Colt Hammerless

When he comes over, have him put the pistol in his belt at various places around his waist and at different angles of cant. I did that with a friend of mine, and he found the best place for him to conceal it was around 8:00 (lefty) and 30 degrees. I recently finished an IWB for my Steyr M40 and put the cant at 22.5 degrees (yes, I seriously drew it up like that on the paper, as I wanted to try it EXACTLY half way between 15 and 30, and I DID laugh at myself as I was doing it.) Hides the grip well, ride height exactly where I wanted it with no issues about room for a combat grip. You may only need to add a few degrees to what you have. Maybe in the area of 20 degrees plus or minus a couple. Let us know what the guy thinks about the positioning and cant, as I'm curious. By the way, that's a nice looking prototype! Oh, and Woodandsteel, gorgeous work! Colt Hammerless

It might go without saying, but it would be good to make sure all of the 1911s are cocked and locked. Preferably with paddle safeties instead of small thumb safeties. Also, make them with beavertail grip safeties, so we can be certain any body shields we make will cover them. Also, would like to echo the Ruger Blackhawk requests, as well as a Redhawk. I haven't done any western style holsters, but I think many people might like to see a Single Action Army with a 4 3/4 inch barrel. Ring's currently has them in 5 1/2 and 7 1/2 only. Also, the Colt Mustang .380 is back in production. I know a lot of Colt lovers are very excited about this. If Colt dedicates enough production to it, this will be a popular little number in need of holsters. Those are my thoughts for now. Thank you Cleveland for allowing us to offer some ideas about the direction of dummy gun production. This is neat. Colt Hammerless

Steelhawk, here's some pictures that show the attachment method.

I buried 6-32 T-nuts in the wings and attached the male end of the snap with a screw, with the strap between the leather and the male snap. I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow.

kayrunp, I think that's just what Angelus Chocolate looks like. I haven't made anything with it yet, but I've done some samples on some scrap, and it is very violet. I don't believe I cleaned the leather, but if I did it would have been with denatured alcohol, so I don't think it's the lemon juice. I was expecting a lot more brown to it, as I'm sure you were. It's always a good idea to test on scrap before doing the whole project. You could probably still put some dark brown on it if you don't like it as it is now. Colt Hammerless

Finished this in May to go with my 1911. Snap loop OWB, made from 6/7 oz Tandy Craftsman Oak. Dyed it with a mixture of 2.5 parts Fiebing's Pro Oil Saddle Tan to 1 part Angelus Brown. Turned out kind of Mahogany in color. I airbrushed some black into the edges for a feathered effect, but you can barely tell because of how dark the base color is. Finished with Angelus 600, two coats cut 50/50 with water. Topped that with Kiwi neutral shoe polish. Made for a 1.5 inch belt. I don't think I'd need the body shield if I was strictly using mags that have a base pad like the stainless one in the pictures. However, with the plain base mags like the blued one in the pictures, it's pretty much required to keep the lip from digging into my side. If I was going to do another with a body shield, I'd extend the front of the shield further forward, and curve it in to follow the contour of one's body in order to guide the hand to the magazine. As it is, I have to be careful to get my thumb between the leather and the mag. I'm pretty quick with it, but it could be just a tiny bit faster. Colt Hammerless

Thanks for the pic! That ostrich is quite a bit thinner than the cowhide. Interesting that it adds so much stiffness.

I really like it! How thick would you say the ostrich and caiman were?

Thanks buzzkiller. The weight is 7/8oz, and if I remember correctly it was a little more towards 8oz than 7oz. I did not use any inserts for the reinforcement pieces. Typically if someone uses inserts, it's used on the wraparound style (like an avenger or summer special,) or a "reinforced pancake" design like the versa max 2. Those designs allow for a band of material to wrap all the way around the mouth. There's debate over how useful a reinforcement piece is on a standard pancake such as these, with some thinking it's more for asthetics than anything else. I personally think it does add stiffness to the mouth, though not as much as on a full wraparound. You have me thinking about ways to ad a stiffner on this style though. Hmmmmmmm..... Haystacker, I like your website. I was looking at the pics of your double mag pouch, and it looks like you dyed it tan, with brown airbrushed accents. I tried this color combo on a holster months ago and I really liked it, although I think I needed to use a darker brown. It was all for not as I had an oops, thus making my first black holster. Colt Hammerless

Haven't posted any pictures of my work in a long time. In fact, I've only posted pics of my first leather project (an IWB for a Colt 1903 .32 auto.) They're both IWBs, one for a SIG 226 and one for an H&K P2000SK. I finished these in January. I built them for a friend of mine who's with Customs and Border Protection in southern AZ. They issued him the H&K as his off duty piece, and didn't issue him a holster for it! On top of that, he's a lefty, so he couldn't find anything off the shelf locally. I had him try the guns in several different positions on his belt and we determined the most concealable and comfortable placement was at 8:00 to 8:30 with a 30 degree forward rake. They're constructed of 7/8oz Hermann Oak (my first time working with non-Tandy leather.) Dye is Fiebing's Mahogany (regular, not pro oil.) This was the first time I had made reinforcement pieces for the mouth. I now make them larger than I did on these. Finish is two coats of Resolene cut 50/50 with water. After a couple of days curing, I topped that with Kiwi neutral shoe polish. I don't have any pictures of the finished holsters with the guns in them, so you'll have to use your imaginations. Colt Hammerless

No problem. I actually got that link from somebody's thread in here, but don't remember who it was. If you get one, let us know how long it takes to get, and how the quality is.

Here you go: http://clevelandsholsters.com/Training_tools.html Fifth from the top. It looks like it's a four inch barreled model. I haven't used these dummy's before, nor have I ordered from this company. They say 1-4 weeks for shipping on that page. Pretty good prices though! Hope this helps. Colt Hammerless

Hadn't seen that forum before. Looks like a nice place. Thanks for the heads up!

