I recently won a voucher in a class taught by Riley T. Bowman for a holster from KSG Armory, and I had designs on choosing a KSG Lexington. The Lexington holster is one of KSG Armory’s flagship AIWB (appendix inside-the-waistband) concealment holsters, but I held off for months as I wasn’t sure what handgun fit I wanted for the holster. KSG Armory offers a extensive list of semi-automatic pistol fits that cover a good portion of all major and modern manufacturers, with over 100 different options on the drop-down menu. After reviewing the Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 SPEC pistol, a gun I enjoyed shooting immensely, my decision was made.
KSG Armory Lexington AIWB Holster Overview
The Lexington Holster is a concealment holster optimized for appendix carry that follows what I’d consider a modern design scheme. That is, the holster body itself is fully ambidextrous and works equally well for any right or left handed user. The only thing that changes is the location of the hardware and belt attachment accessories, but even these are identical, only mirrored. Ditto for the build quality and the type of materials used, such as the thicker .08-inch Boltaron material. Part of the Lexington’s modern design cues include leaving plenty of clearance for a slide-mounted reflex sight and an amply tall sight channel to clear those taller front sight blades oftentimes found on red-dot carry guns. As a holster that’s meant to be worn forward of the hips, its angle is completely neutral–that is, the pistol drops straight down. Any cant or tilt would be slightly subtle and would be set by the end user depending on their specific belt attachment hardware and how they choose to angle it. On the topic of belt hardware, another hallmark of a new-school concealment holster is that it can work with different types of attachment accessories via industry-standard holes that are evenly spaced and sized for the hardware itself. For example, the Lexigton can accept DCC Clips, Raven Concealment Systems Nylon-Polymer Overhooks or “Pull-The-Dot” soft loops just the same. With the right bushings, the Lexington can accommodate Modwings or Darkwings as well.
KSG Armory makes each Lexington to order, and for my holster, there was about a two-month lead time. Although this is my biggest “complaint,” I’m satisfied with the holster itself, as it’s well-made and well-designed. The positive aspect of having each Lexington made to order is that KSG Armory offers customers so many different options for customization in terms of what type of belt attachment accessories are included, whether the holster is configured for a right or left-handed person, sweat-guard height, extra keel-length, pads, etc. The downside is the time it took, but the upside was that I had a customized holster for my M&P9 M2.0 SPEC. Even the OD Green shade of the material perfectly matched the OD Green Cerakote job of my pistol.
Wearing The KSG Lexington
I’ve been using this holster with both my M&P9 M2.0 SPEC and my standard polymer-framed M&P M2.0 pistol. This holster retains via the trigger-guard, and I’ve noticed that it tends to grab onto the polymer-frame gun slightly better than it does to the aluminum-frame model. This is because there’s some small dimensional differences, but in reality, this hasn’t affected daily carry or use. The Lexington holster is designed in such a way that it takes very little effort for a clean draw. In fact, this is one of the fastest holsters I’ve worked with to date. The area that covers the trigger-guard is contoured so as to not clash with the wearer’s hand as their hand comes down to grip the frontstrap on the drawstoke. With the excellent grip angle on the M&P M2.0 family and the way the guns’ red-dots present to targets, pairing one with a KSG Lexington makes for a high-performance concealment experience. When I ordered my holster, I selected the longest length possible for both the keel-effect and in case I ever end up shooting a full-size M&P M2.0 pistol with the longer 5-inch barrels. Unfortunately, that extra length did cause a “hotspot” on my body which caused me some pain after a two-hour drive, but hotspots depend on the person and can be managed in different ways. Even so, the KSG Armory Lexington holster is a serious piece of kit for serious appendix carriers.
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