What To Look For In A Concealed Carry Holster

It seems obvious that we’d eventually tell you what to look for in a quality holster, being that we’re a holster company and all. But we’re constantly confused when we see people using a holster of questionable quality, or, worse, not using one at all.
It’s not our goal to bash any of our competitors, so we’ll just tell you what to look for, and let you choose all on your own.
First and foremost, a quality holster is supposed to protect your trigger from being accessed. In fact, one of the biggest causes of an unintended discharge is a holster not doing its primary job of keeping the trigger from being accessed.
Some holsters don’t offer any trigger protection at all, and then there are some that do cover it, but the material is so soft and thin that something can poke into the trigger guard. This of course means that the trigger can be pressed, and the gun unintentionally fired.
A good test to see if you’ve got good trigger protection is to clear the weapon making sure it’s empty with no ammunition in it, put it in the holster, and see if you can stick your finger (from the side) into the trigger guard and press the trigger while it’s holstered.
In the below photo, our good friend Eve Flanigan tests one of our Quick Click & Carry Holsters by trying to get to the trigger. It passed this test with ease.

If you can feel the trigger and are able to move it through the material of the holster, you should look into a new holster. This is widely considered to be dangerous by many firearms instructors.

We sell holsters that prevent this, here on this website, but any quality holster will do.

Another trait of a good holster is that it keeps your gun from moving around on your body. For any number of reasons, to include poor quality clips, poorly made holsters can allow the gun to move around as you do.

If you need to use your firearm for self-defense and it moved to a different position on your body, that can make you lose precious time during the draw stroke, potentially making you lose that battle.

When you’re in the fight for your life, even tenths of a second can be a long time. Some holsters allow the gun to move on your body, and if yours does, you may want to look into a better one.

Finally, we have retention. Similar to the gun moving around on your body, some holsters will allow the gun to move while it’s inside the holster. If it moves too much, it could potentially fall out under the right circumstances.

It is feasible to end up on the ground during a fight. If you do end up on the ground before you’ve had a chance to get to your weapon, and it fell out somewhere along the way, that bad guy now has access to your firearm, which is clearly not good.

If you’ve got a holster that your gun doesn’t fit snugly in and wiggles around inside, then you may need to get a new holster.

Having a quality holster when you’re carrying a gun for self-defense is a must. If you are in need of a quality gun holster, we have our Magnetic Retention Holsters as well as our RELIC Series Holsters. These are leather inside, and Boltaron polymer on the outside. Both pass the test as being safe gun holsters.

Photo Credit: Eve Flanigan