Shooter McGavin

I made a "rail" out of a paint stick and double sided taped it on, then filled the grooves with clay. Works well enough on leather, but wouldnt be close enough on Kydex.

Ya each plate is something like 114 pounds lol. Ohand when you shear them it leaves really sharp edges! Good thing I have a 9" angle grinder. Acyually I used to do a lot of metal fab but had to quit due to lung problems. Im excited to be back at it a bit. Last winter I cut my Harley in half and hardtailed it for fun. Im thinking of popping holes in the corners of the bottom plate for some 1/2" grade 8 threaded rod to use as stops. Not sure if they will really be needed but it sounds like a good idea. I imagine I may need to gusset the plates if I plan to exert that much force on the outer corners though. I will certainly post pics.

belt sander at a 30-ish degree angle to the edge. Works much better than an edger, albeit smellier. Then glycerine bar soap and a burnisher. I still cant find a piece of shark big enough to get good belt straps out of. For myself I would need one about 53 inches long.

I "pre-curve" my holsters somewhat, but they are still very tight. Thats part of the break in process IMO.

I just purchased a 20T press from Harbor freight for 160 dollars on sale. Order 2 pieces of 1" thick, 20"x20" sheared plate for another 200 dollars. For a total investment of 360 dollars and a few hours of my time grinding and welding, I hope to have a very capable press. I guess the trick will be knowing when I have cut through the leather. Im afraid I will go to deep and ruin my cutting boards..

Honestly I really like the look of "rough out" holsters. Dye it a nice saddle tan or british tan, then cut a dark brown reinforcement piece and stitch it to the front. As an additional benefit, you will end up with a leather lined holster as well! Dont get discouraged, roll with it and see what comes out of it, I bet it will look cool!

Thank you all for the kind remarks! The black cherry is an ever evolving mix of Fiebings Oxblood and Fiebings USMC Black, with a drop or two or Fiebings Cordovan. The leather lining is 3-4oz W&C saddle skirting.

I have 4 of these bellies for sale. nice leather, I just dont use bellies. Looking for 20 shipped each, or 50 shipped for all 4 bellies. Thanks

Wish I had the gun this set was built for, a Guncrafter Industries polished Model 1 .50GI 1911 Anywho, here is my second go at it. The first holster had a mishap on the sewing machine and the last inch of thread walked out of the stitch groove about 1/8 of an inch. Not super noticeable, but also not what the customer payed for. Quite labor intensive, but I sure do like how they look when they're finished. Both the holster and mag pouch are fully leather lined. Color is my custom mixed Black Cherry, inlay is black quill ostrich. As always, feel free to question, comment, or critique. thanks!

Im always a fan of your work! I particularly like the outdoors backgrounds in the first few photos, they certainly add to the beauty of the work.

If you plan to sell on eBay, they might give you a hassle if you show photos of your holster with a black gun in it. I prefer the blue for a number of reasons, the top reason that they are quickly distinguishable from the real ones.

Looks awesome! Do you typically have to do much skiving on the back of the gator? Care to share your supplier?

I bought the pack on a whim, opened it up, then tossed it aside. Looks like stuff you would find made of Tandy belly leather and sold on eBay. Not saying you could not use them as a guide and tweak the designs yourself to produce something nice. Tandy has some pattern packs but I dont know if theyre will be anything like what youre looking for. All of my patterns come from a piece of thick card stock, a couple of french curves, and a ruler or two. Some good music helps. I prefer some Rage Against The Machine to get the creativity flowing. Your tastes may vary

Thanks for the reply. The weaver only has about an 8x9" area otherwise I would swing down and grab one. The Tippmann might be an option, just not sure if the 7 ton will click what I need it to. Tippmann is only a 4 hour drive so I could always take some dies and some leather and see what happens. There is an industrial surplus place nearby that has an older hydro-electric press but it is for 3 phase power which I dont have, and the motor looks sort of proprietary, unlike any electric motor I've encountered. Thanks again!

I despise paypal, but the convenience keeps me using them until I can afford to pay for webstore software and a credit card merchant account.

Haha! The back panel is a layer of 7/8 lined with some 3/4 belly glued flesh to flesh. The front panel is 7/8 turned grain side in with exotic applied to flesh side. The outside edges of the exotics were squared off using a belt sander and dremel tool, then hit with a #1 beveler. The overlap of the ostrich leg was cut with an exacto and left untouched. Thanks!

I would be careful selling items with a copyrighted logo on them. OK to do for yourself, not OK to sell. The holster really gets in the way of the grip, try to leave some more "finger room" there next time. Otherwise it looks pretty darn good! The paddle is cool. Is it reinforced or?

Looking for a nice clicker press with a minimum 12x12 press area. Close to Cleveland Ohio or reasonable enough to ship. Looking to spend up to 2000 on a nice quality press. Please post here or shoot me a message if you have or know of something. Thanks!

Youve had a few great comments regarding construction, so I will move on to your next issue, which is the money problem. Even when I first started, unless I knew the buyer personally, it was always payment up front. I still do this. People have buyers remorse, things break, etc.. and too many people will flake out on a purchase. Payment up front, then I build the holster. Otherwise you are the one taking all of the risk and getting none of the reward, especially if you end up sitting on them.

Thanks all. Abram, the ostrich leg overlaps the quill ostrich by about 1/4" so that stitch goes through all 3 layers of material.

Thanks Mike. Was thinking along the same lines but honestly, once I get the Boss set up and running well with a spool of thread, I try not to mess with it too much

I had a customer wanting a custom ostrich rig for his Guncrafters .50GI 1911. I had this idea in my head to build a double exotic; quill ostrich and ostrich leg. I sent a friend of mine a picture of one of my pancakes for a CZ75 P07, along with images of a black ostrich leg and some brown quill ostrich, and asked her to photoshop them onto the picture of the CZ holster so I could have something to show my customer. Here is the photo of the original holster I sent her: Here is what she sent back. Well, the customer decided to do an ostrich inlay, but I liked the photoshop rendition so much I decided to make one for myself for my Glock 19. Ya, it's a bit fancy schmancy for a Glock, but oh well. Oh ya, it is fully leather lined as well lol. Anyway, heres a photo or two of the Ostrich Overkill Glock Holster: Might go well with a Cape Buffalo belt? Last but not least, a 1911 in a hybrid holster Feel free to comment, question, and/or criticize. Thanks!

Nice leatherwork. I am extremely jealous of whatever setup you are using for a lightbox though. Care to share any details?

Is there enough room to get a full grip on the gun when you go for the drawstroke? Hard to tell from the pic with the pistol in place. Theres a fine balancing act in getting good trigger coverage while also leaving room to grip the gun properly. More forward cant would help that, as would dropping the top edge of the wing down a bit. You have tons of deadspace above, and in front of, the belt slot that you could eliminate. You already know you need to fix that stitchline. Keep going at it, your next one will be awesome!