By Ron, Founder of Tactical Fitness Austin
Last updated: July 2026
TL;DR
Carrying is a decision. Getting the gun out from under a shirt, with a good grip, possibly one-handed, is a skill, and most ranges forbid practicing it. Here’s what a real concealed draw involves.
Millions of people carry every day.
Almost none of them have ever drawn that gun from actual concealment under any kind of pressure.
Carrying is a decision. Getting the gun into the fight is a skill, and they are not the same thing.
Here’s the reality most carriers never confront: the gun under your shirt is useless until it’s out, gripped correctly, and on target. And everything about concealment works against you.
There’s a garment in the way. Your grip has to be built blind, by feel, in a fraction of a second. The fight may already be inside arm’s reach before you ever touch the gun. And there’s a real chance one of your hands is busy: blocking a strike, holding your kid, pushing someone out of the way.
Your range practice, a clean draw from an outside-the-waistband holster, open rig, all the time in the world, trains none of that.
Why it matters
The concealed draw is the one skill you cannot skip. Whatever happens in a defensive encounter, it starts with getting the gun out. Fumble the garment, build a bad grip, or muzzle your own support hand at contact distance, and nothing you do afterward fixes it.
What a real concealed draw actually involves, the way we teach it:
1. Clear the garment deliberately. Grab a fistful of shirt near the belly button, slightly to the side of the grip, and pull iit high. A pinched hem that slips halfway up is how draws die.
2. Build the grip in the holster. Thumb-to-index webbing as high into the bore axis as it goes, three fingers taking a full purchase, before the gun moves an inch. A bad grip out of the holster stays bad through the whole string.
3. Marry the hands at a consistent reference point. Support-hand index finger seated back against the trigger guard, heel of the palm into the grip, thumb pressuring the slide, pinky finishing the tension. Same reference points, every rep, so it happens without thought.
4. Train the one-handed draw. Hand injured, or busy protecting someone. Clear the shirt with the gun hand, tuck the garment behind the grip, draw and present one-handed, shoulders square, thumb active.
5. Train retention distance. At clinch range you don’t extend the gun into a fight over it. Pectoral index: thumb indexed at the chest, wrist straight, elbow high, room for the slide to cycle, firing at a downward angle, then create distance as you continue to work.
Why most carriers never train any of this
Almost every commercial range prohibits drawing from a holster at all, concealed or otherwise. So people carry daily and practice a skill they’re never allowed to perform. The gear gets the attention. The draw gets nothing.
This is what we do at Combat Club.
On our private outdoor range, drawing from real concealment isn’t against the rules. It’s the curriculum. Coached reps from the garment, one-handed work, retention shooting, all under the eyes of ex-special-forces instructors who catch the grip errors you can’t feel yourself making.
Train hard,
Ron
Founder, Tactical Fitness Austin
P.S. Test yourself this week, with a confirmed-empty gun. Ten slow dry reps in your actual carry clothes: clear the garment, build the full grip in the holster, present. Then ten more with your support hand holding a bag. If your grip lands differently on even one rep, you found the gap, and it’s not one you want to discover live.
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Frequently asked questions
How do you draw a gun from concealment?
A concealed draw starts with clearing the garment deliberately: a full fistful of shirt grabbed near the belly button and pulled high, not a pinched hem that slips halfway. The firing grip is then built inside the holster, web of the hand as high into the bore axis as it goes, before the gun moves at all. The support hand joins at the same reference point every rep.
What is the pectoral index in retention shooting?
The pectoral index is a retention firing position for contact distance: thumb indexed against the chest, wrist straight, elbow high, room for the slide to cycle, muzzle angled downward. At clinch range you do not extend the gun out where it can be grabbed, you fire from the body and create distance as you keep working. It is a different skill from a full two-handed presentation.
Should you practice a one-handed draw from concealment?
Yes. There is a real chance one hand is busy in a defensive encounter, blocking a strike, holding a child, or pushing someone clear. A one-handed draw means clearing the shirt with the gun hand, tucking the garment behind the grip, and presenting with the shoulders square. Most carriers have never run a single rep of it, and coached reps on a range that allows drawing from concealment are where it gets built.