Drop leg holsters - Aren't they only used when your body armor does not allow a belt carry?
- Thread starter geologist
- Start date
They have those too.... It's just that, as I have made a fuss about elsewhere here, AR, M16 and M4 style rifles are very improbably scarce in the show. But it's based on a video game and if you criticize the canon lore, people get upset.
Thunderhog
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootneys
Thank you for your service brother!….My 0.02$…
Speaking from my time in Afghanistan, the drop leg (hip extender) made sense when you had the combination of body armour worn over the original combat shirt (my last tour was 2006/07 before the OTW shirts were issued) which draped down to cover your hip pockets. Made it virtually impossible to carry a pistol on your belt in a normal configuration. It was also a heck of allot easier to draw when you’re seated in a G-Wagon or standing in a LAV hatch.
As some mention, the front of your vest makes sense, but that wasn’t an option with the non-modular CAF issued tactical vest from the era, unless you put your pistol in one of the mag pouches, which was a super slow draw as the pistol was essentially oriented straight up and down and basically under your chin. If for any reason you needed to drop your tactical vest to perform a task, climb in an AFV hatch etc, you’re without it.
Running with them on your leg sux. Many got lost due to the Bianci being design for the Beretta 92F and not the Browning HP. I modified mine to get rid of the stupid flap cover and replaced it with a strap that was 100 times more secure.
Yours truly in the middle and much younger than nowand yes that up-armoured humvee met up with an IED
Thunderhog
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootneys
Your last statement is definitely possible.
I wore a duty belt and sidearm for over 20 years as a LEO.
Eight years with Brinks, and B&L Armoured Car, as an armed guard.
My back is currently thrashed.
Not entirely from the weight, but definitely a contributing factor….
I like the chest type holsters now for wildlife protection. Very comfortable and handy to deploy if required.
Never tried a drop leg type holster, I always thought they looked odd. But I bet they have there pluses, or positive features.
Thunderhog
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootneys
DancesWithEmptyCasings
CGN Regular
- Location
- The Wet Coast
We stomped on the same ground. Leg holsters are just a pain.
I have an antique Smith & Wesson that I carry as a bush protection piece. I had several belt holsters I tried and if I had a belt holster, I had to carry it cross draw style since I had to hold my arm at an awkward angle (old joints) to make that 6" barrel clear the holster if I had it on my right side. I found a Crossman holster designed for the old 38T pellet pistols. I had a leather worker buddy tweak it a little and it's perfect!!! It sits right where my hand falls naturally to undo the snap and draw the pistol quickly.
Attachments
That sounds suspiciously like a clownish enormous tool belt I know of, that regularly carried about 15 pounds worth of tools and 30 pounds worth of nails and a lifetime worth of marks and aches and pains.
Everyone knows that Han used a blaster. Without the blaster, he’s just a laughing clown in a Canada goose parka.T
Trick or treating with the family and a sidearm.
Interesting indeed.
Agreed. On occasion I'll wear my buscadero rig and Ruger New Vaquero. I love it, but it is completely impractical. I used to care for and ride Quarter horses, and If I were wearing a revolver it wouldn't be that set up. One would lose the gun 100% certain of that.
I know it's TV fiction but I think that drop leg holsters only make realistic sense if your body armor precludes the use of a waist belt rig with your pistol on it.
Drop leg holsters unless they are very good quality and fitted very well to your body have to interfere with your ability to run and running (away from danger especially.....) is important in serious social interactions...........
They do look cool and I suppose that's why non armored characters in movies, TV and video games wear them.
Cross draw, if on person and on horseback.
Modern drop leg holsters are not only a pain to wear, it's pointless to carry the gun there unless you have to wear a gun and a plate carrier and battle belt. The side arm has to go lower to clear all the "stuff". If it was permitted, and I had to carry a pistol, plate carrier etc., etc., the best place is a chest rig like you're flare gun set up. Or, right on the plate carrier. I mean let's face it, If you're ever fitted out like that, you're not going to be resorting to a pistol...it's on. If you're mandated to carry the useless thing, at least put it somewhere where it's not banging into everything and getting hung up.
That's my nickels worth.
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maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I wonder how many range qualification rules would be broken with a chest rig? Impossible not to sweep another shooter when the muzzle is at 90-deg already.
If my job had required me to wear my Vest, Tactical, Useless which is distinct from the Bosnia era Vest of Many Pockets, I'd have sourced a chest mount. But my job was inside the wire and I didn't need to put on plates (very often). In my circumstances, a drop leg made sense.
A hundred years ago doing Jeep recce I wore a '64 Pattern holster on my pants belt. I found the shirt got in the way of just carrying the damn thing. So I tucked that inside my pants. It was bulky, but cleared the holster. After nearly losing one in the tall grass, I always always always used a lanyard when carrying in any CF issue holster. The one I liked most is a French or Italian coiled nylon over plastic jobbie from one of the NATO PX's in Sarajevo. It clips on the HP lanyard loop and coils up out of the way under the flap and up to my belt.
If my job had required me to wear my Vest, Tactical, Useless which is distinct from the Bosnia era Vest of Many Pockets, I'd have sourced a chest mount. But my job was inside the wire and I didn't need to put on plates (very often). In my circumstances, a drop leg made sense.
