Shooter McGavin

Thanks all! Adam, I just wanted the black to be glossier than the mahogany, which it is, but didnt show up as such in the photos. Not sure why that is. As far as construction method, you are correct. I sewed the back piece on with the Boss, then wet the wing and bent it back 90 degrees. I then wet and bent the front section at the wing and glued the front section in place. The entire front panel is hand sewn because I couldnt get the Boss tight enough into the bends. Heres a crappy progress pic from the iPhone

Dave, do you have a separate website for your holster work? Do you guys see anything I need to address before I put these pieces together with glue and thread? I'm figuring I should dye and burnish the "window" opening first. Any other advice? Thanks all !

So I'm building a pancake holster for my buddy who is a big fan of "Swamp People" on some television station.. Anyway when he seen my Caimen Tail he just about flipped out wanting a holster done with featuring the tail. I've done a number of exotics but generally bond them to a thin veg-tan backer and stitch it on like any other trim panel. This Caimen tail, however, seems to lend itself better to somehow have the cut ends covered entirely. I came up with 2 different ideas on how to do this. Of course, the finished product will always look entirely different than a few pieces of cut leather laying on the table. Idea 1 is a 7-8 oz "frame" around the piece of tail. The inner stitch groove would attach the frame and the tail to the front piece of leather. The outer stitch groove would actually be the stitch lines for the firearm profile. Idea 2 is to cut a 3-4oz "cover" that is the same shape as the front piece of leather, but have a window cut in it to expose the tail thru. Anyone care to share their experiences with either of these ideas? I only have 1 piece of brown tail, so only 1 chance lol. Thanks a bunch!

Thanks! For the sight channel I used some ~11oz leather strips about 0.30" wide. I cut them to run from the bottom of the holster to the top of the ejection port. Spaced out 1/4" from each side of the centerline, and glued them in place. On each piece, the stitching was done near the inside edge in a very deep groove, and the outside edge was bevel heavily with a french beveler. Good luck on your project!

The cant angle concerns me. Have you practiced drawing from that angle before? I space my reinforcement panels in about 3/8" from the stitch line. Seems to work out well. You can go over the trigger if you like, it's more aesthetics than anything anyway. Rule of thumb is 1/2 the thickness of the gun plus the leather thickness = line spacing on each side. I would radius the bottom corners some also. Welcome aboard!

So after seeing the threads started by forum member nas for his #4 and #5 holster projects which were inspired by the Occidental Phoenix design, I decided to take a stab at it myself for a friend who carries a P220 and just happened to be looking for a new IWB holster. I convinced him to let me try out this new design, to which he agreed without even knowing what I had in mind. I cut leather for this on Tuesday, and pretty much have it finished today. It was certainly tricky in spots, especially where the front and back sections of the forward wing meet up at. This was also my first attempt at a sewn in sight channel and I'm very pleased with how they worked out. Material used is 7/8oz Hermann Oak leather, shark sttrips from Springfield, Fiebings Pro Oil dyes in Mahogany and Black, Angelus 610 on the black, and my mix of Super Sheen and Satin Sheen on the mahogany. So anyway, heres the results. I hope he likes shark!

Welcome to the forum! Not bad at all for a first holster. A couple of critiques: The stitching looks a bit awkward. I'm guessing you hand stitched, but it looks like you either didnt groove for them , or the groove was very shallow. The spacing between each stitch varies a bit as well. The leather was cut a bit long, thats OK and can easily be corrected on your next one. Surprised to not see some sort of leather between you and the safety lever. All together not a bad holster at all though, much better than my first one for sure! Keep it up! The belt is very cool looking. Is that your work as well?

Nice and clean. What leather do you use?

I've seen really big sweat shield/ slide guards/ whatever you wanna call them, that certainly look like they would get in the way of a draw. The ones I use are generally pretty small and wont hinder the draw at all if the proper grip is used.

Thanks everyone! I kept that in mind for this one. It has a 1.50" main body and 1.00" "billets". Not sure I'm overall as happy with this one as I am the first though. I handstitched the billets and think the flexing makes them look used or something. The glare from the halogen light isnt helping either. Jess, the Boss is a good machine compared to handstitching. For doing belts I'd rather have a powered machine though, but it just isnt in the budget unless I start doing A LOT of belts lol. The Boss just about broke the bank when I first bought it, but I'm very glad that I did.

Dremel with sanding drum on slightly wet leather. Cant imagine anything being much faster?

My first 4 or 5 sides of HO were awesome. My last 2, not so much. I only worked through less then half of the last hide before ordering my most recent. I couldnt cut it with a chainsaw. However, once the planets aligned and I was finally able to get a piece cut from it that roughly resembled the shape I was after, it made pretty nice holsters. The newest order has lots of soft thin spots and a fist sized hole near the center. Im tempted to say that it went from way too hard on the last hide, to way too soft on this one. Glad it's not just me that has noticed.

Looks cool.

I like the middle one the most.

Whats the 239 look like? Im not following where you said its "cut out for laser grips". I need to order one this week.

I use 7-8 for IWBs and 8-9 for OWB holsters. I've made some mag carriers and pocket holsters out of thinner stuff though.

I'd say it turned out better than just "OK". Nice work, love the design.

Thanks guys. 200 views and only 2 comments makes me think nobody else likes it lol. I took it to work to show off a bit and got 2 more orders though

Not sure if it has a name. I suppose it helps A) spread the contact patch a bit and helps stabilize the holster due to the increased surface contact.

Thats a big piece of cowhide!

I made this using bridle leather strips from Waterhouse Leather. I made a trial belt with some veg-tan scraps I had laying around to get the strap lengths right. I wanted there to be equal measurements of the billet and buckle straps when the belt was at the middle setting, most that I see are very short on the buckle side. This one measures 60 inches from buckle to center hole, and was sewn on a Tippman Boss. The Bridle leather was really nice to work with. Only thing I will change oin the next one is to slightly radius the leading edge of the main belt body. As you can see on this one, I left it a straight cut. Hard to take good pics. Feel free to comment/criticize/question. Thanks

Called W&C today to inquire about some tooling leather. He told me most of his holster makers use the skirting leather. I've never tried it before. Assuming thicknesses are the same, what are the pros and cons of using skirting leather? Can it be detail boned like the tooling leather? Does it accept dye as well, etc etc.. I ran a couple of searches and didnt find much that addressed this question. Thanks!

Some very good points here, I appreciate the replies. Maybe I'll stick to doing the front logo only on my personal stuff.

Discount code is still working as of today.