When I was at this range and watching students,  I saw the gun industry very well represented, everything from Blackhawk, Safariland, Uncle Mikes,  military surplus, East German  gear, holsters, chest rigs, speed loaders on the students.   The military surplus stuff all work and was simple to use, but it wasn’t as fast to use and much of it wasn’t too pretty and very much for the weekend warriors.   For serious gear, do some research before you buy and try and find a gun shop or gun show where you can actually feel and wear it before you buy.   Many firearms owners have a pile of holsters in their closet for all the ones that really weren’t that comfortable, and blowing a bunch of money on chest rigs and mag holsters, tactical vest ect. that really don’t feel right is going to cost more than many holsters.

I’m biased, I  have to admit it, Blackhawk holsters are my favorite tactical holster.   If i land on my side or bang into something, I’m more concerned about bruising myself rather than “did I break my holster”.    There are some useful $20 holsters out there, but they’ll break if you start rolling around in the dirt with them.    Another observation I had on all of the students, was that the majority of them seemed very awkward in transitioning from Carbine to Pistol.  Many of these students had CCW permits, but they were using paddle holsters and tactical vests that they weren’t use to.    It’s a really good idea for you to think about where you would like to carry a sidearm before you spend money on a tactical vest.   Some tactical vests will have a pistol holster and some will not.