How Do You Holster Your EDC?

[Good Ol' Boy]

The thread about the AD after holstering a gun carried AIWB got me thinking about how folks here holster their EDC and I did not want to derail that thread, so Im starting this to discuss and give hopefully everyone something to think about.

Me personally my EDC stays in the holster, period, during the normal day to day. It comes out to be unloaded for practice/training only. In those cases the gun and holster are off my body when handling. And when carry loads are put back and the gun is reholstered, again the whole rig is off body.

Obviously when training there are times when holstering a loaded gun on body is a reality and is part of training.

But I think it worthwhile to minimize risks when getting ready for or finishing practice. And anytime I have to take off or put on my gun in the normal day to day the whole rig comes off or goes on, gun already holstered.


So how many of you are handling your EDC out of the holster on a day to day basis? What are your steps for getting your rig on every day?

 

[.308 Norma]

So how many of you are handling your EDC out of the holster on a day to day basis?

Not daily, but I take my EDC out of its holster to check it over and wipe it down (after unloading it of course) at least weekly. I even practice shooting it once in a while, probably not as often as some folks on this forum think I should, but that's my business. I can't remember the last time I practiced dry-firing it.

And anytime I have to take off or put on my gun in the normal day to day the whole rig comes off or goes on, gun already holstered.

That's the way I do it.

 

[ilbob]

I am inclined to agree that this is the safest way especially if you have a firearm without a manual safety.

Having said that, a whole bunch of USPSA shooters that use firearms without a manual safety manage to safely holster loaded firearms routinely.

I suspect bad holsters and bad technique are at the root of most unintentional discharges when holstering.

 

[Bama59]

I use a nylon holster for my 9mm Shield , company policy not allowed to carry in the truck so leave it in my car. I also have a Walther scabbard bought out discount bin , Shield fit well after rubbing and adjustment

 

[huntsman]

I carry my G23 IWB, l draw fron the holster but remove holster and insert gun out in front of me where I can fully see both gun and holster. Then it’s simply a matter of clipping holster back in place

When handling any of my CC handguns I prefer them to be holstered, even the LCP.

 

[SharpDog]

I've gone to a hard kydex holster (no floppy parts) that covers the trigger completely and I ride my thumb down on the hammer with my finger off of the trigger. Also at a 4:00 carry position, the only thing in danger is a grazing of my butt (And I have mighty extra butt supported by my beer belly to compensate)

 

[Varminterror]

I dry fire practice with my EDC 3-4 times per week, and live fire typically once a week. I typically unload and clear every night, storing out of the holster.

I’m prone to favor a paradigm where familiarity trumps fear.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I dry fire practice with my EDC 3-4 times per week, and live fire typically once a week. I typically unload and clear every night, storing out of the holster.

I’m prone to favor a paradigm where familiarity trumps fear.

Interesting. I'm not saying anything one way or another about your habits but what is your reasoning behind unloading your EDC every day and then reloading the next, if you don't mind?

 

[taliv]

Having said that, a whole bunch of USPSA shooters that use firearms without a manual safety manage to safely holster loaded firearms routinely.

yes, but pretty much 0% of them are carrying IWB and even IDPA shooters mostly game the rules for concealment and don't draw like you'd really have to draw.

i personally almost always put the gun in the holster and then stick the holster in my pants. remove the holster from my pants, and then pull out the gun if needed.

I practice drawing from my IWB holster, but I very, very slowly and carefully and with two hands return the pistol to the holster. I've had a few close calls, where a piece of clothing or something hung up on my finger and pushed it into the trigger as i was inserting it. I just don't have my appetite for shooting myself in the ass

 

[Varminterror]

@Good Ol' Boy - Since you asked: there a handful of reasons within our personal paradigm and philosophy...

What it really hinges around: NOTHING in our safes is left loaded. I am a believer in the philosophy the firearm should only be loaded when it is meant for use. My nightstand pistol is loaded at night, clear and secure during the day. My Carry pistol is loaded when I strap on, unloaded when not. My home defense AR is clear and secured in an accessible position should I need/want more than a pistol to clear my home (kids in a split floor plan, the plan is barricade in place in their room or escape once the kids are reached). My firearms are only loaded when they are “active.” When I take off my EDC, it is not “active.”

