Thanks to the generosity of The Tactical Professor, I have been able to spend some time with the Galco Walkabout for small revolvers. Here is a quick review based on living with it for the last week or so.
Shown with 5-Shot Speed Loader 
Ambidextrous ability
Historically, holsters with on-board spare ammo storage are the laughing stock of serious gun people the world over. If you want to feel discomfort, get a tactical codpiece and try to go about your day with it. It’s terrible (for me) and I simply can’t use one. See the T-Rex Arms Sidecar for proof.
Why is anyone buying 20″ wide rigid appendix holsters?
The mission of my J-frame is being a clip and go, around the house, errand run, simple to carry gun. The limited capacity warrants having a backup ammo supply nearby. Given the size, weight, and geometry of the J-frame, it could be feasible and comfortable. The cylinder leaves a perfectly matched cylindrical void just outside of the holster that would fit a speed loader perfectly. I was pleased to see something like this existed in the Galco Walkabout.
The Pros
The fact that this concept exists is a pro. Googling wouldn’t yield any other holsters that attempted this concept, so I was glad that there was at least one. The holster does what a good holster should do. It protects the trigger, it stays put on the belt, allows a full firing grip, and the mouth of the holster contains a wire that keeps it open when drawn.
The holster is comfortable suede and has the hardware to mount for either hand, as well as whatever cant you desire, including a negative cant for cross draw applications if that’s your thing. I set it up for zero cant to wear AIWB.
The Cons
I think if there were a few things done differently, this would be a must own. Here’s my gripes.
- The belt clip is trash. I think the quick fix to make this thing 10x better is to swap the clip for a Discreet Carry Concepts spring steel clip. This is my biggest gripe.
- It only accepts HKS and 5-star speed loaders. No Safariland or Jetload or anything like that.
- The ride height of the speedloader sits exactly in-line with the cylinder of the gun. It makes sense from a space-saving standpoint, but means you have to reach into your pants to grasp the loader. I’d like to see it ride higher, closer to above the belt line.
- The retention snap will get you killed in the streets. I have it clipped out of the way because when I tried using the retention snaps, the grip of the speed-loader gets hung up in the suede and is guaranteed to make you bobble the reload. Also, when you unsnap it, occasionally the loader comes out with the strap, flinging the loader into the ether. I have several ideas to fix this, but I’ll keep them to myself for now.
Death in the streets. (colorized, 2019)
I think an enterprising kydex maker or leather worker could optimize this idea and make a very workable solution (holla at ya boy). But in the meantime this is the only game in town.
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Thank you! I keep asking people who carry sidecar holsters… “Why?”
More specifically, what does nailing the magazine pouch to the holster do better or what problem does it solve that can’t be achieved with a stand alone holster and stand alone mag pouch, placed into the same locations? Having the pieces separate seems superior to me in every way.
Moreover, having the mag pouch bolted on may actually prevent you from fully utilizing the claw feature and not allow the holster to rotate and tuck in more along your body line. Now Tier 1 Concealed’s rig seems to have eliminated that problem at least, since their mag pouch “hinges” where it’s connected to the holster. But the TRex arms holster is just a monolith monstrosity.
So far nobody has provided any meaningful answer. The best answer I got…and it wasn’t even a very good one…was someone who said they liked only having to deal with putting on a single item instead of dealing with two separate items.
And yet, sidecar holsters are wildly popular. Go figure.
They’re wildly popular because people don’t shoot. I’d be willing to bet the vast majority of sales of those things end up in holster boxes. And if they ARE used, they likely only are used at the range. Because I refuse to believe people are actually walking around with a rigid chunk of plastic across their dickandballs.
It seems like you could accomplish the same thing with a phlster flex and a city special combo.
Absolutely. You’d just have to find a kydex speed loader holder that could integrate onto the webbing of the FLEX. It would be a cool setup, to be sure. I have scraps from a FLEX from when I was on the beta test group. If i can figure out how to hold the speed loader I may see what I can configure.