Should Pistol Stay In Hoster?

[Stahlhelm]

I must agree with the others who have said, "Never store your firearms in the holster." Even though the holster was made for the gun, the gun was not originally made to be collected and protected for all time. The holsters were, of course, meant to serve the practical, functional purposes of the gun during its time of use, not for the purposes of preservation. Those are two entirely different purposes. There are likely corrosive acids or chemicals of some sort in the leather which may not be so good for your gun. That's just my opinion.

Chris

[bigschuss]

I just wanted to clarify my previous post by agreeing with Stahlhelm. Storing weapons in the holster is not the best thing to do. I agree with that and the advice from the others.

My point was mostly just that, unless you live in the Amazon, the ability of leather to soak up water "like a sponge" simply from atmospheric humidity is largely exaggerated, IMO, and is easily defeated by regular maintenance.
IMO, shooting a single magazine of ammo through a weapon will do more "damage" than storing that same weapon in a leather holster for 40 years.

But yes, if you absolutely want to avoid any condensation, then storing a weapon in a holster would be ill advised. I store mine in holsters, I shoot them periodically, I clean them well, and I teach anybody at the range who wants to listen about the great history of these weapons.

[MikeP]

Best probably to separate them.
I have seen unblemished pieces stored for many years in holsters.
Bought a T14 a while back that never left it's holster-not a mark on it.
I live in central Illinois which is pretty humid.
I've been collecting 50 years and this seems to be a fairly recent concept.
I do keep mine separate, these days, though.

[Huntzman]

Huntsman, I don't know why the Urine Tanned Mexican leather myth persists. The Mexicans have been excellent leather tanners for hundreds of years.

Jerry

The myth persists because they still use it. I agree that the leather workers in Mexico are some of the best in the world. But I do know that the process of using urine is still alive and well. That being said, I am not talking about top of the line holsters, but the low end ones.

This statement is backed by a colleague who spent ten years as a saddle maker in a PD Mounted Unit and is also an avid Cowboy shooter. I defer to his knowledge & experience. Heck even Lost Battalions makes mention of it in their on-line catalog.

Bottom line is it is a cheap production method. Like the philospher says: Caveat Emptor.

Just my .02 cents.

Andrew

[chainsawrich]

I know a guy who keeps his pistols in cotton socks. He keeps a light coating of oil on them and sticks them in his old socks and puts them in his safe. Seems to work well for him.

[Nimble1]

Humid South Fla

Living here, I don't take any chances with storing guns in holsters or cases.My guns are in my house in a safe but we live on a salt water canal so rust is always a threat.
I of course always keep them wiped down with Breakfree. The best storage option I have found for my pistols is this rack. It comes in a 4 or 6 gun rack and I need to buy another now. Its a little expensive but not as bad as ruining the finish on a nice collectors pistol.

http://www.versatilegunrack.com/index.html

[Paul R.]

This topic comes up every once and a while so I thought I would reply. I have worked in the museum conservation field for a number of years. A lot of leather conservertors have studied this topic of tanned leather. From a conservation point of view there are 2 reasons not to store the two items together. First off the leather will streach out over time. The leather streaching in time will also put strain on the cotton threads that were used to sew it together. Think of it like an old pair of leather shoes.
Second during war time as we know corners were cut. The leather wash time was cut, and in many cases so was the chemicals used in the tanning brine. Simply due to available supplies of these chemicals. We want to asume that our leather items were tanned correctly. If metal is stored in a piece of poorly tanned leather there could be chemical reaction that could result so were down the road. If it the gun was oiled. The oil itself could start off that reaction. We all spend a lot of time and money in this hobby
using a pistol racks makes sense.

[Stahlhelm]

This topic comes up every once and a while so I thought I would reply. I have worked in the museum conservation field for a number of years. A lot of leather conservertors have studied this topic of tanned leather. From a conservation point of view there are 2 reasons not to store the two items together. First off the leather will streach out over time. The leather streaching in time will also put strain on the cotton threads that were used to sew it together. Think of it like an old pair of leather shoes.
Second during war time as we know corners were cut. The leather wash time was cut, and in many cases so was the chemicals used in the tanning brine. Simply due to available supplies of these chemicals. We want to asume that our leather items were tanned correctly. If metal is stored in a piece of poorly tanned leather there could be chemical reaction that could result so were down the road. If it the gun was oiled. The oil itself could start off that reaction. We all spend a lot of time and money in this hobby
using a pistol racks makes sense.

