Leather Flashlight Holster Question

[KentuckyMike]

Hey everyone,

I was at the local outdoors store with my wife yesterday (big mistake)...going there, taking my wife, stopping at the Surefire case...take your pick.

Anyway, I picked up a Galco leather flashlight holder for my 6P. Gorgeous holster (it's more of a duty-type leather flashlight ring...perfect for my EDC situation). It's a wonderful piece, keeps the light tight to my body without digging in, and thanks to its simple design it's not bulky at all, even under an untucked shirt or a light jacket (a problem with other holsters I've tried).

The one thing I did notice last night is that there are two rivets showing on the inside of the loop. I probably drew and replaced my light 3 or 4 times yesterday, and just from that little bit of use, I noticed the black finish on the rivets was 75% gone, so obviously the light is making pretty good contact with these. This light is no shelf-queen, and I fully assumed my light would take on a fair amount of wear from a holster like this that only covers about 1" of the body and nothing else. I did not, however, think that the holster would accelerate wear on the light.

I could easily return this holster to the store, but I really, really like it other than this one little issue. Can anyone recommend a way to cover these rivets to protect the light? I anticipate drawing the light an average of 3-4 times per day when it's used, and I will probably use this particular holster 2-3 days a week. I have used fabric tape with a good adhesive on applications like this in the past and it worked very well, but I think the knurling on the 6P would tear that up in no time. I contemplated putting some type of a hard-drying epoxy on the rivets, as it should still be softer than the steel, nickle, or whatever they're made of...but the epoxy wouldn't dry as smooth as the rivets are, so I may be doing more harm than good. What do y'all think?

Thanks in advance!

~~Mike

 

[saildude]

My first thought is to use a layer or two of heavy denim ( like on Jeans ) or some heavy type canvas and some sort of glue - I have slide around a lot on my old Levies and they held up well - same with some canvas bags and things I have made.

mb

 

[lightemup]

Doesn't sound good, i'd try giving Galco a quick call to see what you can do. If its taken the finish off already I would think it wasn't designed to do that....

 

[KentuckyMike]

Ok, I tried denim, and that didn't work. It was a little too thick (even using the thinnest, most worn material I had).

I think the problem is misuse of the holster. (Operator error...imagine that...) The Galco Flashlight Holder has a snap designed to be opened and closed when the light is drawn and reholstered. I had been sliding the light out without using the snap because: a) it better suited my use of the light, and b) I'm lazy. I also figured I could save wear on the snap by avoiding its use when possible. I can see by the wear inside the holster on the leather this was not what was intended.

If I stop sliding the light in and out, and open the loop as intended, the rivets would only rub the light when it moves slightly up and down, rotates, or otherwise moves from my body's movement, plus this would greatly reduce the knurling's wear on the inside of the leather. I can see where this would wear slighly on the Type-II...but not as bad as dragging the light across the rivets several times a day. I can live with that.

Thanks for the input...for now I'll use the product as intended and move on. If only they had a version this compact with no snap and no exposed rivets... Still a wonderful product!!

Thanks guys!