I had the opportunity to evaluate such a holster. It is named the "Slide Guard", and it is manufactured and sold by High Noon Holsters. High Noon Holsters makes a wide variety of affordable concealment holsters for a wide variety of handguns. Their customer service is pleasant and responsive. Despite the high demand for their holsters, the wait is typically under 14 weeks if they have to make a holster to order, and a few days, if the holster is in stock.

The High Noon Slide Guard is a strong side, two slotted, open topped, pancake style, belt holster that can be had in either cowhide or horsehide. It comes in both right handed and left handed versions. I was able to evaluate samples of both the cowhide and horsehide (see Photo). 

The holster in cowhide is prettier and more supple. In cowhide, it comes in either a dark reddish tan, black or natural. In horsehide, it comes in black or natural. The natural is a cream color. This holster fits all of my criteria for an excellent concealed carry, belt holster (see "A Concise Primer on Concealment Holsters" in Volume 2, Issue 1 of this magazine.). 

• This holster is comfortable. I wore the black cowhide one all day with my Glock 26 and forgot I had it on! In fact, I even slept with it on one night—not a problem.
• It conceals very well because it rides high and close to the body (see photos). With an outside the pants, belt holster, you want a high riding rig so it isn't exposed under your covering garment. You also want it to ride close to your body, as opposed to sagging outward. The superb hand molding and the fore and aft belt slots of this pancake holster make it ride close to your body.
• The holster must provide a good fit to your gun, neither too tight nor too loose. This is especially critical with an outside the pants, belt holster since you don't have your pants and belt providing retention by pushing the holster against your body. My Slide Guards all fit the guns they were made for perfectly. I evaluated Slide Guards for the Glock 26 (which also fits the Glock 27 and 33), the Glock 36, and the H&K USP Compact 9mm (also fits the .40 S&W USP Compact). (see Photos).
• The holster must facilitate a smooth and fast draw. This was the case.
• It is a plus if the holster allows for one-handed re-holstering. The cowhide Slide Guards did. It was more difficult with the horsehide Slide Guard, probably due to horsehide's greater rigidity.

In order to satisfy criteria 4 and 5, the holster must (a) hold its shape, but yet not be too rigid, and (b) ride on your belt in a stable manner without shifting on you. 

Holds Its Shape. The High Noon Slide Guard nicely holds its shape—even after sleeping on it!  You don't want the top of the holster to close up after you draw your gun. Then, to re-holster you would have to fish the gun back into the holster with both hands—NOT a good thing! This was not a problem.

Stable Ride. The Slide Guard rides on my belt in a stable manner, without shifting or sagging or dragging my belt down. It comes standard with 1-3/4 inch belt slots fore and aft, and will comfortably accommodate both 1-1/4 inch and 1-1/2 inch wide belts (1-1/2 wide belts are optimum). It is important to remember when fitting a belt holster, that you want to be able to slide it on and off of your belt without twisting out your back! Holsters that are made to exactly fit a specific belt width often are torture to put on and take off. That's why High Noon makes all of their belt slots 1-3/4 inch standard.

It Features a Slide Guard Thingy. This desirable feature gives this holster its name. The slide guard prevents the pistol's slide, thumb safety/decocker, hammer and rear sight from uncomfortably rubbing against your body. This is especially desirable if you live in a hot, humid climate (such as in Florida). In such environments, it is tempting to leave your real gun at home and carry a "mouse gun" in your pocket. Those of us who choose to carry the most gun we can comfortably carry in a hot, humid climate, appreciate a good holster that enables us to carry under a covering garment (such as a tee shirt or topical shirt) up against bare skin. We don't want to sweat all over the slide, or feel the slide controls digging into our side. 

The Slide Guard thingy comes in real handy when you are wearing an open top holster, as opposed to a holster with a thumb break. For concealment purposes, open top, in my opinion, is the way to go. It allows the quickest, unimpeded access to your gun should you need it in a hurry.

Another point is that, especially in a hot, humid climate, a good outside the pants, belt holster is more comfortable than an inside the pants holster. For those of us who spend time up in the cold North, this is not as much of an issue.

The Slide Guard holster has double stitched seams for durability (and they're pretty too). It has a 15 degree forward cant which means that it rides with the muzzle canted 15 degrees to the rear and the butt canted 15 degrees forward. This is a plus for both concealment and speed of the draw. For concealment, it helps prevent the gun's butt from printing. For speed of draw, it allows your strong hand to slide down to acquire a secure high handed grip in the first step of the draw on presentation from the holster. When seconds count, this is important!

 This holster's trigger guard is fully covered.  This can prevent an accidental discharge by making it unlikely for something to get caught or snagged in the trigger guard.

The holster has a tension screw for adjustment of the draw. This is a good thing to have. We all have our preferences, and it makes sense to incorporate a feature that enables the user to adjust the tightness of holster-to-gun fit. If you feel more comfortable with a little bit of a tighter fit for retention purposes, you can tighten the retention screw. Fit too tight? Then you can loosen it.

The High Noon Slide Guard is made for a wide variety of handguns. These include the Browning Hi Power, Beretta's 92, 96, 8000 Cougar and 9000 series of semi-auto pistols, Colt's 1911s and revolvers, CZ's semi-auto pistols, the entire Glock line-up, H&K's compact and full size USPs, their new P-2000 series, and their P7M8, Kahr's MK, PM, K, P and T series pistols in 9mm and .40 S&W, Kel Tec's P-11 9mm, Kimber's 1911's, Para Ordinance's 1911's and LDA pistols, Ruger's revolvers and semi-auto pistols (including their new .45 ACP P345), the entire Sig Sauer line-up, Springfield Armory's 1911's and their XD pistols, Steyr's pistols, most of the popular Taurus semi-auto pistols and revolvers, most of Smith and Wesson's semi-auto pistols and revolvers, and the Walther PPK and P series semi-autos.

 So, partner. If you need a good, affordable, leather concealment holster, look no further, call High Noon