Revolver handgun history question.
- Thread starter Burkewhb
- Start date
Shotgun693
New member
I can tell you based on personal experience that anyone willing to stand in the street face to face and then draw to see who's fastest is an idiot. As soon as you realize you're going to be in a gunfight your gun ought to be in your hand.
Bob Wright
New member
I've tried this and never got it to work satisfactorly, the firing pin would not always clear the punched hole. Also the hammer must be pulled back before beginning to lift the gun. Didn't work for me.
No hammer thong, no thumb break, no safety strap. At my age, I don't intend to be rough housing anyway.
Bob Wright
My recollection is that Keith liked the "Threepersons" type holsters when they first came out, and advocated extending the snap-strap for a faster "sweep off" with the draw hand.
Keith saw the transition from the older "lower and sloppy" holsters to the modern "high and tight" tendency. The Threepersons is a clear intermediate step along that path.
This is a very close copy of a Keith-era Threepersons:
http://shop.simplyrugged.com/ecommerce/The-120.cfm?item_id=165&parent=669
Note the long strap past the snap - that was Keith's influence.
Keith saw the transition from the older "lower and sloppy" holsters to the modern "high and tight" tendency. The Threepersons is a clear intermediate step along that path.
This is a very close copy of a Keith-era Threepersons:
http://shop.simplyrugged.com/ecommerce/The-120.cfm?item_id=165&parent=669
Note the long strap past the snap - that was Keith's influence.
Bob Wright
New member
This is a holster I made some thirty years ago, trying to copy the #120 Lawrence holster, a Keith design. Taught me two things: how to make a holster, and to quit making holsters.
Bob Wright
Bob Wright
Looks like a good job to me, Mr. Wright. Referring to the strap under the hammer held in place by the firing pin, it seems like something that, well, would need practice to use. However, clearly the hammer has to be cocked to release the gun, which was assumed (and indicated) by Mr. Keith. In fact, I'd venture to say that most, but not all, of the older fast draw practitioners violated a few safety rules to achieve their fast times, mainly the one about putting the finger on the trigger well before it was on target.
All the same, all of these rules were well known fifty years ago when fast draw was popular as a sport and writers were quick to point out the dangers. But some shooters were gifted and could hit targets "hip shooting" up to 20 feet in less than a second with a Colt Single Action.
I wouldn't call the old style holsters "lower and sloppy." At the time, a man wearing a revolver was likely to be an outdoorsman, especially a cowboy. Most of the early holsters were more in the nature of a pouch and held the revolver deeper in the holster. But the holster itself was not worn as low as shown later in the movies. It and the gun belt were probably worn more loosely to enable the wear to shift the gun around more on the belt as the moment may have required. I doubt they would have thought of themselves as gunfighters.
The holster Mr. Haggen has kindly illustrated is more historically accurate, at least for the period before WWI, but I doubt many were lined.
All the same, all of these rules were well known fifty years ago when fast draw was popular as a sport and writers were quick to point out the dangers. But some shooters were gifted and could hit targets "hip shooting" up to 20 feet in less than a second with a Colt Single Action.
I wouldn't call the old style holsters "lower and sloppy." At the time, a man wearing a revolver was likely to be an outdoorsman, especially a cowboy. Most of the early holsters were more in the nature of a pouch and held the revolver deeper in the holster. But the holster itself was not worn as low as shown later in the movies. It and the gun belt were probably worn more loosely to enable the wear to shift the gun around more on the belt as the moment may have required. I doubt they would have thought of themselves as gunfighters.
The holster Mr. Haggen has kindly illustrated is more historically accurate, at least for the period before WWI, but I doubt many were lined.