The myth of the plastic bag

[rednichols]

It's a time-honored tradition to 'break in' a holster by putting your pistol in a plastic bag then leaving it overnight to create a fit. Or is it?

The origin of wet molding is the cowboy of the late 19th century riding his saddled horse into the Rio Grande, complete with holstered pistol. This latter's purpose, according to Texas Ranger Captain Sterling's book, was to 'rust in' the Colt's screws that were known to loosen otherwise.

Right away the next steps in the process began to appear.

1911 from Heiser's gunleather catalog. This is taken from Packing Iron. Note the bare pistol is inserted, the leather is not overwetted.

1922 from an American Rifleman article. The pistol is greased to prevent rusting it from the contact with wet leather (wet leather and steel create a nasty chemical reaction on both).

1929 from a book about pistol shooting. Use of a hand tool (this is not correctly called 'boning', which is smoothing the inside of the holster) for the hand molding appears.

1956 with Charlie Askins getting carried away with wetting the holster. Note the gun is greased for the molding.

1966 the plastic bag appears in the form of what folks had available then -- cling wrap etc. IMHO the author has chosen the plastic to supplant the greasing of the pistol which can be time consuming to clean up.

The common factor is that the leather is WET and the grease then plastic wrap then plastic bag are to keep the pistol from being rusted.

The bag has no utility in a dry leather holster. It has no thickness sufficient to swell the dry holster to suit your pistol -- do the same 'breaking in' with your pistol and NO bag and you'll get the same result; made necessary at all because the holster was not dried correctly and so it shrank during the process.

It is possible to mold, on a production basis, holsters that require no 'break in'. But so much easier to liken holsters to shoes and call for a buyer to 'break in' his holster vs sending it back to the maker for correction!

P.S. The 15-20 SECONDS in hot water is absolutely correct, and no longer. Charlie's 6 hours is ridiculous and he was no leathersmith. Leaving the pistol out is correct for drying, but hot air drying vs ambient temp is best because it's not only faster, but hardens the leather for ideal holstering and drawing.

 

[sigp220.45]

I've read about the various versions of this process forever, and have never bothered with it even once. My holsters seem to fit just fine.

 

[Onomea]

Red, I enjoy your posts but on my iPad your posted pix are always the size of a postage stamp unless I manipulate them for a while. If I may:

1911 Heiser catalog:



I find this interesting as it makes no mention of protecting the gun from the wet leather, other than pulling it out once the pressure molding is done.

1922 American Rifleman:



The change here is grease the gun, for its protection, with what I guess is cosmoline, and leave it in there overnight until the holster has hardened up

1929 book about pistol shooting:

Two points of interest to me. The use of a sponge rather than soaking, and the recommendation to not let the holster dry with the gun in it or it will be too large.



1956 Charlie Askins:

Of interest, neatsfoot oil and graphite on the inside of the holster once dry. While I've never bought any, Mitch Rosen sells something called, if memory serves, "Leather Lightning" for those looking for a slick draw out of the box. (Well, ziplock bag.)



1966 plastic bag:

I think possible no one was using plastic bags early on because plastic bags didn't exist.



Also, I think all the descriptions above are about teaching one how to make a well fitted holster. The plastic bags purpose in the last source is to protect the gun while the holster is being shaped.

The reason some of us use plastic bags today is for a different reason. It is for the owner, the guy who bought the new holster, to loosen it up to his liking once it has already been properly formed by the maker.

I, too, have never used a plastic bag for this purpose. Have never found it necessary.

I enjoyed all the historical holster making references. Fun stuff.

 

[boykinlp]

Red, that is a very informative post. I think it is cool how the process changed slightly over the many years. Many had what they thought was the best way to do it.

I couldn't imagine putting a mixture neatsfoot oil and graphite in a holster. I am sure it would work as intended, just be very messy. And, it is interesting how some of the writers are fairly quickly dunking the holsters in water while others are completely soaking them. I once used a thin grocery bag over a gun, while running it in and out of the holster, thinking it may not wear the finish as much as it would without it. Maybe worthless, but it is what I did.
Larry

 

[rednichols]

Onomea, you have summed it up nicely:

"Also, I think all the descriptions above are about teaching one how to make a well fitted holster. The plastic bags purpose in the last source is to protect the gun while the holster is being shaped.

"The reason some of us use plastic bags today is for a different reason. It is for the owner, the guy who bought the new holster, to loosen it up to his liking once it has already been properly formed by the maker."

Which is to say, the grease and the plastic and the bags were a progession to protect the pistol from the wet holster and vice versa. BUT the mistake is to blindly carry on with the plastic bag thinking it has a function in enlarging a DRY holster which it does not. As to the latter, it is the pistol itself that gives a bit of stretch to the dry leather; the plastic bag fills no function at all because it is simply a carryover from wet molding.

Could one use many many bags, as I've seen suggested and brings to mind a line from the film Bowfinger? Sure but it's ridiculous: the maker simply made the holster poorly. A first quality holster must fit perfectly as-delivered. There is no break-in for a first quality holster of the 21st century; we solved all those problems of the Texas Rangers at the end of the 20th.

Example: here's an image of the giant hot air dryers used by Bianchi (from JB's own book). Wetted holsters that were merely dunked in water initially, passed through the dryer and came out the other end, completely dry. And not overdried to be too small as a little maker does esp. in a wintry metal shed.



P.S. that my images come out like a postage stamp size is the fault of the forum; I use the paperclip icon to add images. The way it works at least in my browser: when the postage stamp comes up, then close it and it reappears full size. I know, very weird.