It seems you can’t throw a stick these days without hitting a holster company. That’s not a bad thing. More holster makers mean more competition, more innovation, lower prices, more options, all due to the blessed reign of capitalism.
Concealment Express has given us one more option. While Concealment Express has focused largely on the IWB market, especially AIWB, their latest and greatest is an OWB rig. Outside the waistband may not be how the cool kids carry these days, but I’ve yet to find a more comfortable and more versatile means of carry. The Concealment Express OWB Kydex belt loop holster has a lot going for it.
The Basic Rundown
Concealment Express designs, manufactures, and assembles all of its holsters right here in the United States. The Concealment Express is designed to allow for modularity in a few different ways. First off, it’s ambidextrous and can easily be swapped from a right to a left-handed configuration by spinning the belt loops from one side to the other.
Built into the holster’s shell is a magazine release protection, and it’s also ambidextrous. Guns like the SIG P365 allow the user to swap the magazine release for left tor right-handed use.
Changing the ride height is simple, and you can move between three different options. Alternatively, you can run the heights of the front and rear loop differently to create 15 degrees of cant. There are plenty of options packed into this little fella that make it easy for end-user customization.
The Concealment Express OWB Kydex belt holster is predictably all-polymer for excellent durability and weather resistance. The Concealment Express OWB also allows the user to utilize optics and a threaded barrel. In my case, it fits a threaded barrel outfitted with a Griffin Armament compensator. On top of that, the holster will fit suppressor height sights. The Concealment Express OWB rig can fit various guns, including Glock, CZ, FN, and many others, although no support for WMLs, or 80 percent lower Glocks.
Into the Concealment Express OWB
The Concealment Express OWB design is pancake-like, and I take caution saying that. Pancake is typically reserved for leather holsters, and people who haven’t realized French Toast is superior. However, that’s the best way to picture how this holster fits and rides. It’s tight to the body, and the holster conforms to make concealment easy. Obviously, the gun size will certainly change how the gun conceals, but as far as my P365 hybrid design goes, it conceals very well.
The holster is super thin and weighs just 3 ounces altogether. The modeled polymer looks nice, and the edges are rounded, tapered, and filed smooth to avoid pokes and prods. The inside of the holster is slick and non-abrasive to protect the finish of your Mahaska. Your gun absolutely slides into the holster without a fight.
The Concealment Express OWB holster delivers a nice clicktastic sound when you holster the gun. It delivers that kind of audible feedback that lets you know things are locked in place, and you can get after your day.
Daily Wear
Concealment Express shipped me this model 2 months ago now, and it’s been my daily carry almost exclusively. Some changes were made for a bike-riding adventure to ride a civil war fort, but other than that, the Concealment Express OWB rig and I have been partners in crime. Well, crime is the wrong word; we’ve been partners in Taco Bell runs, ammo searches, and hardware store adventures.
Before I toss a gun in my holster and a holster on my belt, I have one big thing I have to check. Is the trigger fully enveloped and protected by the holster? Can anything interfere with the trigger? If so, the holster takes a short ride to a big trashcan and doesn’t even this far down the Google Doc to become a review. So if you’re reading this, you can rightly assume the Concealment Express OWB rig is completely safe in its design and envelopes the trigger.
(Travis Pike for TTAG)
The next issue I check for is retention. That clicktastic noise you here isn’t just for show. The trigger guard is the passive retention point for the holster. It clicks firmly in place and absolves my fear of being ‘that’ guy who drops his gun in public. I had some initial concerns with the open bottom and the compensator. The fear was the comp hitting something that applied pressure upward and pushed the gun out of the holster.
However, that fear was abated when I unloaded the gun and used a small hardback notebook to press the gun out of the holster. The retention was tight enough to beat back a gradual press and a constant hammering motion with the notebook. The gun stayed put. Your draw takes a firm tug but not a forceful motion by any means.
Access is excellent and allows for a quick and easy draw. The Concealment Express OWB holster doesn’t move, fret, or fight you as you attempt to draw your pistol. You can establish a secure grip on the gun and draw naturally even though it clings tight to the body.
