SERPA holster Negligent Discharge

Never under estimate the power of someone in a freaking hurry to get on target. I have these holsters and have used them for a while. I have seen kids use them in airsoft with AS handguns.......... and yes they did the "finger straight into the trigger guard" from the holster retention release. When used as intended it isn't an issue, when used without engaging the safety between the ears.............. there can be issues. (I get your point and it is a good one)
 
I've used them for years as well, and due to the reported issue I probably practice my draw from them way more often than any other holster.
I'd never noticed a potential issue before I heard all the hype, but paid close attention afterwards. I still like them!
 
fieldgrade said:
Unless somebody goes hands-on with do-bads on a daily basis I don’t know why somebody would want to carry in a Serpa.

Aren’t the Safariland ALS and GLS much better options?
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I like the Serpa and the ALS. I prefer the ALS for most things.
 
fieldgrade said:
Unless somebody goes hands-on with do-bads on a daily basis I don’t know why somebody would want to carry in a Serpa.

Aren’t the Safariland ALS and GLS much better options?
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I’ve used all 3, the ALS and Sera the most, and the GLS is like a next generation Serpa to me. However, I found that the Serpa forces you to have a good trigger finger index, something I appreciate. That said, I sold my Serpa and won’t buy another.
 
fieldgrade said:
Unless somebody goes hands-on with do-bads on a daily basis I don’t know why somebody would want to carry in a Serpa.

Aren’t the Safariland ALS and GLS much better options?
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And to clarify, I owned one, even wore it to a three gun match some years ago.

Just not a fan at all and I start twitching a little if I’m running a new shooter at a match and that’s how they’re holstered.
 
I had a Serpa as my first holster. Used it with a Beretta 92. Never really seemed like a problem (at the time) given the heavy trigger on that gun. I eventually took a class where the instructor talked crap about them for the whole two days. He said he knew a guy that had his lock up and not release his gun. That scared me out of using any holster with a mechanical latch.
 
Timfoilhat said:
I had a Serpa as my first holster. Used it with a Beretta 92. Never really seemed like a problem (at the time) given the heavy trigger on that gun. I eventually took a class where the instructor talked crap about them for the whole two days. He said he knew a guy that had his lock up and not release his gun. That scared me out of using any holster with a mechanical latch.
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Seen it once.

We were shooting under and around things. The ground was small rocks, like smooth river rocks, anyhow one got in the depression area of the finger release. This prevented the lock to be unlocked.
 
I’ve seen 2 of them lock up from debris. Admittedly we were doing heavy improvised shooting position drills from the ground. And the students spent a lot of time going from side to side. I’ve got a couple I use for demonstrations but not for defensive carry. I like the ergonomics of the ALS better. Just wish the ALS had more weapon mounted light options.
 
Whenever I've put my hands on a Serpa I'm just stunned that they've sold so many of them. To me it appears cheaply made and flimsy. It feels like a toy.
They seem to sell/hover in the $25 range. These holsters are right up Wal Marts alley (WM carries Blackhawk) so I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the numbers sold.

Full disclosure; I'm a Safariland fanboy. Maybe I've just chosen wisely but I have yet to get a bad Safariland holster and I have 6 or 7 of them. From leather pancakes, ALS, QLS, leather/kydex hybrids with and without mechanical retention...they make a damn good product. Innovative and built tough. So these become my standard to which I compare all others. I'm not knocking what anyone prefers, but sorry the Serpa just isn't in the same league build-wise.

And an in-house plug for our own @chiefjason. OWB leather pancakes are my default favorite and I have 3 of his. Another top-flight maker.
 
I was in no way promoting the holster. Just simply showing it isn't the gears fault a guy (several probably) was running faster than he could safely operate his gear and as seen in the slow motion of his own video he releases the pistol and his bugger picker is off the release and directly onto the trigger pulling it before clearing his body.
 
These holsters suffer from a fundamental design flaw, there's no solid reason to use one with the other options on the market.
The button is horribly placed and lends itself to accidents just by the way it's designed. Sure you could train around it, but that only minimizes the risk. why roll the dice while trying to train around the poorly designed lock when you could simply avoid it all together? Just makes no sense. The shear number of people who've shot themselves with these holsters makes it obvious that these holsters are a poor choice for the real world and heavy use. I'd rather go without a locking mech and run a holster with tightened retention than risk shooting myself.

but hey, that's just my opinion, and some may disagree, which is fine, just be sure to carry a TQ with ya.
 
Mike79 said:
Video has almost 9K views and I'm now labeled as "racist" for the term ghetto thugs 😳 😑 😐 🙄
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That'll teach you to carelessly make a valid point.

About the holster, not the ghetto thugs.

Tho I gotta say, I ain't crazy about people using the phrase (overly loaded etc), but nor am I impressed by those who want to nitpick phrases not obviously used in a racist context as if that was the point.


To distract from the real point which is: SERPA is as dangerous as it's user.

If any action that leads up to an AD/ND leads to the conclusion that it SHALL NOT be done, how many of ya'll know people who would claim cleaning a gun was irresponsible?


Uh huh. And it was a tragic accident when she mistook her husband for a 10-pt too....
 
Based on how many have AD/ND's while "cleaning their guns", gun cleaning should be banned or mandatory gun cleaning safety classes should be required.

Whenever I hear about an incident while "cleaning my gun", I substitute "doing something stupid with my gun".
 
