All SmartCarry® concealed carry holsters have a patented 100% water proof rear panel due to the incorporation of Cushmax® into the holster's rear panel. If you've ordered a SmartCarry® holster you'll see a "Cushmax® Equipped" label on the holster rear panel, which means the rear panel of your SmartCarry® is completely waterproof, or more precisely, "sweat proof"! Shown below is a Cushmax® label on the rear panel of a SmartCarry® concealed carry gun holster.
Cushmax® is a fabric material made by Cushman and Marden, Inc. of Peabody, MA. This material can be cut, sewn and washed just like any other fabric, and will allow air to pass through, which means the holster can still "breath", so the comfort remains unchanged. What it will not allow to pass through however, is moisture, so the rear panels of all SmartCarry® concealed carry holsters are water (sweat) proof. At approximately $15.00 a yard, the addition of Cushmax® caused SmartCarry®'s price to increase slightly, but it was well worth it to make the holster rear panel 100% waterproof!
The only moisture that can enter the holster is from perspiration that soaks into the top or sides of the holster where the denim joins the rear panel or the bias tape is located on the holster sides and bottom. Through capillary action, moisture can travel downward or inward in the top or sides of the holster. For this to happen, you must be sweating buckets of moisture and be in a hot environment for many hours. The grip of the firearm is located at the top of the holster and normally a grip won't rust or be harmed by perspiration. While it would be unlikely for this to happen, it is possible, and another reason to continue to wipe down metal firearms with Sentry Solutions Marine TUF-CLOTH to prevent rust!
Charlie tested a large standard model SmartCarry® with Cushmax® installed for over 6 months, carrying his all-steel M1911A-1. His 1911 will rust very easily, and not once has any salty perspiration reached his firearm through the Cushmax® equipped rear panel moisture barrier, nor has it shown any signs of rust. And to really give Cushmax® the acid test, Charlie didn't wipe his firearm down with Sentry Solutions' Marine TUF-CLOTH during the test period!
The show promoters do not turn on the air conditioning on Friday afternoons when the dealers are setting up at gun shows, only when the paying customers come in on Saturday mornings, and some of the civic centers and auditoriums are like ovens, without the air conditioners running. Carrying the boxes and materials in, plus setting up the tables is quite conducive to perspiring. Back at the motel room, after setting up for a gun show at Ft. Myers, FL recently, Charlie's clothing and top quarter inch of his SmartCarry® were soaking wet with perspiration, but the inside of the firearm pocket (and his 1911) were absolutely dry. Not one drop of perspiration got through the Cushmax® moisture barrier to his firearm. But just because the rear panel of SmartCarry® is now 100% waterproof, it is not a valid reason to stop using Sentry Solutions' Marine TUF-CLOTH. Remember, the atmosphere inside your clothing is high in humidity with salty perspiration, so the use of Marine TUF-CLOTH is still a very good rust preventive measure.
Don't be fooled by a competitor's claims of "...protection by three moisture barriers.." because these "moisture barriers" are pieces of diaper cloth. Diaper cloth was designed to do one thing, absorb moisture and keep a baby's rear end dry, and it does a good job of it. It will also absorb your acidic, salty perspiration as fast as you produce it and pass it right along to your firearm, which equals a rusty gun. Pour some water on a piece of diaper cloth and see for yourself what kind of "moisture barrier" it really is!
SmartCarry® was the very first under-the-clothing concealed carry holster to offer a patented snag-free construction and once again leads the concealed carry holster industry by being first with a 100% waterproof rear panel.
SmartCarry® holsters are snag resistant!
All SmartCarry® concealed carry holsters are constructed using our patented (U.S. Utility Patent No. 5,909,834) construction method which eliminates all downward facing seams on the top front of the firearm or tactical reload pocket. This is very important, as a downward facing seam is a disaster waiting to happen! The rear of the cylinders on revolvers or any forward-facing projection (like the upper forward edge of the Glock ejection ports, for right-handed users) can (and do!) snag on these seams, stopping the upward travel of the firearm during your draw. To prevent this problem, we came up with our own construction method to eliminate these seams. After several earlier designs, which worked, but required additional material for holster construction, Carolyn came up with the perfect solution. We made several holsters using this method, and Charlie gave them the "test run" with his Colt python .357 magnum with a 4" barrel. If you see us at a gun show, he'll show you how fast you can draw a revolver from SmartCarry®! The denim, large size, right hand draw SmartCarry® holster shown above has the front of the firearm pocket pulled forward so you can see our patented seam. If you'd like to view our patent, this link will take you directly to the page at the U.S. Patent Office website where our patent is located. You'll need RealView, Adobe or some other TIFF/JPEG file viewer to see the drawings, but you can read the patent text without the viewer.
Also notice that we make the lower portion of the firearm pocket wider than it really needs to be to accomodate a barrel or slide. And while it requires more material to make them this way, the reason we do it is in the event you have, or ever decide to add, an under barrel laser sight to your firearm. Your SmartCarry® will still holster your firearm and provide the same comfort and speed of draw!
