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    Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry Holsters: A guide to choosing the best concealed carry holsters for your lifestyle
    Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry Holsters: A guide to choosing the best concealed carry holsters for your lifestyle
    Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry Holsters: A guide to choosing the best concealed carry holsters for your lifestyle
    Ebook120 pages1 hour

    Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry Holsters: A guide to choosing the best concealed carry holsters for your lifestyle

    By Corey Graff

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    About this ebook

    Congratulations! You’ve completed your concealed weapons class and have your permit. Now you’re ready to go to the local gun shop and pick out that one perfect pistol for self-defense. So far, so good. However, if you’re like most folks, you didn’t think much about how you’ll actually carry the thing around. This can lead to an uncomfortable exchange with the bespectacled gun-counter guy. If your experience is anything like mine, he’ll look down his nose at you while a little drop of white spittle forms at the corner of his mouth. You’ll ask which holster he recommends. And he’ll sneer.

    I’ve seen this scenario play itself out more times than an I Love Lucy rerun. Holster selection for concealed carry is quite possibly one of the most misunderstood and glossed over areas in the gun world. Like clothing, holsters are very personalized so you’ll eventually wind up like everyone else who carries. First you’ll have a dresser drawer full of them, then one day you’ll wake up to the realization that a storage unit is needed to contain the rest. With the awesome responsibility of carrying a gun for self-defense comes the opportunity to prevail and survive an otherwise lethal confrontation. Yet that responsibility also becomes a life-changing event with the holster. In all its many interesting designs and variations it’s the one thing allowing you to keep your personal safety tool by your side and close at hand at all times, no matter how you dress. I hope this little book serves as a guide to help you do just that.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGun Digest Books
    Release dateAug 1, 2014
    ISBN9781440243950
    Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry Holsters: A guide to choosing the best concealed carry holsters for your lifestyle
    Author

    Corey Graff

    Corey Graff is the managing editor of the Gun Digest Annual book and several other firearms titles for Gun Digest Books, including the Standard Catalog of Firearms, Cartridges of the World and Modern Survival Guns. In addition to having been published in Gun Digest the Magazine and many major firearms periodicals, he is the author of What’s In Your Bug-Out Bag? and The Comprehensive Guide to Concealed Carry Holsters.

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      Book preview

      Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry Holsters - Corey Graff

      Introduction

      Congratulations. You’ve completed your concealed weapons class and have your permit. Now you’re ready to go to the local gun shop and pick out that one perfect pistol for self-defense. So far, so good. However, if you’re like most folks, you didn’t think much about how you’ll actually carry the thing around. This can lead to an uncomfortable exchange with the bespectacled gun-counter guy. If your experience is anything like mine, he’ll look down his nose at you while a little drop of white spittle forms at the corner of his mouth. You’ll ask which holster he recommends. And he’ll sneer.

      In truth, the question is like asking your car mechanic what brand of underwear to buy. The mechanic and gun-counter guy know literally nothing about you, your physiology, lifestyle or your daily habits. Holsters are made for guns, but are fit to people. Damned if gun-counter guy will tell you this, with an ego the size of the Death Star he will not risk surrendering his throne of perceived superior knowledge. Instead he’ll point and make a strange grunting noise, which will seem to direct you to the holster section. Puzzled, you’ll wander over and stare at a wall of holsters. They’ll stare back. Now what?

      I’ve seen this scenario play itself out more times than an I Love Lucy rerun. Holster selection for concealed carry is quite possibly one of the most misunderstood and glossed over areas in the gun world. On par with handgun choice in terms of importance, it receives very little ink. Yet it’s one of the most vital subjects, for the handgun holster is the thing that will keep your firearm secured and at the ready. It will determine how safe, comfortable and readily accessible your gun is when carried. A poor-fitting holster is like a poor-fitting gun — it probably won’t get much use. This defeats the purpose of being armed at all times. Moreover, today there are literally dozens of different designs of holsters and thousands of different models all configured differently — from basic factory numbers to high-end custom jobs. This further complicates things for you if you’re just starting out. In a sea of choices, making a less-than-ideal selection is a very real risk. You could end up with something that might be fine quality, but simply not a good match for you — for your lifestyle and body type. If it’s not comfortable and practical, you won’t use it. That means you could dish out some serious cash and end up with the wrong match. A wrong-fitting combo is a pain in the side, while a well-matched holster and gun are a joy to carry.

      Like clothing, holsters are very personalized so you’ll eventually wind up like everyone else who carries. First you’ll have a dresser drawer full of them, then one day you’ll wake up to the realization that a storage unit is needed to contain the rest. With the awesome responsibility of carrying a gun for self-defense comes the opportunity to prevail and survive an otherwise lethal confrontation. Yet that responsibility also becomes a life-changing event with the holster. In all its many interesting designs and variations it’s the one thing allowing you to keep your personal safety tool by your side and close at hand at all times, no matter how you dress. I hope this little book serves as a guide to help you do just that.

      Chapter 1

      Quick Start Guide

      In this chapter I give my recommendation on a good starter holster if you’re new to concealed carry. As you’ll see in subsequent chapters, there is a holster type, material and design for just about every situation, season and type of person and handgun. From big pot-bellied dudes to the most petite and shapely women — and everything in between — having a successful first experience with a concealed handgun hinges more on the holster than you may realize. It’s the key to promoting regular, continued carry day in and day out.

      That’s why I entitled this chapter the Quick Start Guide. It cuts through all the white noise so you can make a good holster selection and get started carrying your new handgun right now. Let’s start with a quick primer.

      What Holsters Do

      Whether it’s made of leather or plastic, a holster does much more than simply ‘hold the gun.’ In fact, it does three things: It secures the handgun; it provides immediate access to the handgun; and it conceals the handgun. The holster keeps the trigger guard area of the firearm completely covered for safety. In addition, the barrel is enshrouded to protect it from dings and other damage. Gun-to-holster fit is critical in keeping the handgun from falling out while moving about during your daily business. It must fit right, snug as a bug in a rug, right off the bat. And yet it can’t be so tight that drawing the thing is difficult.

      Holsters do other beneficial things. In the Gun Digest 2014 article What You Should Know About Holsters, author Robert Campbell explains that, Some effort is required to find the right holster, but no matter what the choice, there is always an acclimation period, he writes. Some handguns are more ergonomic than others, but few are completely devoid of sharp edges. A quality holster goes a long way towards making carrying a defensive handgun bearable.

      Think of holster fit in terms of how you’d view clothing, but not just any clothing. Holsters are similar to really fancy tailored and handcrafted garments designed just for one purpose — for you. There’s no other way to hang something weighing from 12 ounces on up to over 2 pounds on your hip and have it be comfortable. Fit is key. And when a holster fits right, it will be comfortable.

      The One Holster You Must Own

      In any gun shop or online retailer, you’ll notice lots of configurations, sizes and colors of holsters. Today, holsters are manufactured for specific guns by make and model. So if you have a Glock Model 19 handgun, for example, you’ll need a Glock Model 19 holster. But that’s just the beginning of the options you need to consider.

      Cutting through the clutter for a second, I recommend starting with a pancake-style, strong-side leather holster in the outside-the-waistband configuration. We dive into these terms in more detail in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 but here’s an overview of what that means.

      For your first holster it’s hard to beat an outside-the-waistband leather holster like this Royal Deluxe from Galco. This design is simple and comfortable. It works.

      Leather: It is a good material to start with and will gain character with use, plus it’s naturally more comfortable than rigid plastic. It’s also durable and long lasting. Despite the advent

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