Breaking in a Leather Holster

[proctorman]

Can anyone recommend a good way to break one in. I've got a Don Hume IWB for my M&P 40 cal and it's a really tight fit. I've put some leather conditioner on it and left the gun in for a while, but it's still a pretty tight fit. Should I just keep leaving the gun in over night, or is there a good product out there that will break it in faster?

 

[Sunray]

I'm not sure if it'll work on a commercial holster, but the best way to get a custom fit is to soak it(wet but not dripping) in warm tap water, put the pistol in and leave to dry. The leather should expand when wet then shrink to make a perfrect fit. You may want to wrap the pistol in cling wrap first.
Mind you, contacting Don Hume directly and asking them would likely be better. http://www.donhume.com/ContactUs/

 

[dfariswheel]

Wetting will overstretch the leather and will take years off it's service life.

Also, NEVER use leather conditioner or dressings on a modern holster.
Leather dressings cause the leather to soften, and this ruins a holster.
A holster is a holster, not a pair of boots or gloves you want soft and flexible.
Just apply a coat of shoe wax.

To help loosen SLIGHTLY and break in a new holster, wrap the gun in a sheet of wax paper, or plastic wrap, and insert the gun.
Leave over night. If it's still too tight, wrap in TWO layers and leave another night.

 

[Seven High]

Another good trick is to put the weapon in a nylon sock then push it into the holster. Leave it in the holster until the leather stretches enough to suit you.

 

[Baba Louie]

Warm the leather thru hand rubbing/friction making it a bit more pliable.
I personally like a snug fitting holster (I don't fast draw) that'll retain my handgun, but I do like to be able to actually pull the handgun out of the holster and sometimes that requires some rubbing here and there to heat/soften certain tight points.
Another issue is the tension that actual wearing brings about. Your body, pants and belt will compress the holster in on the handgun.
Only thing I know to do is draw and reholster, draw and reholster, over and over and over (good practice too).

 

[proctorman]

Thanks a lot.
Think I'll try wrapping the gun in something like wax paper and expand the holster a little. Right now the gun doesn't come out without some prying with both hands.

 

[english kanigit]

I am very interested in this myself. I picked up a 1911 Mitch Rosen holster. It's so tight that I can barely get it out using two hands. With it sinched down on my belt? Fuggedaboutit.

Does the same thing work here? Just wrap in cling wrap (with leather dry...) and leave over night?

ek

 

[.38 Special]

In the "old days" -- like the 60s -- it was advised that the holster be soaked in water for two hours, then the gun (oiled and wrapped in Saran wrap) be left in the holster until it dried. No less than Bill Jordan recommended this, and recommended it specifically for Don Hume products.

I have several NOS Jordan Trooper holsters from Hume and have not yet steeled myself to "throwing them into the horse trough" -- Jordan's words -- or any such thing. I cannot say from personal experience what the results might be. I can only say that it apparently worked for Bill.

 

[AStone]

Would you soak a new pair of shoes or boots of the proper size to make them fit?

Of course not.

So why would you do that to a new leather holster built specifically for your handgun?

(Correct answer: you wouldn't.)

Unload your handgun. (Triple check that it's unloaded.)
Insert your unloaded handgun into a nylon dress sock.
Sit in front of your tube with a good movie on (two hours).
(May I recommend: Blade Runner, Fifth Element or Terminator II.)

As you watch the film, repeatedly insert and remove your handgun into/from the new holster.

Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.
Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.
Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.
Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.

About half way through the movie, remove the sock. Then:

Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.
Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.
Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.
Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove. Insert and remove.

By the end of the film, your holster will be substantially closer to broken in.

 

[prolanman]

With all my leather holsters including my Mitch Rosen's I've found placing the gun in the plastic bag that the holster came in and then placing the gun in the dry holster lossens it up just enough to make the gun easier to insert/remove without lossing it ability to securely hold the weapon in the holster.

 

[tegemu]

Use wax paper or a plastic bag, not cling wrap. I have done it 4 times now and it works like a champ. Wrap the gun, cram it into the holster and leave it overnight. If it's still not right, add another layer of wax paper and try again. Use caution not to overdo it, it is almost impossible to un-stretch leather.

 

[Clipper]

Just wearing it will stretch and expand it. It will be a PITA for a while, but it goes fairly quickly...

 

[.38 Special]

So why would you do that to a new leather holster built specifically for your handgun?

Because Bill Jordan told me to?

(Also, anyone who wears nylon dress socks should not be trusted on anything, let alone such an important matter as holsters. )

 

[AStone]

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Jordan.

However, it is a free country (right now, at least ), so you are free to do as you wish. I'm just expressing my opinion about it, based on my experience of breaking in boots, shoes and holsters.

(Also, anyone who wears nylon dress socks should not be trusted on anything, let alone such an important matter as holsters. )

Point taken.

Yet, the part about the nylon "dress sock" was explicitly part of the directions for breaking in my holster, written by Desantis. It worked, and took less than two hours (nice film), and my hoster stayed dry.

Since I don't wear nylon "dress" socks (don't even own any), I used instead an old thin (like nylon) polyester mountaineering "inner sock", one that goes inside the heavier fleece socks to wick moisture away from one's foot while climbing large, dangerous mountains, as I've done lots of times.

 

[proctorman]

I'm trying the nylon dress sock routine out.
And I have nylon dress socks for church ... and funerals.




Update:
In case anyone was wondering, Nematocyst was right, the sock has worked fine and now the gun fits just right. It took about 3 hours, but unfortunately I didn't have a good movie to watch.