2022 AIWB Favorites

There are a lot of holsters out there today. Lots. A lot. Tons of choices. You get the point. Decades ago, gun writers used to say that all serious gunmen have a box of holsters that they tried out but didn’t like. That was undoubtedly true, and there were far fewer choices back then, and it was still tough to find the right holster. Back then, AIWB holsters were not even a category. Now we have dozens of companies producing dedicated AIWB designs. I have not tried them all, but I have tried an awful lot of them, and many of them were sent to me or TLG for some T&E when they were first coming out.

I’m not going to try to break them all down, so let’s just skip to the end and look at the ones I currently prefer. All of the companies I am going to list are tied for first place. I don’t use holsters from companies that are in second place, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other good holsters. As I said, I have not tried them all.

In the holster-only category, I prefer Tenicor and JM Custom Kydex. Both of these companies make great quality holsters based on great designs. Both companies are run by honest guys who know what they are doing and who listen to the end-user. Unlike many other holsters, I have not been able to break a Tenicor or JM holster through any kind of normal use. They hold up well, they carry well, and they simply do their job with a minimum of fuss. Pick the one you like and you can’t go wrong. And to be transparent, both these guys are friends of mine and I have been involved in some of their holster development over the years.

In the holster/mag pouch combo category, I prefer Tier 1 Concealment. Like Tenicor and JM, the quality is excellent. They offer several versions of this type of holster, but the one I prefer is the Axis Elite. I find it to be a better design than the others, but I will admit that I have much less experience with the other models. I do not know the guys at Tier 1 and have had no direct contact with their design team. Speaking strictly as a customer, their customer service is not amazing, but the product is very good. I suppose it is body shape-dependent, but this type of holster simply does not conceal quite as well as a stand-alone holster in my experience. Which should make perfect sense to most of you.

Reloading a pistol, long a favored activity here at Pistol-Training, is really a pretty unimportant skill. If you can reload your gun, from a surprise slide-lock, in under 4 seconds, you are probably just fine. That said, I like fast reloads. My reload is slightly faster from a mag pouch worn on or behind the hip, compared to the Axis Elite style combo pouch. The issue for me is the covering garment, rather than the mag pouch itself. I find it faster to clear my shirt for the hip-worn mag pouch, rather than the off-side AIWB worn mag pouch. Does it matter? Not really.

I don’t think you can say that any of these holsters really do the job better than the others, but everyone has their preferences and you will likely have yours. I use them all, but I have to admit that the convenience of the all-in-one setup is nice. On the other hand, the primary purpose of a concealment holster is to…wait for it…conceal the gun. Anything that detracts from that is usually to be avoided. If you want the best concealment, Tenicor or JM will likely be better.

One thing about using these holsters, or any AIWB holster, is the safety issue. It is a bit different than a strong side holster, though the principle is the same. When you go to reholster, look at your holster. Make sure nothing is in the way that could get into your trigger guard. Angle your muzzle forward a bit, away from your body and angle your hips forward as well. The muzzle should never cover any part of your body when you are reholstering. It should go without saying that your trigger finger should be in the register position the whole time. If you studiously follow this procedure, you are very unlikely to have a mishap. If you want to be internet cool and slam your gun back in your holster without looking, fate has a way of catching up.

This general advice goes for any other holster too. It never ceases to amaze me how many people will point their gun at their mid-section while reholstering an OWB or IWB holster worn at 3 or 4 o’clock. Set good safety procedures when you are learning and you will not go wrong later on. Go too fast early on, or fail to understand what areas need more attention, and you are asking for trouble. This is where a really good instructor can save you a lot of grief, not to mention time and energy. The trouble I see with most people who want to be better shots, is that they cannot slow themselves down long enough to really learn a technique. This is what “slow is fast” really means. I’m talking about learning technique the right way and ingraining it correctly through tons of perfect practice. Then you need to go fast if you want to be fast. Hard to get it perfect at full speed when learning it though. Just like everything else out there, walk before you run and you will be better in the end, and in this case, less likely to shoot yourself.