.
So, what does it take for a holster to be considered and approved for carry by the Federal Air Marshal Service? There are six criteria:
- The holster must allow easy access to the weapon
- The Holster has to be specifically molded for the weapon
- It must completely cover both sides of the trigger guard
- It has to keep the weapon in a muzzle down orientation
- The holster must have at least one form of positive retention (friction in our case)
- It must be easily reholstered
Q-SERIES met all of these criteria and went even further by incorporating the following:
- Q-SERIES Holsters are all ambidextrous and tuckable
- They allow for full functioning of the weapon without exposing the trigger guard
- Q-SERIES Holsters use the minimum amount of material to meet all five DHS criteria for approval.
In the beginning, there was only one Q-SERIES holster, the one I made by hand and carried my SIG P229 in every day. It was perfect! Small, simple, sturdy, and it met all of the criteria for approval by the Department of Homeland Security. Soon, my super practical but not-so-pretty holster began to get noticed. One day on the range, my friend Cheryl saw the holster and wanted to take a look at it. Cheryl isn’t necessarily a diehard gun person, but she knows business and enough about what people want to recognize the potential in my new holster.
Six months later, we were off to the races, trying to be competitive in an ever-expanding market, all the while struggling to thermoform plastic in an old toaster oven we bought from Wal-Mart. We even had to recruit the children to get those first few orders out.
There were a lot of failures, but eventually, we found success. Along the way, Q-SERIES developed a reputation for truly understanding the market, our customers, and the concealed carry community as a whole.
(Original Q-SERIES on the right. New production holster on the left.)
Since those humble beginnings, Q-SERIES has grown into the leading supplier of quality minimalist holsters for military, law enforcement, and private citizens around the world. No matter where you go, Africa, Germany, France, Australia, or Israel, you’ll find Q-SERIES holsters worn by some of the most serious men and women on the planet. So, if you’re tired of rifling around in that box of old holsters, still trying to find that perfect concealment holster, STOP! Check us out and pick one up for yourself; you won’t be disappointed.