Browning Hi-Power Holster

Another holster to review.  Again, from Craft Holsters, which is based I have no idea where, but the holsters seem to be Italian made and ship from Slovakia.  This is the only big win of globalization (which was really only a bad idea because of China).  This is for my Browning Hi-Power, a gun that I have not carried since I lived in California and had to traverse the Tenderloin on the way to the Hastings School of Law Library.*  As usual, it is beautiful leather:

 

It is a tight fit; I am not sure what deranged kung fu fighting would dislodge my Browning from this holster.  (Of course if you such an athletic fighter, you might never need to draw; at least outside the movie universe.)  Yet it is not so tight that it would be a slow draw.  They included a break-in kit, which is an oil intended to soften the leather to produce a fit that more exactly fits the gun.  No need for it with my gun and holster, but a nice touch; there are variations from gun to gun, and holster to holster, and even variations from owner to owner of how tight the fit should be.

The muzzle end of the holster has a drain hole, or so I assume this is its purpose:

because you never know whether your night on the town or day at the office might require a sudden swim.

How well does it conceal?  For a service-sized pistol, I would say adequately.  Wearing my professorial sport coat:

Yes, there is a very slight bulge, but you need to know to look for it.  Unless you already suspected that I might be armed, you would almost certainly not realize it.  Of course, concealed carry in much of a America is a social nicety, like not blowing your nose into your hand and wiping it on the wall.  (Wait, this has recently changed.)  Bad guys who are not completely out to lunch (both of them!) should assume that almost any adult might be armed.

The break snap strap at first seemed like it might be wrongly positioned for its purpose, but with a little use, everything worked into shape and position.  Most snap break straps for semiautos are intended both to provide retention and fit between hammer and firing pin.  Back before firing pin safeties became the industry norm, this was a good but perhaps paranoid good idea, although the circumstances under which you will hit the ground hard enough for the sear to let go without a trigger pull seem implausible, except if you are rappelling down a line and lose it the last 20 feet.  (Fortunately, few of us live in Hollywood movies, where this might be an issue.)

This is a right hand holster, I should have requested left hand, but in practice most OWB right hand holsters can be reversed and used as a left hand cross draw holster, and this is no exception.