Shrinking Thumb Breaks?

[George B]

Hi all,

made a couple of holsters for my Son-In-Law who is now with Army Intelligence (yes, I know the jokes). They went with him to Lebanon, where he has to use them concealed.

When they left the shop there was no issue with the thumb break safety straps, they worked just fine on the Blue Gun I ordered to make the holsters.

I found out from my Daughter today that both holster safety snaps will not meet to snap into position, the boy did want to hurt my feelings by telling me. I emailed him and told him to soak the straps in hot water, not above 130 degrees until soaked and stretch them back out, leave them snapped with the weapon in the holster and allow them to dry. I'm hoping this solves the problem.

I have never had an issue like this before and am thinking that the climate there may have dried the leather causing the problem.

For future reference, is there something I did wrong?

Is there anything I should do in the future to keep this from happening again?

I feel like a total horse's ass (not the good kind we make holsters and belts out of) after finding this out.

I know I'm new to this, but, I never want it to happen with one of my holsters again.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

George

[Mike Craw]

Hey George!

If I had to guess, I'd say your Blue Gun shrank, not your thumb break. I had a 1911 Blue Gun that seemed really slender through the slide. I checked it against my Springfield 1911 and it was 1/10" narrower. I thought maybe Springfield had beefed up their version for durability, so I hauled out my Dad's WWII Colt, and by golly, the Blue Gun was 1/10" smaller than that one too!

Just a thought.

Mike

[George B]

  On 11/19/2012 at 11:05 PM, Mike Craw said:

Hey George!

If I had to guess, I'd say your Blue Gun shrank, not your thumb break. I had a 1911 Blue Gun that seemed really slender through the slide. I checked it against my Springfield 1911 and it was 1/10" narrower. I thought maybe Springfield had beefed up their version for durability, so I hauled out my Dad's WWII Colt, and by golly, the Blue Gun was 1/10" smaller than that one too!

Just a thought.

Mike

May be you are correct. I've had the same with the Glock blue guns, John at Rings swears they are the same as the real thing but I have to make my forming looser to accept the actual pistol.

Think I'm going to have to work out an adjustable safety strap without using velcro to keep this from happening again.

Thanks Mike, George

[Itch]

  On 11/19/2012 at 11:05 PM, Mike Craw said:

Hey George!

If I had to guess, I'd say your Blue Gun shrank, not your thumb break. I had a 1911 Blue Gun that seemed really slender through the slide. I checked it against my Springfield 1911 and it was 1/10" narrower. I thought maybe Springfield had beefed up their version for durability, so I hauled out my Dad's WWII Colt, and by golly, the Blue Gun was 1/10" smaller than that one too!

Just a thought.

Mike

I have over 60 molds and most of them are blue guns.Some run a bit smaller than the actual firearm..You did the right thing by telling him to wet the leather.Usually if I have the same trouble I will tell the customer to wet the strap make sure the firearm is unloaded and put a thin plastic shopping bag over the firearm and put it back in to the holster and close the thumb break.Let dry.

[IngleGunLeather]

The exact same thing happened when I built a shoulder rig for an XD9. Thumb strap was nice and snug around the blue gun, but when the real gun was put in the holster the snaps wouldn't line up and snap. I think the blue guns are a tad bit smaller than the real thing. I wound up taking the same corrective action as well and it eventually stretched the strap.

[Shooter McGavin]

A recent Glock 26 thumb break pancake had this problem. Worked fine on the bluegun, but when using the real firearm, it was at least a full snap off. Water and stretching made it fit, but was still quite embarrassing.

[katsass]

From the grump; Had it happen only one time - and still don't know what the hell happened. On a pancake holster, molded to THE gun itself. Moistened the one side, stretched it into shape and allowed to dry again - no more problems. Mike

Edited November 22, 2012 by katsass

[Haystacker]

Only time I had this happen was I made the holster fit for "cocked and Locked" for a 1911. Person I made the holster for said they carried that way. later found out the thumb break did not fit. Person was trying to carry hammer down.

[RMB Custom Leather]

Very interesting. If you get a blue gun and it measures differently compared to the real gun please let me know especially if you got it from me.

There was an issue with the P238 last year which was resolved with them making both version of the P238. There are two versions of the P238 one has a slide width of 11/16" and the other is 13/16". You never know there may be more models out there with this issue, depending on how many versions a manufacturer makes of the same model. I would differently let your Bluegun supplier know about it because there may be a need for another version to be molded.

[Shooter McGavin]

My issue was with a G26

[Colt Hammerless]

George B,

You mention the possibility of the dry climate causing the leather to shrink. Do you oil the holster after wet forming? If not, maybe oiling would keep it from drying so much that it would change the fit. Just a shot in the dark.

Paul

[George B]

  On 12/3/2012 at 4:50 AM, Colt Hammerless said:

George B,

You mention the possibility of the dry climate causing the leather to shrink. Do you oil the holster after wet forming? If not, maybe oiling would keep it from drying so much that it would change the fit. Just a shot in the dark.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I always apply a couple of coats of either neetsfoot or EVOO after forming and drying.

Had it happen again just recently with a Gen 4 Glock 17. According to Glock there is supposed to be no difference but it was still off. Checked the Glock against my blue gun and by golly it was about 1/8" longer. Now I have a piece I cut that takes care of the Glock problem.

Thanks, George