This started when I got an email this morning from topglock.com that contained an ad for 2011's Best Selling Glock Holster! Naturally I had to see what that is. Now this is not the first time that I have seen a mag pouch integrated into a strong side holster. This was however the first time I have seen this design presented as "Top Selling". If this is top selling then who is buying? I can imagine a worse location for a spare mag but it takes some doing. Pretend that you have this holster at 8 o'clock. Now try to reach the spare mag. I understand that I carry a bit of a spare tire around my waist - but I think it is a lot smaller than the national average. I honestly think I could do better with a spare mag in my back pocket (that is how I shot my first few USPSA matches). Am I missing something here? Is there a secret technique that somehow makes this useful?

Pretend that you have this holster at 8 o'clock.

From this, I'm assuming you are left handed? Are you referring to carrying a left handed holster or right handed holster and cross-drawing at that spot? 8 o'clock is also slightly behind your hip. For USPSA I have my holster at exactly 3 o'clock, my arm covers the gun when my hands are at my sides. Lefty's would carry this way at 9 o'clock, or sometimes slightly forward depending on the class.....so I'm confused where you are getting 8 o'clock. I have my spare mags on my left side, they run from 9 o'clock to about 7 o'clock, so reaching back that far probably wouldn't be that hard. It's not convenient having the mag on the same side as your strong hand, but it can be done simply by cross-drawing.

8 o'clock for me when doing run-n-gun. 10 o'clock when carrying pancake style CCW. I never understood this method either unless I was trying to carry a few extra mags instead of just one. Kinda like carrying this at 10 o'clock, if you will, and carrying a double magazine pouch on the other side at either 2 or 4 o'clock.

 

Carrying at 3 or 9 o'clock puts the pistol on my hip bone and can get painful after awhile. Not to mention that it sticks out too far.

I do see a reason for that arrangement. If you are the kind of person that needs to put on and take off your gun bits A LOT (say someone going in and out of prisons, federal buildings, or other such places) the paddle holster with ammo attached would make life easier. You just take the whole rig off, stow it in whatever container you stow it in, and when you leave you just put the whole rig back on. Not an ideal layout but I could see how someone might find it useful.

 

Edited to add: If you don't have to conceal it (ie open carry, or you are a cop) you can even wear this at 1-2 o'clock (like so many competition shooters do) and the reach for the reload wouldn't be so bad. Sitting in a car would suck though. It might also make a really nice cross draw holster, as it rotates and places the mag on the correct side then.

It's not convenient having the mag on the same side as your strong hand, but it can be done simply by cross-drawing.

"Not convenient" is putting it mildly. Moronic would be a better word to describe it.

 

IMHO the only reason to have a mag pouch on the strong side is to make reloads easier if you need to switch the handgun to your support hand. But that only makes sense as a second or third mag pouch, and not as the primary.

I do see a reason for that arrangement. If you are the kind of person that needs to put on and take off your gun bits A LOT (say someone going in and out of prisons, federal buildings, or other such places) the paddle holster with ammo attached would make life easier. You just take the whole rig off, stow it in whatever container you stow it in, and when you leave you just put the whole rig back on. Not an ideal layout but I could see how someone might find it useful.

 

Edited to add: If you don't have to conceal it (ie open carry, or you are a cop) you can even wear this at 1-2 o'clock (like so many competition shooters do) and the reach for the reload wouldn't be so bad. Sitting in a car would suck though. It might also make a really nice cross draw holster, as it rotates and places the mag on the correct side then.

 

 

Good post, it makes sense now. Thanks Vlad

Another use for it would be keeping the PRIMARY mag in that pouch if you have to unload the gun often (again going in and out of places that require it). That way it stays attached to the gun, doesn't get lost, and the rounds don't get beaten around, or the mag filled with crap. You keep you reloads on the other side as well.

Appendix carry? That would put the spare mag closer to being in line with the mag well of the pistol... Still not my choice, but I could see it working.

I think it boils down to one thing - convenience, as pointed out by the scenarios in the preceding posts. It would work (not well) assuming the mag pouch is ahead of the holster and the rig is worn appendix to three o'clock (RH'd shooter). Once the mag pouch gets behind the point of the hip, your dead during the reload.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

From this, I'm assuming you are left handed? Are you referring to carrying a left handed holster or right handed holster and cross-drawing at that spot?

 

Sorry, sometimes I forget that most of you are a** backwards . Yes, I am a lefty. Or lefty where it pertains to this discussion. My overall handedness is so confusing that I am not exactly sure of what it is.

...topglock.com...

 

There's the whole problem right there. Wouldn't trust anything they had to say.

 

See thread on them here:

 

http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/22762-an-online-distributor-to-avoid