Understanding Holster Retention, How To Test Retention, and How NOT To

Understanding Holster Retention

Good holster retention is the foundation of a safe concealed carry experience. This guide explains how the gun is held in the holster, why it matters, and how to test your holster retention to make sure you're carrying safely. This article applies to IWB (inside the waistband) holsters.

What is holster retention?

Holster retention means making the gun stay inside the holster when you need it to stay, while still being accessible for a safe and unobstructed draw. The gun should stay securely in place on your body without falling out of the holster, even through extreme movements such as jumping, grappling, parkour, or break-dancing.

In addition to holding the gun in, your holster must also allow the gun OUT on demand. It's important to have balanced retention — tight enough for security, but not so tight that you can't draw the gun when you need it.

Retention for an IWB holster is accomplished differently than for an OWB holster. An IWB holster uses holster features + pressure from your body + pressure from your belt to retain the gun. An OWB holster uses only holster features and the belt. This article focuses on IWB concealment holsters only.

Don't be this guy

Holster retention matters if you don't want your gun flying out on the dance floor.

FBI Agent Loses His Gun During Dance-Floor Backflip, Accidentally Shoots Bar Patron

Be like Brandee

Brandee carefully tested her holster's retention on-body before carrying a loaded gun in it.

Enigma Parkour Short Action Sequence

Should a kydex holster click when you insert the gun?

Few things feel more satisfying than putting your gun in a kydex holster and hearing that crisp, authoritative "CLICK" when it settles into place. But what does the click mean, and what purpose does it serve? If your holster clicks, does that mean it's good? Or if it doesn't click, does that mean it's bad?

The "click" feel and sound is a feature of specific holster design choices. On its own, it doesn't tell you much about whether the holster is good. A click can happen for different reasons, not all of them positive.

Some holsters feel clicky because they are made poorly. For example, some holsters are molded with interference into the ejection port, which definitely makes a resounding CLICK sound, but also causes problems like excessive wear to the holster and to the finish of the gun.

Other holsters don't feel clicky at all, but are well-made and have excellent retention. The performance of the holster is what matters — not the click. Holsters are supposed to securely retain the gun when it's worn on the body. Whether or not they click is window dressing.

When you test a large enough variety of good and bad holsters, you start to develop a sense for what good retention feels like. Whether or not the holster clicks, you want the retention to feel precise and intentional.

Do PHLster holsters click?

Some models do, and others don't.

PHLster holsters are compression-formed to tight tolerances, and every holster is test-fit before it leaves the shop. The decisive "click" you feel with our interference-fit holsters (such as the Skeleton, Pro, or Enigma Express) comes from precision along every contact point with the gun, not just the trigger guard. Our friction-fit holsters (such as the Floodlight2) don't click, but they are secure, precise, and authoritative.

Kydex holster design and construction

There are a few ways to accomplish gun retention when making a kydex holster. For IWB holsters, the most common ones are friction and interference.

A holster can use a combination of both friction and interference fit — it doesn't have to be purely one or the other. And one isn't inherently better than the other. They're both good when designed and implemented appropriately. Just know that most of the "click" sound comes from interference.

Retention — Interference Fit

Interference fit. When the gun is inserted, you can see the two sides of the holster spread apart, then snap back together. That's what gives you the "click" feeling and sound. Watch how the small indentation in the trigger guard causes this effect.

How to test holster retention

There are good and bad ways to test holster retention. This tab leads with the right way to test, then addresses why the popular "shake test" doesn't actually tell you what you need to know.

The correct way to test retention

Since body contact is a big part of holster retention, and since all bodies are different, the most accurate way to test your holster's retention is to wear it. That means putting on your holster and belt and unloaded gun (we recommend using a Barrel Blok for an added layer of safety). Get everything situated the way you plan to wear it in real life.

When testing your draw, make sure your draw stroke is quick and clean, and that the gun releases from the holster crisply when you need it to. Use quick, confident movements. A slow or hesitant draw will often make your holster retention feel tighter than it really is.

For a great video demonstration of how to test holster retention, watch the "retention" segment from Tessah Booth on her channel, Armed and Styled:

Concealed Carry Holster Necessities

What about the "shake test"?

The "shake test" is a popular internet sensation — holding the holster upside down and vigorously shaking it. If the gun falls out, the holster "fails." It's popular because it's simple and easy.

IWB holsters are designed to be worn between your belt (or Enigma) and your body. The pressure of your belt against the front of the holster provides inward force. Your body provides surface area, friction, and pressure on the other side of the gun, effectively sandwiching the gun between two sources of pressure.

This belt + gun + body pressure sandwich adds a ton of extra retention. It's why you can do cartwheels, jump on a trampoline, or survive a car accident while wearing a well-designed holster — even though those things generate much more force than the shake test.

Real-world example: rollover car accident

PHLster Concealment Workshop member David Appleman survived this rollover car accident while carrying a Glock 43X in a PHLster Pro Holster, worn in the appendix position. Despite the severity of the crash, his gun stayed put and he did not sustain any major injuries. (Note that he was wearing his seatbelt correctly.)

When you shake an IWB holster upside down, you're missing the whole pressure part of the pressure sandwich, so your retention will feel much lighter than it would when wearing the holster. If you try to adjust your retention to make it feel right in your hand, it's going to be a lot tighter than necessary — which can slow down or foul your draw.

In the video below, watch how simply changing where you hold the holster changes the retention. Holding the edges lets the gun fall out easily because no pressure is applied to the face of the shell. But when you squeeze the shell where your belt would apply pressure, retention gets much tighter:

Retention — Why the Shake Test Isn't Accurate

Light bearing holsters — special considerations for retention

Most weapon-mounted lights are wider than the trigger guard of the gun, which means using interference fit around the trigger guard won't work. If you tried, the light wouldn't be able to pass through the gap. The entire lower half of the holster needs to be wide enough for the light to fit, so molding around the trigger guard won't cut it.

Instead of using the trigger guard for retention, many light-bearing holsters use the light itself for retention. Again, two types are possible — friction and interference. Friction fit is when the kydex is fitted tight to the light. The amount of pressure on the light determines how tight the retention is. Your belt and body still play a major role, so make sure to test retention as the holster is worn.

With lights, interference fit is sometimes possible, but not always. It depends on: (a) the shape of the light, and (b) whether the holster is made for one specific gun, or is made to fit the light and accommodates many guns. If the light has a shoulder or depression where you can mold in some interference, you can sometimes get a "clicky" effect when molding to the light. But that's impossible with some lights, and they are friction-fit only.