CCW leather holsters

drmitchgibson · Jul 25, 2012

I started carrying again, and got a couple of leather holsters, one for OWB and one for IWB. The OWB is Looper, the IWB is a UBG Canute, and is a pretty tight fit on the gun. So tight that when I draw it pulls my pants and belt up, and then the gun suddenly rips free. This seems like it's pretty normal for new leather, but I don't know for sure. Is there some kind of break-in procedure you guys are doing? Or just leaving the gun in the holster for an extended period?

Donovan · Jul 25, 2012

put your gun in in a zip-lock bag and push in the holster, i did this over night and would check in the am until it was right for me...milt sparks VMII.....

Jefpainthorse · Jul 26, 2012

Wear it for a few days...body heat, the gun in the holster will stretch things out in a couple of days.

A real tight holster may benifit from the saran wrap around the gun and stuff it in method.... but I've found most will stretch on there own. If you dont want to wear it the rig in the sun a few hours.

Dont oil the leather...it may stretch too much/

drmitchgibson · Jul 26, 2012

I'll definitely be going the plastic bag/Saran wrap route on the UBG. The only leather holster I've used so far was old and had hosted it's gun for a long time, so it was surprising to have these new holsters be so extremely tight.

Burk Cornelius · Jul 26, 2012

A zip lock bag is too thick and weird shaped . Use Saran or wax paper. What kind of gun is it?

I carry a Canute and love it. You know its named after Canute OK

drmitchgibson · Aug 4, 2012

Burk Cornelius said:
A zip lock bag is too thick and weird shaped . Use Saran or wax paper. What kind of gun is it?

I carry a Canute and love it. You know its named after Canute OK

Really? Where is Canute, OK? The Canute holster seemed pretty generic upon initial inspection, but I have to say it is ridiculously comfortable and conceals like magic. Retention is great, too. I will be a repeat customer.

I ended up using Press 'N' Seal to wrap the gun, and the process worked extremely well. Thank you all for your input. Most of the stretch happened in the first twelve hours, and I left the gun in both holsters for about 30 hours each Now I can draw pretty well, but not yet under 1.5 sec, but that's mostly the cant and rearward placement of the holster on my body.

The gun is a Citadel compact 1911. The main reason with going 1911 for carry is consistency with what I compete with. I feel this will most likely prevent any operator error in the case that I need to use the gun.