Looking At Holster When Reholstering - Mistake or Advantage?

[jwhite75]

Its a lot easier for a LEO to reholster with no look in a open duty rig than it is Joe Citizen in his concealed rig. If the threat is no longer a threat...you look if need be.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[9c4me]

The eyes want to see what the hands are doing. And maybe trying to untrain a natural tendency is a waste of time...specially if it is unnecessary.

Makes sense to me.

[AZ Infidel]

I believe it is critically important to be ABLE to reholster without looking. No less so than being ABLE to reholster with one hand. HAVE the ability to do it...but I don't subscribe to the dogma that you MUST reholster without looking. I have carried my primary in the same spot for over 24 years. I CAN reholster one handed and without looking...but as I said...I don't feel I MUST or would be forced to surrender my tacticool guy membership card.

It's been a couple of years since I retired and thus...a couple of years since I had to use my pistol as a threat management tool and hold a subject at gunpoint...but like many of the posters have chimed in, if the subject is still a threat, I damned sure ain't-a-gonna put my pistol away. Look if you need to, look if you WANT to, look if it is the safest way to get gun back to leather. Don't let the TACTIGURUS tell you that it MUST be done their way.

I figure I can speak with some authority on officer survival and civilian self defense issues as I have taught both for a lot of years, and after 22 years with a badge working warrants, narcotics, gangs, and joint federal task force assignments....I lived long enough to collect my pension. :)

[Texas Jim]

It's funny you mention this because I was thinking about it the other day. On another forum, I mentioned that I have a Tucker Texas Heritage holster, which is very flat and comfortable but doesn't have anything to hold the mouth of the holster open. One of the forum members said he wouldn't own a holster that didn't hold the mouth open and required you to look at it. I thought about that a while, and could not figure out a reason why I would have to have the holster held open. If I am seeing an ongoing threat, I'm not holstering anyway. I'm a civilian, not a police officer, so I figure it's either 1) there's a threat and I have my weapon out, or 2) the threat has ceased and I can holster the weapon. Because I need to pull the holster open, it's imperative that I watch what I'm doing so I don't sweep the other hand. This automatically ensures that I'm watching for any kind of obstruction at the same time.

My conclusion: I'm sticking with my Texas Heritage holster.

[JodyH]

The problem with holsters that collapse when you remove the gun is it can be a safety issue when you re-holster.
It's very easy to sweep your weak hand with the muzzle if you are using that hand to open the holster mouth.
You should also have the option to easily re-holster with just one hand in case your other hand is somehow occupied.

As to the original topic.
A quick peek at the holster isn't a bad thing.
Where the "don't look at the holster" admonishments come into play is during high repetition training.
When someone is doing a lot of repetitions they tend to start rushing the re-holster to get ready for the next string of fire.
If the shooter is a "peeker" they tend to be the first ones to drop their eyes off the target.
The hardest thing in a fast paced class to instill in a student is not rushing the re-holster and doing a good 361 degree scan.
I've found that you can slow those students down a bit by adding a few extra thought processes to the re-holster and they tend to do better scans and slower re-holsters.

[sdprof]

Maybe this fellow should have looked. Secret Service agent shoots self in the hip.

[OldVet]

I never understood the concept of not looking at your holster. Should I have to draw and fire my handgun, it's not going into the holster until the fight is over and no threat exists--period. If it takes until the LEOs arrive, so be it. At that point, I've got all day to reholster.

Like mentioned, I'd rather look at my holster than to snag something and shoot myself.

As for the eyes wanting to see what the hands are doing, that's why I still can't type with out looking at the keyboard!

[paknheat]

I don't always look at my holster when im putting it away. But if i need to look at it you can bet believe im going to. The only holes i want in my body are the ones GOD put there.

[Orive 8]

Don't look, good quality holster and belt that allows easy one handed holstering and is anchored in same place always.
Thousands of reps, for the draw stroke and re-holster process. Doesn't have to be fast, but it must be smooth. Then what do you know, it is fast. (The draw stroke, not the re-holster part!)

Remember, you can do alot of holster work in dry fire mode.