When its not actually attached to your gun?

I have a hip light that I must hold, its very easily pocketed or on a rare occasion I wear a sheath on my belt.

for those that carry a w.m.l. separate from the gun, what method do you use to cart it around ?

I know that there are kydex holsters available that allow you to keep the two attached, while carrying.

about those,
can you detach the light but keep it in the holster? will it stay in the holster , by itself?

will the gun stay in the holster by itself w/o the light attached?

I don't carry a wml not attached. Like you, I have a belt holster for a hand-carried light. If I have a wml with me, it's attached in a custom molded kydex holster. Because that holster is molded with the wml attached, there is only enough room for both items if the light is mounted to the rail. If I were to try to fit the light in the holster not attached to the rail, the light mount would add too much bulk for the gun to fit.

The gun would sit in my holster w/o the wml, but I don't think it would be retained much (if at all) without it.

I'm sure a kydex holster maker could fashion you something for a belt-worn detached wml.

I'd like to carry a WML on my P229 but my preferred holster is a leather pancake holster with a snap. If DeSantis or Gould & Goodrich made a holster that could host the Surefire XC-1 or Inforce APLc I would be quite happy.

Until then I'll have to stick with my trusty Nitecore P10.

Now. I have considered packing a TLR-1 in my backpack but I would be concerned about it turning on accidentally and draining the battery. Maybe someone could develop a storage container that could hold a like in a pack?

I make my own holsters so its a touch easier for me but I carry mine attached. If you need your gun you will likely need the light instantly is my reasoning. I also carry a flashlight for the relaxing times.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
for those that carry a w.m.l. separate from the gun, what method do you use to cart it around ?

I don't carry the WML when it's not attached to my gun. If I'm carrying a gun without a WML, I still carry a handheld light clipped to my pocket.

quote:

I know that there are kydex holsters available that allow you to keep the two attached, while carrying.

about those,
can you detach the light but keep it in the holster? will it stay in the holster , by itself?

The holster body is molded to fit the gun with WML attached. It's not like there are two separate compartments for the WML and the gun.

If you were to insert just a WML in such a holster, it would sit loosely inside the holster, but you wouldn't be able to holster the gun without first removing the WML. (Which would require turning the holster upside down and dumping the WML out.) The WML inside the holster would block the gun from being fully inserted.

And you cannot detach the WML from the gun while it's holstered, so you cannot choose to draw the gun alone, leaving the WML behind.

quote:

will the gun stay in the holster by itself w/o the light attached?

Some holsters might, but generally no. They're molded specifically to fit the gun with the WML attached. Without the WML, the holster fit will be much too loose.

Simple.

If you decided to carry with a WML, you get an appropriate holster to fit the Weapon / WML combination. Most are molded kydex and typically do not work with just the pistol sans light - so if you may carry like that, you'd need separate holsters for with / without.

As mentioned, most carry a separate flashlight as well.

That's pretty much it. IME, lights in the XC1 / X5L class add no perceivable bulk to a compact firearm. Just as concealable, so no reason to carry without except rare circumstances.

Now the X300 and longer WMLs extend further past the slide of a compact firearm - to me it didn't affect anything until I sat down - I have a small rump, so the X300 would hit the chair before my butt and start to force the holster up.

But with my current lights (Surefire XC1 and Streamlight TLR6), they carry and conceal the same with as without.