Holster Hack | How to Mold a Leather Holster to Your Pistol 

What you are doing is called "Wet molding" and it's very common to do this with new holsters (and other things too). Tips and tricks here: 1) slap some oil on that gun before wrapping it. Wet leather and blued steel is a recipe for rust. 2) it works best if you soak the holster using warm water in my experience. 3) make sure you are not placing the holster near any kind of heat source while drying. DON'T try and speed up the process. It takes as long as it takes. 4) using a smooth rounded stick or piece of plastic you can gently press the leather down to more closely fit the pistol if you want. Make sure it's smooth as a baby's butt though.5) once you are done wet molding make sure you treat the leather with a good leather balm, neat's foot oil, or something that will keep the leather supple and live. 80 year old leather is going to be dry as hell, and once it's molded it's liable to begin cracking. You need to get the fats and oils back into the leather to protect it. There are many products on the market to do this You will likely find that your first application of your product vanishes in seconds as the leather soaks it up. Keep applying every day or so until the product begins to slow soaking in. You'll be surprised just how much product will be required-the leather holds a surprising amount. Tom, you probably need to do another video about how to care for holsters.

Good to know, I just popped some stitches trying to get my D29 marked Star B into a correct holster.

We were issued Sig Sauers as our service weapon. We were told to soak the holster in water and use the heavy plastic bag that the gun came in and jam it in the holster and secure the strap. After it dried the next day, we removed the gun and plastic. Wiped down the gun and oiled it. Worked fine. Going to use your technique with plastic wrap as the new Ruger I bought didn’t come with the nice heavy duty plastic bag. Thank you so much for your video.👍👍

George Costanza, the man 👌Shrinkage, a real problem 🙂

A plastic grocery store bag works well also. That's what I use for my holster making.

Fantastic practical solution 👏 must have been done that way back in the day 👍

Will try it tonight. Thanks.

Hey Tom another great video and many thanks for this one. I bought some of the P-38 holsters from you and they are excellent except for not being able to holster the pistol in it. Great info. Keep up the good work.

Awarded extra points for the Seinfeld "shrinkage" reference!

I guess you could just buy a decent replica Airsoft BB gun and form the holster with that?

Learn something new ,great job I'll try it out hopefully soon

Instead of using water, you can use Neatsfoot Oil on the holster and place the pistol in the holster over night. The Neatsfoot oil will soften the leather and make it more pliable. I use this on saddles, boots, gloves etc.... When I got my dads souvenirs, the holsters and belts were like card board and once the oil was applied, it was practively good as new.

I place my oiled pistols in a 1 gallon food storage bag before putting into the warm wet holster, I've placed them in a black shopping bag on my dashboard with the sun beating on it and it's worked well

oil gun up or use some spray Automotive wax then wrap it up good stuff it in the holster

Take a look at the edges of this pistol you forced into the holster. I had the same problem and after forcing the pistol into the holster there was some wear at the edges where the pistol lost some blueing. Was a mint Radom... :-( Furthermore I thoroughly oil the pistol before wrapping it and I also wrap it twice.

Hi, would you treat the holster with a leather feed/balm to keep it hydrated and stop cracking?

Thank you!

Why the "F" are some people calling everything a "HACK".. It's called a "METHOD", the word has been around for a long, long time, use it.

Great hack! I purchased a Femaru holster from you a couple years back & it was exactly like the one you showed...unbent & pristine. Now I'm better educated on how to break it in! Thanks! BTW...do you have any Afrika Korps Femaru holsters in good condition? I'm in the market for a JHV 41 rig to complement my JHV 43 rig...

Well now I know what and where my p38 holster came from. I paid I bit more than 50 dollars for mine though.

What happens to an Ink Stamp inside the Holster, like the P37 Holster you showed at the beginning? I could imagine soaking the the leather up with water is not the best treatment for the stamp?

u guys really enjoy good life .........

Oil gun beforehand?

Could one make a better mold without risking ones firearm by using one of the technically correct blue model training devices as they are supposed to be physically identical? Also, after soaking and inserting the firearm, could a better "fit" be obtained by placing the setup in a vacuum chamber?? (I am really just curious! Love your videos and the history lessons that go with them!!!)

I’m a welder and I use the thin tig welding gloves and when they get to hot they shrink I just use wd40 and it really soaks in the leather

Didn't you think to apply some leather-conditioning oil to make holster pliable, instead soaking it in water?... On the side note, I believe that holsters manufactured by Germans during late stage of war were made out of some sort synthetic material, rather than genuine leather.

Alu P1 or bad shooter grade gun

Hello uncle Tom ! I think its not smart to put a gun in that wet holster! Best of all to put in a blank,copy of the gun. Please accept my respects uncle Tom.!

It would be great is someone would 3D print guns to use for doing this.

I tired using both neatsfoot oil and carnauba/shea butter. While softened old leather, I could not get the old leather to stretch sufficiently to fit/secure the holster flap properly. So following the video worked. Originally I hesitated using the wet process, was afraid of damaging the holster exterior and embossed stamps... but not a problem at the end. What I did discover, when the wet holster dries (maybe it is just the low humidity here) the leather really gets cold. Even with our low humidity, 2 days later I found condensation in the closed zip lock bag when checking my P 38. Before inserting the handgun into the zip lock bag I had oiled all surfaces. Interestingly the condensation accumulated on inside surfaces of the plastic bag where folded and not on handgun surfaces. No damage to the P 38.

Thanks

Could you not achieve the same effect by soaking the holster in a fine quality leather cream like Woly, which will moisturise and soften the leather?

3D print a gun, that way no moisture on the steel of a valuable piece.

Very interesting but all of your videos are.

Spray some Remington oil on it also.

Gale Morgan from Lincoln, California made holsters for John Martz's "Baby Luger" pistols and he made the forms for the Baby Luger size which he used to make the holsters. His are identified by his name on the back of the holsters.

Isopropyl alcohol will work better that water and evaporates rapidly. Tight leather boots this will nearly instantly relieve tight spots when spayed directly on the spot and let the leather form to the foot. I assume it would work fine on a leather holster. No water added.

Wet molding! Thanks again...more for my library

Coating the holster heavy with seal 1 and heating it to suck it in works too