This post was to be written as a “holsters for ladies” type article but this post applies to anyone who is looking to choose the right holster for their purpose and physical build. We thought a post title of “Holsters for people with shorter torsos compared to the ideal male physical build that is targeted by the gun accessories market” would be too long.

Natural wrist position

A natural wrist position is crucial for a smooth, fast draw. The less the wrist bends while going from holster draw to presentation, the more efficient the movement will be.

The position of the holster and therefore the gun determines the wrist angle when the shooter goes for the draw. Aim to have the forearm and wrist in a straight line with enough room to get the gun out of the holster. This goes for appendix carry, hip carry, back carry and etc.

When the holster is low, for example at the thigh level, the arm and wrist won’t bend at all. As the holster position rises up the body, the shoulder will rotate backwards, the elbow will bend and as you go even higher, the wrist will bend as well.

A good holster position will be allow the gun to come out of the holster with minimal wrist bending. The position will be different depending on torso length relative to arm length. Ladies will typically have a shorter torso and therefore holsters that sit on the belt line are too high up. They should opt for a holster that sits below the belt line.

What about concealment?

In the words of Lil Jon, shake what your mama gave ya. This means, work with your physical attributes to achieve your purpose.

For men, who typically have broader back and shoulders, this means wearing a holster at the belt at the 4 o’clock position so the butt of the gun can be concealed in the arch of the low back by the loose clothing hanging off the shoulder. For ladies, carrying in that same holster and position would not work well. Let’s take a look at this photo.

This particular holster has a built-in forward cant of the holster called the FBI cant. Back in the day, the technique was to shoot from a crouch or to draw the gun with a slight forward bend of the body. The holster complemented that by canting the gun forwards slightly so the wrist would be in a more natural position.

In this case, the holster is working against the shooter. The shooter’s wrist is at an awkward angle and while this photo is not of a concealed holster, put on your imagination hats for a minute and you can imagine that a shirt over this holster on this particular body frame would not be hidden very well.

Ladies can consider wearing the gun in front of the body at a 2 o’clock position either straight or canted slightly backwards which allows loose clothing hanging off what your mama gave ya to conceal the handgun and a smoother draw stroke.

What about [insert trendy carry position here]?

There are many ways to carry a gun. It all comes down to your purpose and working with your body’s physical attributes. There are pros and cons to different carry methods. They are too many to cover in an article here but we made a video of a few holsters that you don’t commonly see. Those are some examples of what kind of advantages and disadvantages different types offer.

If you have any questions about training with holsters, feel free to get in touch with us and we will try to answer your questions!