I have seen negative comments about the Serpa holster before, also saw the video of the guy shooting himself in the leg. I have three of these holsters for different pistols. I actually like them. Ofcourse I understand that it is possible that one could forget or not pay attention and put their finger on the trigger while drawing. Isn't this possible with any other type holster?????
Yes it is. There are several things to note about that video, first and foremost is the first word in the name. It's an opinion. I like my Serpas just fine too. You'll note while watching the video that many of his complaints are situational. For instance, when pointing out the dangers from Tex's situation, one of them only applies if you're using a 1911 pistol. Another danger he mentions is only a danger if your fingers are of a certain length. But what really gets me about the whole thing is that he says the Serpa holster in particular is dangerous because people curl their finger into the trigger guard. To attempt to limit that to the Serpa is somewhat absurd, because that's something no shooter should ever do with any holster. And doing that doesn't make the holster dangerous. It makes the shooter dangerous. He does try to differentiate a bit better later when he says the Serpa holster in particular
encourages people to curl their fingers into the trigger guard due to it's design, and that's what makes it different from other holsters. He attempts to buttress this argument by demonstrating that a Serpa holster will not release if you pull on the gun butt prior to the release button being pressed, which is true. He also demonstrates that if you keep pulling, the gun continues to be 'jammed' into the holster no matter how much pressure is applied to the release button, which is also generally true (I tested it with one of my Serpas). Technically you
can get it to release, but it takes far more force than you could ever generate with just one finger, so for the purposes of this discussion it's not releasable. So he says with the Serpa, people then fall prey to the natural tendency to curl their fingers, manage to release the gun, and the curled finger then slips into the trigger guard and produces a negligent discharge. There are two very obvious problems with that argument. 1) Falling prey to a tendency to curl your finger into the trigger guard is standard trigger discipline 101 and applies to ALL holsters, and 2) Didn't he just say releasing the gun wasn't possible? Yes, he did.
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"I don't care how hard you push, you can see my fingers turning red, it will not release the pistol."
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And right after that he says:
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"You have to push forward [on the gun], and push the button again and the pistol will come out."
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I note that comment about pushing forward and pushing the button again for a particular reason. He says Tex Grebner did this during his infamous 'accidental discharge'. But if you watch the clip with Tex, it's all one movement. There is no pull back, oops, my gun is stuck, push back in and then pull out again. His claim that Tex fell prey to the supposed holster defect he described is complete BS. Tex did something wrong alright, but it wasn't what's being alleged in this video. Tex violated trigger discipline big time. But for the sake of argument, if Tex had done what the man in this video is claiming, who is to fault when a person curls their finger into the trigger guard of a gun before they're ready to fire? The circumstances make no difference whatsoever, unless someone physically grabs your finger and forces it in. The responsibility is absolutely yours, and that's perfectly as it should be.
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The video mentions holster positions and cant (which he calls rake), and says that excess cant in a forward position puts you in bad position for a proper draw. He demonstrates how that brought Tex Grebner's arm much further forward than it should have, and how that added danger for him. Tex had a Serpa holster on his hip that had a forward cant, though it didn't appear to be much. My guess is Tex usually carried his gun further back, but had moved it forward for that event without adjusting the cant/position to compensate. But the video takes an illogical turn and blames this on the Serpa when the user is obviously responsible for the adjustments, and none of that changes for any holster on the market. Plus the attempt he makes to demonstrate the dangerous holster and body position of Tex fails completely.
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Notice that the forward cant he has in the video is much more aggressive than the cant Tex had on his holster. Notice also the position of his arm that he's demonstrating on the video, which is what he says was the dangerous forward position Tex was forced to use because of his Serpa holster. It isn't anything close to the position Tex actually used. And since when is an improper holster position or cant adjustment the fault of the holster?
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The problem here is trigger discipline, and it applies to all holsters, not just Serpas. There are all manner of different holster designs out there, any manner of which you could argue are designed to place your trigger finger in a certain position for the draw. But no holster on earth is responsible for where you actually end up placing that finger. As I noted earlier, this video says the Serpa is different because its' design actually encourages people to engage in bad trigger discipline, so I checked into the claim about Serpas being banned from big name training ranges because they were dangerous due to that difference. That gave me some better perspective on this claim. At least some facilities do indeed have an issue with the design of Serpa holsters, but it isn't because they feel the design makes them dangerous. It's that their safe use requires a shooter that absolutely adheres to the rules of proper trigger discipline, very much akin to the safe use of Glock pistols. Gunsite Academy is one of the places that has banned Serpas, but the reason for that wasn't the supposed design flaw this video is claiming. Gunsite makes no mention of anything remotely resembling the scenario depicted in this video where a shooter pulls up on a gun before pressing the release button and 'jamming' the gun in the holster. What they do mention is seeing people with not enough training or improper training engaging in a whole lot of improper trigger discipline with Serpa holsters, and NDs result. While improper trigger discipline is dangerous with any holster, the Serpa, is by virtue of its' design, more likely to produce dangerous outcomes when that improper discipline occurs. This reminds me of when Glocks first came out and started revealing just how many American shooters really didn't have good trigger discipline. So not unlike the Glock, we have a design that isn't inherently dangerous, but is very unforgiving when the rules aren't followed. So some training facilities banned them simply as a preemptive measure to prevent accidents among students that they hadn't yet had the luxury of teaching trigger discipline to. Nobody wants an accident at their facility because a new student had no training or bad training before they ever arrived at that facility. There was no way for these training sites to gauge how well students would be trained or disciplined when they showed up at the gates, and not surprisingly they started getting new students who were getting NDs because they weren't well trained. Their choice was to spend more time training everyone in trigger discipline before the real training could begin, to accept the added danger that increased NDs were just a part of the game and live with that fact, or to get rid of the equipment that was most likely to reveal the consequences that lack of training and discipline produced. Obviously they chose option 3.
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I love my Serpas, but holsters are an individual preference, just as guns are. A Serpa may work for you or it may not. It may, for you, be situational as it is for me. I almost never use a Serpa for concealed carry, reserving that almost exclusively for cold days when I'm wearing heavy clothing, or for convenience at the range (the retention feature is nice when you're continually changing guns and other equipment). They're really too bulky for concealment under lighter clothing. But the main reason I have Serpa holsters, and why I most like them, is the retention feature coupled with the modular mounting capability. I can have one holster with a modular mount that will snap into a mount under my desk, on the side of my bed, or in my truck. And when you remove it, very few people will realize what that little mount is.
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So there's nothing dangerous about a Serpa holster if you have good trigger discipline, wear and configure your holster properly, and train properly. They just require a higher level of training and discipline. They're really a niche product anyway, at least in my book. I never really saw them as a mainstream holster that would have universal appeal. I view them as a specialty item for special situations. That's how I use mine. But when it comes down to it, we're talking about guns and shooting here, folks. It's an activity that has danger inherent in it no matter what you do or product you use. Each of you must decide what best fits your needs and will be the safest while fulfilling those needs. For me, Serpa holsters fit into some of those scenarios. For you, they may not.
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2-26-16 EDIT: I forgot to mention another reason Gunsite banned Serpas is that foreign materials could get into the holster and prevent the release button from being pressed. The only way to remedy this (unless it was ice) was to cut the holster away from the gun. I would guess that other facilities that may have banned Serpas could have had that factor in mind when they made their decision too.
