Home / Guides / Best Holster for a Glock 17: Carrying a Full-Size Pistol Without Printing
A Glock 17 is not a hard pistol to shoot. It is a hard pistol to hide. If you carry one, the holster is not a detail — it is the whole system. Here is what actually keeps a full-size gun concealed.
The Glock 17 runs a 4.49-inch barrel and a full-height grip. Compared to a Glock 19 you are adding about half an inch of barrel and a little more frame. Half an inch does not sound like much until it is pressed against your hip bone all day.
The barrel difference is manageable. The grip is the problem. Barrel length pushes down and forward where nobody is looking. Grip height rides up and back, which is exactly where people are looking.
Trigger guard fully enclosed. No gaps at the muzzle end where a foreign object can reach the trigger group. On a full-size pistol there is more material to get sloppy with, not less.
Full-size guns have more mass, which means a belt-locked holster has more to hold. Passive friction alone is not enough — you want a retention screw you can actually tune, tested with the gun upside down and shaken.
This is the one people skip. On a Glock 17 you will likely want the gun sitting one notch lower than on a 19. That requires a holster with adjustable ride height, not a fixed clip.
A 17 with 17+ rounds is heavy enough that a department-store belt will sag and roll. You need a real gun belt, and you need clips sized for a 1.5-inch belt rather than a 1.75-inch one climbing around.
IWB is doable and works well at 3–5 o'clock with a forward cant. The gun rides behind the hip where the body naturally shapes around it. Appendix is possible but unforgiving — most people find the 17 taps out appendix and moves back to the hip.
OWB is the honest answer for many full-size carriers, and in cold weather or open-carry states it is not a compromise at all. A close-fitting OWB with a forward cant hides under a jacket as well as an IWB hides under a shirt.
That is why a convertible holster makes sense for the 17: one purchase, both carry modes, and the ability to change modes based on the season instead of the wardrobe.
| Pistol | Barrel | Round count | Real-world concealment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glock 17 | 4.49" | 17+1 | Fair with a cant and cover garment |
| Glock 19 | 4.02" | 15+1 | Very good |
| Glock 43X | 3.41" | 10+1 | Excellent |
| SIG P365 | 3.1" | 10+1 | Exceptional |
The 17 earns its keep when you want a duty-grade pistol with the best sight radius and the fullest grip on the list. Those are shooting advantages. They are not concealment advantages.
No, but it is close to the practical limit for most builds. It conceals best in cool weather with a cover garment, carried outside the waistband, or inside the waistband at 3–5 o'clock with a forward cant.
Not as a fit. The 19 holster is roughly half an inch shorter at the muzzle, so the 17 slide will not fully seat and the muzzle will protrude. Buy for the 17.
3–5 o'clock with a forward cant, outside the waistband or inside depending on your cover garment. Appendix works but is far less forgiving with a full-height grip.
Yes. A 17-plus-pound loaded pistol will collapse an ordinary belt, which lets the holster shift and causes printing. A stiff 1.5-inch gun belt is not optional at this size.
Yes, with an optic-cut holster. The optic adds height near the belt line, so check that the cut clears the optic hood and that the sight does not contact your cover garment.
Veteran-owned. IWB or OWB, left or right hand, red-dot ready. $98.99 with a fit guarantee.
Shop the Original Holster — $98.99