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The D&L Sports Stand Off Device |
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| Multi Holsters new duty holster for Stand Off Device equipped Glocks. Photo courtesy of D&L Sports, Inc. |
| It's a bad day if you find yourself in a contact distance gunfight. It becomes infinitely worse if you experience a stoppage during that fight. Unfortunately, it's likely that a semi-auto will fail in this environment. Body worn cameras reveal how often these failures happen to officers. |
| One of the biggest causes of malfunctions in these close encounters is muzzle contact with the intended target that pushes the slide out of battery. Most semi-autos are built with a disconnector that prevents them from firing if the slide is out of battery far enough to create an unsafe condition. It doesn't take much rearward slide travel (1/8-1/4 inch) for the disconnector to activate and give you a dead trigger. This keeps cartridge cases from rupturing and spraying brass fragments from the partially open ejection port. It's a good and necessary feature, but likely to cause frustration when you're reduced to a scared caveman fighting for your life. |
| Dave Lauck from D&L Sports Inc. recognized this problem and thought of a way to overcome it. He designed and built a Stand Off Device that would prevent rearward pressure on the slide from occurring when the front of the gun was pushed into a target. His device mounts to the Picatinny rail on the frame of 1911 and Glock pistols. It wraps up and around the muzzle and provides a contact surface that can be pressed into a target without pushing the slide out of battery. Dave started adding these onto custom 1911 builds and now offers the device for 3rd generation and newer Glock 17 sized pistols (including G22's, G31's). The device is crafted from aircraft grade aluminum and weighs 2.5 ounces. |
| Dave sent me one for a Glock to test out. It came with detailed instructions on how to mount and settle the device onto the polymer frame (Dave recommends gunsmith installation for the 1911 model, but the Glock device can be end user installed). The device was beautifully machined and finished. It mounted with no drama and matched up well with the lines of the 3rd Gen. G17 I put it on. It gave a firm friction fit on the rail and secured with a cross bolt and retaining nut in the Glock's Picatinny rail slot. The rear of the device indexed with even contact on the trigger guard. Once installed and secured, the feel of the device was rock solid; it's weight didn't noticeably affect the handling qualities of the pistol. |
| The front face of the device is designed as a "strike plate" and has a checkered surface. If the pistol must be used as an impact weapon, the force is directed into the frame and not the slide and will allow continued function of the pistol. Dave mills cross slots into the bottom of the devices for mounting white lights or lasers. The 1911 version has five slots while the Glock variant has four. The length of the 1911 device allows most white lights to ride behind the strike plate. The Glock model is shorter, you'll have to purposely select shorter lights to stay behind the plate. I mounted a Streamlight TLR-1 HL and it stuck out about a quarter inch. |
| Function of the pistol with the Stand Off Device was perfect, with and without the light mounted. The device adds enough height to the front of the pistol that most holsters made for Glocks won't fit with it installed. Dave partnered with Tony from Multi Holsters to provide an excellent OWB Kydex holster for pistols equipped with the device. This holster is great for plain clothes and concealed carry applications. Dave gave me the good news that Multi Holsters just finished a security holster for uniform duty use. It features a rotating hood that most patrol officers will be familiar with. Like everything that comes out of Dave's shop, the D&L Sports Stand Off Device is a high-quality piece of useful kit. Give it a look. |
| www.dlsports.com www.multiholsters.com |