My First Flap Holster

[vaalpens]

I just finished another fun project where I made my first flap holster. This holster was designed on the fly since I did not have a template and I wasn't sure exactly how everything would come together. Following are some of the design ideas I used:

1) no dye used, just finished with neatsfoot oil and a acrylic finish to protect against the elements. The holster will be used for camping, hiking and fishing so I am expecting some wear and refinishing.

2) The flap is held down by a strap since I wanted to make sure I can replace the strap if needed. It is more difficult to replace the flap.

3) I used a strap keeper for some additional active retention. A slide was used as strap keeper since it gives me flexibility on how tight I want to hold the strap down. I did not want to use anything that will make a noise like a buckle of two D rings. The strap keeper idea came from a forum member on a gun forum that has some practical experince on how good the strap keeper performs.

4) Used a stud instead of snap since a snap can be noisy.

5) Used some copper rivets and nyltex thread for strength.

6) Holster is made to fit my 40 cal P229 and 9MM SP2022

7) I wasn't planning on doing any carving or stamping but I decided to add the "don't tread on me" and rattle snake tribute since I had all the real estate on the flap.

I still need to add a mag release protector inside but I wanted to make sure it is in the right spot before adding it.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Edited January 21, 2014 by vaalpens

[jackd942]

Looks good Vaalpens! One of these days I'm going to do my own modern interpretation of a US Calvary flap holster...it's on the list along with some Texas Ranger inspired stuff among others. The tooling is a nice touch BTW...it would be ashamed to waste all that good real estate.

[vaalpens]

Looks good Vaalpens! One of these days I'm going to do my own modern interpretation of a US Calvary flap holster...it's on the list along with some Texas Ranger inspired stuff among others. The tooling is a nice touch BTW...it would be ashamed to waste all that good real estate.

Jack, thanks for the nice comments. There were a few areas where the execution wasn't that great, but the bottom line was that i wanted to have some fun making the holster, make adjustments and add things during the process, and have something that can be fixed if necessary since it is going to see some wear and tear.

I saw your post about the Texas Ranger rigs and it should be a great project to tackle. Looking forward to see what great piece you are going to design.