shoulder holster for FEG GKK .45
TRX [OP]
November 26th, 2013
I don't really want to carry either of my 1911s around; they're not "show
quality", but I don't really want to have their finishes marred by holster
wear. But rooting around in a drawer yesterday, I found an FEG GKK .45 that
I'd forgotten I owned. I decided it would be a decent .45 CCW.
The GKK is the same size as a 1911, but it's bulkier around the trigger guard; it won't go into my no-name 1911 belt holster. And though the outline is practically identical to a 1911, the sculptured shape is not; I'm pretty sure the GKK won't fit into any "molded" holster.
I'm glad I kept all the links and pictures from my search for a revolver shoulder rig a few weeks ago; it helped while looking for a holster for an automatic.
After looking at a lot of pictures, I finally went with the Galco Classic Lite. It's an old-style non-molded holster. Galco's web site doesn't say that it fits the GKK - nobody does, it's an orphan gun - but they do show a bunch of guns fitting it, not all of them 1911s. It's worth a try, anyway.
The Classic Lite is a horizontal carry with X-straps across the back. It's wholly different rigging from the Nevada Gunleather revolver holster I'm using now, which uses a single shoulder strap over the gun and an elastic band to keep it from sliding off.
The Classic Lite is suede. I would have paid extra for boned leather, like the Miami Classic uses, but the Miami only comes with molded holsters. It's the same rigging, though.
$76 from Amazon, free shipping. I'll post back on how it fits the gun (and me) when it comes in.
TRX [OP]
December 1st, 2013
Okay, review on the holster:
PLUS: It's surprisingly comfortable across the shoulders and where the gun rides along my ribcage.
MINUS:
1) after a full day of stretching with a plastic bag and cardboard shims, following the instructions provided with the holster, it takes both hands and determination to work a standard 1911 in there
2) there is only a small piece of leather under the trigger guard that connects the left and right halves of the holster. It is sewn along the top edge. I'm guessing the thin suede is stronger than it looks, but I wonder how long it will hold up to sweat.
3) all of the hardware is plastic. Thin, cheesy plastic with sharpish corners.
4) the strap mount at the front of the holster is more or less at the center of gravity for a standard 1911 and 7-round magazine. The rear mount can't do much about the cant of the holster other than pulling the back up some.
5) the sights are not protected
6) the holster comes with a "magazine pouch" which has the plastic pieces to anchor the offside straps. You can't assemble the rigging without the pouch. Unfortunately, the pouch, which is bulkier than it has to be, is annoyingly in the way; it's at just the right (wrong?) place.
7) said pouch also functions as the down strap going to your belt... but there's just a plastic loop on the bottom. Apparently Galco sells the belt attachment separately. No mention of it in the instructions.
I'm not particularly impressed. At the very least, I'll have to drill out the
rivets and make a strap to replace or reposition the mag pouch. The
instructions are also emphatic about not getting the holster wet; perhaps at
Galco's home in Arizona rain is infrequent, but here in Arkansas rain is
probably more common. Also, it's humid enough to put salt stains on a shirt in
an hour or so if you spend much time outdoors in the summer.
I realize the "Lite" is Galco's economy model, but...
With all that done, I reassembled the rigging and tried it on. It was quite
comfortable. My other rig is one of the single-side jobs, with a wide strap
going over the shoulder and a small elastic band around the other arm to keep
the strap from sliding off. The entire weight of the gun is on the outboard
part of my shoulder. The Classic Lite's crossover strap design moves the
weight inboard, over my collarbone, and spreads it out over a slightly larger
area. Though the GKK is much heavier than the little aluminum-frame revolver,
it doesn't feel like it. Note: I'm in the early stages of rotator cuff
tendonitis, which probably exaggerates the difference between the two rigs.
Everything was fine until I moved around a bit. Every few minutes, the weight
of the gun would pull the whole harness off to the side, and I'd have to tug
it back into place.
The Classic Lite is an X-strap (my term) design, with the straps crossing
behind your back. I had noticed some (but not all) similar designs come with a
tiedown strap, and the ones that don't often have them as an option. You need
the tiedown strap with the Classic Lite, and in order to use the tiedown, you
have to have your shirt tucked in. I don't even own any shirts with tails, I
converted happily to a sloppy outside-shirt guy decades ago.
My first thought was to find an off-the-shoulder, single-side rig for cheap on
eBay or GunBroker, throw away the holster, and use the now-modified Galco
holster with it. I didn't find anything likely; it turns out holster
manufacturers are downright imaginative in the different ways they find to
attach pieces together.
So, peering at the (usually small and crummy) pictures of other X-type
shoulder rigs, I realized that the pictures of the holsters probably weren't
showing them properly adjusted. They usually showed the offside strap hanging
loosely at mid-ribcage level, where it would provide no support at all. If you
tightened the strap up, some of the weight of the gun would be supported by
the front of the shoulder and armpit.
The Galco's straps aren't made to do that, but I have some spare Chicago
screws and a hole punch, so the next step is to shorten the strap.
If shortening the strap works, I'll probably see if I can order the round
offside cord that Safariland uses on some of their rigs. The main thing I
don't like about my other rig is the soft elastic band running under my
armpit; a leather strap would probably be much more annoying.
TRX [OP]
Today
Okay, I got the holster modified to accept the gun. For suede, soaking in warm
water will turn the leather stretchy. I also had to relocate the plastic
spacer and snap attachment forward of the GKK's trigger guard.