I have covered several pocket holsters in my hunt for the ideal NPE carry holster. Today I’m going to shift gears and take a look at an entirely different style of carry: ankle carry. Today’s holster is the Galco Ankle Lite holster. Ankle carry comes with some serious benefits and downsides.
This review contains affiliate links.
This holster was provided to me at no charge by Galco. This does not influence my review; the thoughts expressed here are still my own unbiased views. I have no financial relationship with Galco whatsoever and have not been compensated in any way for this review.
The Galco Ankle Lite Holster
Now let’s get into the holster itself, which was sized for my Kel-Tec P32 (Galco link, Amazon link). The foundation of the Galco Ankle Lite Holster is the neoprene band. The band offers some stretch, and even tightly fitted around the ankle is fairly comfortable. Specs say the band fits ankles up to 13 inches in diameter. I am a smaller guy and with high-top boots on (raising the holster slightly above the ankle), the Ankle Lite was a very tight fit.
The closure of the band is wide, heavy-duty Velcro. Once this thing is properly secured, it is unlikely to come loose. The inside of the band, opposite the holster, is genuine sheepskin. This provides a soft layer that I found to be extremely comfortable. just above the holster is steel ring for the attachment of a calf strap. A calf-strap extends to the to of the calf where another strap encircles the leg just below the knee. This can help hold an ankle holster up, though I found this to be unnecessary.
And finally we arrive at the holster itself. The holster is made of rough-out, steerhide leather and is triple stitched to the ankle band. It has a well-designed thumb-break to keep the pistol in the holster. The thumb-break is backed with steel to facilitate easy opening. The mouth of the holster is reinforced to stay open and permit one-handed holstering.
Ankle Carry Pros and Cons
I had never previously ankle carried, so took this as an opportunity to both test this holster, and learn a new style of carry. I will share my analysis of the pros and cons before we dive into the Galco Ankle Lite Review.
Pro: The gun is off the beltline. For deep concealment/NPE carry this is huge. The beltline/waist is where everyone typically looks for a gun. Simply not having the gun there reduces the overall chances of it being noticed by the casual observer. This also makes it possible to carry a gun when it otherwise might be very difficult, i.e. in certain attire.
Con: If your pants ride up, the bottom of the holster can become visible. This can be detrimental to NPE goals, especially if you’re doing a lot of sitting or getting in and out of vehicles. This can naturally pull the pants-leg up, exposing the holster. Environment and planned activities must be carefully considered before committing to ankle carry in a true NPE.
Con: Drawing from the ankle is about as difficult as it gets from a standing position. If you are seated or on your back, it is easy to snap the leg up, but otherwise it is a slow, tedious draw.
Con: The gun gets dirty. Being closer to the ground, the gun is closer to dust that gets kicked up as you walk. Though Simon’s P32s run just fine without lube, my P-32 requires some oil to function, causing the gun to get dirtier, faster. For a gun that is (in my case) already marginally reliable, this is a major consideration.
It seems there are more “cons” than “pros” to ankle carry. None of the cons are insurmountable, though. Addressing each “con” just requires a little bit of thought and effort.
My Experience with the Galco Ankle Lite Holster
Having no experience whatsoever with ankle carry I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought the gun might get knocked around on furniture, running boards, and other things at ankle level. Maybe the gun would be uncomfortably heavy, or the band unbearably hot or itchy. After a few hours of carrying in this position I discovered it’s really no big deal. This probably owes a great deal to the holster which is well made and incredibly comfortable.
On the range I did find ankle carry to be cumbersome to draw from. After watching Massad Ayoob and Jeff Gonzales explain the ankle draw my times to first shot improved, but ankle carry will never be my ideal carry position. For an backup gun, deep concealment pistol, or NPE carry, however, ankle carry is certainly viable. The Galco Ankle Lite holster specifically is a fantastic exemplar of an ankle holster. Though I don’t have a ton of experience I was left wanting for nothing with this setup.
I studiously tracked my time carrying my P-32 in the Galco Ankle Lite holster. I carried this combo over 120 hours in public.
My Thoughts
In my reviews of pocket holsters I use a standardized format to grade how the holster performs at all the things a pocket holster is supposed to do. That’s not really applicable here. However, the Galco Ankle Lite holster did do everything it was supposed to do. The band stayed securely on the ankle.
I have really enjoyed working with this holster. Frankly, I did not expect to like it as much as I did. I will certainly be hanging onto this one as it provides a means of carry completely different from any other holster I own. And, provided I pass the police academy, ankle carry will probably become a much bigger factor for me in day-to-day life, though perhaps with something bigger than the Kel-Tec P32.
The Ankle Lite holster is available for a number of handguns, including pistols and revolvers from Charter Arms, Colt, FN, Glock, Kahr, Kimber, Ruger, SCCY, S&W, and Taurus. The MSRP is around $125 (Galco link) and street prices are $100 (Amazon link). If you need an ankle holster for your NPE carry or BUG, I can’t recommend this one strongly enough. I will be hanging on to it and it will be seeing a lot more use in years to come.
