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HighVelocity wrote: The flattened portion of the top of the slide is wider than the sight channel in the holster?
Is there leather shavings on the gun in that area when you draw?

I believe the sharp part of the flat-top edge is snagging on the part of the holster that's boned into the ejection port that makes the pistol seem to "snap" into place. I’m going to stone the edge a bit and see if that helps. Yes, there is some shaved leather on the point I suspect is causing the problem and there is a scraped area on the holster at the same location.

Regards,
Chas.

Bless you Too-Tall; it's good to know my buddies are looking out for me!

The holster is now broken in, but it's still very difficult to draw from certain sitting positions, i.e. sitting in my car. I think I have identified the problem and I'll post the results of my correction, if it works.

This is the first time I've ever had a problem like this with a Sparks holster. In fairness to Tony, I think it's a combination of a very good fitting holster and a very sharp edge on the muzzle side of the ejection port. My Commander is a SS "enhanced" model with the flat-top. The edge of the flat-top at the ejection port is very sharp and I think it's digging into the holster when drawn from a particular sitting position.

Regards,
Chas.

We all know the first rule of a gun fight - bring a gun. Well, here is the second rule - be able to get the gun you brought out of its holster!

I really, really like good holsters. I have more holsters than my wife has shoes; naw, that pushing it a bit much. I have Comp-Tac holsters and leather holster from large commercial manufacturers like Galco (formerly Jackass Leather), Safariland and Bianchi. In the last several years however, I’ve been staying away from the large volume shops and have been buying from Milt Sparks Holsters, Inc., a small shop in Idaho.

We all know a well-boned holster made of good quality leather should be tight when you first start using it. All of my Sparks holsters have required a brief break-in period, often involving nothing more than leaving the gun in the holster over night. With some of the holsters, it is recommended that you place the pistol in the plastic bag it comes in, then shove the gun/bag combination into the holster and leave it overnight.

I recently received my second Sparks IQM, a snap-on OWB holster. I was unusually tight, so I used the bag method. The next day I tried drawing the gun and it was just a hair tighter than I would have expected, but nothing drastic. I put the gun on, after doing a systems check of course, and went to the office.

I took a group of associate attorneys, legal assistants and law clerks to lunch and on the way out, I jokingly said “I hope this is a peaceful lunch, since I probably couldn’t get my pistol out of my new holster if I had to.� Well, I meant this as a joke, but it turned out to be prophetic. When I got back to my office after lunch and was about to take the holster off and put it in the desk drawer, I decided to see how tightly it was still holding the pistol. I could not get the Commander out of the holster!! I don’t mean it was hard, not even really hard; it was impossible. Using both hands I couldn’t even get it to budge. When I took the holster off the belt, the gun came out fine, it was still drawing a little too snug, but nothing to worry about.

Anytime you put a new OWB on the belt, even one with snaps, it pulls the pocket tighter around the pistol. The IQM is designed to minimize this effect, but it is still there to some degree. I’ve known of this fact for more years than I am going to admit, so there was no excuse for not taking a few practice draws, before leaving the house that first day. I got up later than normal and was in a hurry. Since I had taken the pistol out of the holster with no problem while it was off the belt, I neglected to “test� it again on the belt.

Who knows; if we’d had a repeat of Lubys in Killeen perhaps the adrenalin dump would have let me get the gun into action without too much difficulty. If not, I can see the headlines now:
“NRA Boardmember, multiple Thunder Ranch graduate, long-time supporter of CHL shot and killed trying to get his stuck pistol out of his holster!� Oh yeah, that’s how I want to be remembered.

Complacency is deadly folks; learn from yet another of my mistakes!

Regards,
Chas.