Who here would carry a light on their pistol if you could find the right holster? I would and I know a lot of people who would too. Thing is getting the right holster and light combo for your carry needs is very difficult if not impossible for most guns. Why holster companies have not produced more options for carrying with a light I don’t know. Is it because there are way to many models, styles and lights to tackle them all? Maybe, but all that has changed. Mr. Tom Wise who owns and operates 2AHolster.com can make whatever combination your heart desires with or without a light. That in itself is awesome, thing is he does it fast and on a budget anyone can afford.
So I was pretty thrilled when I found out about 2A Holster. I have been such an ardent supporter of weapon lights that to finally have an array of holsters where I could carry a light made my month. I ordered several items and they got here lickity split. Let’s talk briefly about Tom Wise and the 2A Holster then go over my first one. I love all 3 of them so I will review them separately.
Tom sounds like a pretty cool dude, I wish we lived closer. He’s a Navy vet like my old man was and was an RN for 10 years, an artist and then onto this. He does pretty much custom anything, so get ahold of him at 2Aholster.com. Check out his website, there are plenty of good pictures and you’ll quickly see the appeal of his products. One other important thing is he has free shipping. I hate shipping charges and I just love seeing that. You have all those tools who put a $5 item in a $17.95 box and expect you too happily pay it when they could have easily used a $2 padded envelope. So free shipping is my favorite kind.
So the first masterpiece I got from Tom was an IWB holster for a Springfield XD Sub-compact 9mm with a Streamlight TLR-4 attached. I love this thing, I started carrying it the day I got it. I happened to be walking out the door to go out of state for the old mans funeral and took it with me. It’s comfortable and has become my go to holster every time I carry when going into the city. I like to carry a higher cap pistol when in the city and I like the idea I can not only see at night and more clearly identify what I might have to shoot but blind my threats as well. Let’s take a detailed look at this holster from 2A Holster.
The Holster: First off it fits the gun and TLR-4 perfectly and works just as well with the TLR-3 (no laser) The tension was perfect. You could run, jump up and down or roll around fighting and it stays put but when it comes time to deploy the weapon it slides right out smooth as silk. No thumb break or snap I don’t want anyway, just a nice amount of tension. I’m 100% happy. It looks to me like you could adjust it with the screws and perhaps putting in a thinner rubber washer but I don’t see the need. I think Tom knows his guns pretty well from what I can see and he did it right.
Now this pistol light holster is for the subcompact with the 3 inch barrel. Notice the holster molds around the front, I wondered if I used a dremel and cut off that lip if it would work with a 4 inch service model as well? Not sure, that’s something I will have to ask him. I didn’t want to hack up my great holster and then turn out to be wrong about that, so I left it alone.
All in all this holster rocks, it’s comfortable and hides well. You might think it’s a bit big to wear inside your pants and for some it might be. I can’t wear it with the fancy smancy designer jeans Kelly buys me but if I wear my usual daily wear carpenter jeans or old desert cammies I have no problem carrying this. If you think you may have a problem, you don’t, he made a pancake holster the same way for me and that’s obviously outside your pants. (next review)
Tom kindly sent me some extra stuff which was nice, case in point the mag holder. It is tension adjustable and would work with dozens of various hi-cap mags. The cool thing about this is you can carry it inside the pants or outside on a belt. Look at the clip, it will wear either way. I felt pretty comfortable with a 13 round compact mag in it, the longer 16 I think I would like it to sit a bit deeper. I didn’t drop or lose it in my daily travels but I always feel like I could, additionally if it sat just a tad deeper it’s down past your belt and when doing daily “things” I don’t get poked in the ribs as much by the butt of the mag. Wrapping that up though I really liked it with a shorter mag but full size I need a slight adjustment.
Summary: This is far from over, I have wanted holsters that custom fit my weapon lights for years and nothing…now I have Tom Wise and 2A Holster. I have several more variations to order you will be seeing and 2 sitting here I still am testing on. I had this short conversation last night about pistol lights with my buddy Gary, he is not a light lover…I will make you “see the light” Gary…if it’s the last thing I do 🙂 Just think about it folks…its dark…bad end of town and your walking out to your car after a late movie…what’s in the shadows? Don’t guess, miss, fire when you should not or not fire when you should have…BE SURE and the best way to do that is being able to see what the hell is going down. 2A Holster makes this possible by having your light, ANY light, on ANY gun you want. Did that sink in? ANY of them…that’s really cool. Thanks Tom. Get ahold of him at 2aholster.com.
Check back in the near future for an XD with Streamlight pancake holster and a Glock 20 with TLR-1 light that is a bedside or car, desk…whatever mount. It’s so versatile it’s unbelievable.
As always thanks for reading and train often.
By: Cary Kieffer
Cary Kieffer
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Great post I have been looking for something similar to this, I always liked carrying a light but like you said there is not a lot of holsters that can do that. I’ll definitely get one this weekend.
Cool brother, tell Tom you saw it here! He’s a good dude. Thanks for stopping by TGR.