Marine TUF-CLOTH
Sentry Solutions Ltd. has developed "Marine TUF-CLOTH" which prevents rust from severe exposure, including salt water. Because salty body perspiration can be carried by the air inside your clothing as humidity, it can still reach your firearm, despite the 100% water proof Cushmax® moisture barrier installed in the rear panel of all SmartCarry® holsters. The perfect protection has been found to be Sentry Solution's Marine TUF-CLOTH. Here are the comments of SmartCarry® designer Charlie Parrott: "My carry gun is an M1911A-1, manufactured by Ithaca Gun Company in June of 1943. It saw duty in WWII and hasn't been refinished (update: Charlie had it re-blued in 2002!) since it left Ithaca's factory in 1943. If it wasn't for the fact that I wipe it down every night with Sentry's Marine TUF-CLOTH, I'd be removing rust on a daily basis! And the best thing about TUF-CLOTH is that you can rejuvenate it when the mineral spirits, used as a carrier, evaporate. Simply add a few tablespoons of mineral spirits to the cloth and its good for another couple of months. The cloth I'm using is over two years old!" Sentry also makes a complete line of gun care products and we now carry their entire product line. TUF-GLIDE is a powerful dry-film rust inhibitor and lubricant proven to outperform oils, silicones and similar products. Use TUF-GLIDE to protect the hard-to-reach areas of your equipment. SMOOTH-KOTE is a fast drying lubricant and bore treatment that bonds to metal, protecting against friction and wear. BP2000 POWDER is pure powdered lubricant with a natural bonding affinity for metal. BP2000 is great for trigger jobs and fine-tuning bores, bolts and slides. When used with SMOOTH-KOTE, friction is reduced by as much as 20%, compared to oil. HI-SLIP GREASE is a synthetic blend containing the finest solid lubricants available. It lubricates and protects from -650 F to the hottest desert temperatures, and resists water wash-off. It prevents galling of all metals including titanium, even under extreme conditions and high load.
Prices for Sentry products:
- Marine TUF-CLOTH: $9.95
- TUF-GLIDE: $8.95
- SMOOTH-KOTE: $8.95
- HI-SLIP GREASE: $7.95
- BP2000 Powder: $8.95
- Shipping & handling on any single item above is $8.00 and does not increse for additional items unless weight exceeds 12 oz. in which case it has to go via priority mail. No extra S&H on any single item ordered with a SmartCarry® holster.
Bright Sights
The BEST way to improve your score on the range is to improve your sight picture, and nothing does it as well as Bright Sights! These high visibility paints are really plastic and have the ability to expand and contract with the gun metal - no more chipping, cracking or flaking off and you don't have to repaint your sights every time you leave the range! The best applicator for Bright Sights is a wooden toothpick, after you've cleaned the area to be painted with mineral spirits. Standard Bright Sights come in white, yellow, red, green and orange while Ghost Glow is available in yellow, white, green and orange.
Prices for Bright Sights are $4.95 for standard and $6.95 for Ghost Glow. Ghost Glow is a light activated paint which will glow in the dark for approximately 2 to 3 hours after being exposed to a bright light for 2 to 3 minutes. Shipping and Handling is $8.00 for a single bottle of paint, no additional charge for additional bottles. No extra S&H on any items ordered with a SmartCarry® holster unless weight exceeds 12 oz. which has to ship via priority mail. Click on the image to go to the Bright Sights website.
ACE Car Holsters
These are the three sizes of the ACE car holsters, small, medium and large. Note that the retaining straps (also made of Velcro® hook & loop) are designed to go over the rear of the firearm and do a great job of keeping them in the holster. But this design allows you to draw through the straps without losing time unfastening them, and this really speeds up the draw considerably. Note that the adhesive mounting strip that comes with each holster is sized for the holster size it is packed with. But if you purchase an extra adhesive strip, like the one shown in the lower left corner of the picture, the strip must be large enough to accommodate the largest holster made. If you're purchasing the strip for a small or medium holster, it's obvious that you can cut it in half and get two mounting strips for the price of one! When ordering a car holster, simply specify the firearm it will be used with and we'll send you the correct size holster. The holsters come with a strip of Velcro® hook material with adhesive on the rear surface. Since the holster is constructed of Velcro® loop material, it will hold the weight of my 48 ounce M1911A-1 in an inverted position (large size holster). The adhesive will adhere to any material except cloth (like some automobile upholstery), in which case a drop of Super Glue must be added to each corner and in the center of the adhesive pad. Just make sure you have the adhesive pad positioned correctly before you press it on the surface, because you won't get a second chance! It is the "adhesive from hell!"
Shown in this large car holster is Charlie's 1911 with the straps fastened behind the hammer. Since the bottom of the holsters are open, barrel length on revolvers presents no problem, as the end of longer barrels will simply protrude through the end of the holster. We sell the extra adhesive strips (one is shown at the center left of this picture in front of the holster) for $3.00 so you can mount a holster in more than one location. The strip allows you to remove the holster when you leave your vehicle, boat or business and wear the holster on your belt, as each holster comes with a belt clip that can be transferred from the left to right side of the holster. All holster sizes are $19.95 plus $8.00 S&H. If ordered with a SmartCarry® concealed carry holster, there is no additional S&H on a single item. If ordered alone $8.00 S&H, no additional S&H for additional holsters unless weight exceed 12 oz., no S&H for adhesive strips ordered with a holster.
