Safariland GLS retention device

[blaese490]

I have a awesome holster from Weber Tactical but would prefer absolute retention for piece of mind (the retention is already great but you can't have enough in 3 gun) 

 

Has anyone ever encorporated a Safariland GLS system into a kydex holster for an open gun? 

[DKorn]

I’m not a fan of the GLS system (I’ve seen videos of people hooking the gun with a slung rifle and having the sling also disengage the GLS retention. I know that Red Hill Tactical has done some custom Open  kydex holsters and also custom retention holsters, so I would reach out to them and see if they can help you out. 

[blaese490]

@DKorn Weber and Red Hill make great product. I sling muzzle up so I'm not concerned with the Sling issues you've seen or heard about. I'm looking to incorporate a GLS into a custom Kydex. 

[Steve133]

I've never done that or seen that done, but I've thought about it a lot, actually. I don't know for sure about Red Hill, but I know that Weber Tactical quit making retention holsters for Open guns - apparently, each one was a completely custom one-off that required too much time and effort to be commercially viable, and that makes sense. I don't have a lot of details, but I'm guessing that the incorporation of a retention mechanism was the difficult part. It seems like you could work around that with a modular approach - have a "core" section with the locking mechanism that interfaces with a kydex shell molded for a particular gun. G-Code does something with a vaguely similar concept, I think - a "core" holster built for the slide profile for a particular holster, which is then mated to different bottom halves in order to accommodate different lights and whatnot without having to have entirely different holsters.

 

It seems like GLS, or something like GLS, would be the logical choice for an active retention mechanism in that system, which I guess is why every race holster ever for USPSA uses a roughly similar one. A hood creates problems with clearance for an optics mount, and the ejection port lock that the Safariland ALS uses has linkages to the release lever that would also probably interfere with the mount. Hood and ALS systems would also be difficult to implement in a modular setup. The only potential drawback would be issues with slings that's already been mentioned, but I think that that issue is generally overstated - like you said, it's not an issue if you sling muzzle-up, and I'd argue that extended periods of running around with a slung long gun and a holstered pistol are rare enough that it's illogical to make that the main deciding factor in your equipment selection anyway.

 

You could probably design something that bypasses all of the issues with the GLS anyway if you were starting completely from scratch, but I think that hacking up a GLS holster and possibly attaching it to something else is probably a good enough solution for the shadetree holster maker. I have a discount code from Safariland that I picked up from a prize table - I'd been thinking of using it to order a handful of GLS holsters to mess around with, and I might have to do that now....

[blaese490]

That's what I'm working on now. As you mentioned, in order to make this happen most kydex makers want your gun. I've got a local guy who's gonna give it a shot!

 

[Steve133]

Nice! If you could post the results, that would be awesome. I'd be very interested to see how that turns out.

[blaese490]

Will do!

[highhope]

Any one know how to remove this device and still work?

[Aforum55]

Took one out of a GLS and threw it in Double Kydex. Best 3 gun open holster in existence!