D.M. Bullard Bodyguard Holsters

Although this may appear to be a blog commercial for David Bullard's holsters that is merely because I admire quality and craftsmanship when they combine to produce useful art. Some people would find it odd, and perhaps a little twisted to consider a leather gun holster to be a piece of art. Doesn't bother me though. Art is what moves you and I am moved by Bullard's work. I have at least one holster for each of my guns, along with two leather magazine holsters (calling them pouches does them a vast disservice) and a wallet.

David makes various styles and designs of gun holsters. Some of the ones he makes for concealed carry are similar to other makers designs, but they have that extra quality of construction and small design elements that set them apart. Other designs are unique to David and answer specific needs with functional but beautiful expressions in leather. One of his most interesting is the Texas Conceal Carry, incorporating the holster and a spare magazine holster in the same IWB design. There may be similar solutions, but none as well thought out and made as David's.

My direct experiences include the cross draw OWB holster, reviewed earlier on this blog, the Bandit Belt Slide and the Bodyguard designs. Today, I have some observations on the Bodyguards.

When I first saw them on David's website I thought they were pretty odd. Very nice leather work but made with what I then considered to be a wildly radical cant built into the design. Looks to be almost 45 degrees but it is more like 30. What's the point of that?, I thought. Most of the OWB holsters I had seen, in person, or on the web, were built with a cant, the FBI cant some called it, but it was nowhere a radical as the Bodyguard's.

I bought a leather holster from a good holster maker that had what was a "normal" cant (or slant, which is also a good word for the angle respective to the belt that is often built into a holster). After using it for a while in the recommended 3 to 4 o'clock position, I felt that there was not enough cant and wanted more. Recalling David's Bodyguard design, I sold that holster and ordered a Bodyguard for my Ruger LCP.

After trying it for a few days I learned a few things. It is very comfortable. It must be worn at the 4 or 5 o'clock position, or somewhere in between - behind the hip. It conceals amazingly well. After using it for a few months, I ordered another for the LC9. It was equally as useful and comfortable.

Being OWB holsters, and the LC9 being a fair size gun, I was somewhat uneasy about wearing this with only a T-shirt around town in the summer. After a number of excursions, some lasting most of the day, I found my unease to have been unwarranted. No comments at all, and at the end of one long T-shirt and jeans day with the LC9 in the Bodyguard, after returning home my wife took a look at me and asked why I wasn't wearing my gun that day. Success!

I have a number of choices when it comes to carrying at home. I usually opt for the LCP and comfort. I will sometimes go with a small IWB rig, or my Uncle George back pocket holster, but more often than not I slip the LCP into my now comfortably broken in Bodyguard. In fact, that is what I am carrying now as I conclude this post.

So, although I am not associated with D.M. Bullard holsters, other than being a satisfied customer and admirer of his work, I can strongly recommend his leather holsters and products if you are looking for quality, efficiency and art.

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Bullard Cross Draw photos update

As I mentioned in my first post about this holster, it's not meant to be worn under a T-shirt. About the only OWB holster I've worn under a T-shirt successfully is David's Bodyguard holsters for the LCP and the LC9. Still, a somewhat loose shirt is best. Not baggy or obviously over sized, but just comfortable and not 'form fitting' will do.

Remember that this holster is broken in sufficiently for the gun, but not to me as yet. My experience tells me that I need to wear this holster and gun for a few weeks to get it accustomed to my body shape before I can pass final judgement on its suitability for concealed cross-draw carry. It is very good now, when new, so my expectations are that it's going to get better over time.


Update, October 7, 2010
Since the post, above, I have continued to try this holster at different times, with different clothing. I've found that, for me and my body type, it is only really concealable with the SR9c under a jacket or cold weather vest. Wearing it with a sweater or sweat shirt, or a heavier shirt, still allows the butt of the pistol to push into the clothing such that it's obvious there is something there.

While this style of OWB cross draw holster may be very good for smaller framed guns or revolvers, and if the wearer is heftier and with a bigger body type, for slim people carrying somewhat larger guns, it is not a good choice. This is not aimed solely at Bullard cross draw holsters, but at all styles that do not have a method for the belt pulling the butt of the gun in against the body. If this isn't the case, the butt will protrude, more or less, but enough to show there is something under your garment.

So, my advice is not to avoid these designs, but arrange to try one out so that you can see if it fits your body style and clothing choices. If so, there is much to recommend them, as well as the cross draw carry itself.

