Will Ghormley's Jesse James holster with 1858 Remington

M

mrappe

New member
I have been working on a Jesse James holster for my Pietta 1858 by using Will Ghormley's pattern. The required leather listed is 9-10oz tooling leather. I have been using a side that I hve had up in the attic for 15 years. The leather was Tandy's Live Oak and it shows as being 10-11 oz. I cutout the leather from the pattern and tooled it and was going to sew it together but when I tried wrapping it around the gun it looks like it will be a little too tight to fit in all of the way. i am not sure whether to
try it or whether to put a fillet inbetween the two edges to be sewn together. I can lay it on the pattern and it is the correct size. I am not sure if the weight of the leather is the problem or whether the Pietta is larger than the other brands. Has anyone else run into this problem. Any suggestions?
1858_holster_1.jpg

1858_holster3.jpg
 
I bught a Western BP Holster from Cabelas and my '58 is just a little too large (at the .44 cylinder) to fit.
I don't think that the Piettias are oversized I think the cylinder is just a big diameter!
I have a pair of more modern Cabelas holsters one for the '58 and one for a '51 Colt, the guns won't interchange in the Holsters though you can't really see a difference.
HTH,
ZVP
 
You know how it is with 15 year old leather, they just don't make it like they used to! ;)
I would play it safe and sew a fillet in the seam if that would possibly help.
 
The difference in the weights you are talking about is not that much. Will's patterns are pretty much right on. I've used them for various makes/models/barrel lengths and never had a problem. That said . . . I am assuming that you are going to wet mold the holster to the gun when finished. At that point, there should be enough stretch in the leather to accomodate the pistol. I bag my holsters in a bread bag when wet molding and have never had a problem in regards to his patterns. I should also mention that I've used his patterns with everything from 8 oz to 12 oz leather.

I haven't used the particular pattern you are referring to but I have used his West Texas patterns. I utilized the 58 Remmie Army pattern and shortened the bucket for my 58 Remie Navy since the frame/size is the same with the exception of the barrel length (Pietta). I worried about the fit as well but when finished, it actually was a little looser in fit than I wanted even after wet molding.

As a hint . . . when checking/worrying about fit . . . cut a narrow strip of the leather you are using - say 3/8" X 12" and use this for a gauge strip. you can place it around the pistol at various points and then mark where the seam would be - then lay it on your actual holster and see how it matches up. I usually check in about six places from the front sight/barrel area all the way up the loading lever, frame/cylinder and then trigger guard area. If you are careful and as accurate as possible, it should work out O.K. and the tight spots stretch during wet molding. I make a lot of different styles of holsters - SA to semi-autos and this method works great when creating your own pattern.

Your holster looks great by the way! A very nice job! I hope you'll post some photos of it when you are done! Thanks! :)
 
Not a problem,,,

That said . . . I am assuming that you are going to wet mold the holster to the gun when finished. At that point, there should be enough stretch in the leather to accomodate the pistol.
Click to expand...

Yeppers,,,
This will make it fit.

You really do not need the filler piece.

Aarond
 
I think that only the leather smith himself can gauge how tight the pattern is for his gun and then decide whether he should play it safe or not.
Different leathers and guns have different characteristics.
Even the same 1858 model from different makers aren't all the same. They've changed over the years and I also wonder how old the pattern is.
 
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