My schedule is irregular. Some days I work from home, some I go to my office, some I’m out doing something on my ranch. My wife and I keep a habit of unloading and clearing daily to be more assured they are empty if my son were to gain access to the safes. If I get home at 4am after driving home from a business trip and take off my pistol, I know when my son gets up in the morning while I’m sleeping, my pistol will be inert, even if I forgot or if I were too tired and neglected to lock it into the safe.

Clearing every night presents an opportunity to develop and sustain automaticity. My wife doesn’t shoot as much as she used to, but she’s demonstrated a developed habit of operation with her carry pistols - any misfire on the range is cleared without consideration because her hands know the gun. It’s also an opportunity to ensure everything is functioning as it should. Automaticity in firearms operation is the pinnacle of the paradigm and is ONLY developed through repetition - so why rob yourself of an opportunity to develop?

We vary our carry. Some days I grab my G19 instead of my LCP. Some days it’s a P224. Sometimes that’s an odd day, sometimes it’s an odd month. As mentioned above, NOTHING in my safes is loaded. If I decide tomorrow to carry my G19, I know my LCP I carried today won’t be loaded if my son gets access to it 2wks from now (leaving on a biz trip tomorrow night). If I grab my G19 and load it today, I know it is loaded today.

I dry fire and live fire practice regularly. The round in the chamber isn’t married to the pistol. For much of my life, I dry fired every night when I dismounted. Now I only take time 3-4 nights a week. I see no reason to stop the habit of clearing my EDC as it goes “inactive” at night. I load my nightstand gun and clear it every day too - it also gets 2-3 days/wk dry fire, and usually once a week or 3x/mo at the range (backyard). Having a laser simulator in my home really made dry fire practice more productive.

My wife is an equal partner in our safety and defense strategy. I know if I load every morning, it is loaded. Some nights I might leave my pistol on my dresser, and wake up to find it in the safe - whether my wife went to bed after or woke before me. Did she unload it too? So if she unloaded it and reholstered, I might stick an empty pistol on my belt tomorrow morning and lose my life because I didn’t take 10 extra seconds to load myself.

Every day represents a function check of my firearm. If the slide feels sluggish or the feeding isn’t smooth, it’s feedback I can use to potentially ensure my firearm is functional when/if I need it to save my life.

I’m sure I could go on, but I’ve spent more time typing this response than I have spent clearing and reloading my pistol over the last month.

 

[Infidel]

The thread about the AD after holstering a gun carried AIWB got me thinking ....

I habitually do as you describe,-- the pistol lives in the holster except for periodic cleaning and practice; part of my reason is that I usually carry AIWB, in the front of my pants. Handling the holstered pistol as a unit is actually simpler and easier. I have not always done it this way, just since I started carrying AIWB.

 

[shoobe01]

I store holstered, then just put the whole gun/holster combo on each day. Of course, I unload defensive ammo, and reload with cheap stuff for practice/match days, do the same at end of match time.

If I have to remove the gun for a security zone, etc. the whole holster/gun combo comes off again.

Two key reasons I store loaded:

• Guns in holsters don't just go off. Handling guns is when accidents happen. So, anything to avoid administrative handling is good.
• Bullet setback. When loading an automatic pistol, there's a good bit of force on the cartridge, so eventually the bullet gets loose; worst case is you compress the load, raise the pressure and KB the gun. Seen enough people who did studies on this that I have settled on 3 times loaded is all I want to do. Right before loading, I put a sharpie cross across the base of the cartridge in the mag, and when there's a second I don't load it more than that.

 

[C0untZer0]

In Illinois there are a number of "prohibited places" where you are not allowed to carry a firearm, However that prohibition does not extend to "transporting" a firearm. Transporting a firearm is defined as the firearm being in an enclosed case and unloaded - including no magazine in the mag well. You can have a loaded magazine in the pack (case), with the unloaded firearm.

When going into a prohibited place, some people could choose to unholster their firearm (in their car for example), unload it and then transport it and then they could re-load and reholster their firearm when they return to their car. But I don't do that. I purchased an additional gun that stays in my car, unloaded in a pack, along with a loaded magazine.

