I’m sure that most people reading this article have a pistol to protect their family. Burglaries and home invasions are relatively common, but your main danger will be when you’re outside of your home. This begs the question, how should you carry your pistol?
When deciding which holster to purchase, you need to consider at least three things:
1. Concealment: You don’t want anyone to know that you’re carrying or else you lose the element of surprise.
2. You want it to be readily accessible.
3. You want it to be held firmly in place.
Let’s cover why the above three items are important starting with no. 1. If they know you’re packing then they are better prepared to either disarm you or shoot you first. When you pull out your pistol, you want to totally surprise them. You don’t want a fair fight. You want to win. So, as you choose your holster, make sure that it is easily concealed.
In regards to No. 2, when things fall apart, you usually don’t have 15-20 minutes to see it coming. It happens fast. Many times, they will groom you by coming up and asking for directions or ask for a light for their cigarette. If you don’t look very tough, then they’ll jump you. By then, there may be 2-3 bad guy’s way too close for you to do anything.
So when things go south, it can all happen in a hot second. Sometimes I’ll carry my pistol in a fanny pack but that’s not the best option. It is slow and clumsy to retrieve your pistol out of.
If you are just running down to the store, you may throw a little pistol in your pocket. But according to your pocket size, it may get stuck in your pocket. One time I pulled mine out and a roll of mints had slid into the trigger guard and was stuck sideways. Most bad guys won’t allow you time to remove such obstacles.
Plus, you are probably going to be facing the bad guy and he will obviously see you fumbling around trying to remove your pistol. So make sure your carry option allows you to quickly access your pistol.
In a panic situation, you might first get into a fight with the bad guy. You don’t want a loose-fitting holster or it may fly out while you’re getting knocked around. Then, not only does the bad guy have a club, but now he also has a pistol.
Years ago, shoulder holsters and leather holsters were about the only options. Now, there are a million options. Look at a Galco Gunleather catalog. They have at least eight shoulder holster options. I think I counted 59 holster options, and then what about all the purses, books, ankle holsters and under wrap options? So to purchase your holster, you need to determine what will work best for your situation.
For holsters, there are conventional leather holsters, paddles, inside-the-waistband, outside-the-waistband, clip-ons, holsters that you wear in back with your pistol slanted at an angle, kydex holsters that your pistol snaps into and who knows how many other options. We could go on forever but you get my drift.
I talked to the Galco crew at a couple of shows this winter and was impressed with their gear and thought I ought to do an article on concealed carry sometime soon, which led me into investigating their holsters. I got a few and am impressed with the quality and designs.
So if you feel compelled to carry a pistol to protect your family, then your next purchase should be a holster to be able to carry it. When you’re making your selection, be sure to pick one that adequately covers the trigger so you don’t have any accidental discharges. Especially so if carrying a Glock.
And lastly, as my nephew would say, “People that don’t think that you need more than a 10-round clip obviously never have been in a gun fight.” So think about how you want to carry additional clips or speed loaders. That’s one thing nice about a lot of shoulder holsters, some of them allow you to carry two extra clips. So if you’re in the market for a holster, check out the Galco line.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.
