[SDduc996]

I am currently in Afghanistan, and one of my buddies carries a MK23 with Insight LAM-1000 attached. (Yes NSW adopted the MK24/HK45CT but they have yet to be issued.) They used to issue the Safariland 6004 holster but the only downfall was the Insight could not be mounted. The holster he currently uses is the nylon Blackhawk that were made available to address this, but it's been through two deployments (including work-ups) and the inside where the sharply angled back front sight makes contact, has started to deteriorate and actually "grab" the gun. At the range yesterday, this became very evident during transition drills when his pistol would not clear unless you push/pulled repeatedly.

I was thinking a kydex holster (better yet, a kydex insert in a nylon rig) would be the way to go, but haven't found a current manufacturer that has one for a MK23 let alone with a LAM attached. Does anybody know who might make a Level II kydex holster for it and the LAM, or have a better idea?

Thanks.

 

[Spleen]

I know this is old, but hopefully it helps someone else.

1) Bladetech claims to make these to fit the insight (LAM-1400 or 1450 i think you mean) but after my order sitting in limbo for 6 months, they finally told me they had some sort of problem with "that machine" and are waiting on a repair to fix it. This was about a year ago so they might be sending these out now. I just asked for a refund because..

2) The holster sold at autoweapons.com for exactly this purpose is so fantastic. Expensive, but you have to check these things out. There is a little "kink" at the bottom of the holster that prevents the front sight from rubbing. If you don't use a suppressor this will work forever. Unfortunately for me, when I made a tiny mod (cut a bit of stitching to make more room) to allow a better fit for the whole thing (lam + suppressor) the front sight started rubbing a bit and I knew this would eventually be an issue just like you described so...

3) I took about a 1.5 inch wide strip of kydex (maybe 12, 14 inches long? it stretches so who knows) heated it up and ran it along the inside spine of this holster, wrapping the two ends out and around to hold it securely. (a little glue inside or maybe rivets would help, but not needed) now there is a perfect plastic channel in case the front sight rubs on anything, and actually works double great as it guides the suppressor straight down into the bottom hole. That probably sounds super confusing, I could provide a pic if needed. But about 30 cents of kydex turned an already $300 holster into a durable machine that will last forever. (much like the MK23, KAC can, and insight LAM, all wonderful and durable). I tried for YEARS to get a workable MK23 holster that would work with accessories and this finally solved it all. It has 3 different types of retention and (at least with my kydex spine) drops straight in there straight and securely regardless of can or LAM

Hope that helps you, or someone.

 

[SDduc996]

Thanks for the post. The only problem with that set-up (unless I'm not seeing the total capability of it) is the flap that covers the butt. It doesn't allow for a quick secondary transition. If that flap was able to be cut off and there was a thumb break for Level 2 retention, that may be a possibility.

I had emailed Blade-Tech previously and they said they didn't offer one for the MK23 and LAM. The search goes on...

If you have pics of your mods, I'd like to see them.

 

[Kineticap1]

Try Jason at tcbfirearms.com

If he doesn't have one he can probably make it rather quickly.

Excellent customer service.

 

[SDduc996]

Thanks for the link. I'll shoot him an email.

One of the biggest issues, is nobody having a LAM 1000 to reference. We'll see if he can accomodate it.

 

[Spleen]

SDduc, the flap you are worried about snaps up and out of the way 99% of the time. It comes down to latch over the whole operation in the event of jumping out of an airplane or swimming or something. Which I don't do, so it remains snapped up.

http://autoweapons.com/photos10/aug/holstermk23l.jpg

Heres a picture, you can see a metal snap at the top. You can also see the elastic band thing that pops over the magwell. Theres also thumb retention. I don't use the elastic band thing but I am amazed at how well it works. It's like either one of them is enough retention to jump out of an airplane, but we get both. The only mod I made was specific for the suppressor I use. You wouldn't need mods. I have maybe 4 or 5 different holsters for this gun, including 2 custom made ones and one I even made myself (and used for about 7 years). This blows them all out of the water. I promise. You can even belt loop it or dropleg.

Edit: I just remembered one time I had to climb a pretty steep bushy hill using a rope (broken tram) and snapped the flap down and was very glad to have done so, branches and thorns were snagging on everything but my gun.