My loaded gun lives in its holster 7x24

At night it comes out of my pocket and goes into a night stand drawer and the next morning it comes out of the drawer and goes in my pocket.

When I go to the range I take the gun out of the holster at the firing line and shoot it. Most of the ranges in my area don't allow shooting from a holstered position. But anyway - I don't clean the gun when I go to the range, I just shoot it. When I get back home I unload the gun, disassemble it, clean it, load it up again and start the same routine.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

Varmintterror,

I appreciate the explanation. While I don't necessarily agree with it that's the sort of discussion I was looking for.

 

[fjblair]

@Good Ol' Boy - Since you asked: there a handful of reasons within our personal paradigm and philosophy...

What it really hinges around: NOTHING in our safes is left loaded. I am a believer in the philosophy the firearm should only be loaded when it is meant for use. My nightstand pistol is loaded at night, clear and secure during the day. My Carry pistol is loaded when I strap on, unloaded when not. My home defense AR is clear and secured in an accessible position should I need/want more than a pistol to clear my home (kids in a split floor plan, the plan is barricade in place in their room or escape once the kids are reached). My firearms are only loaded when they are “active.” When I take off my EDC, it is not “active.”

My schedule is irregular. Some days I work from home, some I go to my office, some I’m out doing something on my ranch. My wife and I keep a habit of unloading and clearing daily to be more assured they are empty if my son were to gain access to the safes. If I get home at 4am after driving home from a business trip and take off my pistol, I know when my son gets up in the morning while I’m sleeping, my pistol will be inert, even if I forgot or if I were too tired and neglected to lock it into the safe.

Clearing every night presents an opportunity to develop and sustain automaticity. My wife doesn’t shoot as much as she used to, but she’s demonstrated a developed habit of operation with her carry pistols - any misfire on the range is cleared without consideration because her hands know the gun. It’s also an opportunity to ensure everything is functioning as it should. Automaticity in firearms operation is the pinnacle of the paradigm and is ONLY developed through repetition - so why rob yourself of an opportunity to develop?

We vary our carry. Some days I grab my G19 instead of my LCP. Some days it’s a P224. Sometimes that’s an odd day, sometimes it’s an odd month. As mentioned above, NOTHING in my safes is loaded. If I decide tomorrow to carry my G19, I know my LCP I carried today won’t be loaded if my son gets access to it 2wks from now (leaving on a biz trip tomorrow night). If I grab my G19 and load it today, I know it is loaded today.

I dry fire and live fire practice regularly. The round in the chamber isn’t married to the pistol. For much of my life, I dry fired every night when I dismounted. Now I only take time 3-4 nights a week. I see no reason to stop the habit of clearing my EDC as it goes “inactive” at night. I load my nightstand gun and clear it every day too - it also gets 2-3 days/wk dry fire, and usually once a week or 3x/mo at the range (backyard). Having a laser simulator in my home really made dry fire practice more productive.

My wife is an equal partner in our safety and defense strategy. I know if I load every morning, it is loaded. Some nights I might leave my pistol on my dresser, and wake up to find it in the safe - whether my wife went to bed after or woke before me. Did she unload it too? So if she unloaded it and reholstered, I might stick an empty pistol on my belt tomorrow morning and lose my life because I didn’t take 10 extra seconds to load myself.

Every day represents a function check of my firearm. If the slide feels sluggish or the feeding isn’t smooth, it’s feedback I can use to potentially ensure my firearm is functional when/if I need it to save my life.

I’m sure I could go on, but I’ve spent more time typing this response than I have spent clearing and reloading my pistol over the last month.

Sounds overwrought and confusing to me, but everyone has a "system".

 

[FL-NC]

S&w shield 9, Tagua IWB.

 

[Wanderling]

I use a Sticky. The gun stays in the holster and comes out with it. If I need to take it out of the holster for whatever reason (practicing, wipe down etc), when I am finished, I take the holster out of my pocket, put the gun in it, then put the holstered gun back in the pocket.

I always felt a little concerned when re-holstering G26 in my hybrid IWB holster worn at 3:30. I far prefer Glock plastic holder carried OWB, not just for comfort but also because I can clearly see what I am doing when I re-holster.

