New CCW/EDC Accessory Upgrades: Holsters, Lights and Sights

For this column, I’m going to cover a few random things of interest to CCW holders. Springfield’s new Echelon, reviewed in these pages last year, is a great pistol that I think is going to have legs, but holster availability still isn’t as good as I would like. If what you can find out there specifically for the gun isn’t quite what you’re looking for, here are a few options: N8 Tactical’s MultiFlex Holster (N8.CrossBreedHolsters.com). This is a fascinating product I first laid hands on at the 2024 SHOT Show. This is a fully adjustable holster—not just able to switch from IWB to OWB and back, but to fit various pistols. There are a number of retention and adjustment screws that allow you to fit it to just about any semi-auto pistol on the market.

There are two generic sizes for this rig, compact and full size. These are open-muzzle holsters, so the difference isn’t the length of the slide but rather the thickness. Between the two, the people at N8 have been able to fit the MultiFlex to over 275 pistols, and there’s a full list of which holster fits which pistol on the website. They specifically show off an Echelon in the full-size MultiFlex in their promotional materials. You adjust tension on the slide and then the trigger guard, to get the proper click as the gun moves in and out of the holster. There are also two sliders which provide tension against the trigger guard and the underside of the frame, eliminating any wobble. With holsters, I’ve found that the more screws you have, the more screws can come loose, so you should regularly check tension. But this is the closest thing I’ve found to a one-size-fits-all holster, and seems just the ticket if you’ve got a rare or unusual pistol needing fitment.

If polymer’s just not your thing, leather is a bit more forgiving. I am a big fan of OWB belt holsters in general, and the Galco Avenger (GalcoGunLeather.com) specifically. Except that Galco doesn’t make an Avenger specifically for the Echelon (yet). But I’ve got two Avengers which fit the Springfield Echelon—one is for a four-inch S&W M&P, and the other is for a four-inch Springfield Armory XDM. Neither holster fits the Echelon perfectly, but they work well enough for me to have carried that gun in them. Mike Barham of Galco told me that he had the best luck with holsters meant for the 4.5-inch Springfield 
Armory XD-M. I have a Galco TacSlide for that XD-M and it seems to fit the Echelon almost perfectly. When in doubt, check fitment at your local gun store, or maybe that box of holsters in your basement… Falco Holsters (FalcoHolsters.com) is a company you might not have heard of. They are out of Slovakia, and their leather work, which I got to examine at the latest SHOT Show, is fabulous. They also seem to have forms for just about every pistol out there (around which they hand-mold the leather holster body). I ordered one of their C105 Shikra leather belt holsters for the Echelon and will be reviewing it in an upcoming column. You can order it with an FBI cant or vertical (which I prefer), and to fit just the gun or the gun wearing a weapon light—all for a very reasonable price…although leather is always more expensive than polymer.

Streamlight (Streamlight.com) introduced their original Wedge EDC light about three years ago. This is an interesting piece with an anodized aluminum body (black or coyote tan), shaped like a carpenter’s pencil on steroids, with a weird rotating thumb switch. I liked how bright it was (1,000 lumens) but it was a little longer than what I wanted for a pocket light, so I rarely carried it, and stuck with my Surefire Stiletto, but then, last year, Streamlight introduced the Wedge XT and I’ve been carrying it ever since. The Wedge XT has a similar profile to the original but is shorter, only 4.25-inches compared to the original’s 5.46-inches, so it carries (with the provided clip) much more conveniently in a pocket. Weight has been reduced from 3.3-ounces to 2.62. More importantly, the controls have changed. Instead of the strange thumbwheel mounted near the front, the Wedge XT has a rubber pushbutton on the tail end. You get a high illumination of 500 lumens (two-hour runtime), or a low beam of 50 lumens (11-hour runtime), but it features Streamlight’s Ten-Tap programmable brain if you want to change that. This is a general purpose EDC light, and the beam is wide, nearly a ninety-degree throw, but it is bright enough to use tactically indoors. The battery is plug-in rechargeable and waterproof to one meter. Streamlight doesn’t list MSRPs, but a check of online retailers showed prices between $85 to $99 for this piece, and I feel it is worth it.

Glock, as a company, seems to have internalized the late Gaston Glock’s claim that his pistol design is “perfection.” They apparently operate in the same type of reality distortion field Steve Jobs was famous for, but that has provided an opportunity for American entrepreneurs making improved parts and pistols to really move the pistol closer to perfection. One of the perennially substandard parts on factory Glock pistols are the plastic sights. They work, and are better than nothing, but they are insultingly called “dovetail protectors” for a reason. A pistol meant for personal protection or duty use (whether law enforcement or military) should have sights made out of metal. The only problem with that? Most steel replacement sights for Glocks (because they offer improved features such as fiber optic or tritium) aren’t inexpensive. but I just found an affordable alternative if you want to upgrade your Glock. The Strike Iron Sights from Strike Industries (StrikeIndustries.com) are steel sights, offered for Glocks, S&W M&Ps, the SIG P320, and the Taurus G2, in standard and tall suppressor-height. But they are surprisingly affordable. A standard sight set (front and year) for the Glock 9/40 pistols is just $29.95. That’s just thirty bucks for front AND rear sight together. The front sight has a stepped face to cut glare, with a circle cut into the face, to which you can add paint/nail polish for a little color. The rear sight has a generous U-notch with a negative angle, so it stays dark in comparison to the front sight. The rear sight has a set screw to prevent it from drifting in the dovetail. The sights are stainless steel with a nitride finish and appear to be MIM, rather than machined, which is how they can be made so affordably.

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