How do you feel about lanyards?

[HDCamel]

Pros/cons? Personal experience?

No one ever seems to talk about them...
Positively or negatively.

 

[allaroundhunter]

I use one when I am carrying a gun on the farm, especially when I am working near the river. Other than that, I see zero need or use for one.

 

[Devonai]

I've never used a lanyard with a service weapon, but I have used canteens dummy-corded to my web belt. Lanyards seem to be a perfectly legitimate way of preventing lost equipment during normal field operations, but in the heat of combat, I'd rather not have a canteen, pistol, or anything else attached via cord to my body to be the one thing that's preventing me from jumping behind cover or into a fighting position.

Given the number of negative consequences of dragging a two pound object on a string through underbrush, I'd rather not use a lanyard. If I'm down to my pistol in an engagement then a lanyard is more of a liability than an asset.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The kind that stick out on the bottom would make a good skullcrusher.

 

[481]

Pros/cons? Personal experience?

No one ever seems to talk about them...
Positively or negatively.

I've used one occasionally during long hikes over rough terrain and once while kayaking. They are nice in that they secure the weapon against being lost, but the lanyard can hang up and interfere with operations- still it beats having to back-track through briars and brush or search the bottom of a river bed for a lost gun.

 

[Dnaltrop]

I'd install one on any pistol I intended to carry on a boat, not much use for one in general, but quite handy if you're very active... Perhaps useful on a motorcycle as well.

Wish smartphones had them as standard equipment though... Dang tiny, slippery buggers.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Makes sense if you're in a position to lose the gun. I'm on land and so I don't use one.

 

[TestPilot]

Pro: Retains the gun when unintentionally dropped.

Con:Can hinder manipulations and/or maneuvers, and it can get tangled or snagged. All of that can be life threatening.

 

[pockets]

How do you feel about lanyards?

I feel ambivalent.
.

 

[rodinal220]

For certain lines of work or field use,they are an often forgotten piece of kit.

 

[rcmodel]

Sgt. Preston of the Yukon had a legitimate use for one.

Ever lose your gun off a dog sled in a 12 foot snow bank and almost anyone would agree they have a use.

Same goes for working around deep water.

rc

 

[SaxonPig]

I think the lanyard makes a lot of sense. Keeps a dropped gun from being lost and keeps the gun attached to the cop for police work. I think they look cool, too. This Norinco was the first 1911 I owned with the lanyard and I liked it so much I added rings to most of my 1911s...











I like them on revolvers, too. Any military revolver I buy missing its ring gets a new one. I have a box of them I bought cheap a few years back.








I even have some rifles with rings... several M94 and M92 lever carbines, a Trapdoor Carbine and Custom rolling block carbine come to mind. But for all that, I confess that I have never actually USED a lanyard on any gun.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I'm nuts about lanyard loops as a nod towards potential hard use but outside of off road motorsports and over water, I have little use for them and a degree of fear of them in tactical situations when I was in the Army.

 

[jrenscore]

I hunt from a tree stand with a handgun, and have found using a lanyard very handy (don't ask).

 

[EVIL]

Used them in the Navy on the small boat crew with the M9 ... they would get hung up on all the piping, valves, hatches, etc while in passageways on the ship.

They have their place in weapon retention over water, but I'm not crazy about them. I have never dropped/lost/misplaced a firearm. I'd say a good retention holster (flap, thumb-break, etc) is the way to go in the field, if retention is a concern. Canoeing/kayaking I put my pistol in a zipped life-vest pocket -no lanyard.

 

[HDCamel]

What if you tucked the lanyard in your pocket or something?

 

[SEE IT LIKE A NATIVE]

I have a lanyard for my glock and use it whenever canoeing , boating or riding ATVs . I also have loop sling attached to the but of my Ruger SRH for carry and increased stability while shooting ! Kevin

 

[Alnamvet68]

Yes, I also use a lanyard loop on my Glock when I go fishing. I got a couple of these from an Israeli friend when I was in Israel...

 

[Rexster]

Around water, a lanyard can be a good idea, and that is when I have used lanyards on handguns. In my usual urbanized environment, I use lanyards routinly on some lights and other items, but rarely on handguns. Two of my pistols, a G17 and P229, have lanyard attachment points.

In the coming year, I plan to start messing about in boats much more often, so I am likely to increase my use of a lanyard attached to a pistol, and may even acquire a designated canoeing pocket pistol, probably a G26.

 

[rcmodel]

I got a couple of these from an Israeli friend when I was in Israel...

Ahhh?

Thats what the hole in the grip you attached the thingy too was for.

The Glock laynard snaps in the hole already in the Glock grip.
If you don't put something else like that in the hole.

rc

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I would rather have the attachment and not need it, than the reverse. It costs little and gets in the way of nothing when not in use. Somebody who can really use them include, but are not limited to, mounted (horse or motorcycle) LEOs.

 

[BYJO4]

I don't care for the looks of them and have no need for them in the use of my guns.

 

[SwampWolf]

Lanyards are a good idea in my experince if you're canoeing in remote places like the Boundary Waters.

 

[beag_nut]

I have a lanyard on both of my Ruger wheelguns. The lanyard (with quick-snap) is attached to the waist pack when in the woods (not attached to anything when elsewhere) so that if accidentally dropped (dog on a leash involved here, also) the gun is easily retrieved. Easy to ditch the waist pack if absolutely necessary, though that occurence is unimaginable. Gun is in waist pack to obey the concealed firearm rules. Appearances aside, I consider the availability of the lanyard a giant plus. And I don't give a twit about appearances.

 

[mach1.3]

Eli Wallach found a use for one in the absence of a holster. Found that a leather thong looped through a lanyard on his Colt SAA worked nicely when around his neck for quick drawing in TGTBATU. Of course, we're not doing much quick drawing.