I grew up in the northern Rocky Mountains / Northwestern US ...and in the 50's and 60's growing up / I often carried a S&W revolver in either a 4" or 6" barrel in a western tooled leather style holster /with a thumb strap ...on a cartridge belt tooled to match ( the rig had been in the family for a long time ) and I still have it.
I carried a revolver in that rig out hiking, fishing or camping -- or when I was hunting big game it was a backup gun ....../ later on, in the 70's and 80's I switched to a shoulder holster - especially fishing and hiking ( get the gun up out of the way ) vs on my belt.
We rode horses a little bit ( I'm not a big horse guy )- big game hunting to get to remote camp areas / and we had saddle scabbards for our rifles / but we carried our handguns on our cartridge belts in holsters.
------
Today, I still have over 20 S&W revolvers ...in .22 / .38 spl / a lot of .357 mag / and a few .44 mag...and I still shoot them a lot at my local range...but I'm more of a city boy now / if I carry a S&W K frame ( .357 mag in a 4" ) I use a modern Kramer leather, with forward FBI tilt ...on my belt...but I don't carry them much vs the 1911 platform that I prefer for carry. The "western" rig ...is going to be passed down to a younger buddy that wants it ..and a couple of K frames that fit it...
no horses at home anymore - just a couple of big SUV's ..../ way less care and way easier on my butt and my back ...
I carried a revolver in that rig out hiking, fishing or camping -- or when I was hunting big game it was a backup gun ....../ later on, in the 70's and 80's I switched to a shoulder holster - especially fishing and hiking ( get the gun up out of the way ) vs on my belt.
We rode horses a little bit ( I'm not a big horse guy )- big game hunting to get to remote camp areas / and we had saddle scabbards for our rifles / but we carried our handguns on our cartridge belts in holsters.
------
Today, I still have over 20 S&W revolvers ...in .22 / .38 spl / a lot of .357 mag / and a few .44 mag...and I still shoot them a lot at my local range...but I'm more of a city boy now / if I carry a S&W K frame ( .357 mag in a 4" ) I use a modern Kramer leather, with forward FBI tilt ...on my belt...but I don't carry them much vs the 1911 platform that I prefer for carry. The "western" rig ...is going to be passed down to a younger buddy that wants it ..and a couple of K frames that fit it...
no horses at home anymore - just a couple of big SUV's ..../ way less care and way easier on my butt and my back ...