Just like firearms themselves, you need to properly clean a leather gun holster. Properly cleaning a leather holster is an essential part of holster care. Keeping your holster clean will not only increase its lifespan, but it can also prevent wear to your guns themselves. Once you learn how to properly do it, leather holster care will become second nature to you. But it may not be intuitive to everyone at first. That’s why we’re going to cover cleaning a custom leather gun holster in this post.

Leather Holster Care: Cleaning Your Holster

First things first: when exactly should you clean your holster? Some neat freaks may clean their leather holsters once every week or two. But even a less careful owner should be cleaning their leather holsters at least once a month. Cleaning your holster doesn’t need to be a super thorough job. Just wipe it down with a rag to remove any dirt, grit, or built up carbon fouling. 

You should perform a more thorough cleaning once every few months. To do this, lightly wet your rag and wipe down your holster to remove more stubborn buildup. If that isn’t enough, you can add a bit of Bick 4 by Bickmore to your rag. Don’t overdo it with Bick4 – that stuff is strong. Less is more.

Practice Proper Drying

Here’s a part of leather holster care that often gets overlooked. Just like any leather garment, your holster isn’t going to like getting wet. As always, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s best to avoid getting your holster wet in the first place than to dry it afterwards. That means protecting it not only from environmental moisture, but also sweat from your own body.

But unfortunately, the world isn’t always a dry place. If your holster gets wet, part of proper cleaning involves drying it. First, do your best to pat the holster dry and remove any excess moisture. Then, place the holster in a medium-temperature room and allow it to dry on its own.

Hot temperatures can deform leather, so you don’t want to expose your holster to them. Don’t try to use a blowdryer to dry a leather holster. Additionally, you should try to avoid placing it in direct sunlight as it dries.

Moisture is one of a leather holster’s worst enemies. But if you follow these steps, you can minimize any water damage your holster may suffer.

Maintaining a Heritage-Grade Custom Leather Gun Holster

It may not always be easy to keep your holster clean. But if you’re going to spring for a custom leather gun holster, you definitely need to maintain it.

That’s the kind of leather holsters you can find at the Southern Trapper. You’re going to want to keep your holster clean at least that long. To learn more about our custom holsters, check out our complete selection here.

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