Paul,

In reading through this thread, I don't think anyone has so far addressed the problems with storing a gun in it's holster, from the perspective of protecting the holster. I hadn't even thought of that myself, and I'm glad you mentioned it, since holsters can surely be of great value as well. It does indeed make sense that the permanent storage of a gun in a holster would also put damaging stress on the holster threads over time--thus damaging the holster, as well. Although it may at first seem like a small detail, your example of the stretching leather shoes (which we have all seen), demonstrates the fact in a larger way.

I do, of course, want to know about and address all issues of archival storage and preservation. The more information that gets out, the more of this stuff there will be for future generations to collect!

Chris

[Paul R.]

Chris, Several years ago. I purchased a very nice Radom (1940's) At the first sight with a great looking holster. The vet had brought it back and stored it in the holster for all those years. When I pulled the radom out of the holster. The holster had a permanent buldged shape to it. The leather was not stiff or dried out, but streached so bad it never relaxed after the radom was removed. The radom itself had streached out the hoslter so bad that it began to pull at the stiching along the middle of the holster. It has been 8 years now and the buldge is still there. Proof that leather will streach out. The holster is almost worthless. Paul

[Stahlhelm]

Chris, Several years ago. I purchased a very nice Radom (1940's) At the first sight with a great looking holster. The vet had brought it back and stored it in the holster for all those years. When I pulled the radom out of the holster. The holster had a permanent buldged shape to it. The leather was not stiff or dried out, but streached so bad it never relaxed after the radom was removed. The radom itself had streached out the hoslter so bad that it began to pull at the stiching along the middle of the holster. It has been 8 years now and the buldge is still there. Proof that leather will streach out. The holster is almost worthless. Paul

Another great example, Paul! Thanks for sharing that one too! Maybe if enough examples like that are shared, more collectors will take notice and also do the right thing. It's really a shame when something as simple as that ruins an otherwise great piece of history.

Chris

[Zapper]

I know a guy who keeps his pistols in cotton socks. He keeps a light coating of oil on them and sticks them in his old socks and puts them in his safe. Seems to work well for him.

I have been doing this for years and can recommend it. All my handguns are stored in socks. I have a washing machine that frequently supplies me with single black socks for some strange reason, so supplies seems to be unlimited...

Using socks makes it possible to stack rather large amount of handguns in the safe witout having to worry about scratches and other damages. The only disadvantage is that it can be a bit difficult to locate the correct gun at all times.

[Akera]

a little piece of sturdy paper or something with the name on it, a few stitches and viola, easy to locate, without having to feel or take them out

[Stahlhelm]

I have been doing this for years and can recommend it. All my handguns are stored in socks. I have a washing machine that frequently supplies me with single black socks for some strange reason, so supplies seems to be unlimited...

Using socks makes it possible to stack rather large amount of handguns in the safe witout having to worry about scratches and other damages. The only disadvantage is that it can be a bit difficult to locate the correct gun at all times.

Very interesting idea! The only problem with this, would be a problem specifically for me, I think. I like to have everything (and I do mean everything) I collect on display, somehow, somewhere, so I can see it whenever I want--which is pretty often for me. I'm just one of those visual/spatial types, and if I can't see it, I don't have it, as far as my mind works.

However, if you don't mind storing them away, out of sight, I think that's a great idea!

Chris

[SurvivingPanzer]

Hello,

I have in my collection a Belgian M35 HP it was kept by the vet for many years in a original leather holster, it now has holster damage.
Learn from other peoples mistakes.
Keeping pistols in leather holsters isn't a good idea.

Cheers,
Peter

Can someone post up a pic of holster damage? I would be interested to see it.

[peter u]

Hello,

My HP35 with holster damage and a original leather holster.









Cheers,
Peter