A hundred years ago doing Jeep recce I wore a '64 Pattern holster on my pants belt. I found the shirt got in the way of just carrying the damn thing. So I tucked that inside my pants. It was bulky, but cleared the holster. After nearly losing one in the tall grass, I always always always used a lanyard when carrying in any CF issue holster. The one I liked most is a French or Italian coiled nylon over plastic jobbie from one of the NATO PX's in Sarajevo. It clips on the HP lanyard loop and coils up out of the way under the flap and up to my belt.
KotKotofeich
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ottawa Valley
I usually carry in a drop leg on horseback. Primary reason to get one was to avoid having my gun pointed at my horse as it would be in a belt holster.
Am I wrong or does he somehow have a holster sewn right onto the parka?
- Location
- Nova Scotia
I wore a Safariland 6004 drop leg holster in Afghanistan, but in camp a shoulder holster. So could wear gym shorts and no belt. Couldn't really wear LBV while driving the cramped RG31.
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The Bianchi holster was garbage for holding our High Powers as they were designed for the M9 Berettas. I bought a BlackOps Tactical drop leg at the Board Walk in KAF and wore it every day. It held the HP better and prevented it from falling out when I was tooling around the countryside in my Bison MRT.
I had a second holster in the mix, one that was modified to sit high on my chest and secured by the chest flap of the frag vest (mat techs loved the chance to build the securing plate)….i wish I’d kept that one. Gave it away at the end of my tour to another driver and never looked back.
It has been said (and it makes sense to me) that:
“the primary purpose of a sidearm is to keep your opponents head down long enough for you to pick up the rifle you never should have dropped in the first place”
Drop leg holsters became all the rage back in the day for the wrong reasons but actually do have their origins in a practical application. If one was a frogman and/or in a recce role doing inflatable boat extraction, having equipment well below the torso makes for easier re-entry as one rolls one's upper body over into the boat.
For land ops, it becomes a pendulum weight taxing one's movement along with being unbalanced without any meaningful benefit. (eg at least heavy, rugged boots for mountain ops at least provide protection and traction, a drop leg is just a swinging anchor).
Most people would want to wear a dropleg holster as high as possible. Clever people back in the day would do the Safariland 6004 'chop-mod' to delete the top strap and have essentially a flexible low-ride belt loop with the single strap that was near crotch height. (This is before Safariland just produced a single-strap high-thigh rig from factory, although theirs was still more prone to digging into fleshy parts.)
The alternative would be to just opt for the rigid low-ride or mid-ride belt loop (and a strap could be added if so desired between the loop and holster body). Since the advent of things like QLS (or comparable ideas from other brands), there is increased flexibility for users that don't have to worry about how they carry when dismounted or mounted or in a civilian pattern vehicle, etc. Using something like QLS also helps space out the holster to clear body armour and/or rigs.
Anyone wearing a dropleg for physiological ailments has probably got it all wrong. It might not make a difference for those in relatively static and/or mounted employment but carrying the weight at the core, on the hips, is by far the most biomechanically efficient way.
For land ops, it becomes a pendulum weight taxing one's movement along with being unbalanced without any meaningful benefit. (eg at least heavy, rugged boots for mountain ops at least provide protection and traction, a drop leg is just a swinging anchor).
Most people would want to wear a dropleg holster as high as possible. Clever people back in the day would do the Safariland 6004 'chop-mod' to delete the top strap and have essentially a flexible low-ride belt loop with the single strap that was near crotch height. (This is before Safariland just produced a single-strap high-thigh rig from factory, although theirs was still more prone to digging into fleshy parts.)
The alternative would be to just opt for the rigid low-ride or mid-ride belt loop (and a strap could be added if so desired between the loop and holster body). Since the advent of things like QLS (or comparable ideas from other brands), there is increased flexibility for users that don't have to worry about how they carry when dismounted or mounted or in a civilian pattern vehicle, etc. Using something like QLS also helps space out the holster to clear body armour and/or rigs.
Anyone wearing a dropleg for physiological ailments has probably got it all wrong. It might not make a difference for those in relatively static and/or mounted employment but carrying the weight at the core, on the hips, is by far the most biomechanically efficient way.
No you probably wouldn't, or not for very long.
Arctic gear is cumbersome, bulky and heavy enough as it is even when one is relatively stripped down and in dynamic movement. The last thing one wants it yet another weight hanging about. If one is in fact carrying a pistol in the High Arctic or Polar conditions, it's probably best mounted to one's rig.
Outside of military use however, I know there are some special variant parkas (incl from Canada Goose) that have zippered openings that allow a pistol holster to pass through and be sealed off for use by law enforcement, ie RCMP, working in northern regions.
brownbear53
CGN Regular
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Not necessarily true, you can run a low mount Safariland CUBL on your belt, along with a QLS fork and a level 2/3 retention holster. Depending on the drop you chose for the CUBL/Fork/Holster, you can get a drop leg rig just as secure as a hip holster, regardless id you're running a thigh strap.
I have a belt mount setup in this manner with two different holster allowing for hip mount and drop leg mount, the QLS fork allows for hot swapping the holsters whenever you want without removing the belt, allows for hard mounting of the holster elsewhere if required. It will also allow you to change holsters to different platforms in the same manner as they all have a common mount
