About a year ago, during what had become regular conversations about IWB holsters, their design, and the role they play in everyday real life concealment, Lou Alessi mentioned that he had a new IWB holster and that he would like to send me a prototype for my evaluation. Never one to turn down good gunleather I of course quickly jumped at the chance.
About a week later when the rig arrived I was immediately impressed with what Lou had described as sort of a revamped and slimmed down version of his Hideout IWB, itself an updated version of the original Seventrees UNS. Those familiar with the aforementioned holsters will easily recognize the large leather body that extends around the detail-molded outline of the pistol. Both the UNS and the Hideout have a longstanding following among many a knowledgeable gunman due to the advantage in concealability and the extra comfort many feel the enlarged holster body provides. I have one of Lou’s Hideout rigs for my S&W M29 and it has proven itself to be as comfortable as an N-frame can be stuffed into ones trousers.
As I looked over the prototype rig I recalled my initial conversation with Lou during which he had described to me a
truly new design that didn’t require a reinforced mouth band in order to keep the holster open once the gun was withdrawn. I think Lou’s words were something to the effect of “the holster, mechanically, cannot collapseâ€. After wearing and testing the prototype PCH for a short bit I showed the rig to my pal Steve Bailey of Yost-Bonitz Custom during a visit to Phoenix. Steve was immediately impressed with the comfort and concealability of the PCH and I left the rig with him to use while working his day job as a full time LEO. Steve’s thoughts about the holster may be found
here. After arriving back home I ordered another PCH to replace the prototype Steve had now latched on to and since receiving my production version of the holster I have been doing my best to beat this holster to oblivion, what follows is my conclusion.
I have used, tried out, and/or tested a great many IWB holsters and throughout the years my continual favorite had always been the Sparks Summer Special. I always appreciated the simplicity and pure functionality of the S/S. Things like the high ride, reinforced mouth, split-loop mounting system, draw speed, and overall comfort of the S/S had always kept me coming back. I had become quite used to the familiarity of the S/S and quite frankly it was a bit hard for me to transition to a new rig but I was eager to see what the PCH was made of and I had decided to see how much the rig could take and how well it could perform under a variety of conditions and environments. During the following months I did my best to forsake all of my other holsters limiting myself to using only the PCH. This PCH, by the way, was modified a bit from the standard production model, as Lou was kind enough to omit the body protector for me.
As of this writing I have now been using the PCH for almost a full year, to include the time I spent with the original prototype. I have worn the holster exclusively on an Alessi belt with two spares on my support side. This rig has now been used in 4 classes to include a rifle and pistol school at FAS, Jeff Gonzales’ CP-1, and just recently a High Intensity Tactics course at Thunder Ranch Oregon. I have also used this rig during my regular training regiment and also as it is intended as a daily wear concealment rig. I have worn the rig under as much concealment as a heavy jacket or vest and with as little as a short-sleeved T-shirt as well as with and without concealable body armor, all without any complaints about the comfort and/or accessibility of this holster. To say this holster has lived up to my expectations would be an understatement.
And I haven’t been gentle with the rig either. The holster has maintained a steady diet of grounded drills as well as being used as a platform to reciprocate the slide during one-handed operations. I have lain on the empty rig on various occasions during both training and just to see if I could make it collapse. Short of pounding on the rig with a hammer or smashing it in my vise, I have attempted to force the rig closed though about every realistic method I could, all to no avail. With the design of the PCH, Lou “bunches†the leather at the front of the holster during the molding process to create a sort of “compound arc†that will not flatter under tension or pressure. The fold at the front of the holster aids the rig to stay open as it is pushed away from ones body by the hip. The natural action of pushing the fold outwards as one wears the rig forces the back of the holster to stiffen a bit and that creates the tension that helps the arc hold its form and thus keeps the mouth of the holster open and accessible. Additionally, the bunching of the leather that keeps the holster open also forms a sight track so there is no need for the traditional stitched sight rails.
Throughout the last year the PCH has also proven to be one of the most stable and concealable IWB holsters I have ever used. Many people have read, been told, or otherwise lead astray that a holster with belt loops placed directly over the holster body is somehow less stable than other designs utilizing fore and aft belt loops. While every design certainly has pros and cons I can attest to the stability of this rig provided not only by the belt loops but also the leather tab that extends forward of the holster body. Having used this rig during a variety of rigorous conditions under various levels of concealment I can say without questions the stability of this holster is as good, if not better, than any design available on the market today. Period.
But the leather tab on the front of the holster body has yet another function, concealment. Once the belt is cinched tight, many IWB holsters achieve the majority of the concealment by pulling the butt of the gun tight to the trunk of the users body as the holster rotates on the vertical axis of the bore. And while the PCH also does this the leather tab extending forward off the front of the holster also forces the rig to rotate on the horizontal axis provided by the belt causing not only the butt of the gun to tuck closely to ones side but also the top of the slide/sights, an area that can be a concealment problem for many but is often overlooked. The result is a holster that does a better job of hiding a full size gun than any other IWB I have ever used, all while not limiting the draw speed or access to the pistol with either ones strong side or support side hand.
In an everyday role the enhanced concealability I found the PCH to have made it possible for me to hide a full sized handgun more efficiently on a day-to-day basis. Worn under a proper fitting T-shirt the signature of the grip many find to be a stumbling block of everyday concealment is no longer an issue. And for those who carry “key-chain†1911s or the like the PCH will make the gun virtually undetectable.
Over the last year the PCH has become my most favored IWB holster and my daily companion, at first as a sort of test and now easily by choice. The PCH has proven as durable as one would expect any product bearing the Alessi name and (if only by a small margin) even more so concealable than any other IWB holster I’ve ever used. After all that I have done to the PCH, not only as a daily wear holster but also for the sake of “testingâ€, I can say without question if one wishes to own a durable, stable, fast on presentation, and
incredibly concealable IWB the PCH will easily fit the bill.
And now, as if it weren’t good enough already, the PCH has now gotten a bit better, in my opinion at least.
After wearing the rig for 6 months or so I had only one area that I found could be improved and after talking it out with Lou he just recently made me another PCH with this accommodation. I found the only area of the holster that “printed†for me were the snaps on the ends of the belt loops. It seems the extra “bulk†of the snaps was a bit much for some concealment garments (read relatively tight fitting T-shirts). And while I always advocate one dress around the gun I found that if there were a split belt loop sewn directly to the holster body the PCH could become an even more concealable rig.
Lou was kind enough to get me one last week just before I left for TR and as I expected the sewn loops eliminated the only
small source of “bulk†the PCH had. Even in the short time I’ve had the modified PCH the sewn loops have proven a very worthwhile modification.
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I would say that he had the sense to pick good parents and his role models well.....unless we count that Stokes fella.... 
