Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Yaqui Slide Holsters?

Anybody using a "Yaqui Slide" style holster for a full-size 1911 or Commander? If so, what brand do you have and how do you like it? I'm considering one for my LW Commander.

I dont have one, I never liked the idea of having my gun exposed, I bump into and brush up against way too many things.

I have one made by Milt Sparks, when he was in Idaho City, Idaho. It is excellent quality.

I think it is very useful for certain types of carry. If you are working in a store, etc., where you are on your feet most of the day, or any other job such as that that does not require any real physical labor, the Yaqui Slide is perfect.

If, however, you're up and down in a chair at a desk or counter, etc., then there is the possibility of having the arm rest hitting the muzzle and dislodging your pistol. Gotta be careful sitting down.

If you're involved in physical labor, lots of up and down, side ways movement, and use of arms, the Yaqui Slide is not a good choice, in my opinion.

L.W.

Have a Galco, not worth the money. I purchased it for a 1911 with a rail that I couldn't find a holster for. +1, doesn't protect the firearm, but will do in an emergency.

Yaqui Belt Slide by Milt Sparks (of Idaho City, Idaho); been wearing mine since 1976. Jeff Cooper turned me on to the belt slide in 1975/76 and that has been my preferred mode of carry for the 1911 ever since. I've also carried a CZ 75, a S&W Mod. 39, and a Star PD in Yaqui Belt Slides with no problems. That said, it is probably not the ideal holster out in the boonies where, depending on what you are doing, either a full flap holster or possibly a modified Threepersons holster would be a better choice.

I have one I carry for work with my Sig 229. I have a rubber o ring that goes over my trigger and retains the pistol.

Most comfortable holster I have. Especially in hot weather

Er... I'm having difficulty visualizing how that O-ring thing works...

But I will agree that the Yaqui Belt Slide is incredibly comfortable.

Run both DeSantis and Galco; they work very well.

There's your problem with the Yaqui slide.

Not designed to "protect" the firearm; just keep it on your belt and accessible.

I carry 1911's, .38 snubbies and Keltecs in belt slides. I have Galco and Bianchi.

For urban carry, I love 'em.

I have had a galco yaqui slide for quite a few years, good holster, and galco is not very far from where i live. Having said that, I remember spending all day on a quad on time wearing it, and just about had to put the pistol in the clothes washer to get all the dust/dirt off it. They are a good holster, but the comment about usage was correct.

No disagreement at all. It's not what it's designed for.

And, yeah, for a quad ride, it'd not be what one would call "appropriate".

I was awarded a Milt Sparks Yaqui Slide at the 1979 US IPSC Nationals and wouldn't part with it. Having said that however, it has some flaws compared to other designs IMO. It's the perfect holster if used as the Col did---i.e. if you're teaching a class or running a range where you'll need access with some frequency, fairly good retention but no need for great speed. The problems are (IMO) that if you shoot your handgun much, you'll wind up with carbon, etc. from the muzzle on your pants if you have geater-than-anorexic hips. Someone earlier mentioned that the muzzle can hit the arms on chairs when you sit down and unseat the handgun from the holster. That seems like a vague, unlikely thing to have happen......until you wear one. The last time that I wore mine was last week. I wore it under an elastic bottomed wind-shirt while carrying a commander length Wesson V-bob. The elastic shirt bottom fit nicely under the bottom of the muzzle and concealment was good, but I hit the muzzle 3 or 4 times when sitting down at my desk. It wasn't a huge deal, but still it was annoying. I have a very old S&W belt strap holster which I had prior to the Yaqui slide. The problem with it is that if you tighten your belt, you tighten the retention of the gun in the holster. I used to think of that as a design flaw, but now consider it an advantage--it keeps the grip closer to the body than the Yaqui slide and you can make the gun more secure if you need to by just cinching down your belt. One nice thing about either design is that you can take the gun out of the holster and go anywhere non-concealed and no one knows that what you're wearing is a holster.

Also used the Milot Sparks for years....works well!

I was just on the Milt Sparks website and see that they no longer offer their original design Yaqui Belt Slide holster. I'm not sure if you could special order one (doubtful) but it might be worth a try.

In all honesty I had never considered the few faults mentioned, probably because they fall outside my use of the Milt Sparks YBS; because I am not repeatedly drawing, firing, and re-holstering my gun during the day "soot smudges" on my trousers have never been an issue. My pistol has never been dislodged from the holster by catching it on the arm of a chair, and likewise my pistol has never drawn attention to itself by thumping on the pew at church. Is it the fastest to-draw-from-holster that money can buy? I doubt it, but then if I was entering a fast draw competition I'd wear a totally different rig.

What it does, it does well-- if not perfectly according to the lights of every shooter on the planet. It allows one to carry a full-size semi-automatic pistol comfortably in an OWB holster. It conceals as well as any other OWB holster and, in my opinion, it's better because when worn without a pistol, it doesn't look like a holster.

Is it for everybody, in every situation? No. It's probably not the best choice for running your motorcycle in the Baja 1000, or performing as a trapeze artist with Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus. But for everyday, outside the waistband carry, it's hard to beat it.

My experience is the same as the others who mentioned the bottom portions of their guns getting banged up a lot when using belt slide type holsters. For heavy outdoor activity there also is the risk of barrel plugging. Mine are at the bottom of the holster bin gathering dust.

That's just the point I was making... the belt slide was never intended to be an outdoor adventure holster, just like a Ferrari was never intended to be an off road vehicle. The Yaqui was developed as an OWB concealed carry holster. Used as such it's fine. But if put to applications for which it was never intended its shortcomings will be obvious.

It's not just outdoors. Sitting down in office chairs and in vehicles (for right handed people at least) beats the gun up. I suppose if you don't do either of those it would work OK.

I carry a Hi Power in a Yaqui belt holster because the IWB holsters aren't comfortable for me. Its great but I have to wear dark pants and a black belt so no one notices it

That was I who mentioned it first, I believe.

When I was at Gunsite many years ago (April, 1981), the first morning of classes, Jeff Cooper came in wearing his Colt Govt. Model in a Yaqui Slide. I asked him about it and he explained to us in the class the advantages and disadvntages of it. He said then that when sitting down in a chair with arms, the wearer had to be careful to not let the muzzle hit the arm as it could dislodge the pistol.

At times, depending on circumstances, I still use the one I bought from Milt Sparks long ago... but I damned sure am careful when I sit down in a chair with arms.

L.W.