When I showed my first Remora holster to my 14 year old son, he said, “Oh, Remora.  Like the fish.”

Ummm, “yeah….right” I replied, then went googled remora.  Turns out that they are the little fish that you see stuck to the sides of sharks.  Something you don’t want to examine too closely, or it might give you bad dreams.

The All Sticky Side of the Remora

The Holster:

No doubt, Alan Bogdan, creator of the Remora Holster, had this in mind when he named his product.  You can check out Remora HERE.  We have no sponsor relationship with them, but when this was written, they had a 35% coupon code of “FALL35”, listed on the site.  Remora is a perfect name, as his little IWB holsters stick in place, due to the rubber-like material on the outside of the holster.  With a Remora, you just put your gun in the holster (BEFORE putting it in your waistband) and slip it between your waistband and undergarments.  The standard holster looks like the photo above, with both sides the same. They work great and I use them for a quick trip to the store, or when I am wearing sweat-shorts or light clothing without a belt.  You can go on YouTube and see people wearing pajamas and the holster and weapon stay put.  It’s weird at first, to put all your trust in friction, but they work as advertised.  Great little holsters, except for one thing;  You can’t tuck them.  The reason being, if you tucked your shirt in and then yanked it out to draw, there is a good chance you would pull the holster out (it’s that “sticky”).  Enter the “Tuckable” Remora.

My Sig Ultra 1911 in a Tuckable Remora Holster

On to our Remora Tuckable Holster review: This Remora has one side that is sticky, as shown above.  The other side has smooth cloth (not sticky) and a sewn on panel.  The inside of the panel is also smooth, but the other side is sticky and goes against your waistband.  You then tuck your shirt in between the holster and the sewn on panel.  It sounds more complicated than it is, but essentially one side of the holster sticks against your undergarment and the other sticks against your waistband.  There is a snap on belt clip that can help hold everything in place until you get the hang of it.  Once you do, remove the clip and not even the trained eye will spot your weapon.  No telltale belt clips!

This is where your shirt goes

The belt clip is not required and is removable.

Here is the Exact model I ordered, designed for shorter 1911s or similar.  It also fits my Kahrs and Bersas.

First Impressions:

The Remora Holsters are extremely well made, with accurate stitching and no edges to pick at you.  The standard lining is soft and likely very durable.  However, the 1911 has a couple of spots that can dig at any holster (namely, the safety), so I chose to upgrade to the Remora-Hyde Leather Lining.  I have to think it would easily extend the life of the holster 4x, so it’s well worth the extra bucks.  I also sprung for the sweat shield, which completely covers the inboard side of the gun.  Again, the safety likes to dig at things when it’s this close to your body.  I like the isolation.  Remember, this is a deep cover holster and you are wearing it as a PART of your body.  If you are sure that you’re headed into combat, get a good OWB holster for your 1911.  Better yet, get a 12ga.

The leather lining takes the rough edges, no problem.

Concealability and Carry:

This is a very comfortable holster, even with a 30+ oz. firearm.  The holster has a nice layer of cushioning that forms to your body and the gun.  I chose to review the Remora Tuckable with my Sig Ultra 1911, as it is pretty much a worst-cast for a Remora (a full sized steel 1911 is about the only thing that would be a tougher test).  Lot’s of weight for that friction to hold onto.   But, the Remora does it well and you never feel you are going to lose the gun down your pant leg.  For the concealed pictures, I left the clip on, just so you could tell where it is.  The clip helps when you are first getting used to positioning the holster and tucking, but you don’t need it after that.  It snaps off.

No, you don’t wear it like this, I’m just trying to show where it sits.

Shirt conceals gun, arms conceal gut. Everything works!

Retention:

I’m not sure the word really applies here, but since this is one of our standard categories, I’ll comment.  There is certainly no mechanical retention system, but it’s a tuckable IWB, so what would you expect?  What I will say is that once you cinch up your belt, that gun is not going anywhere.  Even if they grab you by the ankles and shake you upside down.  Your shirt will be covering the weapon, so it would also be tricky for someone to try to grab it.  Not impossible, but very improbable.  It carries the compromise that all IWB holsters have, when it comes to retention.  However, I would say the Remora holds snugger than any of my kydex or leather IWB holsters, simply because everything forms around the gun, once it’s in place.

The 1911, even the lightweight and shortened Sig Ultra, is a lot of gun to conceal. The Tuckable Remora does a good job!

What We Liked:

The Remora Tuckable Holster holds fast, is super comfortable and concealable, plus, you can’t beat the price.  Even loaded up with a sweat shield and leather lining, it comes in at $50.  If you are going to get just one IWB, you could do a lot worse.  In fact, I suggest that you make Remoras part of your holster drawer.  There are places and clothes you can wear one with, that you can’t wear any other holster with.  Really.  Try carrying a 1911 inside your pajama bottoms sometime…….

What We Didn’t Like:

I’m going to be honest here.  The f’ing idea of a remora fish in my pants kinda freaks me out.  I know, it’s just a name and it fits the product.  But once you look at one of these fish in a picture, it will be hard to un-see it.  Pushing one up against my side is just a gross thought…..



All kidding aside, there really isn’t much we don’t like.  OK, one thing.  Due to the nature of the holster being compressible, you are aren’t going to re-holster, as easily as you would with a paddle.  But, that’s the nature of the beast.  To get everything snug and comfy, you will have to pull the holster out, put the gun in, and then put it back.  In their defense, Remora DOES offer the “RFT” option on all holsters.  That adds reinforcement to the top, to keep the maw open.  That way you CAN re-holster, but I think you give up some comfort.  I guess in closing I would say that I PREFER the comfort over the convenience of re-holstering, without removing the holster.  My opinion; yours may vary.  I’m not a LEO, so the gun is only coming out in a crisis.  If I have to draw it, removing the holster to put the gun back is going to be the least of my problems.

Win a Free Remora Holster:

Like most of our reviewed holsters, we are giving this one away!  If you don’t see the winner listed in a later post, then it’s still up for grabs.  Get signed up and get a chance at all of our holster giveaways!

Gun Porn:

This is where we would put a nice picture of the hardware.  But, we’ve already done that before, with the Sig Ultra.  To spare our readers from having deja-vu, we’ll tell you to go read The Alabama Hooker Review

Notes about our Reviews:

Please look at our “Categories” section and read the About info.  There, you can see some photos of my “body type” (no, I’m not naked, nobody needs to see that shit).  I’m a middle-aged guy with a little bit of flab.  Not a whale, but the six-pack abs passed by about 300 cases ago.  You need to have a look, because the comfort of any holster system is strongly dependent on body type and any review will be biased accordingly.

Next, the belt.  Hold the “get a proper gun belt” comments.  I’ve got one.  But, it’s hard to see where the holster starts the belt stops, when I use a 1.5 inch black leather strap with no markings.  So, I’m using a 5.11 Nylon belt, which provides a nicer background for the photos.  For that reason, I don’t comment on belt sag, because, some of it is the dang belt!

Please comment and add your experiences with this or any other holster for this model of firearm

Thanks!

–Hank

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