Buyers Guide: Blackhawk Sportster Standard Concealment Holster

The Blackhawk Sportster Standard holster includes both belt and paddle mounts

Like the Blackhawk Serpa, the Blackhawk Standard Concealment holster comes with two mounting options – a belt loop system and a paddle. Both gun holsters are insanely configurable. Cant is adjustable in two positions forward and two positions backward in addition to the default straight drop. The belt mount can be sized to fit belts from zero to 2.25 inches. So, in theory, if you wanted to mount this holster on a string, you could, although we wouldn’t recommend it…

The paddle mount option features the same cant adjustments but also allows sizing to your specific belt. Even through the paddle option does not require a belt, it has adjustable pegs that are captured by the bottom of the belt – thereby improving stability immensely. This is the most solid paddle mount system we’ve tested. If you set it up right, it doesn’t move. It’s firmly anchored into position – like Rosie O’Donnel at the Dunkin’ Donuts counter. The paddle is also very large which noticeably increases comfort by distributing the weight across a large area of your hip.

The model we evaluated was for a full size 1911 and the kydex was molded perfectly. While not necessarily required, the holster has an adjustable retention screw that allows the user to set the strength of retention to preference.

With a street price of around $20 and sometimes less, depending on your gun model, this holster is a tremendous value.