Can you use a holster to mess with Liberal heads?

J

Jim March

New member
Yeah...I think so...

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I had to build a new holster anyways since I radically re-did my "Hacksite" - I finally found the perfect size steel tube and figured out a cosmetic improvement to the front base:

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This new holster is locked into crossdraw once I realized I liked that better - and it's now fully lined with thin, soft yet tough leather. Making it was a bear, a bit of a "ship in a bottle" proposition trying to juggle all three layers of leather. None of the lacing connecting the top and middle layers go through the lining layer - the lining is only connected to everything else at the top, muzzle and the edge near the triggerguard. The liner layer is folded outwards at the upper edge, forming a "funnel" that the gun drops into. The top-most layer continues as a 1.5" or so wide strip across the back, stiffening the mouth of the holster.

The YinYang thing is actually a brooch - there's a beaded silver edge that's buried under the top layer of leather. The mounts on the back have been ripped off :). The whole thing feels and looks "flat" across the top, and it's absolutely solid in there. When worn the oval is horizontally level as that's the angle it's set to in crossdraw.

Like my other three holsters of this general type, the cross-strap at the top goes through a double-ring buckle and tightens the holster down onto the belt. That level of "snug fit" is what allows such an extreme high-rise, which in turn lets it conceal under a light (and open) jacket.

Best holster I've made so far. By far :).
 
Oh Dear - politics will emerge. The holster is very, very nice but I'm afraid I will have to close it if we go political. I edited a little bit.

I note to the OP that our liberal gun owners may not think it messes with their head but might be inspirational.
 
Jim,

Very nice. Do you treat the threading with anything? That is what seems to go first on all of my older holsters.

Beentown
 
I'm using pre-waxed thread, if that counts as "treating".

I've made two for friends so far, and then tore the first one I made for myself down to check for wear after a month's daily use. None worth noting. I've switched to a heavy black thread instead of the waxed nylon used in the first-gen for my SA and the one I did for an S&W 66:

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After that I did another friend's gun, an early Ruger semi-auto (P85-Mk2, surprisingly nice piece):

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If you look at my oldest version, I was using something I called a "tilt strap" to switch between strongside and crossdraw:

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In that variant, the two conchos were functional - they were the two alternate mount points for that end of the tilt strap. Us the lower one (closest to the muzzle) and it's a strongside forward-tilt, use the upper (as shown) and it's crossdraw:

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Strongside, this thing is actually too high. It can work, but only if you roll it around behind the hip, over the strong-side kidney. But that means open-carry, it's a major grab threat. Crossdraw, it's much easier to block a grab attempt with your off-side hand/arm.

When I went to build the S&W holster, the intent was to go with a "tilt strap" there too but, the gun was too damn short. So I consulted with the gun's owner, we chose crossdraw...you can see the S&W rig has a "tilt strap" but it doesn't tilt. The conchos at each end hide the stitching connecting that strap to the body, so the concho screws down go down to where the actual gun is. Then I did the Ruger autopistol rig, and what was the "tilt strap" evolved into being part of the same strip around the holster mouth, helping hold it open. All of these holsters allow one-handed re-holstering.

Now with this latest version (the "YinYang special") the former "tilt strap" has gotten fatter to accommodate what used to be a brooch until I ripped the mounts off :).
 
Heh. They have certain stereotypes regarding gunnies..."right wing", "redneck", "Christian Conservative", etc. This was my way of shaking that loose a little.
 
Jim,
What did you do with the front sight base? It seems like you made it higher, and what's the thread looking thing on the side?
 
Purely a prototype for now...

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I'll see if it holds up under shooting later this week. Probably need to re-create the same concept in brass sheet.

I also took some pics of the finish wear I've put on it since mid-2005 (when it was bought new):

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Funny scene at Tandy Leather in Tucson...*everybody* there is a gunnie of some sort, including the lady staffers. Some other customer was talking holster design with a staffer, we all got talkin', I showed him my rig (holstered of course, on belt) and he noted "yeah, I'll bet you can shoot that thing!" referring to the grip frame wear.
 
