To unequip or put away your weapon in Starfield, you generally have two options: holster the weapon (most common) or remove it from favorites/quick slots so you effectively “go unarmed.”

How to holster (put away) your weapon

This is what most players mean when they ask how to unequip weapon Starfield —you’re not dropping it, just putting it away so your hands are empty.

Default controls

  • PC: Press and hold R (the Reload key) for about a second.
  • Xbox: Press and hold X on your controller.

You’ll see your character lower their gun and your hands will be empty. Tap the fire/aim button again to pull the weapon back out.

How to unequip from weapon wheel / favorites

This is the part that trips people up: the game doesn’t offer a simple “Unequip” or “Clear slot” button in the weapon wheel.

Remove a weapon from the quick wheel

Players on forums report there’s no direct unequip from the wheel; instead you have to overwrite or remove the weapon in other ways.

Typical workarounds:

  1. Replace the slot with another item
    • Open your inventory → Weapons.
    • Select another weapon and favorite it into the same quick slot to overwrite the old one.
 * Do this musical-chairs style if you want certain slots effectively “cleared.”
  1. Un-favorite via inventory (when it works)
    • Some players say: open Weapons , select the weapon, and press the favorite button again to remove it from the wheel.
 * Others report this doesn’t fully clear the slot visually and you still end up replacing rather than truly emptying it.
  1. Drop or stash the weapon
    • Drop the weapon on the ground, or put it in your ship’s inventory or a container.
 * When it’s not in your personal inventory, it disappears from the weapon wheel.

Going “unarmed” quickly

A lot of threads asking “how to unequip weapon Starfield” are actually about fighting with fists.

  • There is no dedicated one-button “switch to fists” shortcut like in some other games; holding Reload just holsters your current weapon.
  • To brawl:
    • Hold R/X to holster your gun.
* Then melee/punch using your melee attack input while unarmed, or favor a melee weapon if you want something in hand.

Some players simply keep one melee weapon or empty slot in an easy-to-reach favorite position so they can swap to non-gun combat faster.

Mini FAQ and forum flavor

“Is there a quick unequip button?”
Players regularly complain there’s no explicit unequip/clear option on the weapon wheel; you must overwrite the slot, drop the weapon, or stash it.

“Why does this feel so clunky?”
Many posts from late 2023 still call this one of the more awkward UI bits, often requesting Bethesda add a simple “unfavorite/unequip” button in a future patch.

HTML table: key actions and buttons

Below is an HTML table because you asked for tables in that format:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Action</th>
      <th>PC Default</th>
      <th>Xbox Default</th>
      <th>Notes</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Holster / put weapon away</td>
      <td>Hold R</td>
      <td>Hold X</td>
      <td>Hands appear empty; tap shoot/aim to draw weapon again. [web:1][web:2]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Equip weapon</td>
      <td>Select from quick wheel (Q or hotkey) or inventory</td>
      <td>D-pad weapon wheel or inventory</td>
      <td>Must be favorited to appear in the wheel. [web:1][web:4]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Remove from weapon wheel</td>
      <td>Overwrite slot with another favorite</td>
      <td>Overwrite slot with another favorite</td>
      <td>No direct clear; players overwrite, drop, or stash weapon. [web:3][web:5][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Go unarmed (for punching)</td>
      <td>Hold R to holster, then melee</td>
      <td>Hold X to holster, then melee</td>
      <td>No dedicated fists hotkey; holster is your “unequip” shortcut. [web:7][web:8][web:10]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

TL;DR:

  • To unequip in the everyday sense, hold Reload (R on PC / X on Xbox) to holster your gun.
  • To truly get it off your wheel, overwrite or drop/stash the weapon; there’s no clean “unequip slot” button right now.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.