Black Hawk style CQC Holsters and they're ability to weather hits
 

This is a bit of a public "poll".

I'd recently picked up a SERPA holster for my sidearm to try out instead of my usual method of shoving it in a mag pouch. I have long gangly arms, and the only palce I could find open on my belt or rig that I could easily draw from was on my chest. After 4-5 games like this I took a BB directly to the release button, which seems to have blown apart the mechanism that actually holds the pistol in place. Admittedly, it was a repro, as I wanted to see if I even liked the style before I went balls deep buying a brand name one.

My questions for those of you who use these holsters, especially mounted to your chest:

1) Are these kind of hits that common, or was it just shit luck that I got hit in the exact wrong spot/ do hits there usually cause this kind of damage?

2) Would a non-china re-brand hold up any better? Or is it too small a piece to take that kind of impact no matter what?

3) Assuming that this would be a common problem to happen, is there anything that works well as an ablative guard on the button to reduce impact force?

Not getting shot works great.

Seriously; there's thread after thread in here about cracked and broken clone holsters because of cheap materials used.

The real ones cost $50. Just jump itn.

Button actuated holster? Yuck.

I'd go kydex. Specifically a G-Code Holster with an RTI wheel. Rock solid fit and no buttons.

I'll recommend Fobus out of Israel, very cheap and built like a tank with lots of mounting options. As mentioned real holsters aren't that expensive and will hold up miles better than cheap repos.

I use a 5.11 'thumb drive' holster and its held up awesome my Glock23 locks in super tight. There are videos of guys doing pull ups with their guns locked into this holster mounted to a door frame.

They go for about $60 bucks, little cheaper than the blackhawk ones. I am pretty happy with mine. As someone else listed above the Fobus holsters are top notch too.

Real SERPA holsters are great. I only use SERPA holsters. Your problem is you bought a shitty clone. BH! product support is also fantastic.

Get a real one. There are cases where cops have been pushed down and sat on by crooks trying to grab their weapon. To stop this they had to lie down on the holster to prevent that and had 2 people's weight on it while still being fine.

A measly .20 grams broke your fake one so I think it's worth your buck. Plus it comes with a free paddle holster.

I'm a big fan of SERPAs as well, and own a few for different pistols. The real SERPAs are so cheap, and the clones are so expensive, that it's not even worth buying a clone.

I haven't done ridiculous shit to my holster, but it's held just fine to BB hits, leaning/laying on it, slamming into walls with it on my hip, etc. That's with the pistol out, so it didn't have the pistol to support its structure.

None of my SERPAs have taken a hit directly to the release button (that I know of), but the button is the same material as the body, and the spring is pretty solid compared to the clone I once owned. The clone I used (it was included with a used gun I bought) had a really shitty spring mechanism for the button, and would actually pop out from time to time. All 'round turrble for holstering and drawing. Then I went out and bought a SERPA for that model pistol, and was back to experiencing the joys of a reliable holster.

Holsters make a big difference if you rely on your pistol heavily for QCB. Get a quality one.

My SERPA got caught as I was climbing out a car window, and held most of my body weight without receiving any damage.

I found some times the "spring" piece of the locking mechanism do get dislocated on repro blackhawk style holsters, by pressing them too hard or pressing in a certain angle. Is this similar to the problem you have on yours?
This happened to both of my two repro blackhawk holsters but never happened to anyone of the four real blackhawk holsters I owned.
Removing the pin, taking the "spring" piece out, and adjust its shape seems to help on the repro holsters. It may take several trials but eventually I got both of my repro holsters problem free. To remove the pin you may need to drill a hole on the plastic and/or filing a groove on the metal pin.

I've rolled over my real serpa while laying on pavement, at the time I was 230+ish pounds and it was fine. I've also been shot in it before.. it was fine.

Yeah, that's what would happen to mine as well. Could be that OP's BB hit didn't cause a problem; it's just that he noticed this (seemingly common in repros) problem after the hit.

Both SERPA and the Safariland holsters are known to be insanely durable. I have heard of people being *picked up* in full kit by the holster with no damage being suffered to them.

FYI, in the realsteel shooting/ military communities SERPAs are controversial since there are documented Negligent Discharges associated with them.

I don't have any experience with either since I absolutely despise having any hard plastic on my body, especially hip or thigh. YMMV

That's completely operator error.

I used a SERPA for while, I've had both real and clone. I can attest that the real ones are made from significantly better material, the clones feel much more brittle. It's well worth it to buy the real thing.

I have moved on from the SERPA and I much prefer a Safariland ALS holster now. I would highly recommend it over a SERPA if you're in the market for a quality new holster, has the same modular style mounting options that are common among holsters these days. It was around $40 from R Nichols if I remember correctly.