lanyards & retractors
IF you are going to try any kind of retractor as a lanyard, you need to think about a few things.
How long is the cord? Will your gun get up into shooting position or come jerking to a halt just an inch short?
How strong is the "pull" needed to unreel the cord? You can go from one extreem of freespooling (anyone ever seen a fishing reel do that?
) to +75# (ever draw a bow that was too big for you?
).
Do you want it to automatically lock at the end of whatever pull you give it, or do you want the retraction tension on the cord all the time? Or - do you want to have to use one hand to lock out the retraction tension?
How strong is the retractor cord? How much strain will it take and not seperate from the retractor mechanism? How much strain will it take and not part in the middle?
Oh, yeah! How strong is the point where the retractor cord attaches to your gun? (Ever have one come loose & retract without any weight to slow it down? Don't ask, it was not a pretty sight.
)
And how strong and secure is the point where it attaches to whatever you attach it to? Some of the cheap clips will rip right off your belt/vest/skivvies, while others will hang on so tight that if you exceed the cord length you get pulled until the place you connected to breaks/fails.
If I am concerned about weapon retention while CCW, I'm more likely to be using a thumb-break than any kind of lanyard. That being said, there have (and will continue to be) been many nights when a short length of 550-cord connected my (fill in the blank) to my wrist just in case I dozed off and needed rapid access on awakening. Sure beats trying to find (fill in the blank) when you were sleeping upright in the vehicle, resting your eyes under a bush in the boonies, or otherwise on 50% alert.
There are good uses for retractors. Several are mentioned by others - hunting especially. For those situations I recommend going to a scuba dive shop and looking at what they carry. Good connection points, good cord material selection, long enough cords, varying strength retractor springs with or without auto-lock, and strong enough to survive the saltwater exposure.
stay safe.
skidmark