New holster break in

[Fishinglink]

Bought my first leather holster today. It fits my XDm very well. It's made to fit XD tactical also which since mine is 4.5 I like the extra coverage. My question I guess would be what is the best way to break in a sturdy leather holster?

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[cjacob]

your hands, just work it with your hands

[Fishinglink]

Knead the leather? Will that affect the support and reinforcement around the top of the holster?

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[TSiWRX]

Wrap the gun in any one of the following (no order of preference, just a list):

- a clean sock
- one or even two layers of grocery store plastic bag
- ZipLock baggie
- butcher's paper (usually, wax paper isn't going to be strong enough)

Shove this into the holster for a couple of hours to begin with, and check retention/draw. On some holsters, I've even had to leave it for over a week, but this is very, very subjective, so take it easy - it's trial-and-error, and it'll take some time.

The other thing to do is just like cjacob said, to simply work it, repeatedly, by-hand. Some like to do this with the combo in-hand, others like to work it from a draw, from their waist.

Wearing the holster/gun combo will also help.

[Fishinglink]

Oh I get it repeatedly holster unholster. Yeah when I did my nylon holster for my hipoint I just stored it in the holster and it shaped perfect. It's already getting better but still a lil tight. Thanks for the help. Didn't think it'd work the same.

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[jon_volk]

Best way is to wear it. Practice drawing helps too.

[cjacob]

if the gun is really really tight, you can knead it a little with your hands, but don't over do it, just enough so that the gun slides in, i would knead it once or twice, and test, until you don't have to overly force the gun in, then just resort to drawing and reholstering while you sit and watch tv or something

[Fishinglink]

Thanks again for the responses. I bought the holster due to IDPA compliance and so far I'm impressed JBP holsters and Master leather provide a good holster for the money.

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[arizona98tj]

A new holster isn't bread dough....why would you knead it?

Put the gun in it and wear it.

If you have no tension adjustment on it, and the gun is way too tight, grab a plastic grocery bag, wrap the unloaded gun in it, and put it in the holster overnight. Check it in the morning. If no improvement, use two bags and repeat.

[Old School]

Put the gun in a few plastic grocery bags. Get a hairdryer and heat the leather. Place the gun in the leather and move the gun around. Add bag to give you more room. Once you have it where you want it, keep the gun and bags in the holster while the leather cools.

OS