Having rekindled my love affair with the wheelgun, I found it necessary to procure a quality holster. My usual, off the shelf, brand turned out to be a dismal failure. Again, I turned to the Internet for answers. While there were numerous high end options available for wheenguns, pricing and wait times were more than I was willing to endure. I also saw Garrett Industries mentioned frequently in the same sentence as “fast”, “quality” and “customer service.” I took a look at the website and saw the Silent Thunder OWB holster and felt it would be well suited to range and class duty. The website listed a 7 business day turnaround time. Seven business days later I had a shipping notice in my email and tracking information to show that the holster actually shipped, not just a label printed.
Holster details: I ordered the standard Silent Thunder OWB with 1.5” belt slide for a Ruger GP-100 Wiley Clapp. The holster is a single piece of leather-lined Kydex utilizing brass and stainless steel fasteners. The belt slide attachment is completely adjustable for angle. The tension is user adjustable. I chose the medium sweat shield. The leather appears evenly applied with no bubbles. The edges are fairly clean but not perfect.
Holster fit: The fit was exceptional. The Wiley Clapp has a three inch barrel and dovetailed Novak sights making it unique in the GP-100 line up. Out of the box the tension was perfect. The gun slid into the holster with little effort and zero binding. The tension held the gun secure even when shaken upside down.
Holster attachment details: I chose the basic belt slide, one of many options offered by Garrett Industries. The belt slide is 0.125” Kydex standard with 0.187” Kydex being optional for increased durability. The belt slide and retaining piece are, for lack of a better way to describe it, toothed like a gear and mate up with each other. The fitting is perfect and there is no play between the teeth. This arrangement allows infinite adjustability of holster angle. It attaches solidly to the holster with two bolts. The belt slide fit my Talon Tactical Cobra Belt perfectly.
I ran the Silent Thunder through some practice drills and found no complaint with it. I had none of the usual breaking in issues. Drawing and holstering were smooth. The holster didn’t flop around on my belt as I moved. I did notice one thing though; the usual Kydex clicks were pleasantly absent.
Garrett Industries has a substantial list of guns they support and several styles of holster and accessories to choose from. I’ll just quote Ron and Sheryl Garrett with what they say about their company: “We are proud to be an American Company that produces American Made Products with American Made Supplies and good old American Customer Service.” My Garrett experience was outstanding. I think they are worth a look.
Link: Garrett Industries
Ron Garrett’s stuff is some of the best in the industry, and gives the advantages of kydex with the ease on the finish of Leather.
Also, if you look at his Fusion IWB, it’s one of the most comfortable, useful IWBs I’ve owned, offering none of the issues I have with Crossbreed or other makers.
Great review. I own three Garrett holsters myself and they’re all excellent. What I’m curious about, though, is where you got those inserts for the compact grip you’ve got on that GP!
I wish I had a good answer for you. When I started getting into the GP100 research suggested that the Compact Lett grips were the way to go. Unfortunately Lett went out of business so the secondary market became the only source. I stumbled into a guy selling a box of them. They were a mix of checkered wood and grooved poly inserts.