BlackPoint Tactical working in collaboration with Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactics has created the VTAC IWB holster, complete with the excellent VTAC belt clips and a contour pad on the inside of the holster if you want to appendix carry.
October 28, 2021
By James Tarr, Handguns Editor
The country is awash in “plastic” holster makers. It seems there are just as many manufacturers of polymer holsters as there are of AR-15s, and separating the quality stuff from the garbage has been increasingly difficult.
The folks at SIG were the first to bring BlackPoint Tactical (BlackPointTactical.com) to my attention perhaps five years ago. Some of the instructors at the SIG Academy had been using their products and really liked them, and that began a close working relationship between SIG and BlackPoint. While they make some chest rigs and outside-the-waistband belt holsters, they specialize in inside-the-waistband (IWB) concealment holsters. I secured a sample of the new VTAC IWB for testing.
The VTAC IWB is the first collaboration between BlackPoint and Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactics (VTAC). Kyle Lamb is well known in the firearms/tactical community, and before his current second career as trainer/instructor he spent 21 years in the U.S. Army, including time in SFOD-D “Delta Force”, and he was involved in the Black Hawk Down incident in Mogadishu.
The VTAC IWB is a polymer holster that is meant to be just as useful for appendix carry (AIWB) as it is strong-side inside-the-waistband wear. This holster is available for a number of Glock, SIG, and S&W pistols, everything from mid-size guns (Glock 19, SIG P320) to subcompacts (SIG P365, Glock 43X, S&W Shield, etc.) All the holsters are cut to accommodate pistols wearing slide-mounted red dots if you want to make that mistake.
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I secured a holster built for the SIG P365, which is currently one of the most popular concealed carry pistols.
A SIG P365 being appendix carried. You can see how the holster keeps the butt tucked in to the body. The VTAC IWB is molded to the specific gun it is meant for. It has a traditional one-piece polymer clamshell body, with belt clips on one side and a contour pad on the other. Both the clips and the contour pad are adjustable for height via screws. There is a tension screw on the molded holster to adjust tightness.
What’s a contour pad? I first saw these on the AIWB holsters made by Keepers Concealment. When wearing a pistol inside your waistband on your hip, your body curves away from the gun, and if you move it is generally away from the gun/holster, not into it. It is a more forgiving carry position. When wearing your gun in front (appendix carry), that’s not the case. Whenever you bend forward or sit down, the bottom of the holster tends to dig in. Contour pads cushion and/or move the nose of that holster away from your body for more comfort. As an added benefit, that tends to keep the grip of the pistol tucked in closer to your body when standing upright, for better concealment.
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The contour pad, as seen here, keeps the nose of the holster from digging into your groin, and can be adjusted up and down. It also reduces printing by angling the grip of the gun more toward your body. The contour pad on this holster is rounded polymer and projects from the holster toward your body about half an inch. It can be adjusted to extend below the body of the holster from 0.5-1.5 inches to fit your size and shape. Or removed entirely, your choice.
The VTAC belt clips are mounted in a slot and can be moved up and down. They fit belt up to 1.5” wide, and have hooks on the inside to grab your pants if you happen to not be wearing a belt, and they work—with the tension screw tightened down all the way I stuck this holster inside a pair of loose sweatpants, and the clips gripped the sweatpants tight enough that when I drew the gun the holster stayed in place. As the clips are polymer, you can pull this holster on and off without needing to undo your belt.
The VTAC belt clips can accommodate up to a 1.5-inch belt and can be adjusted up and down in slots in the holster body. They grab well even if you’re not wearing a belt. What I like about this holster is that it is no bigger or heavier than it needs to be to do the job, and does not take up a huge amount of real estate inside your belt. These holsters are made in America, and have an MSRP of $99.99.
The BlackPoint VTAC IWB is made for Glock, S&W, and SIG compact and subcompact pistols, such as the SIG P320s seen here. If you have any thoughts or comments on this article, we’d love to hear them. Email us at FirearmsNews@Outdoorsg.com .
About the Author:
James Tarr is a former police officer and private investigator, and is a nationally ranked competitive shooter. He has been writing professionally for 20 years, both magazine articles and books.
