Consideration Required

[BobM]

^ So then the question follows - with your needs and preferences that "the juice is not worth the squeeze," where it comes to the compromise between having a pistol-mounted WML and the relative "open-ness" of the mouth of the holster around the trigger-guard area....

...but at what point does that equation flip the other way?

For many LE agencies, their UoF continuum treats a gun-grab as a potential lethal-force response - in this context, is the fact that a suspect is able to, through vigorous physical force literally force his/her way into the holster and cause an unintentional (to the officer) discharge an actual problem with the holster (which may continue to otherwise retain the weapon and prevent a successful gun-grab), or does this failure signal deeper considerations? Further, does this concern effectively negate the ability for officers to be able to employ WML-enabled handguns?

And lets also look again at the civilian side of the question, too. Currently, the de-facto Gold Standard for multi-gun/multi-light (the Modlite PL350 model will be released simultaneously with the light) capability IWB/OWB passive-retention-only WML-enabled is the PHLster Floodlight:

View attachment 18974
^Picture take from OPTactical.

Geared towards conceal-carry, it's gained a large following even among the "gear snob" crowd on the likes of P&S and similar. Yet, there's still an undeniable gap in that area....

I'm not suggesting that you're wrong, @BobM - just continuing the discussion, that's all.

No offense taken or thought of.
Me, wrong? Never! Hah! Am only human most days, prone to much of what other people are.

On holsters? There's generally a lot of thought that goes into a good well thought and built out holster. Good coverage and firearm protection are just a few. Things like how rigid, so they don't snag or flex too much, how smooth so they aren't an irritation in more ways than one and good retention are some more. To me, good retention isn't just holding gun in place, it's also how it's done safely and securely....as in good trigger coverage from all sides. Function? Covers many requirements as in what type of usage? In the fields and forests of a city or out in the ones out in the country? Then, there's competition usage, where speed is paramount and safety is on an even keel with it, where secondary safety needs from outside influences is a rarity.

Me? Snob? Am thinking far from it, just strongly believe in common sense safety. It's possible to have fun and function safely when using enough common sense and foresight. Yup, there can be trade off's on safety to a point, some people do get a bit anal where function is almost defeated? Newer fuel cans actually being usable for a good common example? Good safety may go back to a good well rounded education used as prevention and safety in society?

 

[TSiWRX]

No offense taken or thought of.
Me, wrong? Never! Hah! Am only human most days, prone to much of what other people are.

On holsters? There's generally a lot of thought that goes into a good well thought and built out holster.

Absolutely.

Good coverage and firearm protection are just a few. Things like how rigid, so they don't snag or flex too much, how smooth so they aren't an irritation in more ways than one and good retention are some more. To me, good retention isn't just holding gun in place, it's also how it's done safely and securely....as in good trigger coverage from all sides. Function? Covers many requirements as in what type of usage? In the fields and forests of a city or out in the ones out in the country? Then, there's competition usage, where speed is paramount and safety is on an even keel with it, where secondary safety needs from outside influences is a rarity.

^ And that's the up-shot of this one...

As you can see from the samples above, that "good" coverage really can only go so "good" before it becomes impossible to draw (or insert, for that matter) the gun.

So then the problem becomes one of purpose: i.e. "is the juice worth the squeeze?"

For those who must have a light/laser on their handgun, the form-factor of the accessory often, if not always, translates directly to the capabilities of that item, which in-turn has direct implications on whether or not it would be suitable for the specific use-context. Here, as a concrete example, the lower output and lesser reliability/durability of items such as the Surefire XC-1 and the Inforce WILD1/2, respectively, while suitable (if not acceptable) for a civilian legal concealed-carry context arguably would be insufficient for duty/service use. But with something like the Surefire X300U, that holster mouth/trigger gap has to be considerably bigger, or otherwise insertion/removal becomes impossible.

Me? Snob? Am thinking far from it, just strongly believe in common sense safety. It's possible to have fun and function safely when using enough common sense and foresight. Yup, there can be trade off's on safety to a point, some people do get a bit anal where function is almost defeated? Newer fuel cans actually being usable for a good common example? Good safety may go back to a good well rounded education used as prevention and safety in society?

And that's the upshot of it, right?

The companies making the gear above aren't fly-by-night operations. Safariland is one of the biggest and most respected in the duty/service segment, and names such as RCS, Bravo Concealment, PHLster and Dark Star Gear carries not only cachet with "the in-crowd" but have seen actual municipal/governmental contracts for concealed-carry/low-vis gear truly because they put exceptional thought into product design and execution. Unless the makers of the lights are able to further innovate and come up with a new form-factor, there's truly parameters-based limitations, here. Certainly, over the years, continued refinement and evolution of designs have narrowed this crucial opening, but even so, it's far from gone, and incidents such as this (or more tragically those involving innocent children) still occur.

You're absolutely right: the crux of it is that the end-users -be they the average-Joe/Jane legally armed civilian or a high-speed/low-drag professional operator- have to understand the limitations and compromises that their gear and its setup carries and demands, and train to best compensate for such concerns.

 

[TSiWRX]

Coming back to this thread because of the pending-release Modlite PL350 pistol WML -

https://www.facebook.com/ActiveSelfProtection/posts/4228016350639446

^ This post from the Active Self Protection FB feed shows well how the revised form-factor of this new pistol WML directly contributes to the ability for the holster to offer a tighter contour at that area of its mouth.

That, versus the same holster, designed for a different WML - you've all seen this picture before, from one of my previous posts in this thread, but here it is again:

^ Image taken from the OP Tactical site.

Note the difference between the PL350 variant, versus the Surefire X300U-enabled variant.

As I wrote previously, for those who do not know, PHLster is considered one of the leading and arguably most innovative Kydex concealment holster makers today, and is highly regarded both within the community as well as by SMEs.