Gladius carry mods

ResidentWeevil

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May 31, 2006
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Hi all,
Courtesy of reviews and feedback on this forum, I have been using a Gladius as my only duty light for the past 7-8 months. It is faultless in itself and beats the ploppy of my oppo's maglite....BUT the carrying system leaves a lot to be desired.

I have the Night Ops quick release hard holster and the rubber restraining strap has broken on it, and now the plastic link on the lanyard has parted company. The light has already dropped off my belt during scuffles/pursuits and has only been found by sheer luck which I do not expect to hold out.:awman:

Have Gladius owners out there found better carrying platforms for their lights? It must be quick access and not MOLLE type fitments. A belt fitment might be the best. I would REALLY apreciate any pointers.

The second prob is the plastic lanyard clip on the retainers that came with the light. I am looking for some kind of a METAL quick link connector which breaks apart at about 10 pounds of pressure. It needs to respond to a simple pull and no fine motor coordination should be needed, like pressing buttons or pulling back swivels. Any idea if there is such a thing out there? I need to be able to pull the light off the lanyard, and use it freehand, and then simply relink it to the connector when finished.

Warmest Regards
 

RemingtonBPD

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Feb 14, 2006
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Lil Rhody
I also carry the Gladius on my duty belt, but have not had problems with the holster. I never even used the rubber strap. I noticed that when putting the light back into the holster though, if you do not slide the flat sides in through the side clips they eventually stretch...so I make sure to slide it in by the flat sides on the light. The only other thing I can think of is a nylon holster...which looks lousy with leather gear.
 

depusm12

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Leavenworth, Kansas
I have the nylon open top holster for the Gladius/ Insight and it sucks. I too am looking for another holster. I'm leaning toward a custom made kydex holster.
 

ResidentWeevil

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Apreciate the info. I did notice that the flat slides slide in easier into the holster and that is what I use.

Problem is that our stab vest interferes with the top of the flashlight in a crouched position and effectively pries out the flashlight from the holster. There must be a way out there, imagine if we have these probs, how much more often it had come to the attention of military personel. They must have found a solution.

I use webbed gear, but have my doubts about the soft sleeve too, I can imagine it flexing a lot as you try to drag the light out - not a good option in a hurry. Kydex is interesting, I will look into it, it would have been cool to do a group buy, but we might all have differing mount requirements.

Any ideas on the breakaway clips? Or at least a proper name for these...thingies.:shrug:
 

PeteBroccolo

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Mar 11, 2004
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Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada
I "creatively acquired" two short OC spray canister basketweave leather holsters, cut the top flap off of one, cut the bottom plugs out of both (I **should have** done it to only one of them), then used a piece of PVC plumbing tube to connect the two of them together (using silicone sealant as a glue) so that I had an open-bottomed (**could** have been a closed-bottomed), flap-top secured matching holster. I built this to hold a Gladius bezel-down. The PVC id was large enough for the bezel but small enough to stop the anti-roll flange from sliding through.

I was going to give this to my son to use on his duty belt with the Gladius I gave him as an Academy grad gift. However, my handywork was not very good-looking, I must admit, and he decided to buy his own tall OC spray canister nylon web holster. It was a bit too long, but he stuffed some padding in the bottom so his Gladius rides a bit higher.

The nylon one was less than $10 Canadian, which was about what it cost me in materials to make the *******ized one above, although our duty belts are basketweave leather!
 

LawHund

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Aug 21, 2005
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Problem is that our stab vest interferes with the top of the flashlight in a crouched position and effectively pries out the flashlight from the holster.

Not to sound flippant about it, but have you tried moving the light further out towards your hip instead of carrying on your front? I keep all of the short stuff on my duty belt up front for exactly that reason: foward is the direction in which you will bend the farthest and most frequently, so it makes sense to adjust your batbelt to accommodate that.

-Teuf.
 

SlotCAR

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Jun 27, 2006
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This U2 holster fits the Night-Ops Gladius bezel up or bezel down quite nicely.

FLASH_Gladius_Sheath_00.jpg

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FLASH_Gladius_Sheath_01.jpg

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FLASH_Gladius_Sheath_02.jpg



- SlotCAR

 

depusm12

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I thought it might be. I'm still looking for a open top belt type cary option similar to the SF V70 polymer holster but without the metal clip that scratches the lights.
 

madecov

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Feb 16, 2003
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Houston, Texas
In Nylon, Blackhawk has a case that has a covering flap.

Otherwise I use the plastic hard holster from Night ops.
 

RemingtonBPD

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Lil Rhody
LawHund said:
Not to sound flippant about it, but have you tried moving the light further out towards your hip instead of carrying on your front? I keep all of the short stuff on my duty belt up front for exactly that reason: foward is the direction in which you will bend the farthest and most frequently, so it makes sense to adjust your batbelt to accommodate that.

-Teuf.

If only it were that simple huh...I wanted to lose a couple of things, but in reality they need to be there. Mine is still located enough to my hip that I don't have to worry about it popping out.
 

LawHund

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Aug 21, 2005
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If only it were that simple huh...I wanted to lose a couple of things, but in reality they need to be there. Mine is still located enough to my hip that I don't have to worry about it popping out.


Yeah, I tried to trim my batbelt down too, and I found I kept needing the stuff I took off. It seems it's time for technology to come up with a better way for us to carry all of that stuff ;)

-Lawhund
 

NelsonFlashlites

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May 21, 2005
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If you contact blackhawk CS you probably could get a replacement strap. I find the strap essential for the light to not fall off the belt.
 

arnold ziffle

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sacramento ca
i had the same problem with the gladius popping off when my vest pushed it. i took the belt part off and rotated it so the gladius is now almost horizontal.
 

j3bnl

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Jun 21, 2007
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Forfar, Scotland
Pouch for Gladius

Can anyone recommend a pouch for the Blackhawk Gladius.
I am looking for one that has a flap over cover like the surefire ones (will one of these fit?).

Brian
 

jumpstat

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Dec 20, 2006
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Ampang, Malaysia
Re: Pouch for Gladius

Why not a custom build?. Look at custom b/s/t section and find member kazu, he's japanese and he builds custom pouches, holsters. Many pictures in his sales thread.
 
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