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Hi, I'm Steve Ledin with OpticsPlanet, and I'd like to explain a little bit to you about new holster
break in,
I took a few holsters out of stock. This first one that we're going to be
using is the Galco FED Paddle.
This holster is made to fit a Beretta 92.
A Beretta 92FS, a Beretta 92F,
a Beretta 92 Brigadier.
Beretta 92
like this Border Marshal.
And, it's important that
the holster that you choose
is for the exact model
of the firearm you're trying to fit in here.
One of the
largest
problems with fitting a new holster is that
when, always
quadruple check the gun is clear,
it's a good idea also to put your thumb on the back of the slide to
prevent the firearm from going out of battery when you're putting it in.
This holster
is pretty close if you could if you could see that snap,
it's pretty close it's maybe a quarter inch away, and a lot of people
because they're working on it
and they cannot close this holster,
they're under the impression it doesn't fit.
Leather holsters are like baseball mits, they need a break in period. The proper
way to break in the holster
is to take the thumb strap, and you want to warm it up, and you wanna move it,
and you want to stretch it,
you want to stretch the fibers
in this thumb strap.
You do not want to put oil on it, you don't want to put mink oil on it, no
needs foot oil.
What's going to happen if you do that is it's just going to become too supple and
it's not going to be secure enough for your holster, so take
the holster and sit in front of the tv and just play with the leather strap, you
don't want to fold it, you don't want to crease it,
you just want to loosen up these fibers.
However, you can, and it might take a while.
Also, with a holster like this many of them have tension screws.
To get to a tension screw you would, this is a paddle holster,
so you would loosen this paddle
so you can get to the screws.
It has a flat head screw on both sides, so for instance on this holster you
need screw driver here,
and you need a screw driver here.
So you would simply loosen this holster or tighten if it you need to.
One
or two turns decompresses the rubber so it makes it a little bit easier.
Now, keeping my
thumb pushing
against
the slide
and with that little bit,
and you can see how tight it is.
If you're able to take a pistol and stick it in this holster initially and
leave it like this,
it's not really going to stretch. You have to manipulate the fibers, you have
to warm up the fibers of the metal, you have to break in the holster.
It's exactly like breaking in a baseball mit
or pair of shoes. You have to wear it.
I said that we have to
Have the holster
exactly match the model of the gun.
This is a Beretta 92 Border Marshal, this is a Beretta 92 Vertec.
The Vertec
has
really no chance of buttoning,
it's a 92, but it's not a 92FS, it's not a 92-
Centurion, not a 92 Brigadier.
It's a 92 Vertec.
It will not fit this holster, it's not the proper holster model for this
particular gun.
Carbon fiber holsters
are
holsters that do not require fitting, they never move this is a Blackhawk Serpa
it's an excellent holster.
This
Glock 22
in this Safariland model 518 again, with your thumb on the back of the
slide, push it in,
firmly.
See, it's a little bit off.
It's a little bit tight, people might think it's a little too tight, no, it's
perfect. You want it very very tight. If you have a problem
snapping it initially, you're good to go
because it will break in very nicely.
Some other holsters like for a standard 1911,
this one is made to be holstered cocked and locked, again,
thumb on the back of the slide. Push it in.
Look, you see here
not very close at all.
Yeah I'm tugging and pushing pretty good
that's,
that's about a quarter inch away.
This is perfect I won't, I won't do it now, but
I will
manipulate, if this was my holster, I will manipulate this holster, I will warm up
the threads.
I won't put any oil on it, I won't crease it, I won't fold it. I just have to
work it.
And I promise it's going to fit
marvelously.
A lot of holsters that are made for larger guns will also
perfectly, except
the shorter barrel guns,
wheather it be for a revolver or semi-auto pistol.
This
518 holster that is made for the Glock 22/17
will also very easily fit
the holster made for the Glock 19.
The only difference is
you have a little bit more leather
protruding beyond the muzzle of the firearm.
But it doesn't make really any difference. Also same thing goes for the
plastic holsters, this is made for 22 slash
17 size Glock, but it will also fit the model 19 very nicely.
The things we spoke about here pertaining to
holster fit also applies to magazine fit.
The
magazine holsters must be
made for
the particular size magazines. You can see
these are both double stack magazines or double row magazines.
This is for a Beretta, this is for a Glock.
You can see,
perhaps you can see,
how much wider this polymer cased magazine is then the beretta
is substantially wider
and when you're already looking at a very close fit
this will prevent the magazine from going into the holster made for the
Beretta. Particularly if they're carbon fiber with no stretch whatsoever, or some kind of
plastic.
So it's very important to
buy
a holster for your specific model of firearm, not kind of,
your exact specific model of firearm.
If your thumb strap, if you have, one does not close give it a chance you want to
work on it.
The further the snaps are away from meeting
the better your whole first gonna fit once you get that darn thing in there.
It does take a little manipulation, it does take a little bit of time,
but once that
firearm fits in that holster nicely, it's going to stay that way very nicely.
There are some products that you can put on your leather goods such as
Galco's leather conditioner, but it's not for the strap, it's not for the
strap, it's for the inside of the holster to make the
pistol draw more easily from it. It's also a good idea to
put some on the outside of the holster once in awhile. You can clean your holster
with soap and water, mild soap and water.
Let it dry but you need to keep a little bit of moisture on your leather.
I hope you found this video somewhat informative and this is Steve Ledin from
OpticsPlanet, thanks for watching.