Crossbreed Holster Problem?

AOTAC · Mar 1, 2017

Hello NWFA,

To my surprise, when I went to put on my Crossbreed holster a few days ago, I noticed a few small cracks in the kydex. I took the photo below. After that I wore the holster the rest of the weekend and the crack continued growing until it completely broke away from the top rivet.

Just return it, right? The problem is I purchased it off Crossbreedseconds.com. At the time I purchased, I swore they came with the same Manufacture Warranty as the new models. It applied only to manufacturing defects and I'm not certain this qualifies. Does kydex weaken with age? Are there varying thicknesses of kydex within the different models? Mine is the mini tuck version.

Yes, I've owned this holster for a few years. My disappointment lies in the fact that the holster has been used only on the rarest occasions. By occasionally, I mean 0-5 times per month as I find OWB to be the most comfortable for me. I loved this product. It was by far the most comfortable IWB holster I've used and I've told a lot of people about it at the local range, the guys at competition as well as on the forums... now I'm afraid I'm second guessing myself. Has anyone else encountered cracking issues with the Crossbreed holsters?

I'll contact Crossbreed and follow up, but for now I find myself in the market for a new IWB holster. I'm certain mine is no longer safe for use.

SFGIANTSGUY28 · Mar 1, 2017

Best bet is to contact them. They seem to be a reputable company and should take care of you. on a side note i saw that Cabelas has a giant wall of crossbreed holsters now. These used to be hard to get/ long wait time. not a fan of the hybrid though. I have never had an issue with my full kydex holsters cracking, but they are plastic so it is not out of the realm of the material.

DirectDrive · Mar 1, 2017

Hopefully Crossbreed takes care of you.

If I was shopping for that type of holster, I'd give Alien Gear a look...
Best IWB Holster | Inside the Waistband | AlienGearHolsters

AOTAC · Mar 2, 2017

I've been using an inexpensive full kydex OWB for over a year now. Unlike the IWB, it sees daily, hard use: it has inadvertently body checked things, rolled over upon while wrestling, caught on doors(and ruined some clothing in the process), but it's never showed any sign of cracking. It leads me to think it was maybe just a bad batch of kydex. I'll let you know what they say about it.

DirectDrive · Mar 2, 2017

FatherHolyHoly said:
I've been using an inexpensive full kydex OWB for over a year now. Unlike the IWB, it sees daily, hard use: it has inadvertently body checked things, rolled over upon while wrestling, caught on doors(and ruined some clothing in the process), but it's never showed any sign of cracking. It leads me to think it was maybe just a bad batch of kydex. I'll let you know what they say about it.

Be sure to use your forum name in all correspondence so that they will know who they are dealing with.

Cameron72 · Mar 2, 2017

I have two supertucks with no issues. They are three years old.

AOTAC · Mar 2, 2017

As I suspected, there is no warranty associated with the products on Crossbreedseconds.com. They told me that a number of factors can be responsible for the cracking of the kydex. It is not a manufacturing defect. Age, use, certain guns with sharper edges rubbing on kydex, body shape, where the holster is worn, etc. can all factor into this. Crossbreed said they've seen holsters come back cracked anywhere from 6 months to 6 years.

A few years of light use is more than I expect out of a $45 dollar holster. My mistake was purchasing a "Second" and I would caution anyone against it. Had I purchased a factory new model for $70, I'd have a free holster. One that's going to break again in two years.

That said, I am no longer a fan of Crossbreed holsters. I think a lot of it has to do with manufacturing the kydex in an effort to be as thin as possible. While thin is good, cracks are obviously not.

Thanks for suggesting the Alien. I've never heard of them but I chatted with someone from the webstore today. I asked how thick the kydex was and they said they use a material called boltron, I believe. They claim it's not as brittle as kydex. Since it rhymes with Voltron, one can only expect good things. The leather IWB is most comparable to the crossbreed and rings in at less than half the price of one (for my pistol). Best of all, it comes with a lifetime replacement warranty. Now I just have to decide if the neoprene is worth the $10 upgrade. Any experience with this would be greatly appreciated.

DirectDrive · Mar 2, 2017

No experience with Alien but I knew that they get great reviews and their IWB is very similar to Crossbreed and maybe even a little more developed.
In fact to the casual observer it looks like Alien is going straight after some Crossbreed market share.

A lot of nice Kydex holsters around but not many are tuckable.
A nice feature, even if you don't use it all of the time.

Standing by for your review of the Alien Gear IWB !

Edit:
Some Kydex holster companies sell just the Kydex shell for converting to different pistol models.
You might be able to re-use the Crossbreed backer using one of these shells.

AOTAC · Mar 2, 2017

I did see the shells on their website but never thought about why. Sure enough, they're removable. Nice, considering I may be interested in carrying a different primary one day.

edit: It gets better. They'll swap out your old shell with a new one of your choice for life.