WHAT IS A "SNICK"

[Doc Watson]

Was designed by Michael harries an orange Gunsite instructor. Was a plastic holster produced to thumb their noses at the holster rules of the old ISPC. I have a copy of there brochure.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

My hunting buddy nicknamed my son "Snick" when he was about 12 years old because he missed getting a shot at a nice whitetail buck one morning while unwrapping a Snickers bar.

 

[Narragansett]

I always thought it was the evacuating sound made by any government extracting money from your wallet

 

[Krogen]

"Snick" is the sound I hear from my weekend ride when shifting gears. "CRUNCH" is the sound of a dog box.

 

[Warren Sear]

It probably came from the guy who coined "a steady diet of" and "the princely sum of" and other grossly over-used hack phrases.

 

[CajunBass]

So my hazy recollection is that "the Snick" was about the first thermoplastic (kydex?) holster to be successfully made and marketed. Out of SoCal. Sensational at the time. Very fast. Was a thing in the late 70's. But gun people in the main are pretty conservative, and back then folks were slow to carry a pistol in anything but a leather holster. There were also reports of the plastic cracking/splitting, and the Snicks faded from view. But that is just my recollection, and I could be wrong.

I too remember them from about that time period. I fancied myself an up and coming IPSC competator back then and I kept abreast of all the developments.

All I needed was money, talent, and skill.

 

[Rustyt1953]

According to JR snick comes before snack which precedes paddy whack which then heralds me rolling home.

JR has a slight lisp.

 

[Neumann]

"Snick" is the diminutive form of the sound an M1 Garand makes when the bolt is released, or a Winchester M12 shotgun is racked.

 

[Murdock]

To reinforce what Venom6 contributed above, the Snick was indeed a a plastic holster from the late 60's or early 70's. I don't know if they were made for revolvers, or just auto pistols.

I recall a photo of one holding a 1911. It was a one-piece design, and it kind of wrapped around the gun from behind, with a little tab fitting into the ejection port to hold the gun in the holster. The pistol would be inserted into the holster vertically from above, but pushed out through the front in the manner of the Berns-Martins leather holsters. This created the "snick" noise.

I suspect that the weak point of the design would have been an inadvertant bump to the pistol butt knocking the gun out of the holster.

 

[AJ]

How about short for a snickerdoodle?

 

[shawn mccarver]

The Snick was a neat little plastic/polymer holster (likely one of the first of its type), that was named after the noise it made upon presentation of the pistol. Jeff Cooper used it for awhile, but then went back to his Yaqui Slide.

 

[Chuck24]

According to JR snick comes before snack which precedes paddy whack which then heralds me rolling home.

JR has a slight lisp.

I think that's Knick knack paddy whack, but it has been a long time

 

[Rustyt1953]

I think that's Knick knack paddy whack, but it has been a long time

Look at my last sentence.

 

[SG-688]

For those trying to picture what this is all about:

Paper from the original and pictures of my second generation Snick using a trigger guard lock that might better have been called the "clack." 1976.

Red - who was "there" - says that Michael Harries (RIP) didn't design the holster but he is certainly identified with it. Red credits Budd Watson.

For me, the too wide belt loop was the weak point.

 

[rwsmith]

Declining verbs

Sneaked, I think, is better English.

I Snick They Snicked

I Snack They Snacked

I Snuck They Snucked

 

[Kitgun]

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol, The vorpal blade went snicker snack.

 

[rednichols]

SG688 shows the final version of the Snick, from his own collection. The first version was created in 1970 by Bud Watson (I was there with him when he introduced it to the crowd) to MEET the retention rule in SWPL matches that were before IPSC in '76. Jeff Cooper himself endorsed it in his books and other writings. It was the first Kydex holster which was a material used for aircraft cabins because it melts but does not flame in a fire (but boy those hot fumes are poisonous). Polymer holster before it, from the '60s, were ABS and similar. Bill Rogers' Kydex holsters followed the Snick and are hard to tell apart from the original Snick, in '73 and later.

 

[oworthsr]

My grandfather was a master machinist for Guiberson's (eventually purchased by Dresser Industries) in the 1930s-1960s. There, he built precision tooling and equipment used on oil drilling rigs. He frequently used the term "snick" when describing the (barely audible) noise any two pieces of metal made when they properly, smoothly mated together, etc. His point? Until the parts "snicked," he hadn't yet done a proper job of machining. He used to build scale model, fully functioning gas-powered engines. He'd install them in his (self-built) race cars (about 18" long) which he raced in pole competitions - total elapsed time for X number of laps around the pole. So properly-fitted parts were essential to his hobby/sport and to his work.

 

[jeffrefrig]

"Don't you know that those snicks just keep gettin' harder to find?
You know those snicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind.
Before you find out it's too late girl you better get straight
Oh, but not with snicks..."