Over the past couple of days, I have looked at dozens of duty rig and holster products. The variety has been amazing, but I’m sorry to tell you that some of them have been absolute garbage.
This was actually a good thing, because the standouts easily floated to the top. The three designs here are the winners, and some of the innovations are astonishing.
Safariland: The “MOLLE” for your belt
Safariland’s James Dawson walked me through the new HOLLE system. It sounds like “MOLLE” because it has the same scalable and universal applications.
- How it works: It’s a belt mounting system with parallel holes running along the edges of the duty belt.
- The setup: Holster mounts and accessories are simply screwed into these holes. Holsters generally are built on 4 hole patterns, while accessories like mag pouches have 2 hole mounts. There are plate spacers for things like jacket slots.
- Legacy compatible: Most products you’d normally mount on your Sam Brown will still fit.
I used to spend hours threading my duty belt and adjusting locations. Now I can do it all in a minute — even faster with my Ryobi screwdriver. James showed me that things stayed in place, and mounted items take up less real estate on the belt. We all know that one officer who tries to get just one more thing on his belt; the HOLLE will allow your beat partner to feed his habit.
It’s lighter. It’s easy to cant items like magazine pouches. It can use old school belt loops. There is even a spacer that allows users to mount a roll up dump pouch that hides until needed. This agrees with the training philosophy that encourages full duty gear for range training.
Kore Essentials: Heavy-duty ratcheting
The team from Kore Essentials, well known for some of the best CCW click-adjustable belts in the business, has finally moved into the duty market.
Instead of a single track of ratcheting material, their new duty belt has two. This system is designed to support a lot of weight — though, just to be clear, this doesn’t give you license to weigh down your kit unnecessarily. Kore Essentials has also released a new holster mount that automatically latches when the parts are fit together. Once they latch together, the user can manually lock it. It’s a lot easier for you to watch Lee Moiseve Kore Essentials talk about it. I have included a video for you.
C&G Holsters: The Trinity System
Kevin “Gunny” Boyd of C&G Holsters — who really is a Gunnery SGT — showed me the Trinity System. His agency uses C&G’s Trinity System, a heavy Kydex holster with a smooth interior and very fast draw. It is a hooded system that is super lightweight, despite the .125” Kydex. I liked this holster, especially its optic relief, which also shortens the amount needed to clear it during the draw.
P.S. A note on survival (and caffeine)
I have to give a shout-out to MEG (Military Energy Gum). Every time I walked through the main entrance, someone handed me a packet.
Considering my penchant for sushi every day while in Vegas, the mint was a good idea for my breath. However, I didn’t read the back until I had popped about six of them: “Do not exceed 4 pieces daily.” Each piece has 100mg of caffeine.
Needless to say, SHOT Show went by rather quickly today. I highly recommend the gum — just don’t consume it the way I did.