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Accuracy Under Pressure

The importance of the ability to actually hit what one intends to hit with a handgun, especially while in a pressure situation, is, in my opinion, given far too little attention in the "gun media" - magazines, forums, blogs and videos. Many words and images are created introducing, explaining and evaluating guns, calibers, ammunition, holsters, target shooting accuracy and the like, but far to little has been said on what happens when the average, law-abiding citizen must actually draw and fire her or his weapon in self defense. This is a huge subject and there are a number of excellent studies available if you look for them, but in the main, the magazines, forum rooms and the like don't pay sufficient attention to this critical fact.

Having taken a class on the aftermath of a self-defense shooting I am particularly sensitive to this topic. (See my post on this blog for comments on that class.) I kept reminding myself that one of the main lessons from the class, and one I should take seriously, is to hit what you shoot at and nothing else!

This is vital. It is bad enough to have to shoot a person in defense of lethal force, but to shoot an innocent person by mistake when doing that would be beyond tragic. It happens, far too often. And the solution is, once you have no choice and must shoot to defend yourself or other innocent people, is to hit your target. Period. No exceptions. As we all know, this is far easier said than done. A handgun is notoriously difficult to shoot accurately even though people unfamiliar with that fact are persuaded otherwise by the endless gunfights in movies and the TV wasteland. Even professionals, law enforcement and trained military, more often than not, shoot poorly under fire or stressful situations. How, then, are we supposed to overcome this critical issue?

Many citizens who own and legally carry for self defense merely ignore it. They practice a bit, now and then, often at a range that prohibits handgun self defense tactics in favor of "safe" target shooting, then basically assume they are ready. Others will adopt technology to answer the issue: night sights, after market sights and, laser sights. In themselves they are useless in dealing with the main problem of hitting your target under stress. Sights don't acquire the target, stay on it and pull the trigger. The person does, and having a wavering red dot out there somewhere isn't going to guarantee that your bullet finds its mark.

The only solution is to shoot regularly, frequently and in such a way as to hone self defense shooting skills. Draw and fire with rapidity from the holsters one normally carries. Shoot without getting a sight picture, especially up close. Shoot with only one hand. Shoot with your non-dominant hand. Acquire and hone trigger control. All these things are easy to understand, but difficult to master. One of the main reasons, aside from having a place to shoot where one can develop and practice these skills, that keeps more people from learning and practicing this is the cost of ammunition. For example, $12 a box for 50 rounds of 9mm practice ammo is pretty steep for most of us. However, there is another solution.

Get a .22 caliber handgun that approximates your main carry gun's size, feel and operation, then shoot that one as much as possible, working on your skill set and building up muscle and attitudinal memory so that if the time comes when you have to resort to your gun in self defense, you can do so without thinking about it at the time, and are able to hit your target. .22 caliber ammo is cheap and you can afford to invest a thousand rounds or more in acquiring and maintaining the necessary efficiency and accuracy to effectively use your self defense weapon if you have to without worrying about who is going to get shot.

Walking the talk, I have my LC9 up for sale - relying on the excellent SR9c as my main carry gun now - and have bought a Ruger SR22P .22 cal semi-automatic pistol as my practice gun. Think about emphasizing your shooting skills instead of looking for a "better" conceal carry gun, or newest fad in self defense ammo, or that expensive IWB holster you want to buy.

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D.M. Bullard OWB Cross Draw - Excellence from Texas

The D.M. Bullard OWB Cross Draw (front)

the rear view

First off, an admission of prejudice: I really like great leather holsters, and, being a native Texan, and having been born in Fort Worth, I am partial to Texas craftsmen and women who work in gun leather. Given all that, this is not what you'd call a strictly unbiased review, but that takes nothing away from David Bullard and his hand-picked crew's craftsmanship, attention to detail and customer service.

I admire Bullard holsters. In fact, I admire and own several holsters, mag carriers and a wallet made by David and his folks in Azle, Texas, which is affixed to the outskirts of Fort Worth itself. I have his Bodyguard design holsters for my LCP and LC9, along with single leather mag carriers for the LC9 and the SR9c. I also use his Bandit belt slide holster for my SR9c. I am very happy with all of these, and when wearing my pistols OWB, which is my preferred style of carry, my guns ride in Bullard holsters. Lately, I have been also carrying in the cross draw position, which is very good for car travel and for when you know you'll be doing a lot of sitting. I have heard all of the old negative opinions of cross draw, but I also know that cross draw has certain advantages that that strong-side carry does not when used for concealed carry. But, more on that later. So, wanting a OWB holster for my chunky, somewhat heavy SR9c, I contacted Bullard Gun Leather ( http://dmbullardleather.com ) and requested one of his cross draw holsters. It came a couple of days ago, and this is my first write up on it.

