I will say right off the bat, I am not a fan of soft pocket holsters. I have friends that carry with them. I even tried one for a brief time and that convinced me that there are far better ways to carry your pistol.
Are pocket holsters safe? Most soft pocket holsters are made of a flexible soft material normally with a slightly sticky exterior. They are billed a convent way to conceal a handgun in your pocket. The shortcomings of these holsters arise from the flexible material that they are made of and a lack of retention.
Walk through any gun show and you find someone selling a soft flexible pocket holster. On the surface, they seem intriguing after all being able to just slip your pistol and holster in your pocket sounds great. When you consider what a holster should do the problems with soft pocket holsters become apparent.
A holster is far more than a pouch to carry your gun in. I have a few things I demand of my holster and I feel that soft pocket holsters lack. Having said that there are manufactures that make Kydex pocket holsters that address many of the problems with soft holsters. One such holster is the Vedder pocket locker. If you are interested in checking out their latest offerings on Amazon click here.
I have posed the pocket holster question to several tactical instructors. Not one of them recommends anyone carry with a pocket holster. They sight many of the faults that I will relate here. Read on and we will discuss what is needed in a concealed carry holster and let’s see how pocket holsters stack up.
When you carry a concealed weapon it is loaded and chambered. I know some of you are thinking I don’t carry chambered, I will have time to chamber a round before anything bad could happen. I would encourage you to take a look at the Tueller drill or 21-foot rule. Officer Tueller shows that an assailant with a knife can cover 21 feet and stab you before you could draw your weapon let alone chamber a round.
Protect the trigger.
A holster should completely cover the trigger and be stiff enough to make it impossible to get your finger or anything else between the holster and the trigger thus eliminating the possibility of an accidental discharge. Every soft pocket holster that I have tried fails this important test.
Keep it where you put it.
I also expect my holster to keep my firearm exactly where I put it when I attach it to my belt. In training, you practice drawing your gun from concealment time and time again. The purpose of this repetition is to develop muscle memory. In order for this to be effective, the weapon needs to be held by the holster in the same place and angle every time.
By its very nature the pocket holster will be carried in a jacket or cargo pocket. If this pocket is loose enough to allow easy placement of the pistol and holster inside it may also allow it to shift and move around. You may find the holster coming out of your pocket with the gun if you draw rapidly. If it is in a tight pocket you may find yourself trying to dig your pistol out of the pocket when speed matters.
Retention
I Use an IWB Kydex molded holster. Because it was molded to exactly fit the model of gun that I carry, it has a very snug snap-fit yet it is still easy to draw. I could do a cartwheel with this holster clip to my belt and the gun will stay inside of my waistband snug in the holster.
The problem that I see with soft pocket holsters is they are one size fits several types. The interior is a fairly slick synthetic fabric so retention is dependent on the friction between this interior fabric and the gun. This does not seem all that positive. The holster itself is depending on the stickiness of its exterior and the interior of your pocket.
This may not seem like a problem just standing around but if you are running or in a grappling encounter I want my weapon firmly attached to my body. If I need it I want to know where to find it.
Re-holstering
One feature I like about Kydex, injection-molded and high-quality leather holsters is that they stay open when the pistol is withdrawn. This helps make them much safer when re-holstering. As you may know from some of my other articles I am a big fan of holstering slowly with intention, actually looking the gun all the way back into the holster. Search holster accident on youtube and you will see the results of sloppy holstering and bad holsters. With the soft pocket holster, it collapses when the gun was drawn. So to re-holster, you must hold the gun in one hand while you fish the holster out of your pocket with the other. Then squeeze the outer edges of the holster to open it so that you can replace the gun into the holster. This does not strike me as good protocol from a safety standpoint.
Well, That’s my take on soft pocket holsters. As I said, in the beginning, I am not a fan and I hope I have laid out my case clearly. Agree or disagree I just hope this may have given you food for thought when making your decision as to what holster to use.
Related QUESTIONS
Is it safe to carry a gun in my pocket? If you are referring to a naked gun, the answer is NO! I know it looked cool when Sam Spade dropped his gat into his trench coat pocket but in real life, a loaded gun carried loosely in a pocket is asking for trouble. There are far better ways to carry your gun both from a safety and tactical standpoint.