Gear Sector is best known for their quality line of 1″ tubular webbing based slings. Recently we talked with Gear Sector owner, Jason Trusty, and found out that he was releasing a new line of sling mounts, hand stops, and flashlight mounts. While aluminum is quite a bit different than webbing, Mr Trusty is someone I’ve spoken to for a few years, and he is obsessive when it comes to the quality and design of his products.
The first thing Jason Trusty told me was that the design and manufacturing of the following items were not as individual components, but modularity for a complete system. Jason felt that while there are plenty of rails and accessories on the market, there aren’t any accessories that are designed to function together. I didn’t think much one way or another about his comments until a box of preproduction samples arrived. On opening the boxes, each item is bagged, and includes an allen wrench and thread locker. Each of the mounts is curved instead of the traditional squared off mounts. While this looks nice, it immediately becomes apparent that extra thought went into this when you drop your rail covers on. The mounts merge into the curved design of the covered rail.
At a recent class I was teaching, one of the students commented that he liked his other brand QD sling mount when he put it on his weapon, but found that when moving his hands around during weapon manipulation and in unusual positions, the corner would bite his hand. Since this was a LE course, many of the guys were not wearing gloves as they don’t always wear them while out on patrol. When he saw how my instructor weapon was setup with these, his immediate question was where he could find them. For once, an Officer wasn’t asking how much it cost as his first question.
Starting out with the hand stops (part #GS-3090), Jason wanted me to know that these were designed to work in pairs. Instead of a single point for your hand, he created these to bracket your hand to solidly lock it into position. An aid in not only shooting, but when you are breaking out windows, muzzle punching people who need encouragement to stay back, or when you are just sliding around jumping out of a bird or into an usual position. I shot with them using a 10.5″ barreled KAC upper. I started out using two in front of my hands to work as a complete stop. Since I tend to push forward when I’m shooting and moving, this worked well for me. Jason suggested that I try it with one stop in front of my hand, and one behind. I did, and there is no doubt it locks your hand in nicely on the rail. I then pulled one off and gave it to another instructor, and ran the course using one. There is no doubt that using two creates a very different feel for your hand. Whether its needed for your personal shooting style is something that you will need to figure out yourself, but its worth trying.
Moving into sling mounts, there are three different versions, and they are coming in both black, and flat dark earth (FDE). The different versions include a Quick Disconnect (QD) model, HK loop, and 1″ sling mount models. All are machined from 6061 T6 aluminum, and are Milspec hardcoat type III anodized. As already mentioned these melt into position once rail covers are used. I dropped on KAC, Magpul XTM, and Tango Down covers and found they all worked equally well.
The light mounts can be set in 8 different positions, which give just about everyone under the sun an option for their own style. The mount I was using was designed for the Surefire G2, but I found it also worked well for a few different lights I had laying around. There are two other light mounts coming off the CNC machines that will cover a larger selection of flashlight bodies. Using the Gear Sector hand stops, my thumb fell into a natural position to hit the tail cap for the light. I’ve been in too many places and events where someone has pressed into their pressure pad at the wrong time, so tail cap push buttons are all I use.
In looking for a down side, or drawback to these, and I’m hard pressed to find anything. They attach securely, come with everything needed to install it on the rail, are more than durable enough, and feel good in my hands. I think Gear Sector has a hit on their hands.
Check out www.GearSector.com for more information.
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