I am in what the techies call the "honeymoon period". I'm smitten by the holster's design, craftsmanship and obvious quality. This is not hard to understand when you look at the photos. To borrow an old, but true engineering maxim, form follows function, and like the other Bullard holsters and leather pieces I have, this maxim is expressed in leather about as well as it can be. The holster offers nothing superfluous - everything is there for a reason. The moulding to the weapon is exact. The fit is perfect and the execution is about as good as top-quality hand made gun leather can be. Look at it closely and you can tell it is hand made. It's not perfect. It's the result of the knowledgeable labor of human hands. Really good stuff.

But, looks aren't everything. Having worked my way though many holsters, not to mention various other kinds of technology, over the years, I know that first impressions can be misleading. I am well acquainted with the other OWB holsters I have by David, and feel they are among the best of their type, but a good OWB cross draw holster is not easy to design nor to make, if it is to perform well to my three main criteria: concealment, comfort and accessibility. I have had other OWB cross draw holsters, some leather, some hybrid, but none that I stuck with after wearing and testing them for a few weeks. All concealment gun holsters must effect a compromise among those three criteria, and it is up to the holster maker and designer to find the best combination of design and materials that will offer the best of those three worlds melded together, depending on whether the holster will be carried Inside the Waist Band (IWB) or Outside the Waist Band (OWB). The requirements and limitations are different for those two types. Questions must be asked and answered by the holster maker. Will it be OWB or IWB? What carry positions? Materials? Deep concealment or a high ride for better access? Cant - none, shallow, steep? There is a lot of thought and experiment that goes into a well designed holster.

The first criteria, concealment, is especially important in a cross draw OWB holster. Carrying in this position will put the butt of the pistol forward, pointing the butt toward the midline of the body which, if not done in such a way as to pull the grip in to the body, is a recipe for printing. Concealment with OWB cross draw holsters is also affected to a great degree by body type.

If one is pushing a bit (or a lot) of stomach flab, then carrying a substantial firearm in the cross draw position results in much better concealment than if one is skinny, or doesn't possess a significant 'gut'. Blunt, but true. The bigger stomach tends to hide the butt of the gun better with a cross draw rig. Although I'm 6' 3" and stay right at 200 lbs, I don't have much of a gut, so this is an aspect of OWB cross draw carry that is particularly important for me.

After unwrapping the holster I was basically blown away by the quality and, yes, the beauty of the thing. I took the photos you see here so to present it in the new, pristine condition in which I received it. I then strapped it on with my Bear Creek 1 1/2" gun belt, pushed in the unloaded SR9c and checked out the fit and concealment.

For my body type, this holster with the heavier SR9c requires a tight belt and proper placement to get the best concealment. The forward slot of the holster pulls the gun butt in close to the body and, by adjusting the position of the holster to be astride the forward part of my left hip bone, I got the best fit to my body type. The gun carries comfortably and relatively snugly, but it's obvious that I won't be carrying this with just a T-shirt. But I didn't intend to do that in the first place. Around here, come September, the weather begins to cool rapidly, and at 7000 feet, we expect snow any time after that. For the best part of the year we are in heavy sweaters, coats, vests or parkas, depending on Mother Nature, so concealment with this setup is not going to be an issue. I tend to carry much of the time IWB in the summer anyway.

As you can also tell from the photos, the holster is exactly moulded to the gun. It fits in with almost a 'click'. I learned from Doug Childress of Bear Creek Holsters to wrap a couple of turns of kitchen plastic wrap around the gun, fit it in the holster a few times, leave it for a half hour of so and then unwrap it. Gun still fits tight like it should, but the holster is now "broken in" and the draw and re-holstering is smoother and as it should be.

I will be using and reporting on this new Cross Draw holster from D.M. Bullard, along with my other OWB Bullards over the next few months. I am not a big fan of pocket carry, and I use my Uncle George back pocket holster when I do carry my little LCP in the pocket. I am not totally satisfied with my various IWB holsters for the LC9 and the SR9c and when this new one has been well used and evaluated, I hope to look into David's various IWB designs. He has some very innovative holsters.

So, in the initial stages, I am very pleased with this new cross draw design from David Bullard, and the materials and workmanship are among the best there is. As we get acquainted I will continue to report on the results.

Stay safe.

Precise moulding seen on the sweat shield.

David's Maker's Mark

Excellent moulding on the 'front' side.

 

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