How much does Kydex mar firearm surfaces?

[Olydog]

I am looking at some new holsters. Alot of people are going to hybrids. I was just curious if the wear on the firearm could justify the use leather instead of kydex? What say ye? Feel free to post any pics you may have.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Ram Rod]

The kydex holsters I use and am most familiar with are total kydex...not hybrids. I'm going to say (and it's more of a semi-educated guess), that these holsters maybe contact around 10-20% of the pistol surface or less. Most of these lock the pistol into the holster around the trigger guard area and have little contact with the pistol anywhere else. Leather on the other hand, I would say contacts the pistol surface maybe 75-80%. Leather is obviously softer than kydex, and more flexible of course. With a pistol in a leather holster being worn on the belt either IWB or OWB, the leather holster will flex independently of the pistol creating some wear simply by being worn, then even more wear is seen by un-holstering and re-holstering the pistol. But leather is soft comparatively. Some pistols are more resistant to wear no matter what. The kydex holster and pistol being worn IWB or OWB, tend to move as one creating next to nothing in the way of wear while being worn, and minimal wear un-holstering and re-holstering mostly depending on where the user indexes the pistol for re-holstering. There's a lot more to it than that, and too much for me to explain here and now. A leather holster is going to wear on your pistol a lot more than a kydex holster. The hybrid holsters? Well, I'm guessing they'll wear your pistol on one side more than the other. I've tried the hybrid holsters, and now I don't have any. They're just not for me.

[isme]

Kydex is very light to carry, very quick into action, very secure and very abrasive. I found out the hard way. Kydex scratched the tenifer finish on my Glock. It's a shooter and not a collector so I still use the kydex holster with this gun but I don't use kydex with any collectible guns. Just my 2 cents.
I haven't tried the hybrids but I would like to. I use leather a lot and I like it and I think a hybrid has the potential to be the best of both worlds. I hope to try one soon.

[Olydog]

The kydex holsters I use and am most familiar with are total kydex...not hybrids. I'm going to say (and it's more of a semi-educated guess), that these holsters maybe contact around 10-20% of the pistol surface or less. Most of these lock the pistol into the holster around the trigger guard area and have little contact with the pistol anywhere else. Leather on the other hand, I would say contacts the pistol surface maybe 75-80%. Leather is obviously softer than kydex, and more flexible of course. With a pistol in a leather holster being worn on the belt either IWB or OWB, the leather holster will flex independently of the pistol creating some wear simply by being worn, then even more wear is seen by un-holstering and re-holstering the pistol. But leather is soft comparatively. Some pistols are more resistant to wear no matter what. The kydex holster and pistol being worn IWB or OWB, tend to move as one creating next to nothing in the way of wear while being worn, and minimal wear un-holstering and re-holstering mostly depending on where the user indexes the pistol for re-holstering. There's a lot more to it than that, and too much for me to explain here and now. A leather holster is going to wear on your pistol a lot more than a kydex holster. The hybrid holsters? Well, I'm guessing they'll wear your pistol on one side more than the other. I've tried the hybrid holsters, and now I don't have any. They're just not for me.

That is a lot of good points to consider.

[Keltyke]

Any holster will cause wear, some more than others - depending on the finish of the gun. This is from use rather than abuse and perfectly acceptable to me in a carry piece. If is gets too bad, you can always have the slide refinished.

[QKShooter]

If your daily carry gun is not showing holster wear and no matter if you are carrying in Kydex or Leather then you are not practicing drawing your firearm nearly enough.
Your self-defense firearm is a tool. It will eventually show honest tool wear.
If you don't want your personal carry gun to show holster wear then you'll need to have it Industrial Hard Chrome plated.

[Blue Jacket]

In regards to kydex I used one for the shooting sports. It did leave a wear mark on the slide by the front sight. But keep in mind, in shooting competitions your gun gets a lot of in and out abuse. I cannot answer your question regarding that type holster for careful conceal carry use. All mine have been leather with no issues.

[retsupt99]

I wouldn't worry about the wear, I'd worry about defending your life. I've noticed some wear with kydex on some of my smaller weapons, but I prefer leather for most of my larger holsters...so much more comfortable, and yes, leather shows wear after a while, too.
If you don't want any wear to show, keep it NIB.

[tokerblue]

As others have said, a holster will wear your gun. How much depends on the holster and gun's finish. I'm guessing your gun is a service gun and not a show gun. As long as your holster isn't making huge scratches and rusting your gun, what's there to worry about?

On a related note, I have a Kahr MK9 (Black T Finish) that I carried in a leather holster and a Blade-Tech holster for over a decade. No visible wear from what I have seen.

[SIGguy229]

If your daily carry gun is not showing holster wear and no matter if you are carrying in Kydex or Leather then you are not practicing drawing your firearm nearly enough.
Your self-defense firearm is a tool. It will eventually show honest tool wear.
If you don't want your personal carry gun to show holster wear then you'll need to have it Industrial Hard Chrome plated.

This.....

I have both Kydex and leather holsters....both serve different purposes and in different situations.....and wear on the guns.

[Majorlk]

The inside of the Kydex portion of my Crossbreed MiniTuck is smoother than the leather it's attached to.

In my experience, the Uncle Mike's-style of holsters produce more wear of a gun's finish than either leather or Kydex.

If I don't want wear marks on any of my guns, I never take them out of the safe.

[adaman04]

In many cases, leather guns contact the firearm more whereas kydex holsters generally make their main contact at the retention points e.g. the front of the trigger guard.

[PastorPack]

IMO, kydex produces smaller, but more concentrated areas of wear.

If your gun doesn't have wear, you're not carrying it enough.

[Plumberguy]

I carry in a Comp Tac M-tac, a hybrid. All make very good points, and I expect my carry guns to have wear. But, The kydex side of my pistol has a LOT more wear than the leather side. I will continue to carry it in this holster as the damage is done. I will never put a real high end pistol (wilson, baer, etc.) in Kydex. Just my opinion, and opinions are like armpits