When he neared, I noticed that he had a small brown box in his hands. It's really fun to get packages in the mail, and I was hoping it was for me. Then I realized that I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon, so it must be for my wife.
I was wrong. Indy from this forum had asked me earlier if I wanted to try out a S H T F Holster to test out and evaluate. I said something to the effect of "Hecks to the Yeah"! That's what arrived today. Thanks Indy, and also to S H T F Holsters for sending it to me out of the goodness of your hearts. Or holsters.

Sadly I had to clean up the rest of the debris before I could open the box and play.

A couple things that I noticed when I opened the box. First, the holster and other little items are sealed in plastic. Not taped, sealed. So if the mail man decided to leave the package in a place where water or snow could get at it, the contents would be safe. Second, it comes with an Allen wrench. Crossbreed holsters have phillips screws so that you can adjust the cant of the gun. S H T F Holsters has Allen screws to adjust the cant.
That's not all though. One thing that I have found really fun about the Crossbreed, is that if the gun doesn't have the retention that you want, you have to heat the Kydex and form it by hand to get whatever tension you want. Usually it's not too difficult and doesn't take a long time, but I tried it with the G42 holster I recently received, and it was very difficult. In fact I couldn't get it to tighten up at all. It's not a major deal, but I would like that one a little tighter, especially if I carry it for work.
The S H T F Holster uses the Allen screws for the retention as well. One side is sewn with Kevlar stitching, and the other has the Allen screws with rubber spacers.

I snagged the Glock 30 out of the safe and slid it into its new home. It fit nicely, but I decided to tighten up the screws just a little bit to snug it up. Quick, easy, and painless.
The first thing that I noticed when I put it on was the sweat guard cut. It was digging into my body. I first thought that this was going to be a permanent pain in my back. I took the holster off and looked at it. I quickly found the issue. While the edges of the leather were rounded, there was still something poking out. The little leather grains were poking out and created a sharp edge. Normally the little leather bits are not an issue, but with the black dye used it created a hard coating just on the edge that was a little bothersome. I went and snagged a fine sanding block with a gentle touch I was able to quickly get rid of the sharp edge. It wasn't something serious, and wouldn't cause any cuts or anything. It was just a little obnoxious until I figured out what was wrong. I went around the entire holster edge to make sure it was softened up. And soften up it did.
After that, it was immediately comfortable. With Crossbreed's holsters, usually they feel great, but do need some adjusting with the cant. Some of the holsters have needed a break in period, though it has never really been very long. Maybe a few days of continuous use. With S H T F's holster, I didn't need to adjust the cant to make it more comfortable. Some may need to, or they may like it canted differently, but it was nice right out of the package for me.
Something else that I noticed that is different from the Crossbreed holster. The holes that are punched in the Crossbreed holsters are round. The screws that you receive come with a base that fits into the back of the holster, and they have three teeth that sink into the leather. It takes some effort to get those teeth to sink in. The S H T F Holster also has an area punched for the teeth. I would imagine that it would make changing the position a lot easier. Since I didn't have to change the cant on the holster, I haven't tried to see how much easier it would make it. But I can see that it is a nice feature that Crossbreed is lacking. Sorry Crossbreed.
This holster has a few new things that the Original ACE-1 didn't have. Here is a list of the new additions from the website: S H T F Gear ACE-1 Gen 2
- Comfort CURVE: provides greater comfort by creating a curve in the normally flat backer.
-Adjustable retention: allows you to adjust the holster to have the exact level of retention that you desire.
-Thicker Kydex: the new design uses .093" Kydex for maximum durability.
-Increased Kydex Coverage: the precision Kydex shell has been extended for a more secure fit.
-Flared Opening: the mouth of the holster has been flared to allow for easier holstering.
The comfort curve is nice. I'm guessing that's why it felt so comfortable when I put it on. It didn't have to form to me, or have that break in period. The easily adjustable retention is really handy. The flared opening is slight, and though I haven't had much trouble re-holstering, I can see how this will make it even easier.

I will be wearing this as much as I can so that I can get a good report in later. As for now, this holster is really comfortable. I have tried other holsters that were not Crossbreed, and were very disappointed in how they felt. As of now, I think Crossbreed may be bent out of shape that my business will be shifting to a local company. It does need it's trial run, but it's pretty slick, and I'm already impressed by it. I didn't think that any holster company would be able to pry me away from Crossbreed after my other holster woes. It just wasn't worth it to me to try a different holster and then have to pay for the Crossbreed shortly after because the other wasn't up to Crossbreeds standards. Been there, done that.
Now I have to wonder if Crossbreed is up to S H T F's standards.