Gun Holster Care

Leather Holsters

Taking care of a gun holster is one of those things that most people never do. That's unfortunate as some simple steps can increase the life of a good holster tenfold. Leather is an organic material and needs a little bit of care to remain strong.

The outside of the most leather holsters can be periodically wiped down with a slightly damp cloth and then wiped with a dry towel. Leather tends to dry out over time so you might want to apply some leather conditioner to it maybe once a year.  There are a number of commercially produced leather cleaners on the market. Be careful with these as many contain a softening agent or alcohol, which dries the leather out really bad.

Your best bet for getting a lifetime of use from a leather holster is the periodic application of shoe polish. A good coat of shoe polish (either neutral color or the color of the holster) will replace moisture and puts a protective wax coat on the outside of the holster. The application is the same that you would do for leather shoes.

Don't use mink oil, saddle soap, baseball glove cleaner, etc. as they are really bad for molded gun holsters. Stick with shoe polish and you'll never have a problem.

Kydex Holsters

If you think people take less than good care of leather holsters, kydex holsters get abused twice as bad. You really don't need to "clean" kydex in the traditional sense as it's very durable. What I do recommend that you do is make sure that the inside of the holster remains free of any foreign materials like sand, dirt, grit, etc. As kydex is a hard material, abrasive grit inside a kydex holster will do a number on the finish of a weapon, especially if you are drawing quite a bit.

To clean the inside of an unlined kydex holster, simple wipe the inside down with a wet rag or paper towel and then let it air dry.

The single biggest cause of damage for kydex holsters is prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and really high temperatures (like inside a vehicle on a hot day).  Make sure that you keep kydex holsters in relatively normal heat and they will last you for years.