You could have Springfield Leather Co. cut you a piece of 7/8oz B grade HO. I'm pretty sure they'll cut you a piece that's long enough to make some belt blanks. There's also Diamondbleather. I haven't done business with them, but they have HO belt blanks in either 1.5 inch by 50 or 72 inch length. Their normal thickness is 8/9, but their website says they'll split it to the weight you want for no extra charge. Here's a link to the 50 inch: http://diamondbleather.com/hermann-oak-leather-c-1/1-5-x-50-belt-strap-p-127 Colt Hammerless

That's really neat Lobo. I wonder if he still has that holster. Thing would belong in a holster museum. Since you've made an inovation of your own to the pancake, you should make him one of your "enhanced pancakes" and say, "Hey, try out this new holster design I've been working on." Colt Hammerless

Resolene is thinned with water. I haven't used the others, so can't help. If you do a search for "thinning Bag Kote" or something similar, you may get your answers. Colt Hammerless

There's no problem using 7/8 for the belt loops, or 6/7 for that matter. I've used both. TwinOaks makes a good point. You can sand the back of the leather to thin it if you want 6/7 oz. I'd certainly not buy a seperate piece of leather just to do the belt loops. Also, by using the same hide for the loops as the main holster body, your dye will match. Leather from one cow may come out a slightly different color than from a different cow, even if from the same tannery. A suttle difference, but you may notice it. There's nothing wrong with an open bottom on an IWB. Actually the method I was describing does leave the bottom open for debris and fuzzies to fall out. It's all just aesthetic preference. On an OWB I like to have the leather folded over slightly on the bottom to give the muzzle some protection in case you fall in the mud or against a rock if you're out hiking or something. But with IWB, go with what looks best to you. Colt Hammerless

Thanks for the info on using denatured alcohol guys. Always good to know a different way to do things. Colt Hammerless

Regarding using alcohol to form with. I believe the advice is to use isopropyl/rubbing alcohol and not denatured alcohol. I've never done this, but that's what I've read. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Colt Hammerless

A couple of things not mentioned yet. When you figure the stitch spacing for the top of the slide, you'll want to add about an 1/8th inch to that figure to allow room to mold a channel for the front site. To make this channel, you'll have a dowel taped to the slide that completely covers the front site and extends back along the slide to about the front of the ejection port. You can make this dowel out of a pencil or pen. For a perfect example of what I'm describing visit Adam's Leather Works website. This is local member Particle's site. On there he has a free video under the "How It's Made" section. It's also available on Youtube as a three part series under "How to Make a Leather Holster". The dowel I'm talking about is in the third video about thirty seconds in. The construction of the holster he's making is called an "envelope" style or "wraparound" style, which is different from the "pancake" style you're making, so don't let that part confuse you. He has one piece of leather that's folded over then cemented and stitched, whereas you'll have two pieces of leather cemented and stitced that will be flat as a pancake. Just didn't want you to watch that video and think you have the basic construction wrong. Also, on your pattern it looks like you have the bottom of the leather ending right at the muzzle. The muzzle may stick out the bottom a little. This is fine if that's your preference. If you don't want the muzzle to end right at the bottom or stick out a little, you'll want to draw your pattern so that the leather extends about a 1/4 inch below the muzzle. As you wet mold, you'll simply press this part around the muzzle. About leather. Tandy has their single shoulders on sale right now for $21.99. It's available in either 4/5 oz or 6/7 oz. You'll DEFFINITELY want the 6/7oz. You'll get enough leather to make about 4 or 5 holsters, plus maybe a couple of mag pouches. Many of us got started using these shoulders. It's not the best leather in the world, but makes great practice leather. Another great option is to call up Springfield Leather. There a sponsor here. You can get lower grade Hermann Oak for 5.99 a square foot and what's best of all is you don't have to buy a whole side or double shoulder. They'll cut you a piece the size you want. If you go this route you'll probably want to get about 5 to 7 sq. feet. They also charge actual shipping, so this is a fairly inexpensive route. You can also get it in different thicknesses. I'd recomend 7/8oz for a full sized 1911. Hermann Oak seems to hold the gun better than the Tandy leather. I don't know if it's because it shrinks slightly more after wet molding, or if it strethces less afterwards. The holsters I've made out of Tandy leather are slightly looser than the Hermann Oak. Still functional and safe mind you, but the holster made from HO will probably mantain it's retention longer. Colt Hammerless

I really like it. I recently made a snap loop mag pouch as well. I've also thought about doing a reinforced throat mag pouch. Not that it's necessary of course, I've just never used that construction technique. That way, I won't waste much leather if/when I screw it up! What dye did you use? It looks really good. Also what finish? Colt Hammerless

Way to go Troop! Very nice looking holsters! Those are all hand sewn right? Colt Hammerless

Don't know about the Glock 17 working or not. I do know that a Taurus 92 mag fits perfectly in a Sig 226. The mag catch in the Sig and the catch slot in the Taurus mag don't quite line up, so I wouldn't try to use it as a functioning mag, but it should work as a perfect mold for the Sig mag. For that matter, a Beretta 92 mag may work just as well if you have one of those. I would go on the Glock Talk forums and ask anyone who owns a 17 and a 226 if it'll work. They're both pretty popular, so it shouldn't be difficult finding someone who can answer that for you. Good luck! Colt Hammerless

I e-mailed Matt last night and got a response this morning. They're aware of the problem, and are working on it. Colt Hammerless

I met one of their sales people at the Wickenburg show (Matt Bressler.) I'll dig up his card and e-mail him tonight. They're probably aware of it by now, but you never know. I'll let you know what I find out. Colt Hammerless