Day By Day
Lastly, the Concealment Express OWB holster is comfortable to wear. My favorite holsters comfort-wise are duty rigs, and my least favorite is minimalist appendix designs. It hides under my XLT viking shirts well. This falls firmly on the high side of comfort. You won’t forget the gun is there, but you also aren’t poked, prodded, or rubbed wrong as you move and groove throughout your day.
In the two months I’ve carried the holster and gun, nothing has loosened up or rusted in any way. The holster comes with thread-locked screws and black oxide coated hardware. In the two months of daily use, it’s seen a healthy repetition of both live and dry fire drills. Sadly more dry than live, but as the world turns, ammo is scant.
The holster has been tugged at, drawn from, reholstered, and repeated for hundreds if not close to a thousand reps of various practice drills. In that time, it’s yet to loosen or fail in any way.
In live-fire drills, I find that getting a good initial grip is natural, and clearing a cover garment is easy due to the snug-fitting holster. It’s natural and makes playing Jeff Cooper with El Presidente drills a breeze.
The Concealment Express OWB Kydex belt loop holster isn’t going to be for everyone, at least in a world where IWB seems to be increasingly popular. However, if you want a modern option for OWB, carry the Concealment Express OWB is a solid rig with modern accouterments.
Specifications: Concealment Express OWB Holster Kydex Belt Loop Holster
Holster Type: OWB
Cant: Optional 15 degrees
Material: .08” Kydex
Retention: Passive Posi-Lock
Weight: 3 ounces
MSRP: $54.95
Ratings (out of five stars):
Comfort * * * ½
It’s no duty rig, but the Concealment Express OWB is plenty comfortable for daily carry. You won’t forget the holster is there, but it doesn’t poke, prod, or cause pain.
Security * * * *
The passive retention is about as good as it gets without an adjustable or active device. Overall it’s secure enough for day to day use as a concealed carry holster but wouldn’t be a great open carry rig.
Access * * * * ½
Drawing and flinging the gun into action is quick and easy without restraint. It clings tight to the body, but you can grip the gun and get it in service. It’s not as quick as a duty rig, but about as close as you can get.
Value * * * *
The holster retails for about $55 and ships the same day. Not bad for an American made holster with zero lead time. The Concealment Express OWB holster is plenty tough and offers a modular option for OWB fans.
Overall * * * * ½
It does everything you need a good outside-the-waistband holster to do and does it at a more than fair price. If you’re a fan of OWB carry, this is is an option that should be on your list.
I suppose it would work for holding a cell phone, or maybe some gloves. What’s that thing that looks like an electric drill, is that one of those gunms I’ve heard about. Aren’t those illegal.
Kind of a lost cause reviewing something that will be unnecessary in a couple weeks
if anything, concealment may be completely necessary and self defense even moreso.
unnecessary?
smh.
“It seems you can’t throw a stick these days without hitting a holster company…”
Too bad they all make holsters for the same 10-20 guns, and most in the same configurations too.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try KT Mech. They have an extensive list, and they’ll do custom modifications for no extra charge. Reasonable prices too.
I have everything I need and then some.
I just think it’s gotten ridiculous how many companies offer basically the exact same thing for the exact same guns. As if what the gun world really needs is another 273 1911/Glock/Taurus holsters.
PRO’S N CON’S , STILL THANKS FOR INFOR ..
“ So if you’re reading this”… you did something I didn’t, and you may have ‘recently’ that spelling isn’t populr
🤣
Nice review otherwise.
I want to be able to release the magazine while the pistol is holstered. It reduces the round count to “1”.
A Larimer County (CO-Free-for-Now) Sheriff’s deputy taught me department procedure for disarming. First, remove the magazine from the holstered pistol – the number of live rounds in the pistol is one or less. Next, remove the pistol (mind the trigger finger), rack, and eject any chambered round. Next, inspect the chamber. Then, close the slide and dry-fire (click) toward the Designated Safe Place.
Before removing the pistol from the holster, I also say “live round”. Keeps my finger off the trigger.
Safety is our most important product.
Here’s a dollar, Mr. Pike. Go downtown and rent yourself a proofreader. Please.
The info in your review was welcome, but I’m an older guy who actually was taught grammar, spelling, and usage in school. I ran headfirst into quite a few show-stoppers: mistakes that derail the train of thought. And that’s a shame.
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