Can you use a holster to mess with Liberal heads?
Click to expand...

"Paradigm shifts. Ask the man who has one."

I showed him my rig (holstered of course, on belt) and he noted "yeah, I'll bet you can shoot that thing!" referring to the grip frame wear.
Click to expand...

Dude, you're tempting me to get a single action.
 
Well I'm *from* California but in Tucson since Sept. 2006.

What I'm kinda trying for here is a "vaguely old west" look (to match the gun if nothing else!) but in a more modern "high and tight" location rather than "lower and looser" as a genuine old west holster would be.

So far I can't find ANY example at all of another "variable tension cross-strap" system like this. It appears to be unique. My starting point was the old Bill Grover design now done by Ted Blocker:

http://www.tedblockerholsters.com/product.cfm?pi=5C89D10E-0FB8-C3D9-74D157928572DFB9

If you took that basic design, but then cut out the whole middle of the "oval" and rigged some kind of buckle across the top, you'd have something ballpark similar to what I'm doing. Since unbuckling the top cross-strap would allow the holster to come on and off the belt, you could then sew the bottom cross-strap to the body of the holster - which is exactly what I'm doing.

I was also inspired by the sort of "high and tight" setup Mernickle does on the PS6SA:

http://www.mernickleholsters.com/pssys/ps6sasys.html

http://www.mernickleholsters.com/ps/ps6-sat1.html

...except I'm going even higher - my whole cylinder is above the beltline. Worn crossdraw, it's almost more of a low shoulder holster than a belt holster, sorta. The only way I can go that high is with the ability to crank down on the cross-strap tension through the double-ring buckle.

It would be fairly easy to convert the Ted Blocker/Bill Grover holster to my type of mount, and in doing so set the "angle" to whatever you want.
 
Liberal's will only like it if its made of POT metal. By the way how much do you charge to do that modification, and whats the turn around time? I do hope you applied for a patent.
 
I'm not doing holsters for sale. Not yet anyhow.

I don't have the tooling or the gun patterns. I've made two now for my own gun, and I've made a couple for friends. I don't yet have what it takes to do proper edge finishing (felt or cloth wheel on a bench grinder) or other key tools...about $150 worth of stuff. I also don't have *any* patterns either real guns or rubber, to use as molds. I could use my NewVaq as a stand-in for a lot of others (USFA, Colt, etc.) except I've modded it to where that's not possible...and I will *not* be making any "hacksites" for sale as that would stomp all over Tim Sheehan's patent.

I think what I have here is a really nice design in this cross-strap setup. I don't know of anything else that allows adjustable tension to the belt, or such an extreme high-ride (strongside or crossdraw). Nobody else is doing OWB holsters that "grab the belt and pull" like this...it's sorta the next step past the pancake holster, the previous winner in the "high and tight" race.

I'm not going to modify a Ted Blocker holster ever. I'm just sayin', somebody could if they wanted to...at $90 you'd get a professionally-made "core" that my concepts could be applied to pretty easily. You could also start with any of the various professionally-made "Threepersons" holsters as a "core" as it's broadly similar to mine once you strip off the belt loop...

IF I can get the tooling to make seriously pro-grade stuff, I'm thinking about showing samples to some local storefront gun dealers here in Tucson, use some connections I have, cut him in on the action, use his inventory as patterns and/or do custom work having guns shipped in and out of his place. I dunno. Seems like it could be made to work.

I'm nowhere near that point. Right now I'm just messing around, doing these by hand while watching TV, using a dremel tool for damn near everything and going dead slow.

I did do a copyright on the basic adjustable-cross-strap design under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 2.5 license. In other words, anybody on this forum can make one for yourself. If you show off pics, credit me for whatever design elements you use. If you want to make them commercially, drop me a line first, I'll charge a very small amount per item :).
 
I would think that a real die hard liberal would like that for a holster. Kinda looks like some thing a hippy would make for him self. Mostly narural, hand made. It would look great under a fringe jacket...:)
 
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