peacemaker 45

Just a thought going through my mind. You carry your revolver all day. When you get home and knowing that you are going to carry the next day. Is it a bad idea to keep your revolver in the holster? I always remove mine from the holster, wipe it down and lock it up.

bogus bill

I think it depends mostly on the climate. A humid area can play heck as the leather can draw moisture depending on the treatment. I live in a dry climate and I dont often leave a gun in a holster.

marlinspike

My dad bought a blued Security-Six and a leather holster back in 1973. He kept the gun in a closet in the holster ever since. Somehow, the only rust was on places where the holster didn't touch the gun.

Pat Cannon

I live in Minnesota, so, average humidity I guess. My stainless SP101 lives in a leather holster 24/7. I have reecently gotten a little bit of rust on the cylinder after a couple years of everyday carry. But of course the beauty of stainless, besides the fact that it doesn't rust -- much -- is that when it does you can just sand it off. Took me a while though.

BronxBoy

That is the smartest thing to do. Why tempt fate when it only takes a minute to remove from and replace into the holster?

BronxBoy

Leather does collect moisture and that is a proven fact. A person’s cleaning and proptecting habits can do wonders in preventing corrosion under some real extreme conditions but why tempt fate?

Stainless steel supposedly doesn’t stain; it will rust. Actually, it will stain too! Stainless steels tend to be rust resistant and not rust proof. Much depends on the passivation process and/or finish used, if any, by the manufacturer. Corrosion REsistant Stainless (CRES) steel is as close to rust proof as you can get in steel but are not used in major gun components due to their “brittle” nature and the fact that they are very hard to machine. These alloys make great kitchen sinks!

Once steel rusts, the iron in the alloy is leeched out where the rust occurred and that area becomes porous and more apt to collect and store moisture. Removing it is the right thing to do but that area will require more focus on applied protective coatings. Rust on steel and other iron alloys is like cancer; once you have it, you must develop better habits to prevent it from returning.

J Miller

Well, lets see about this. WAAAAAAAAAYYYY <<< BACK in 1983 I bought a brandy spanking new S&W 25-5 .45 Colt. I bought a black lined Safariland #29 holster for it and IIRC four H.K.S. Speed loaders.
I carried that revolver in that holster for several months in Arizona as I drove armored trucks. And once that job ended it stays in that holster unless I'm shooting it.
It has blue wear on the high spots and edges, and yet the only rust on it is on exposed areas where my body sweat got on it.

Today as I post this response it's in the holster. Has been for over 10 years here in humid central IL. Since there is no way to legally carry a gun here, the old Smith has been retired to home defense. It gets wiped down occasionally and is ready for use if needed.

I don't know if the type of holster or type of lining has anything to do with it but in this specific case the revolver being in the holster for 27 years hasn't hurt it one bit.

Joe

jerf

I leave my redhawk in a unklemikes all the time .And so far nothing has happend to it, i live in pa and it gets pretty hmid here somtimes.

bks

I stored a revolver in a leather holster for over 40 years...Cleaned and lubed before storage and outside of an occasional clean and lube, and I do mean occasional, there isn't a speck of rust inside or outside of the revolver...but i do baby all of my rugers.

PBR

I keep my 1858 cap and ball in a calvary flap holster all the time and it doesn't have a bit of rust on it...of course it is covered in borebutter

johnjohn

Nothing I own stays in a holster unless it's going somewhere.

Koukalaka

Being somewhat fanatical about gun safety, I always store my firearms under lock and key--and since I have pretty limited space in the safe, my holsters don't go in. Besides, I think it's easier to put a holster on empty, then reholster the pistol. So...for me, there is no reason to store a firearm in a holster.

jholder

Purely anecdotal:

My Dad carried a S&W Model 15 when working in uniform for Topeka PD. When he went to detectives in 1980 the Model 15 stayed in his leather duty belt for the rest of his life while he carried a Colt Detectives' Special and later a 3" Model 65. On occasion he'd take it shooting with us, clean it and put it back in the Don Hume Border Patrol holster he carried it in for almost 10 years on the street.

After he passed in 2001, my younger (dirtbag) brother got that handgun after I had all of his handguns checked out by the department armorer. It had no pitting, no rust. It had been stored in an upper shelf in one of their closets in varying degrees of humidity.

Rifleman336

I wouldn't do it for My brother bought a S&W Model 66-0 one second hand from a old man that stored it in a holster in his nightstand drawer for 25 years and it pitted the hell out of the stainless.

98% percent of the leather made for industry is Tannic Acid tanned for it's cheap and fast, unlike vegetable tanning. And in a humid conditions weather constant or occasional it can leech those acids out and it will eat you weapon up stainless or otherwise.

I would store it out of a holster, even synthetic ones per manufactures recommendations for they can still harbor some moisture on the surface of the weapon.

Rifleman 336

terry_p

I am not real good about removing any handgun from a holster although I am excellent about periodically wiping down all of them and putting a light coat of oil on them before I put them back in the holster. I have not had problems with rust or pitting, blued or stainless. The only problem I ever had was with a blued shotgun I put one of those silicone impregnated storage socks around it. That was like a rust magnet. I had some rubbing to do on that and a lesson learned.