If you’re a fan of leather holsters, you’re going to like the Craft Holsters Lynx. The handcrafted leather IWB comes with a lot of features to recommend it. It’s not perfect, but it’s an excellent option for concealed carry.
The Lynx features two pieces of high-quality, polished leather contrast stitched together and molded into the shape of each gun. In my case, it’s the Smith & Wesson 9 mm Shield, my EDC for the past five years. The inside of the leather pouch is sueded for softness to reduce marring and scratching of the slide. Through repeated draws and reholsters, the Shield didn’t get a single mark or scuff, and the leather began to shape itself even better to the gun that the factory mold provided.
One of the biggest complaints about leather holsters, and one I have noticed over the years of reviewing many brands and models, is the propensity to squeeze shut when the gun is removed during carry. This is less the fault of manufacturing and more a byproduct of leather’s intrinsic properties. It’s soft. And it needs to be for other reasons, such as anti-scuffing and shaping better to the gun.
But it also means you’re constantly fighting the holster when putting the gun away, especially as the holster gets older and more broken in. To counter this tendency as much as possible, Craft added a small second leather triangle near the top, where it peeks out from the waistband. It helps, but this is still a leather holster. So if you’re concerned about this, you might want to switch to Kydex.
One outstanding feature of this holster is the shape of the trigger guard. The other big complaint about leather holsters is the danger if the leather goes soft around the trigger guard, causing the leather to cave in and interfere with the trigger when reholstering, resulting in an accidental discharge. The Lynx’s design prevents this safety hazard yet offers good retention.
The holster is held onto the belt by two leather straps and snaps. The snaps are solid and held great all day with no issues, yet they were easy to take on and off when appropriate. If you like to mess with ride height, you can easily change the strap positions with the hex key screws inside the snaps. Simply move the front and back straps independently into any of the three pre-drilled holes to change the angle and height.
One option Craft offers that not a lot of their competitors do is monogramming. For only $8, you can add up to three letters — presumably your initials — for embossing on the front. Or if you just want a non-fancy model, you can pony up just $65 for a handcrafted holster with a five year warranty and a classic leather look and feel. The Lynx is available for a variety of the most popular semi-automatics and revolvers for both righties and lefties.
