New leather holster

Well kind of a new leather holster, I have had it for a while now but it got put into my holster box and forgotten about for a little while. When I first brought it home the leather was so tight I couldn't get the strap to go over the back of the gun and lock. I recently brought it back out and over the last few weeks have been able to holster my XD in it and finally start to stretch the leather out. Now I actually have a nice form fitting holster! I have been using a sepra holster for the lase few years but am really enjoying my leather holster. It is a blackhawk leather holster with multiple belt loop point to provide different angles of carry. I really enjoy how flush the holster is agenst my body, I love my sepra but I always got the feeling it was out away from my body where my leather holster is right up ageist me. Plus the leather smells great and I think leather holsters provide a classier more professional look. The only down side to it obviously is its a level one holster where the serpa is a level two. While I am not sure yet if it will replace my sepra holster as my everyday open carry holster I definitely am enjoying it for now and am very pleased with my purchase

Also a quick question to anyone ells who may be using a leather holster
I noticed in the very front of the holster the gun sticks out just a little bit. I am not concerned at all as it dose not seem to effect the operation of the holster at all but I had such a hard time getting the leather to stretch out I was wondering if that is normal or not.

well,,,

hi eddy, the second pic is showing the guide rod protruding a little,
that means the holster is still so tight that the slide of your gun has been pushed
back out of battery.
keep exercising the gun into and out of the holster, eventually it Will loosen up!
that is a nice looking rig, i too like my holster to conform to my side,
i dont care for the, hanging out in the wind kind of carry!

A little trick that can help "fit" the holster to the gun. Wrap your gun in Saran wrap. Spray the inside of the holster with water, place the gun in the holster, and using the handle of a dinner knife or a screwdriver or any smooth but hard item , form the leather to the contour of the gun. set aside and let it dry.

Trigger Dr said:

A little trick that can help "fit" the holster to the gun. Wrap your gun in Saran wrap. Spray the inside of the holster with water, place the gun in the holster, and using the handle of a dinner knife or a screwdriver or any smooth but hard item , form the leather to the contour of the gun. set aside and let it dry.

Click to expand...

+1 on Trigger Dr's suggestion. Also, a trick from the shoe industry. To make the leather "wet" quicker, mix some rubbing alcohol with the water. I've done this with pistols in the past and don't even use the saran wrap. Moisten the leather put the pistol in, and then put them on a hard surface. Stack a couple of bags of birdshot on the holster with gun in it and let it sit for a few hours. Just clean and wipe down pistol with oil after done. All my pistols have a "Military Type" finish on them and aren't afraid of any moisture. If "blued" finish, just put a coat of Johnson's Floor Wax or Carnuba Car Wax on the gun before putting in holster. The wax will also help the firearm draw easier as some will be left behind in the leather.

Based on the picture you may only need to stretch the end of the holster where it is pushing back on the slide. The rest may be OK.

If you want to really form the leather to the gun, do the above and then put the gun and holster in one of the vacuum sealer food saver bags and vacuum seal it. Now you will have 14#psi on the entire surface of the holster.

Regarding leather and the break-in process...

Many years ago, when ever I got a new baseball glove, I would put a ball in it, wrap in up tight in twine and put it under my mattress every night.

The next trick, after Dad agreed to buy a couple gallons of Neat's Foot, was to put ball and glove into a bucket, covered in Neat's Foot.

Point of the story: new leather needs to be conformed to the item that it is holding/containing AND used on a regular basis.

I do not currently carry, but when I do, it will be leather and it will be "broken-in".

My last piece of wisdom: practice makes permanent. Use your "new" holster when ever you go shoot. It will take some time, but that holster should be fine and if not, you will know that you should not carry with it.

Good Luck,

asg

1245A Defender said:

hi eddy, the second pic is showing the guide rod protruding a little,
that means the holster is still so tight that the slide of your gun has been pushed
back out of battery.

Click to expand...

On the Springfield XD series having the guide rod protrude a bit is standard. The Croatians designed it that way so if the muzzle was pushed into something
soft and fleshy that extra bit of protrusion would keep the gun in battery so it could be fired in a CQC situation.

Vandal said:

On the Springfield XD series having the guide rod protrude a bit is standard. The Croatians designed it that way so if the muzzle was pushed into something
soft and fleshy that extra bit of protrusion would keep the gun in battery so it could be fired in a CQC situation.

Click to expand...

This is correct. Here is my XD45.

View attachment 6260

asullivangarner said:

The next trick, after Dad agreed to buy a couple gallons of Neat's Foot, was to put ball and glove into a bucket, covered in Neat's Foot.

Click to expand...

Neat's Foot Oil is great for preserving leather or making it soft. Not good for a molded holster. It tends to take the "molding" out of the holster, allowing it to be held open when the gun is drawn and "one handed reholster" almost impossible. Shoe polish is better for surface preservation and water for softening to reshape. When it dries the holster will retain the new shape.

Vandal said:

On the Springfield XD series having the guide rod protrude a bit is standard. The Croatians designed it that way so if the muzzle was pushed into something
soft and fleshy that extra bit of protrusion would keep the gun in battery so it could be fired in a CQC situation.

Click to expand...

Yup. If you need to jam your gun in someone and fire it won't go out of battery. But I could see how it would bother some people. At first I thought my XD45 was defective.

amlevin said:

Neat's Foot Oil is great for preserving leather or making it soft. Not good for a molded holster. It tends to take the "molding" out of the holster, allowing it to be held open when the gun is drawn and "one handed reholster" almost impossible. Shoe polish is better for surface preservation and water for softening to reshape. When it dries the holster will retain the new shape.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. I was thinking out loud and not intending for the original poster to take my advice without additional consideration.

asg

Vandal said:

On the Springfield XD series having the guide rod protrude a bit is standard. The Croatians designed it that way so if the muzzle was pushed into something
soft and fleshy that extra bit of protrusion would keep the gun in battery so it could be fired in a CQC situation.

Click to expand...

Thanks Vandal, I thought I knew just about everything there was to know about my XD I rescheduled the heck out of it before I bought it. I always noticed the front guide rod was pushed out a bit but never thought it served a purpose. Thanks to everyone ells for the advise this being my first leather holster there is a bit of a learning curve