Raven Concealment Systems: Eidolon

The Raven Concealment Systems folks have successfully conducted a teaser campaign for their new  holster with the hashtag, #they'llneverseeitcoming.  Pretty clever for a concealable holster if you ask me.  The guys at Raven are always looking to innovate and they've done a pretty good job at it thus far, so enter the Eidolon holster.  This holster has been years in the making.  One of my first conversations with Michael Goerlich at RCS a few years ago was that they were looking to break into the injection molded market, and now they have.  RCS products have typically been kydex.  RCS set the standard for which most kydex holsters are now measured by.  They developed the Eidolon with help from Kyle Defoor of Defoor Proformance Shooting.  Kyle has a solid reputation as a shooting/tactics instructor.

I have to give Raven Concealment the credit for all the pics here, theirs are
way better than mine.

I was privileged enough to be one of the testers of this product and have been running mine for a few months.  What I like most about this holster is the versatility.  You can configure this holster several different ways, it's ambidextrous, and it will accommodate RMRs!  What else do you need?  With this review I'm just going to post several pics to give you some idea about the holster.  As far as the performance of the holster, it's a RCS holster.  It works.  The retention is good and it provides a nice, smooth draw stroke.  The guys at Raven have been in the holster game for awhile, so the Eidolon is the quality you'd expect.  

The video below shows my first time going live with the holster.  I got a couple dry fires in and then went for it.  Like I said, not much to see here.  Just a quality holster that works.  

I've carried this holster with two different Glock 17s.  The first one I used it with was a Salient Arms International model with a large magwell.  Even with the large magwell the Eidolon's features aided in hiding it.  Admittedly, I got the Eidolon about the time it got cold so I've been dressing for cold temps.  If I only had a t-shirt, the magwell would have shown.  Moral of the story, if you're built like me there's not a holster out there than can conceal a full size handgun with a giant mouth magwell on it.  The Eidolon easily conceals a Glock 17 better than any holster I've used for appendix carry.  

As far as models, this is taken directly from the RCS website.

Models

• The Glock 26/19/Universal model has a pass-through open bottom design and will fit any 3rd or 4th Gen Glock 9mm/.40cal pistol.  The holster shell itself is equal in length to a Glock 19 pistol.
• The Glock 17 model has a closed bottom design, but will fit any Glock 26/27/19/23/17/22 3rd or 4th Gen.

Body Shield

• The Ambidextrous Short body shield option can be configured for right or left hand shooters.  The body shield is cut to clear the hand completely but yet still help prevent clothing from entering the mouth of the holster and provide a visual and tactile guide for reholstering the weapon.
• The Ambidextrous Long body shield option can be configured for right or left hand shooters.  The body shield extends to the rear of the slide to help protect the user from the weapon and the metal of the slide from the user.  The long shield is cut and profiled to minimize interference with a full firing grip.

UPDATE:  I've had so many questions on the body shield that I thought I'd update this.  The model I'm running has the full body shield.  I have no issues with it.  It's as comfortable as any holster and I think at times when drawing and reholstering the full body shield actually helps keeping clothes out of the way.  I'm a tall, slender guy and had reservations about the full body shield myself.  If/when I get another Eidolon, I'll get the full shield again.  I will caveat that if you're someone who hits the buffet quite a bit, I might try the half body shield.  I can't really say though if that would be better.  One recommendation may be to try the full body shield, and if you're handy enough....you could trim it down if you wanted.  This of course would void your RCS warranty, but that's on you.  

So let's get on with it, the beauty of this holster is the adaptability.  

The multiple holes seen here aren't for drainage.
They're for the several different mounting options
that allow you to run this holster ambidextrously
or with different attachment options.

Seen here are the clips set up for right side
ambidextrous carry.  The "claw" looking object you see
of the left side of the holster as it sits in the picture is for
pushing the holster back against your body helping conceal
the handgun.

In this picture you can see just how close the Eidolon hugs the handgun
to your body.  Notice how the claw sits on the left of the holster.

Offset wings shown here for mounting similar to the Phantom.

This shows the several different options for mounting
and options that help with concealment.  The "L" shaped piece you see
center of the picture below the "muzzle" of the holster aides in concealment.
The two pieces are so you can mount it to either side.  It will help push the muzzle
away from the body again helping the frame of the handgun push closer to the body.

Here the different mounting options are shown.

The Eidolon full kit pre-release is currently selling for $99.99.  You can buy cheaper holsters out there, but that's just what they are.  The versatility of this holster makes it worth several.  It's kind of a "one size fits all".  If you get it and decide you don't like appendix carry, then you have other options.  If you're in the market for a good holster for your Glock, you won't be disappointed with this one.  As far as other options besides the Glock, I'm sure they're coming.  I just don't know when.  Personally...I'll be standing by for the M&P model.

Harvey Deprimer Review

If you reload ammunition you know depriming can be a boring task at times.  I usually only used my Dillon 550 press to dreprime my brass as I reloaded, but recently I decided to deprime before cleaning the brass so that I get the primer pocket cleaned.  I also recently bought a Hornady Sonic Cleaner to help with the cleaning task, and they recommend you deprime the brass first.  So my only option to deprime prior to cleaning was to use my press.  As I'm sure you can imagine, this was a tedious task.  I had to load a piece of brass, rotate the lever, and then pull the brass out and put it away.  The additional part of this that was a hindrance was that the uncleaned brass left residue all over my press.  The process wasn't fast and kept me sitting at my press in my storage room for more time than I wanted.

Enter the Harvey Deprimer.  I found it just by searching the interwebs for a hand-held deprimer.  It's a simple tool machined from a block of aluminum with a black anodized finish and made in the USA.  Enough said.  And in fact, there's really not much to say about it.  It's a hand depriming tool that allows me to be in the house while I deprime.  This way I can watch TV or talk with the family while I do work.  It's relatively fast to use.

I'll explain it's use and some points about it through pictures.

First let me say that my dog is not impressed, f
or some reason he is somewhat alarmed as I use
it and stares at me with a concerned look.

I recommend having a container of some sort to use the deprimer.  Some of your primers
will just fall out of the tool and some will shoot out.  I use the container's top to set my
deprimed brass on.

Step 1:  Put your brass on depriming pin.  You'll want to "find"
the flash hole with the pin and make sure the pin seats.

Step 2:  Push the depriming pin with brass into the
body of the deprimer.

Step 3:  Press the lever into the main body of the deprimer.
During this, the pin will push the spent primer out.  As I said
before, I recommend having a container to "shoot" the spent primers in. 

You'll notice the pin popped through the primer pocket.

Step 4:  Rotate the depriming pin back out of the body of the
deprimer and you'll see that the primer has been unseated from
the brass.  At times the primer may be stuck on the end of the
 depriming pin, so just pluck it off withyour fingers.  Separate your
deprimed brass and you're ready to go again.

The process is that easy.  Go through those steps, rinse and repeat.  I only reload 9mm and .45 ACP currently, but have deprimed some 5.56 as well.  Below are some pictures of that just for show.  All in all, the Harvey Deprimer is a great tool that is built well and works well.  It retails for $49.95 plus shipping.