BadWagon said:
These holsters suffer from a fundamental design flaw, there's no solid reason to use one with the other options on the market.
The button is horribly placed and lends itself to accidents just by the way it's designed. Sure you could train around it, but that only minimizes the risk. why roll the dice while trying to train around the poorly designed lock when you could simply avoid it all together? Just makes no sense. The shear number of people who've shot themselves with these holsters makes it obvious that these holsters are a poor choice for the real world and heavy use. I'd rather go without a locking mech and run a holster with tightened retention than risk shooting myself.

but hey, that's just my opinion, and some may disagree, which is fine, just be sure to carry a TQ with ya.
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Does anybody have the actual number of people that shot themselves? Just curious. I have been using one daily for 10 years and I seem to be doing fine.
 
I think there are a ton of various styles of holsters out there where many, if not most folks have never used them “under stress”. This is where my biggest concern is.

Shooting defensive pistol matches and/or just running timed drills where one needs to beat a specific “par time” (read: “deadline”) like The Wizard drill will display weaknesses in certain guns and gear that just never present themselves in routine carry, or just trips to the range.

You may do or have done the things I mentioned and have acclimated yourself to the Serpa holster, but I’d hazard a guess that most folks using a Serpa have probably not.

I carried in a Galco pocket holster for a fairly long time till I ran The Wizard drill and found myself drawing so quickly to try and beat the par time that the holster was still on the gun when I’d present it to the target. I wouldn’t have shot myself, but if that had occurred in an actual defensive scenario I might as well have been presenting a hammer to an armed assailant.

The buzz of a shot timer, or an actual threat, just causes adrenaline to sky rocket, and IQ to plummet.

I’ve caused my guns and gear do more stupid crap while shooting on the clock than I ever would have imagined had I not gotten involved in defensive style pistol matches. Most all of it human error. I like to incrementally remove as many of those potential stumbling blocks to a safe and effective draw as I can.

Regarding a Serpa, it only took shooting my first match with a Serpa to discover one of the weaknesses. There was no ND, but I found myself struggling with the holster at the buzzer. Of course the primary concern being the operator’s trigger finger on the holster’s release button, and that button’s proximity to the trigger when trying to draw in a hurry.

I can afford to retire a $30 holster in favor of one that has less likelihood of unintended consequences.
 
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The idea of an affordable retention holster for open carrying is great. Lets just set the ND theory aside. If you think in 2024 ghetto thugs don’t know how to get a handgun out of one those holsters you’re a fool.
 
All holsters, like everything that was, is or every will be, has it's pro's and con's.

If a SERPA failed under specific conditions, like in a situation where for some reason you are expecting to be belly crawling along a riverbed....or rolling in the mud....or whatever is required to get enough...debris... to block a nearly free swinging panel with generous clearance around the entire thing, well I'm not surprised.

Sound to me like a poor choice of equipment for the "mission" as I can only assume that a situation like that rarely happens to any of us "non-operator", mere mortals.

To condemn the device because someone(s) has difficulty using their index finger for any function other than pulling when its in proximity to a trigger, seems a bit unfair.
 
commiecuriocollector said:
To condemn the device because someone(s) has difficulty using their index finger for any function other than pulling when its in proximity to a trigger, seems a bit unfair.
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The trouble is, at their price point, and resulting availability in so many big box and gun stores, they become the choice of novices.
 
fieldgrade said:
The trouble is, at their price point, and resulting availability in so many big box and gun stores, they become the choice of novices.
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Well I don't disagree there, but the bigger problem with novices and this threads particular topic.....

is their handling of their gun.

And of course this constant refrain by operators that "we don't allow those things here!" makes me wonder who is having more AD/NDs, novices or......

It's always the equipment that failed. That's all I am saying.
 
commiecuriocollector said:
Well I don't disagree there, but the bigger problem with novices and this threads particular topic.....

is their handling of their gun.

And of course this constant refrain by operators that "we don't allow those things here!" makes me wonder who is having more AD/NDs, novices or......

It's always the equipment that failed. That's all I am saying.
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I have a long held supicion that most NDs happen to inexperienced or very experienced people - the first don't know any better and the second stopped paying attention.
 
I had several SERPAs when they were new/popular. They were fast to draw from and fast and easy to re-holster (often overlooked by folks just going to the range) if you went hands on. They were our department's choice for CID and plain clothes for a few years, but went out of favor. I did have one of mine jam momentarily on a piece of stick/twig...not even sure how it got in there but it did. I nor my agency ever had a known ND from them, but the product advisory that came out about them was pretty much their demise with us.
 
I bought one for an M&P 9EZ for my wife because it was the only thing I could lay hands on that day. She used it for awhile when in the woods without complaint. One day we went hiking and I was carrying her pistol in that holster. About halfway up the hill, I felt something hit my right foot. I looked back, and the magazine had fallen out. When I re holstered it, I realized that the holster itself was hitting the mag release on the pistol. Excellent design. I think I have a video somewhere.
 
Sigogglin said:
I bought one for an M&P 9EZ for my wife because it was the only thing I could lay hands on that day. She used it for awhile when in the woods without complaint. One day we went hiking and I was carrying her pistol in that holster. About halfway up the hill, I felt something hit my right foot. I looked back, and the magazine had fallen out. When I re holstered it, I realized that the holster itself was hitting the mag release on the pistol. Excellent design. I think I have a video somewhere.
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I had a couple kydex holsters made back when people first started selling them on the net that would do that.
 
Sigogglin said:
I bought one for an M&P 9EZ for my wife because it was the only thing I could lay hands on that day. She used it for awhile when in the woods without complaint. One day we went hiking and I was carrying her pistol in that holster. About halfway up the hill, I felt something hit my right foot. I looked back, and the magazine had fallen out. When I re holstered it, I realized that the holster itself was hitting the mag release on the pistol. Excellent design. I think I have a video somewhere.
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yeah that's def bad design. i doubt this was your problem, but as a side note i will also mention that i have had trouble occasionally with various holsters and Glock extended mag releases not playing well together, enough that i have virtually quit using them.
 
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