Paintball Pistol Holster Buying Guide

Picking the right paintball pistol holster is crucial to your game. I am going to review some pro's and con's about some of the paintball pistol holsters on the market today, and my personal paintball pistol holster for when I had dual pistols.

Comfort

Comfort is important when you are choosing a paintball pistol holster. Depending on your body type and how much running you plan to do, a holster can be quite a hindrance. If you run a lot, don't expect to be comfortable. If you don't run so much you won't notice it as much.

Trying to find the perfect holster can be tricky. It's also hard to buy online since you do not know EXACTLY how well the marker will fit in the holster.

Functionality

What makes you want to get a holster? Is the pistol a backup to your primary marker? Do you want to carry extra magazines? What method do you want to use to draw your paintball pistol?

Don't buy a paintball pistol holster with all of the bells and whistles if you don't need them. Remember to go as light as possible. Standard paintball pistols are not small, they are actually quite large in comparison to a normal hand gun. The more weight you add to your holster the larger and more difficult it becomes to be agile.

Release

Ok, here is something to think about. You just bought your paintball pistol. You want to buy a holster to not only make carrying it more comfortable but also to protect it from paintballs.

There are various types of paintball pistol holster releases. One that you will not find very often is a Thumb Break this release option allows you to draw your pistol by breaking a snap strap and drawing your marker. As efficient as this is to draw your marker, it does not provide much protection coverage for your pistol. What if you went to draw your pistol and the bolt had a paintball stuck in it from when you were being shot at the last game? or Dirt from when you slid into that bunker? Beware of paintball pistol holsters that do not cover your marker!

Another type of release is Velcro or a snap flap. This release takes a little more time to draw your marker but offers full protection in case you fall on the sand.

The key point is to try to protect your marker so it's ready when you need it.

All the Bling

So you found your holster of choice, you need to consider how you are going to reload the paintball pistol. Are you going to use 10 round tubes or does this type of pistol use proprietary magazines that you want to carry?

This can be a hard decision to make as you might not have played with the pistol yet. Personally I don't see the need to use spare spring mags for pistols, I think that they are cumbersome and fragile to carry in your pocket (I dropped a spring tube mag on the ground once and the slider got stuck after that.) I have been using ten round tubes and can reload my pistol as fast as someone can change a spring mag.

You might want to consider a method to carry your 12 grams so they don't jingle around in your pocket. I used to carry one 12gram in each pocket I had so they would not hit each other when I ran. When they bump each other they can be quite loud.

Dual Wield Paintball Pistols

There used to be a company called Cops911 that made high quality paintball pistol holsters. Sadly it seems they have gone out of business. They made a back holster for 2 paintball pistols.

However if you are playing 2 pistol paintball then there are a few options for you. I had a Cops911 tactical paintbal pistol holster for my right leg. This was used to keep my second pistol. I carried my primary Zeus that I modified slightly to be reloaded faster and had a laser sight on it.

So many times I would get comments for playing with a pistol, positive and negative (more positive) many times players would come up to me and say "Man that's cool, it would make it so much better if you had another pistol for your other hand!" Without saying anything I would pull up the side of my BDU coat and show them the second pistol in the tactical holster. Immediately their jaws would drop and they would say that they want me to be on their team.

Paintball pistols have always amazed me, There are so many different takes on them, from the AGD Sydarm to the PGP I find it thrilling!

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