 

[MedWheeler]

I carry only hammer-fired guns that have a DAO or DA/SA trigger mechanism. If there is a manual safety (it's rare that I carry a sidearm so equipped), it's left in the "off" position. (I have just acquired my first striker-fired gun being considered for self-defense, but it's a Kahr CW45, so it has a similar trigger mechanism as well.)

I carry either ITB (inside-the-belt using an IWB holster) or OWB using a belt-slide holster.

If I need to remove the gun while carrying ITB, the entire gun/holster combo comes off. If the gun is then being stowed elsewhere, such as bedside, it is then removed from the holster. No fingers enter the trigger guard, and the thumb goes on the rear of the slide, since some of my guns have an exposed hammer there and I like to keep the habit up.

If I'm unholstering a handgun from the belt-slide holster, the gun is simply removed as above and stowed. The holster typically doesn't come off unless the belt is coming off, usually at the end of the day (and it's almost never that the gun comes off before this.)

Regarding re-holstering; the gun is placed inside the IWB/ITB holster before it is placed onto myself. When using the belt-slide OWB holster, the gun goes in it after the holster is securely in place on me. Finger/thumb placement is the same for re-holstering as for unholstering.

I do also carry a second gun most of the time in a pocket holster. It's trigger mechanism is the same as the others. When the gun/holster combo goes into or out of the pocket, they go together. The gun is then removed from the holster for stowing if so indicated.

I do not typically unload carry guns except for cleaning and prepping for a range outing or dry-fire session. If they're loaded at "lockup time", they stay loaded in the safe.

 

[someguy2800]

I store my guns in their holsters, and the one inteded for use is always loaded. My most common carried gun is an LC9s pro, about 80% of the time in a desantis pocket holster but occasionally in a N2 IWB holster with elastic retention. Being it is a no external safety model I do not feel it is safe to try to stick it into either holster while being worn so if for any reason the gun comes out of the holster I take the holster out of my pocket or wasteband, put the pistol in, then put it back in my pants as a pair so as to keep the trigger covered.

When I take it off I take the whole combo off together.

 

[Varminterror]

Sounds overwrought and confusing to me, but everyone has a "system".

I guess I have never found loading and unloading a handgun to be so onerous as others must...

 

[taliv]

I guess I have never found loading and unloading a handgun to be so onerous as others must...

it's not onerous. it's just an opportunity for an accident that can be avoided. you may go your whole life without ever having an accident unloading and loading. but you will have more opportunities for an accident than someone who keeps the gun loaded in their holster all the time.

i'm not saying what you're doing is wrong. it's a free country (more or less). do what you like.
but one thing that struck me when reading your post was the mindset of all your guns being unloaded. ... all guns are always loaded. having some of the guns in my house/safe actually loaded (despite no real reason for them to be) to me, reinforces that mind set that i always treat all the guns as if they're loaded because they may be. i don't want to lull myself into a false sense of security by "knowing" that all the guns in my house are "unloaded". of course, my kid is grown and out of the house... so YMMV

 

[sgt127]

I carry appendix. A Sig P239 DAK. I usually install the holster/gun as a unit.

But, at the range, I’ll practice draw and shoot. And, reholster on my body.

With my thumb on the hammer and a slow, controlled re-holster, I’ve never had an issue. Visual and tactile feedback from the hammer is very important for me.

I would not carry a cocked and unlocked gun (read, striker fired) appendix. Actually, I wouldn’t even carry a cocked and locked gun appendix. And, I love 1911’s.

When I carried a detonics, I carried hammer down.

 

[Tallball]

My carry guns stay in their holsters and loaded. I put them in my pocket or on my belt in their holster, and remove them in their holster. The only time they normally come out is for target practice. Since their triggers are always covered, I have very little chance of some sort of accident.

 

[jonb32248]

Whatever you do and whatever is your custom in handling a gun, just take that extra second to do it safely. You can't get that bullet back after it leaves the end of the barrel.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

For years my EDC's have been Glocks and similar strikers most of the time. I carry 4 o'clock (actually 7) both IWB and OWB, mostly the latter.The gun is usually holstered when put on and taken off. I unload carry guns only when switching to practice ammo, a different carry or for cleaning. I prefer 4/7 o'clock carry for comfort, convenience and safety. With proper technique it is possible to draw and re-holster without pointing the gun at oneself.