Safe Holstering

When I started teaching cops in 1972, they weren’t actually bad at quick draw. But Lord! Some of them looked like Barney Fife when they went to re-holster. The culprit seemed to be one of purpose and focus. They knew getting the gun out on target fast could save their lives, but putting it back in its scabbard seemed to be an afterthought.

Current Trends

In the early ’70s, the typical police holster was the Border Patrol style, leaving the triggerguard exposed where the finger could reach it before the draw even began. If the gun snagged on something on the draw, the finger on the trigger would clutch, and bang — Quick-Draw McGraw would suffer a leg shot. Holster designers tried to solve the problem by covering the triggerguard. Unfortunately, this merely revised the nature of in-holster discharges. Now, instead of being fired prematurely on the draw, the gun would discharge unintentionally upon holstering.

What happened was something would make contact with the trigger as the gun was thrust into the holster. It could be an adjustment cord on a jacket, a fold of soft leather from a cheap worn-out holster, or a safety strap narrow enough to fit inside the triggerguard. The warning here is obvious: Don’t use any such gear! Most often, the culprit was the shooter’s own finger carelessly left in contact with the trigger. The finger would hit the high ridge of the holster intended to protectively cover the triggerguard and stop. The trigger would keep going downward, and … bang. Often this involved someone trying to holster as quickly as they drew.

Use Your Eyes

Every parent tells their kids, “Watch what you’re doing!” We need to get in touch with our own inner child and practice the same mantra. As much as possible, “look the gun into the holster.” This will help you catch things like a snagged garment adjustment cord in time. Also, “the eyes teach the hand” how to re-holster by feel. That’s not as contradictory as it sounds. How do you “look” into the holster in the dark, for example? You want to be able to holster one-handed by feel as a tactical skill, but the eye on the gun gives you one more safety net whenever it’s possible.

In concealed carry, re-holstering can cause your gun to foul on clothing — especially heavy winter garb. In the 1950s, quick-draw expert and concealed carry holster pioneer Chic Gaylord came up with a draw technique in which the support hand pulls the concealing garment out away from the weak side of the body, exposing the holstered gun to the drawing hand. The late Chicago PD instructor Jack Manfre resurrected this method in the early 21st Century. It turns out to be a great way to get all the fabric out of the way for re-holstering as well. It’s as if you were open carrying.

Watch Those Body Parts!

Critics of appendix carry point out if the gun is negligently discharged, your private parts and femoral artery are in the line of fire. Wise appendix carriers learn to rock their upper body back from the hips when they holster a loaded pistol, to keep the trajectory from the muzzle away from those vital areas.

Those of us with hip holsters have to remember — particularly in a wide-straddle combat stance — even a hip-holstered gun’s muzzle can cross our own leg. My colleague David Maglio popularized the “pedestal holstering” technique — feet together and legs straight to keep the lower limbs out of the line of fire. Tilting the upper body away from the holster side helps a bit with that, too.

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