Clear this up for me please.

[RMHoward]

Guys,
I have a 357 Stainless new model BH as my night stand gun. For a while, i have had it sitting there in a nylon holster. I have been wanting a leather holster for awhile, so when the mother in law sent me a Amazon.com coupon for my birthday, I had an excuse to buy myself a nice leather holster for it. I bought a Galco outdoorsman. It surpasses my expectations. It fits the gun snugly and follows the lines of it nicely. Like i said, im thrilled with it. The gun stays there on the nightstand in an airconditoned house and is nicely oiled. Now, i am reading where storing a gun in a leather holster is a bad idea because it may cause it to rust. Is this an issue for my gun? Am i worried about nothing? I know stainless will rust. I want to avoid rust at all costs. Hate to go back to that nylon holster, but i will if i have to. Your advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Rick

 

[G2]

I leave mine in the leather Holster, BUT,,, I live in a Hot Dry Desert.
I think the concern is where you live and everytime a by a gun from your area (S. Eastern US) I see signs of rust. :roll:
When Stainless Rust's it's more like a Pit.
With your house being AC'd that might help.
I would give the Gun a good wipe of RIG and check it once a month.
The Galco leather seems like it is nice tight natural oiled leather.

Not very clear,,,, eah? sorry

 

[Longrange]

Leather sucks the oil off the gun so you do need to keep it oiled! I carried a S&W 64 for many years when I was in LEO with out any issue but I did see others have pitting because they just did not take care of their guns!

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The issue is that leather will absorb moisture out of the air and the moisture held in contact will tend to rust the steel.

Stainless will of course be less prone to corrode than a blued carbon steel gun. That is the whole purpose behind Stainless Steel. I disagree about pitting, corrosion usually first exhibits itself on Stainless as a dark stain. If you catch it early, a little scotchbrite will usually take care of any stain on Stainless steel. Stainless steel is 'self healing' the passivation process that occurs whenever the surface is scratched will occur naturally, creating a chromium oxide barrier to atmospheric oxygen.

Do not use ordinary steel wool on Stainless steel. Steel wool will imbed tiny fragments of carbon steel into the Stainless and they will rust, and so will the stainless steel surrounding the fragments.

Despite the common wisdom about not leaving guns in leather holsters, I left my S&W Model 19 and a Colt Police Positive, both blued carbon steel, in leather holsters for over twenty years while I was not actively shooting. When I started shooting again, I took them out and there was no rust on them at all. And I do not live in a desert.

Chances are, if you leave a light film of oil on your stainless guns, or if you wipe them down with a silcone cloth regularly, you will have no problem if you store them at night in leather.

That's my opinion anyway.

 

[RMHoward]

Ok guys,
Thanks for the replies. I will keep it well oiled, dry, and not worry about it. Will check it weekly, or so. Thanks again for all the replies.
Rick

 

[Tommy Kelly]

You might try cleaning your holster with extra virgin olive oil that would probably help. The olive oil is a great leather softner and treater.

 

[pisgah]

I never store a revolver in a holster, leather or nylon; but I have a couple of guns I keep loaded nearby. I often carry one or both of them, and they stay holstered. Why the double standard? The two "ready" guns are drawn out of their holsters and given a good wiping-down every couple of days.

 

[J Miller]

Rick,

My blued S&W 25-5 spends its entire live in a lined Safariland leather holster. It has been in that holster since early 83.
Other than a few spots of rust caused by sweat when I drove armored trucks in AZ there is no rust.

I keep it wiped down with Industrial PCL and it's fine.

Joe

 

[ra]

I keep all my revolvers, blue and stainless, in their holsters in the gun safe and have never had any rust caused by the holster. I just clean and oil my guns when ever I shoot them. Maybe 2 or 3 times a year I will look over the ones I have not shot in a while and wipe them down just in case.
I also don't use an dehumidifiers in my safe which goes against the norm. I can't see how the humidity inside the safe is any higher than the air in my house, when you close the door on the safe I can't see where the extra humidity comes from. As I said I have a blue SBH that I have had in the holster and safe since '81 with no rust, YMMV.

ra

 

[Knuckles]

Just keep them wiped... you can use a silicone cloth as well just to keep the gun moisture-repellent.

Most of the time corrosion comes from the alkaline in your sweat... some have it much higher than others, just wipe them down after handling.

 

[Ruger1441]

If memory serves me, a problem with leather holsters is also cause by the tanning acids ext that were used in the preparation of the leather. This doesn't react well with firearms. :?

 

[TCGuy]

You can treat the leather holster with Ballistol, and it will neutralize the acids in the leather, thus reducing the likelihood of corrosion caused by contact with acidic leather.

 

[Ruber]

Ok guys,
Thanks for the replies. I will keep it well oiled, dry, and not worry about it. Will check it weekly, or so. Thanks again for all the replies.
Rick

Sounds like a good plan. I worked in Gainesville for a bit and I can't imagine Jacksonville being much drier than San Diego. I've seen rust damage on a stainless GP100 from being stored in a leather holster and that brought the value down quite a bit. I picked it up and sure enough, most cleaned up with a scotch brite pad, but emery cloth was required in some spots. Worked out fine for me, not so much for the original owner.

If you keep an eye on it, should be fine, you'll catch the staining early enough that no damage will happen. I wouldn't worry so much about the oil, I like knuckles' idea for stainless, I keep mine pretty dry. But keep an eye on the holster, make sure it's not retaining any moisture!

 

[resident]

All my revolvers (stainless and blued) have been stored for years...most of them in their leather holsters, without a single problem. The rest are stored in leather pistol-pouches. I wipe 'em down every year or so with an oily rag. I keep them in a sealed gun safe in an un-airconditioned room. I do not use cheap holsters cured with acids. They are all oil-tanned (Bianchi, Triple K, Kirkpatrick) Most of my holsters are lined, but not all.

 

[wolfsong]

I'm like Pisgah. My hand guns are never stored in holsters. In the safe they are covered by a silicone treated gun cloth draped over them. Same thing with others "strategically" placed around the castle, except that they are more wrapped than draped. This keeps the moisture out and keeps them somewhat out of plain sight. Living alone with no kids around regularly makes this possible. That could change soon, but for now it works. Just my opinion and experience, for what it's worth... Peace and God bless, Wolfsong.