Holsters

I am not an expert at any of this.  I claim no special background or tactical anything.  I have had the basic civilian carry permit class offered in my state and the handgun qualification course for my agency.  Anything I know beyond that comes from either reading or watching videos or from personal experience.

I think holsters have to do two things.  They have to carry the firearm safely and allow you quick access to the firearm if you need it.  Unfortunately, these two things can be in direct conflict with one another.  If the firearm is too secure, you may not be able to get it into action fast enough.  If it isn't secure enough, it may fall out, shift someplace you can't get to it, or get taken away from you.  Then there is the trigger factor.  A good holster should cover the trigger completely.  This is especially important if you carry a striker fired weapon that doesn't have a safety.  If you carry a double action only weapon, or a double action/single action with the hammer down, it may not be as critical, since you have a longer trigger pull before the round goes off, but I would still recommend it.  Even more so with a single action carried in cocked and locked position, since safeties can fail.  I once had a clone of a Colt Mustang where the safety would work itself into the fire position.  After finding it that way a couple of times, I quit carrying it completely.  I think it was just old and worn out.  Traded it before I had it to a gunsmith to look at fixing the issue.

I have recently been seeing a lot of things about cheap holsters and negligent discharges.  The day of the "one size fits all" holsters is at hand.  In the day, everything was either a revolver or equipped with a safety.  With a striker fired handgun, you don't have the long trigger pull and may not have an external safety.  If something gets caught in the trigger, it could discharge.  I have pretty much given up holsters that aren't made of a rigid material and moulded specifically for my firearm.  I use either all rigid leather, all kydex or some type polymer, or a hybrid.  I do have 2 generic holsters.  One is a nylon holster, the only thing I carry in it is a .22 that is both double action and has an external safety.  I don't carry it often and intend to get a kydex holster for it soon.  The other is a leather holster I picked up at a gun show.  it's a rigid leather slide holster.  It slips on a belt, although it does have a metal clip where you can iwb it.  It's basically two pieces of leather attached at each end.  You can cram pretty much anything in to it and it will hold it.  I usually only use it when I acquire a new firearm and need time to get a more permanent solution.  I have carried the Glock 42, 26, and 30 all in it.  It covers the trigger and is reasonably secure.  It isn't a retention holster by any means and not the most comfortable, but not horrible.

The only thing that worries me when carrying concealed, is the thought of part of the cover garment getting caught in the trigger guard when I reholster during warm weather.  Tshirts or a light button up shirt worn over the top of a tshirt kind of worry me.

EDC Knives

A long time ago I did a post on my daily carry knives.  A lot has changed since then.  I did carry a Benchmade Stryker assist open for several years.  Then, after changing to a bit more dangerous job, and finding out that we were classified as law enforcement and allowed to carry automatic knives (Tennessee has now changed the law and anyone can carry automatic knives), I bought and started carrying this big boy:

It's a Benchmade Adamas Automatic.  Super heavy duty knife, just in case you need to pry open a tank.  It uses the Axis lock system.  I carried this for several years.   The only problem I had with it, is that occasionally it opens itself.  I carry it hooked to my right front pocket.  Most tac style pants, like we wear for work, have an extra thick seam at the back of the pocket to give a knife clip or similar something extra to hook to.  If I'm working, that pocket is otherwise empty.  I sometimes keep car keys in it if I'm off duty and carrying IWB.  I could solve this if I used the sliding lock button on the back of the knife, but it seemed to defeat the purpose of having an automatic knife if I had to deactivate a safety before deploying the blade.  I still have this beast of a knife, but just recently I added another Benchmade to my list.  

This might look a bit familiar if you read the older post.  It's Benchmade's Auto Stryker.  It uses a push button to open the blade and also to unlock the blade to close it.  It also has a safety on top of the handle.  I've only been carrying it a couple of days,  So far it hasn't opened itself.  We will see.  It is a much lighter, thinner knife, so easier to carry.