[Mark F]

Next time, get stainless steel if it's an option.

[cbw]

Hey I'm all for input, since your post I have taken my Beretta 25 and HP Browning out of the safe, lined the safe with a gun wipe down cloth, checked them both for any signs of rust. None so far, but I respect your opinion, The HP and the new EMP are side by side o the gun cloth (with the HP wrapped in another cloth of course, not marking my new baby). I'm not to worried about them laying down. Hers is a new question. Do you unload your mags to relieve spring pressure? I've read that the springs can loose their power by being under load all the time. Maybe I read it on this site, I have a terrible memory. Now just one more safe to line......

[SheGUN]

I've seen some nasty things that leaving a gun in a leather holster can do........ I wouldn't do it!

[1984cj]

Keeping a firearm in leather is bad. It traps moisture against the gun and some leathers use tanning acids that will destroy the finish on a firearm. Foam cases are the same way, the foam cells trap moisture against the firearm and cause rust. I try to keep my firearms in silicon treated socks with a light coating of grease on them. Or I try and keep them wrapped in oiled cotton or oiled paper.


The general consensus seems to be that it is the movement of the springs that wears them out. An empty mag stress the spring the same amount a loaded mag does. Using a mag (loading and unloading) wears out the spring eventually.

However this argument is similar to the 9mm vs 45 and Glock vs 1911.
Many people believe strongly one way or the other.

I leave my mags loaded and have not had any problems.

[cbw]

I have no guns in leather holsters for storage anymore. Thank you for all your feedback and comments.

[WILDCATT]

am I the only one that keeps my pistols in leather.course I have them oiled,but not soaked.that sounds like a good investigation to see what gun leather is tanned with.I have three I keep by my bed in a drawer no rust and they have been there 8 yrs.but thats me.

[cbw]

Wildcatt,

What started this discussion was some pitting on my Colt Frontiersmen which my father kept in the leather holster all the time. There was also some rust on the barrel where it was deep in the holster. Dad used oils but I noticed after he passed on and I inhered his guns that he started to use Hoppes Gun Grease which hardens over time. In fact one of one of the semi autos I received was so gummed up from the grease that it would not have fired. Maybe the grease offers less protection than the oils. Either way With advice from people on this forum, I no longer STORE any guns in leather. The holster that this was stored in was from the 1950's so I have no idea what they used for tanning.

[~kev~]

As my grandfathers alzheimers was getting worse, my grand mother decided to put both of them into an assisted living center. While my grand fathers mind was still good, he divided up his personal possessions between my mother and her 3 brothers (my uncles).

One of the items that my grandfather handed over to my mother was his mothers pistol, in a leather holster. This was my great grandmothers pistol, she had bought it sometime in the 1930s, because the receipt was still with it - but I do not remember the exact date.

The pistol was heavily pitted from rust. The pitting was so bad, I would not consider the pistol safe to shoot. This is what happens when you keep a pistol in a leather holster for years on end.