National Carry AcademyHow To Break In a New Holster
August 15, 2016
I’ve spent my life searching for the “perfect” holster, which means I’ve built a huge collection of holsters sitting in my closet. Recently, I purchased an outside the waistband “belt slide” holster that was made of leather because I decided the many 1911 holsters I already owned weren’t working for me.
This holster was so tight that, after placing my firearm in it, it was difficult to remove. If I ever had to draw my weapon in an emergency situation and it was in this holster, I’d probably be dead instead of writing this piece.
It’s common for new leather holsters to fit extremely tight, and breaking the holster in is all that’s required to fix this issue. Typically, drawing the gun in and out of the holster repeatedly will loosen it to the point where no other action is needed. However, after drawing the gun repeatedly from this new holster, it was still very difficult to draw.
Lubricants also work for difficult leather holsters that don’t break in the old fashioned way. “Leather Lightning” is one of the popular lubricants available. When applied the the inside of the holster, Leather Lightning basically “greases” up the interior and allows the gun to slide in and out easily.
I don’t particularly like these kinds of lubricants, though, so I refused to use one on my new leather holster.
Rather than using a lubricant, I placed the gun in a plastic grocery bag, and then placed the gun, with the bag on it, into the holster. (Pictured below.) By doing this, the holster becomes slightly loosened, which makes it easier for the gun to be drawn.
How to Break In a New Holster.
The gun should be left in the bag with both in the holster overnight, and then, in the morning, the gun should be removed from the holster several times with the bag still on it.
The plastic bag is all you need, more often than not, and it will make it easy enough to draw your weapon. However, there will be times when the firearm will still be difficult to unholster.
In this instance, you should wrap the gun in wax paper, which you’re likely to find in a kitchen drawer. Similar to the plastic bag method, wrap the firearm in the wax paper before holstering it, and leave the pistol and the wax paper in the holster overnight. Then remove the gun and wax paper from the holster several times in the morning.
How to Break In a New Holster
If neither the plastic bag nor the wax paper did the trick, the next thing you should try is using a thicker bag, like a Ziplock. Leaving the pistol in the thicker bag overnight will likely loosen the holster enough to fix the problem.
If that still doesn’t work, then the final solution is likely the lubricant I referred to earlier. As I said, I don’t like using lubricant on new leather holsters, so for me, this is a last resort.
Ultimately, if you’re having a problem removing your pistol from your new leather holster, the methods described above should fix this and make the holster safe for concealed carry.
How To Break In a New Holster
August 15, 2016
I’ve spent my life searching for the “perfect” holster, which means I’ve built a huge collection of holsters sitting in my closet. Recently, I purchased an outside the waistband “belt slide” holster that was made of leather because I decided the many 1911 holsters I already owned weren’t working for me.
This holster was so tight that, after placing my firearm in it, it was difficult to remove. If I ever had to draw my weapon in an emergency situation and it was in this holster, I’d probably be dead instead of writing this piece.
It’s common for new leather holsters to fit extremely tight, and breaking the holster in is all that’s required to fix this issue. Typically, drawing the gun in and out of the holster repeatedly will loosen it to the point where no other action is needed. However, after drawing the gun repeatedly from this new holster, it was still very difficult to draw.
Lubricants also work for difficult leather holsters that don’t break in the old fashioned way. “Leather Lightning” is one of the popular lubricants available. When applied the the inside of the holster, Leather Lightning basically “greases” up the interior and allows the gun to slide in and out easily.
I don’t particularly like these kinds of lubricants, though, so I refused to use one on my new leather holster.
Rather than using a lubricant, I placed the gun in a plastic grocery bag, and then placed the gun, with the bag on it, into the holster. (Pictured below.) By doing this, the holster becomes slightly loosened, which makes it easier for the gun to be drawn.
How to Break In a New Holster.
The gun should be left in the bag with both in the holster overnight, and then, in the morning, the gun should be removed from the holster several times with the bag still on it.
The plastic bag is all you need, more often than not, and it will make it easy enough to draw your weapon. However, there will be times when the firearm will still be difficult to unholster.
In this instance, you should wrap the gun in wax paper, which you’re likely to find in a kitchen drawer. Similar to the plastic bag method, wrap the firearm in the wax paper before holstering it, and leave the pistol and the wax paper in the holster overnight. Then remove the gun and wax paper from the holster several times in the morning.
How to Break In a New Holster
If neither the plastic bag nor the wax paper did the trick, the next thing you should try is using a thicker bag, like a Ziplock. Leaving the pistol in the thicker bag overnight will likely loosen the holster enough to fix the problem.
If that still doesn’t work, then the final solution is likely the lubricant I referred to earlier. As I said, I don’t like using lubricant on new leather holsters, so for me, this is a last resort.
Ultimately, if you’re having a problem removing your pistol from your new leather holster, the methods described above should fix this and make the holster safe for concealed carry.