More "weird holster science" - homebrew leather go

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JimMarch1

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
525
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
I had to re-do my holster slightly to hide the new sight setup I'm using.

I took the opportunity to re-engineer it some. It's still a "universal tilt" design, allowing near-unlimited alteration of the ride height and "tilt angle" - but the overall build is now a lot simpler.

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Instead of using kydex strips underneath a leather "skirt" as adjustment points, I now anchor the belt tie-downs on each side right to a thick, tough leather plate. The result is more flexible, hugs closer to the body and is easier to build.

The holes up and down each side of the thick leather "skirt plate" allow the belt connection tie-downs on each side to be placed at whatever height you want at each side. Shown here is the proper settings for a high-ride (VERY high ride) crossdraw setup in front of the left kidney.

The "skirt plate" is sewn at the bottom (line of stitches under the yin-yang decoration) and is anchored on top to a thinner layer of leather via the two conchos. That thinner layer then folds down the inside of the holster's core where it forms a sort of "half liner" behind the stitches that hold the yin-yang on there.

Here's the reverse side:

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Because the "core holster" is a very flexible piece of leather, a stiffening wrap around the edges under the triggerguard is used to help solidify that area against the belt tie-down forces.

In these pics the buckled tie-downs are strapped very loosely against the undyed "belt stand-in" shown. In use that buckle is strapped down hard, sucking the rig in close to the body in a typical "pancake holster" fashion - except tighter. That also allows the fairly extreme high-ride crossdraw that is my normal favorite carry location.

One more alternate view:

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Re-stringing this setup to alternate mount points is dead simple. The older setup with kydex mount holes sandwitched in leather was a major pain in the butt in comparison:

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To give an idea as to the flexibility of the concept, here's the way I normally wear this setup:

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...and here's that same holster set up as a lower ride, FBI forward tilt strongside:

4627760541_edb31abe89.jpg


The newer setup with the "holes in skirt" concept overall looks better, I think.

The gun is a Ruger New Vaquero in 357Mag with an unconventional sight deliberately hidden from view by this holster. I don't own the copyright to that prototype design.

This holster design is copyrighted by me under a Creative Commons "non-commercial attribution" license. In short, this means you can make your own for free; if you publish pics of what you've done refer back to my work as an inspiration and if you want to make them commercially, hit me up for modest licensing fees. [email protected]
 

JimMarch1

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
525
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
Umm...I can't talk about that :).

Tim Sheehan at Goshen let me use some design elements he's come up with but not yet released. If he ever does a version of the same thing, great, until then...it's under wraps :).
 

M'BOGO

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
1,952
Location
METRO DETROIT
Understandable, hope all goes better than hoped for. I always thought your other sighting equipment had some promice, hope the new improved puts the smile on your face.
 

JimMarch1

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
525
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
All the Tim Sheehan sights work as target-focused sights. And work extremely well. Being able to focus on what you're shooting at changes *everything*. You get a lot faster, your target-to-target transition speeds go through the roof, you're *safer* because you're following the "know your target" rule better and you're much faster sending lead out when necessary because you don't have to shorten up your focus to fire.

I hope one day he'll be recognized as the real innovator that he is.
 

EVR

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
378
Location
Idaho
I makem too.

Very interesting blend of old and new technology.

Thanks for posting.
 
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