you are talking about the paddle not the holster itself. the paddle is a accessory. i dont use the paddle i use the belt loops. leather will wear due to use. people who say they have leather holsters that have lasted decades either dont always carry,hardly train, or both. like walkingwolf said he doesnt wear his in the rain. so you have a separate holster for the rain? so on top of what you are spending for a leather holster you have to buy another one? not everyone has a bunch of coin to drop on holsters. and i dont buy holster cause they "look pretty" i dont know why people treat carrying as a victoria fashion show. a holster is just another tool thats going to be used. i dont have time to break-in a leather holster that probably wont last me very long cause i practice drawing my pistol so much.
OK, I agree the belt loop is much sturdier.
However, calling the paddle an "accessory" is absurd. I suspect a majority of Serpa users use the paddle; it's more comfortable and convenient.
But, either way, the paddle is no more an "accessory" than are the belt loops. They are the means by which the holster attaches itself to you, which is, you know, one of two things the holster actually has to do. And, either way, if they break then the gun is no longer attached to you.
I never said it had to last "decades". I said that plastic will catastrophically fail. Leather will wear slowly, and you'll probably want to replace it before it's in danger of failing anyway. In both cases you have to buy a new holster. My estimate is that the mean time to replacement is about the same. The difference is that catastrophic failure of your "accessory" can get you killed, whereas slowly wearing out just means it looks ratty until you decide you've had enough.
I wear my holster in the rain. It's just a Desantis thumb break. No big deal.
http://www.copsplus.com/prodnum11663.php
I used to be a big Serpa fanboy, but the truth is that thumb break isn't really any poorer retention than a super obvious button, especially if your plastic holster snaps off completely (which they will do). Also a leather belt holster tends to hold in tighter against your body, which is better for retention and more practical for EDC.
The other big thing is comfort. I never found a Serpa uncomfortable until I had been wearing it every day for years. It finally began to irritate me how inflexible and unyielding it is.
And finally, I haven't had a single fool make a stink about cocked & locked since I started carrying in the thumb break. I guess the hammer doesn't draw attention to itself when it isn't so exposed. Anyway, I've come to feel that the less "tacticool" a carrier is, the more likely he is to create positive rather than negative reactions. Serpas are tacticool, to be frank.
I've come to feel that a 1911 in a leather belt holster is far and away the most practical EDC piece for the average citizen. To each their own and all that, though.
Oh, and btw, I guarantee you don't practice drawing more than I do. lol. You're not going to wear out a leather holster by drawing from it. And breaking in a leather holster is a matter of wearing in. Two three days of all-day carry and boom, broken in.
Frankly, for all your talk about how much you draw, it's pretty clear to me you don't have much experience to speak to. Your notions about leather holsters are really rather farcical. You act like you'll spend a month breaking it in, only to have to replace it days later, because we just have no idea how much you practice. :lol:
