Gun rigs of "High Chaperral"

[caryc]

High Chaparral is one of the programs that I never watched when it was originally on TV. But it's running everyday on Direct TV now, so I started watching it.

I used to wonder about that ratty looking rig that Buck wore. It looks like soft suede leather. Then I saw him in a bar shootout. He didn't draw the gun, he just swiveled that soft holster up and fired the gun right in the holster.

Then I wondered about Monolito's rig. It was a little different than anything else you saw in TV westerns. It had a pretty good amount of backward cant and the barrel stuck out of the bottom about two inches. I finally saw why it was that way.

Monolito and the boys were out on the range doing something and some bad guys rode up to them. While Monolito was talking to the guy, he reached down and untied the rawhide string around his leg. Finally the bad guy drew on him and he just grabbed the gun butt and swiveled it up and fired from the holster. I guess that explains all that backward cant for the holster.

 

[Bob Wright]

Here are some modern examples of swivel holsters, photo sent to me by Jim Martin:



I always heard of those referred to as "half breed holsters." First learned of these through the comic strip character "Red Ryder" via my Daisy Red Ryder Handbook.

Here is my attempt to illustrate it, drawn from memory some fifty years after seeing it:




Bob Wright

 

[tom black]

Bob,
Didn't Elmer Keith write of these?
Tom Black

 

[tom black]

Or was it a stud on the side of the revolver that swiveled from a metal bracket on the belt?
Tom

 

[Bob Wright]

Bob,
Didn't Elmer Keith write of these?
Tom Black

As I recall, Keith wrote of the "Bridgeport Rig" which did have the swivel stud brazed to the gun's frame. The gun could either be swiveled or slipped out of the belt clip.

Bob Wright


And, from wikipedia:

I had always worn a pistol in a belt holster, and I was used to drawing fast from that position…A little later, I put on a belt which carried two Colts without a holster…I could swing the gun muzzles up or down, and they were out of the way and at the same time ready for instant use. I could shoot the pistols — though I never had to — without drawing them, just as one shoots out of an open-toed swivel holster.

— James B. Gillett, Marshall of El Paso in the 1880s

 

[caryc]

Bob, I wouldn't exactly call those things holsters. Matter of fact, I wouldn't call them holsters at all.

 

[JFB]

I used to bing watch the High Chapperal. In all that time I never noticed.
Linda Cristal had all my attention.

 

[Bob Wright]

Bob, I wouldn't exactly call those things holsters. Matter of fact, I wouldn't call them holsters at all.

CaryC,

You sparked a memory from my childhood. Most folks called them scabbards in those days, and to our young ears it came out "scalberts." And that's what they remained for a long time in our minds. Yes, Sir, "Two gun scalberts" is what we wanted.

What would you suggest calling them? Rigs? Loops?

Bob Wright

 

[toysoldier]

I have a more modern swivel holster. It's a left-hand, black leather rig for a 4" revolver, with the closed-toe holster pivoting on a large brass disc swivel from the belt loop. There's a snap to hold it in a butt-forward cant. There is no identification on the holster or accompanying belt and ammo slide. I suspect it was intended to make sitting a little easier.

 

[caryc]

Bob, I wouldn't exactly call those things holsters. Matter of fact, I wouldn't call them holsters at all.

CaryC,

You sparked a memory from my childhood. Most folks called them scabbards in those days, and to our young ears it came out "scalberts." And that's what they remained for a long time in our minds. Yes, Sir, "Two gun scalberts" is what we wanted.

What would you suggest calling them? Rigs? Loops?

Bob Wright

How about "ugly"? :mrgreen:

 

[Busterswoodshop]

I remember when they were filming The High Chaparral at Old Tucson.
Every once in awhile I would go and watch them film it.
I watched quit a few famous movies being filmed back in those days at Old Tucson.
Back in those days anyone could come and watch a movie being made.
Movie starts weren't as self centered with that better than thou attitude back then either.
Old Tucson sure has changed since then.
I haven't been there since the fire they had that just about destroyed the whole town.