KIT & GEAR
DTD MK23 RETENTION HOLSTER
SNAP TOGETHER,
STAY TOGETHER
GETTING HIS SNIPER SNEAKY FREAK ON, STEVE T TESTS AN OPEN-FRAME RETENTION HOLSTER
FOR THE ALMIGHTY TM’S MK 23 SIDEARM.
E
ver wanted to carry something that
looks a little like an M4 carry handle
on your hip? Well now you can,
thanks to the MK23 retention holster from
Double Tap Designs (DTD)! Happy days!
At 20cm long and even with its open
design, DTD’s open holster may not be
exactly the last word in small form factor -
but then neither is the legendary sidearm
it’s been designed to accommodate.
Tokyo Marui’s MK23 has rightly earned
its place as the airsoft sniper’s de facto
sidearm but it’s not exactly easy to find a
holster that fits. I know at least one person
for whom a universal solution such as
Warrior Assault System’s holster works a
treat, but mine requires such fastidious
positioning to re-holster the 23 that it’s
more trouble than it’s worth - even when it
does fasten.
WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF
COMEDY?
One peculiarity of the MK23 - at least
by TM - is that the included suppressor
is needed to make the most of its
performance at range. That means adding
a long add-on to an already long pistol. As
such, the draw from a conventional holster
can be almost comedic, with shorter-
framed players performing pantomime
pulls before they even think about getting
on-target.
TIMING!
By comparison, using the thumb-driven
DTD holster means that you can pull the
pistol away from your body the second
retention is broken. Instead of an up-up-
up-and-out motion before you can acquire
target, the draw is now simply out-and-
up to shoot. It’s almost supernatural how
much easier it is to bring the MK23 into
use. As long as you apply pressure to the
thumb release, the mechanism will free up
the pistol to draw in an easy arc.
36
APRIL 2020
Thanks to its roto-mount, you could
add the DTD to a suitable drop-leg, belt
or paddle to fit your loadout. Given the
MK23’s extreme length fully
loaded, we’ve gone for a
belt-mounted paddle that
also gives us the option to
easily remove it to run a more
conventional pistol for other
games at the drop of a…
paddle?
DTD’s rig is open-faced -
meaning that your sidearm is
always exposed to the rigours
of the field - but the pistol
also both snaps in and snaps
out every time. It takes some
persuasion from new, with
pressure towards the business
end to start, but that eases
with use.
We accelerated this process by
manipulating the mechanism over and
over, as well as shooting lube into the
recesses, but you’d likely get the same
result in the due course of time.
your MK23. Specifically designed to work
with this pistol - and this pistol alone - it
exerts an almost supernatural grip until you
decide it’s go-time.
Available in three colours to
complement your loadout - Black, Coyote
and Green (as reviewed here) - DTD’s
MK23 retention holster is everything we
could ask for - and more - to give us both
WORKING
OVERTIME
We’ve heard that the frame
can weaken and snap over
time and given the fact
that the rigid structure is
unsupported, we can believe
it might become an issue,
but testing our example - full
retail paid - across a number
of games, we’ve had no
problem so far. It’s probably
something that would surface
after months - if not years - of
abuse and something we’ll
report back on in the due course of time.
Costing between £40-£50, this
retention holster is not exactly cheap but
it should meet the mission parameters for
easy and reliable access to our sniper
sidearm of choice. Unless we experience
a physical fracture in the future, we’d
recommend it without hesitation. AA