Bought those original "red" S&W grips... now gonna need a fancy holster...

[Magnum Wheel Man]

looking for eye deers...

this will be for a S&W 1 1/2 top break spur trigger in 32 S&W... it's in really good shape & I do load for it & shoot it... it had the barrel shortened & the front sight replaced with a thicker more servicable sight & was re-nickeled long enough ago, that the barrel matches the rest of the gun, which is in pretty nice shape both mechanicaly & cosmetically, for it's age... best guesses, is that this gun belonged to a gun savy police detective, a gambler, or a high end prostitute

I'm a pretty creative guy, & just started making my own holsters... I also play Texas Hold em pretty regularly...

my current holster making style I shoot for, is a western style holster with modern high ride & cant built into them... I'm wanting to do something special for this gun... I'll take any ideas... but here is what I'm thinking about so far...

The gun is nickel, & the grips are the rare "red" hard rubber with black streaks in them...

I'm thinking a black holster with red accents ( I've been lacing the outside edges of my last built ones... maybe black leather with red or red & black lacing ) I've seen a couple holsters that had "cut outs" on the ouside the size of the cylinder... if this is done right, I'd expect the over all package could be thinner ???would look nice with the nickel cylinder against the black leather... to keep the holster servicable, I was thinking something like a sheet of thin aluminum on the top of the holster ( above the cut out for the cylinder ) so the cut out didn't lock the gun in & restrict drawing )

I haven't decided if I want to add a theme to the holster... either law enforcement, poker or Hooker related... & still no eye deer on what if any tooling... it's a tiny gun, I currently carry it in a holster designed for a 25 acp semi auto, so I don't want it to look too busy, or too circus

come on you holster guys... any suggestions ???

The gun...

The grips...

 

[aarondhgraham]

I'm still trying to picture a cutout for the cylinder,,,

I don't recall ever seeing anything like that before,,,
Doesn't mean they don't exist somewhere,,,
I've just never seen one before.

Black dyed leather with red lace would look nice,,,
An Art Deco geometric border trim dyed in red might look nice.

The border carving could be done using a silhouette carving technique,,,
Easy to do and generally looks real nice.

I would love to see a pic of that cylinder cutout you described.

.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I like your cordovan red with black streaks idea... maybe enough black over the red, that it's actually a blackish holster with with red streaks ???

I'm also having trouble ( personally ) with the red lace... so it I could do a cordovan red with black lacing...

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I did a search, & can't find anything fancy tooled... but how about something from "Dirty Harry" ??? though I seem to remember the ones I saw before used a rectangular cut out rather than an oval one... but the oval cut out wouldn't "lock" the gun in the holster under pressure...

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

not much of an "artist" but here are my thoughts in Microsoft "paint"...

I could add some tooling to the bottom maybe... also I think I saw Tandy had some colored Alligator on sale ( small hides ) not sure if they had red or cordovan red ??? but the texture might get me off the hook as far as tooling goes ??? BTW... the "blob" on the snap is supposed to represent one of my buffalo nickel snaps that I seem to like

Thoughts or suggestions ???

hmmm... looking at my "paint" & my current holster, I better bring the holster up to cover the hammer, since it's a spur trigger... don't want that hammer getting snagged on anything... that could be ugly...

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

MMMMM.... Red Gator hide... Black lace ???

talked to the place that sells these, & he's eally trying to talk me into Alligator for a "nice" holster... say's he often gets them with smaller flaws, & could sell those at just a little more than the caiman hides, & he said there is a definate noticable difference in the feel of gator over caiman... I'd actuall like to get a couple of "side scraps" in red, & another hide in brown or black... I think for this project, the "horn back" portion of the hide would be too textured for as small as the holster is... but I could see using the more textured portions on holsters for muh bigger guns later...

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Got my grips today... they are in awesome shape for something over 100 years old

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

A couple more pics of holster "developement" OBTW... thats my gun with the "new" old red S&W grips installed

this was my original template I cut from the 25 auto holster ( made 2 changes to this pattern, one can be seen writen with the sharpie in the pic )... this pic is for Aarond & shows the gun in the holster with the cylinder "window"

actually this is now just a scrap of leather that happens to be in the shape of a holster... I was trying ( for the 1st time last night ) a Mexican Basket Weave with some white waxed thread...( I'll be using black leather lace when its finally assembled ) it's pretty tough to keep things uniform with the irregular shape of the outside of the holster, but I think this will look nice with thicker black lace, if I can get a couple more practices in on scraps like this 1st

... I'm still having some issues with the aluminum stiffener for above the cylinder window ( I think maybe it's too thick )... MRS MAGNUM suggested that I add another layer of leather or two at the seam at the top, which would put some outward pressure on the leather... that may be enough to hold the top of the holster open, keeping the "window" from locking onto the cylinder ??? I was also playing with a piece of galvanized steel hardware cloth last night that would be easier to sew into place, but might not have enough ridgity ???

any other suggestions ???

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

did up a "sampler" of sorts last night on another scrap of leather with "windows" cut into it... I guess I don't like the Mexi basket weave on a small opening like the cylinder window, as you pull 4 times through the corner holes & with the opening so small, it gets too busy, & loses its unique pattern... I looked at saddle stiching around the opening, & then cross whip stiching 3 "X's" on each side, & I liked that look better... once I get the smaller black lace, I may try using my heavy black thread in a saddle stitch, & the black leather lacing for the X's ???

I found that there is a trader / hobby shop only about 10 miles or so from my house, that stocks alot of the Tandy stuff, incuding leather, so I'll be making a trip over there as soon as I can

starting to get close enough that I'm almost ready for the textured "red" leather

BTW... I sewed in one longer, & one shorter piece of leather into the seam at the top, in an attempt to flair out the top of the holster more... which seemed to work OK, but since my belt loops are as wide as the holster, I think once they are sewn in, & on a belt, the hoster will pull flat again...

normally on a more modern gun, I don't think the gun holding up on the window would be as big a deal, as the blast shield is tapered, & on my more modern revolvers seems to stick out as far as the cylinder... but on this old S&W, the blast shield is recessed back at least an 1/8" from the outer edge of the cylinder ( you can actually see som of the case rim from the rear of the gun )... this is just enough to catch solidly on the edge of the window... so I may need a piece of something between the leathers to hold the top edge open, so the revolver can be drawn smoothly

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Thinking strongly about dark burgandy Ostrich leg leather like this...

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

got my "chicken leg" today ( turns out the people I bought if from only live about 50 miles from where I live... ya never know with this internet thing, whom or where you are dealing with )... it aught to make a nice holster outer layer... I'm a bit nervous about gluing & sewing the two layers together ( haven't ever done that yet, with a lighter & more wrinkley leather over a heavier vegi tanned leather )

got the contact cement, blocks & vice, but anyone following along got any tips ???