So not really my own prototype, but some mods I thought people may be interested in. I got a glock 19 not too long ago for a compact pistol option and have been experimenting with finding my favorite kit for it. For rigid pouches I snagged the Blackhawk CQC pistol magazine pouch and Safariland 074 (concealment) pistol magazine holder. I'm used to SIG magazines and have noticed Glock 19 mags are fairly short and stubby with almost no lip at the bottom.
This makes them pretty hard to rapidly extract with the proper tactical grip in many pouches. I thus decided to mod these pouches the way Jesus would have wanted them allowing for a much easier grip without much retention loss. There is a careful balance to the concept of course as you can go all the way down to shorty IPSC style mag pouches that are all about an easy access grip, however have less retention security than most would want in a combat situation. So starting with the Blackhawk CQC, I was puzzled how one side actually goes up originally as it doesn't do much except make shit harder to grab. Thus I cut it down to make a lowered rather than raised lip. I'd say the cut amount was conservative and could be pushed a little more. To do the main cut I just burned through with a soldering iron then sanded down the edges. Still not satisfied, I added some 1/4" padding to the bottom of the pouch to raise the mag slightly and allow some non permanent experimentation. I like it as is, but technically I guess I could just make a deeper angle cut in the side. There is also the fact where I didn't want to hack up the back side with the clip to keep durability in tact.
I took this same concept and applied it to the Safariland 074. This time I exaggerated the cut to see what I could get away with. Luckily the tension adjuster is pretty low and Kydex is tough stuff. I did the cut the same way, with the soldering iron, which I might add is way ghetto and makes a lot of smoke. Perhaps would have been better to have done with a Dremel, I just didn't have one laying around. Then gave it a sanding pass. Even added some extra sanding loving to the side the Glock magazine release notch passes by so there were no snagging issues. Added in the padding to the bottom again to add a little more lift.
If I end up pushing these further I think I'll make a more organic cut line with emphasis on accommodating my grip. Right now the cut lines are very geometric / straight. Although not a full review each of these pouches had some good pluses and minuses. The Blackhawk CQC is very simple and lightweight. Tension is pretty good, but not adjustable. If you shake the hell out of it upsidedown, the magazine will come out after not too long. It seems the clip is specifically made for 1.5" belts so good if that is what you wear, no so good if not. The Safariland 074 is a bit heavier, but the paddle part is nicely covered with suede to offer great belt placement stability. Tension is adjustable and I was able to make it easy to manually extract magazines while still being almost impossible to shake out. As a bonus, the side where one indexes their finger is open to get one's hand directly on the magazine sooner.
