I have more than a decade of experience carrying a firearm concealed. About 5 years from 4 o’clock and close to 7 years from Appendix. Even though the holsters are different, the basics of importance stay the same. How it fits your body type is very important; this can be the difference between comfort and pain. I always tell people to try different options, which can be difficult, so the best would be to test whatever you can at the range, maybe whatever some of your friends prefer. For me, one of the things that stands out is double clips. To me, a single clip is not sufficient, as the holster tends to move from side to side. Double clips do not have that issue. You can move fast, and the holster position remains the same for a more consistent draw.

Quality will be easy to know; most online forums and social media platforms discuss gear, so you should be able to find out what’s quality and what’s not. The problem with this is that it can sometimes be misleading. Some shooters have only owned one holster and then praise it even though they haven’t tried any of the other options. Certain brands are not high quality, but I see enough praise for them to convince someone that it’s a quality product.

Look at the holster closely; most of us who own gear should be able to tell when something is quality or not by just looking at how well a product was made. When I see a holster, I look at the final touches and wonder how much work the Kydex bender put into finishing the product. Look at the J-clip and see how easily it bends. If it’s flexing like rubber, then you know it’s not going to hold up to a lot of use. Quality J-clips are very important. Remember, if you are out and about and they break, then you are stuffed. I have never broken a J-clip before.

Screws can become a problem; they can easily come loose by themselves. Thin rubbers help to eliminate this issue, but sometimes they still come loose. It’s important to check them every couple of days to make sure they are secure. As a backup, I carry a small Victorinox spartan in my pocket, so if they do come loose, I can tighten them.

Fit and retention go hand in hand; my firearm needs to have a perfect fit, which in turn will have good retention. Check that both the firearm and the magazines fit, and make sure they have enough retention. If your mag comes out of the holster while moving or accessing the firearm, then you know you need to adjust the retention. Which brings us to the next point: make sure you can adjust the retention on both the holster and the magazine holder. If you can’t adjust the retention, then you will get to a point where the magazine will start falling out, or even the firearm, for that matter, if you get into a scuffle. That is unacceptable.

I hope this article helped and pointed out some of the important things to look out for when purchasing a holster.