Ten Things You Can Do While Carrying a Gun in a Galco Ankle Glove Holster
Tom McHale 07.06.12
First Impressions
The Galco Ankle Glove is the Cadillac of ankle holsters. As if anyone could ever make that analogy. The foundation (the part that actually wraps around your ankle) is made of thick neoprene material. This is the same material that’s used to make wetsuits for divers and cold water surfers. It’s thick, cushy, durable, and comfortable. Our first thought was to take up combat swimming, but common sense prevailed and we figured the leather holster pouch (and gun) may not fare as well in 65 feet of salt water. Baywatch lifeguards could use this piece of equipment as they rarely seem to enter the water.
Heavy-duty velcro is used to close the neoprene strap around your ankle.
MGC FUN FACT: Gunwriters often refer to velcro as “hook and loop.” This helps pad the word count of many interesting articles.
According to Galco, it will fit ankles up to 13” in circumference. We tried to eat 47 boxes of Butterscotch Krimpets and a pizza to test that claim but were not successful in growing our ankle size in time for publication.
A customized leather gun holster is stitched onto the outside of the neoprene band. The fact that the holster is stitched to the outside of the band is actually a big deal. Other ankle holsters integrate the gun pouch and band so the bulk of the gun presses material in both directions – outside and inside of the band. This causes the hard metal gun to press into your ankle. With the Galco design, the gun is forced away from your lower leg – not into it. The holster also features a leather retention strap made active by a snap.
Galco makes the whole shebang a tad small on purpose so you can fit your particular gun to the holster according to your preference. Read the instructions. Oh, and there’s a huge pad of fuzzy sheepskin between your ankle and the your gun. It’s a great system.
Moral Support – the Calf Strap Option
While the Ankle Glove works great on its own, we highly recommend an optional accessory – the Galco Ankle Glove Calf Strap.
Technically, this is an accessory to either the Galco Ankle Glove or Galco Ankle Lite. It’s a wide strap made of neoprene-like material that mounts above top of your calf muscle. It has a vertical canvas strap that attaches to either the Ankle Glove or Ankle Lite. The purpose is to hold your ankle holster in the whatever vertical position you choose and prevent the holster rig from settling lower on your ankle. You can run, you can hide, you can even do the hokey pokey, but your ankle holster will not slip down. In fact, we made of list of things you can safely do while carrying a gun with the Galco Ankle Glove and optional calf strap.
10 Things You Can Do While Wearing the Galco Ankle Glove with Calf Strap
- The hokey pokey. You can put your right foot in. And out.
- 4 quarters of 1 on 1 basketball with Michael Jordan. The Ankle Glove will not improve your free throw percentage.
- Drive a car, truck, or golf cart and have easy access to your handgun.
- 173 jumps with a pogo stick. We’re sure the Ankle Glove will go more than that, but we pogo’ed into a mailbox attempting number 174.
- Audition for So You Think You Can Dance. Tip for success: Wear long pants. Scaring the judges will cost you style points.
- Perform the famed Iron Lotus pairs figure skating move.
- Shop for hours on King Street with two women.
- Wear pants with a one full size smaller waist than your actual size. Who in their right mind wants to admit they’re getting portly in the midsection?
- Wear boots, provided they’re not too tall. Our Justin Ropers worked just fine with this rig.
- The Cupid Shuffle. Or The Dougie.
Closing Arguments
This is a fine piece of equipment. We got the evaluation holster and calf strap months ago, but did not want to report on it until we had the opportunity to use it for several months in the humid swamp otherwise known as South Carolina. We’ve been carrying a Ruger LCR .357 Magnum with this setup nearly every day. It’s still just about picture perfect. The leather holster pocket has not deformed or stretched. The neoprene band looks brand new and is seemingly unaffected by water, sweat, and wear. During our interview with the cast of American Guns, we got to talking with Rich Wyatt about the Galco Ankle Glove. He’s been using one for years and is equally impressed. And he’s on TV.
Highly recommended.
