Was lucky enough to get a nice Lawrence 27LS for my K22 6" (17-3).

Should I be breaking this in somehow? (I know how to do this with a baseball glove...)

Its a bit stiff and I'd like it to form fit it a bit better to my gun if possible. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Place revolver in holster, push hard, let set overnight remove revolver and repeat as needed. Several companies offer some sort of lube that is Supposed to help with the break in, but I've never used any of these.

If you are in a hurry, you can wrap your revolver in Saran wrap and force it into the holster, but why rush?

Don't put any type of conditioner on it - it will ultimately break the leather down and make it too pliable for a secure hold.

To form fit the gun, wrap the portion of the gun wax paper and store overnight for a few contiguous days.

Good luck.

I have taken a foot off of panty hose and put it over the gun the shoved the gun down hard in the holster. for the retention strap I folded a thin piece of leather and put it between the gun and the strap. Let it set a few days, pulled it out and tried it and kept it up till I got the fit I wanted. Some are tougher than others. Hope this helps.
Peace,
gordon

__________________
better have that checked

Just stick the gun in it and carry it a few weeks. It will break in automatically. Actually a Lawrence is pretty old (pre 1985) so it ought to be pretty flexible already.

__________________
Dr. B

I've used the Saran wrap trick on my last couple of holsters. That seems to work for an initial break-in and then time will do the rest.

All I did with my leather holster was wear it and holster and unholster and soon had just the right amount of retention and wrapped around my body.

[IMG]Holster 2 004edcf by Jerry Jaynes, on Flickr[/IMG]

Thanks, everyone. I wanted to be careful of the bluing - should have mentioned that - so I'm assuming why the plastic is used - is that correct?

Any holster will wear the bluing. Kydex seems to be worse than leather, at least to me.

Ditto on all of the above.

I wrap my gun in a plastic bag and put it in the holster, let it sit over night, take the gun out then reholster. May take a number of days but eventually the gun will fit.

Safety straps are a little more of a challenge. I folded a plastic bag over the top of the hammer and secured it in the holster. After a couple of days I added another fold to the bag and secured the strap again until I finally got the fit I was looking for.

DO NOT use shoe oils or glove oils on the holster. Leave the gun in the holster and it will eventually conform. Taking the gun in and out of the holster will cause blue wear. Most of my revolver holsters are Safariland with the suede lining which really seems to cut down on edge wear.

The easiest way I've found to break in a holster is wear it. The gun will form to the holster pretty quick. As far as the bluing unfortunately there is not much you can do. Every non stainless gun I ever had showed holster wear. I just like to call holster wear adding character to the gun.

If you're worried about the blueing, don't put the gun in a holster.

As others have said, to break in a holster, simply use it.

Best thing to do is, next time, buy from a maker who knows his ins and outs of eliminating 'break in' with design, material choice, and processes. Every maker is in complete control of fit/no fit, it's not meant to be up to you to fix it. But there are few who know that process changes will fix this up forever.

__________________
Red Nichols The Holstorian

I bought a stainless gun once that came with a holster that was a bit loose fitting. There was no retaining strap so I took the grips off and dampened the inside of the holster with some alcohol, put the gun in the holster and sealed the whole package up in a vacuum seal bag overnight.
It formed nicely to the gun and ended up with good retention.
I used neutral show polish on it afterwards.
That worked for it being loose, but I don't know if that's your problem too.