From: gmk@falstaff.MAE.CWRU.EDU (Geoff Kotzar)
Subject: Re: Another Winchester Qu
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <1993Apr18.010735.21773@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> bobd@marune.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula) writes:
#In article <1993Apr16.120625.26184@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> I wrote:
#
#[On the subject of leather holsters and firearm storage]
#
#From "Pistols -- A Modern Encyclopedia",
#by Henry M. Stebbins (a quite enjoyable firearms author IMHO),
#copyright 1961, Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 60-14560,
#from Page 332:
#
#"A leather holster isn't ideal for a pistol's long sleep unless
#it's of excellent material, and oiled or otherwise treated to
#fight off corrosion of steel. Stopping one night in the mountains,
#in preference to jolting another fifty miles to a good-sized town,
#I got into talk with the innkeeper--there were no moteliers,
#no motels. We had chewed guns only a few minutes before he brought
#out his .38 Colt Army Special. It almost stuck to its holster!
#Rust lay on all contact surfaces and its cylinder was lazy. The good
#guy admitted that he hadn't used or looked at it for quite a spell,
#and obviously he hadn't oiled or greased the ill-tanned leather."

I thought I might add two additional anecdotes that happened to close friends
of mine.

The first was carrying a Llama .380 in one of the split leather inside the
belt holsters while traveling. A rainy night somewhere in the southwest US
and a flat tire caused him to stash the gun in the door pocket of his Beetle
while he changed the tire. He left the door open as he worked. He did not
retrieve the gun from the door pocket until he reached his destination some
hours later. Upon examination he found the slide badly pitted. When he returned
we examined the holster, did a litmus paper test and then dropped the thing in
a bucket of baking soda solution. It fizzed for hours.

The second carried his Commander in the same type of holster when he traveled
into downtown Cleveland for night school. In his case, he had cleaned the gun
and oiled it profusely. He then put it in the holster and went to class. After-
ward, it showed extensive rusting of the slide but no pitting, fortunately.
We ran the same procedure with his holster as I did with the other. It fizzed
in the solution the better part of the night. That ended the problem for both
friends permanently.

I have never seen this in any high quality holsters, but I must admit that I
have dealt, with one exception, only with Bianchi and Milt Sparks. The sole
exception is a Lawrence from many years ago. My suggestion is if you are not
sure wet a spot of the leather with tap water and test for acidity with litmus
paper.

gmk