This is Grey Ghost Gear’s Magnetic Weapons Catch – it’s a unique product, aimed at holding a weapon or other ferrous item in place (not like a holster, more of a positioning tool).
It’s intended to attach to a vest or another item with MOLLE or PALS webbing on it:
From there, it can be used to hold a variety of items, ranging from a spare mag to a knife, and tons of stuff in between.
Retention feels solid, but isn’t something I’d depend 100% on for long term retention – if you want true retention, you’ll need some sort of physical holster, but for a temporary place to toss items you aren’t done with but don’t want to set on the ground, it’s a neat option.
On their website, they say:
…the Magnetic Weapons Catch is designed to add quick retention of metallic gear without the need for straps, buttons, or even eye contact. Slinging a weapon over your shoulder while wearing a plate carrier or battle belt? The rare earth magnet encased in the catch will attract the ferrous parts (steel) ensuring it remains in the correct position and is ready for rapid deployment. The same goes for pry bars, batons, multitools, and even most pistol magazines.
I haven’t tried it with an AR platfom rifle, but I’m confident it would help with positioning while not completely able to support the full weight of the weapon by itself.
Lucky for you, I did try it with an M&P 2.0, with a TLR-1 attached…
That’s a loaded magazine and a light on there, and it held it in place surprisingly well. It obviously won’t replace a holster by any means, but I could see this being useful for retaining someone else’s weapon (especially one that’s been cleared and is therefore lighter) for a time, for example an arrestee or an operator that a tactical medic is tending to who needs to be relieved of their weapon.
Obviously this is not a place you’re going to want to store a weapon long term, but I could definitely see it being a short term fix for some use cases.
If you disagree, let’s talk about it – I’m sure there are plenty of reasons using it that way is a terrible idea, so leave a comment below or talk to us on Facebook or Instagram!
Now that I’ve triggered half of the dozen people reading this, I’ll talk about a use case I quite like.
As a medic, I have trauma shears whenever I’m working. If I have the opportunity, this magnetic catch would be an excellent pairing with a set of trauma shears and a retractable scissor leash… like, for example, the one North American Rescue sells.
Would you look at that! I just attached the scissor leash to the magnet for dramatic effect, but I’d advocate clipping the leash to some webbing and attaching it to the shears, but then you have easy to deploy and easy to stow trauma shears, with the added benefit that their pouch isn’t being bloodied if and when they need to be used.
Some idle thoughts on a neat tool – I may end up just mounting this under my desk and using it as a place to keep my pistol when I’m sitting down, we’ll see.
-T