Atomic Nerds

Dennis, of Dragon Leatherworks, makes holsters. Dennis, of Dragon Leatherworks, makes damn fine holsters.

For reasons that may have involved grain alcohol, Dennis decided that I would make a good reviewer for his latest offering, the Talon Pancake. The Talon is, as the name implies, a pancake holster, and this one specifically is tailored and intended for the 1911 platform, though as you can see at the linked page, he has a few other options that will work. Straight from the horse’s mouth:

Target Audience are 1911 owners, not the hard-core gunnie types, but folks who are on a somewhat tight budget, who wear 1.5″ wide regular belts, or 1.5″ wide gun belts (the double-layered, 1/4″ thick belts…)

Well, that about covers me to a T, right down to an exact description of my belt. Now before I jump into this, let me put up front that I am by no stretch a holster expert. Like Weerd, I got lucky and found a holster that worked for me and was comfortable very early on, and I stuck with it, so I’m not as familiar with the finer points of distinction between “This sausage-sack is made of suck and fail” and “This holster is crafted from purest unicorn skin and the spirit of John Moses Browning and win.” Also, I’ve been using a Versa-Max II from Milt Sparks to haul around my CZ-75b for over four years. There is some adjustment going on simply from the “that isn’t what I’m used to” department.

Out of the box, I had dueling first impressions: 1) Pretty! and 2) Thin! The Talon is very well put together. As part of test driving it, I wore it to help some friends move. I figured lots of movement, awkward motions, contortions to get furniture through doors, etc, would be an excellent shakedown of retention and comfort. More on that in a moment, but to back me up on the attractiveness of the holster, at one point I peeled off my cover shirt to better fit in a corner to assemble a table. The three other people in the room (all gunnies, one moving into that town specifically for gunsmithing school, so there’s some Informed Opinion going on with this crowd) noticed and commented literally within seconds. All were impressed. There is no getting around it, this is an attractive holster, one that would not be out of place on a three-piece suit, carrying a BBQ gun, or any other “I want to look good” situation.

The second part of that impression is because of this:

(Look, if you want the glamor shots, check out the product page I linked earlier. I’m no Oleg, and can just about manage a point-and-shoot.)

That’s the Talon on the left, and my VMII on the right. The angle is a hair off to really stand it out on the body-side of the holster, but the top makes it fairly clear. The Talon is, roughly (what? I’m not breaking out the micrometer for this), half the thickness. Given what I’m used to, it was something of a surprise. Even though it’s only half as thick, the Talon does not suffer in the slightest on stiffness, and holds its shape perfectly well enough for one-handed re-holstering. It may be thin, but Dennis has worked some strong ju-ju on this stuff. This has the added advantage of being light. I may be biased after lugging around the CZ with 17 rounds for all this time, but even comparing the two holsters empty, the Talon is like wearing a paperclip next to the VMII’s desk drawer.

Ok, I mentioned I thought a good stress test would be helping friends move. It was a great stress test, and I took away two and a half things from it. First, this holster is extremely comfortable. With all the crap associated with moving furniture, it didn’t poke or prod me in any but the most convoluted of motions. The weight distribution was very nice, and at the end of the day, I couldn’t have told the difference between having worn that or having gone unarmed. Second, there were zero issues with positive retention, and the only thing that could go in the problem category was almost certainly user error rather than the holster- that’s the half thing. Specifically, there were a couple instances where I would check things, and find the safety on the 1911 I was carrying flipped off. I blame this entirely on the fact that I am not used to OWB carry, and was occasionally bumping things.

Having covered the good, I have a few nitpicks. The first is a problem specific to my setup. The test gun I’ve been using for this is LabRat’s wedding ring, a Les Baer Premier II 5″ in stainless steel. The front of the slide on this model is serrated at 30 lines per inch. Since the inside of the holster is left rough, the front of the gun is sanding itself a path on every insertion/removal, and I keep finding little leather shavings around. This is a self-correcting problem, however, and not one everybody will experience. Dennis agreed that’s in the “Yup, that’ll happen” category, and suggested a few drops of olive oil once the gun has worn its path to where it wants it. Not a deal breaker by any stretch, but if you’ve got fine front serrations, you might want the dust-buster handy for the break-in period.

Other than the leather-shaving, this is a rather tight holster, both in gun-grip and in belt loops. The grip on the pistol has loosened some by taking the holster into the bathroom with me when I shower a couple times, to let the leather soak up some steam and loosen a little bit, and that will continue to improve over time, but out of the box, attempting to draw gave me a lop-sided wedgie. Dennis said he modeled based off a Colt 1911 A1, which he says has one of the thinnest slides, and given the way leather boning works, even a few thousandths of an inch will make a difference. I fully expect this problem to ease up over time, and it has some already from the steam treatments, but be advised you may wind up ripping your pants off Chippendale-style if you’re unfortunate enough to find yourself in an oh-shit situation immediately after buying.

Also of great tightness are the belt loops. Like I said, I wear the exact type of belt Dennis described above. The first couple of days, it was basically impossible to slide the pistol forwards or back on my belt without unhooking everything and pushing the belt through a bit at a time to where I wanted it. After the first few days, it’s still very difficult to slide around, but not impossible. Again, Dennis assures me this will break in more over time, but the steam won’t help since the belt loops are sealed and water resistant. On the flip side of that coin, he also tells me he’s going to increase the amount of curve he puts in on initial molding, and cut the slots at a slight angle to loosen things up a bit going forward. That sounds like a solved problem to me, so don’t let my word be the final one on that point.

All that said, the final impression is that I am very pleased with this holster. My issues with it are all minor, and will self-correct given time, the aesthetics of the piece are wonderful, the construction sturdy, and the wear extremely comfortable. I’m still having a few “this isn’t what I’m used to” sensations with it, but those of you with a drawer full of different holsters will almost certainly adapt more quickly and not find things like the sensation that the ride-height is a hair higher troublesome.

Really, the biggest problem I have because of this thing is now I’m looking around for a 1911 without sentimental value to stuff in it. What a horrible, horrible problem to have. See how traumatized I am? This could take hours and hours of (range) therapy. I blame you for this, Dennis!

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