Josh Ashman

I was pretty happy with how this turned out. The main body is 8 oz HO, the bullet loops are 4 oz HO and the lace 4 oz oil tan. The finish is Fiebings antique black with a top coat of 50/50 M&G/water. Thanks for looking, Josh

Thanks Matt & Ken!

You're welcome Steve! it didn't scan real well, but hopefully it's clear enough to get the general idea. Take care, Josh

I think they look pretty good. I don't think these will fail do to the stitching being too loose because you are nice and tight at the trigger guard at the top of the holster and along the bottom of the barrel. They may start to allow the gun to sit too deep because you do have some extra room there. Things to improve on would be to tighten up the stitching to follow the contour of the gun better and the main thing I saw is your edges. Not sure how you are finishing edges now but they look like they could use the most work to me. All in all pretty nice work, keep it up.

Nice job Tom!

Thanks Bobby! Holster pattern.pdf Here is a scanned copy of the pattern I used for this holster. The tooling design is pretty rough I just lightly traced it all around when I made the pattern. To keep it all nice and neat I only transferred the outside lines to the leather then I cut them with a swivel knife and used a compass to scribe the inside lines. I also used a straight edge to make the flower lines all straight and true through the center. This fits a 5" 1911 but it'd be easy enough to modify to fit anything you like. Have a good day! Josh

Nice job!

Thank you very much Jim! And, thank you again for posting the floral designs! Camano beat me to it Steve As for the holster pattern, it's just a simple folded type. I'll try to get it scanned and post it. Josh

thanks folks!

Jim shared some old California style floral patters a while back and I decided to try one out on a 1911 holster I was making. It's 8oz HO finished with NF, Fiebings liquid brown antique and topped with M&G cut to 50% with water. Thanks for looking! Josh

Thanks Jeff & Monica!

Very nice sir! Thanks for sharing.

It's a little overkill but the guy wanted something he could carry this is if he chose to. He freely admitted it will spend most of it's time sitting on the truck seat and was happy about that as well. I built the "holster" just like I would build a scoped rifle saddle scabbard and added the harness about the same as I would for my other chest holsters. The holster and side straps are 10/11 HO and the top strap is some left over chap leather doubled and stitched. The bullet loops are 4/5 HO and there is a 6 oz backer sandwiched between the chap leather where they weave through. Finish is two coats of NF oil and some saddle soap. Thanks for looking, Josh

I don't build many concealed carry holsters for revolvers, the few I have done were paddle holsters with retention screws for J framed sized pistols. These have worked well according to those that have used them. My design is based pretty close to a Don Hume holster a guy brought in. I do build lots of western holsters for single action pistols and retention isn't an issue as long as you make the holster to fit. If you do want to build revolver holsters look at some that people use and like then try to use those designs as a starting point. Lots of good revolver holsters out there to get inspiration from. If you don't want to build them then don't, my list of things I don't or won't build continues to grow as I realize what I am willing to mess around with and what I really don't want to bother with. Good luck, Josh

As a not so young but still fairly novice saddle maker you may or may not get a better rig from a new maker compared to a "factory" rig. Some things like a balanced rigging and functional design might come better on a production saddle that was built by people with plenty of experience and tried and true designs. Certainly I'd pick the first saddle I built over any mass produced saddle like a Corriente, HR, TexTan, Longhorn, etc. But a good Billy Cook or higher end Cactus might be a little harder to pick between and a McCall would be far better than my first or second saddle by many standards. To be clear my comment has nothing to do with tooling or being fancy, just a proven workable design properly balanced and put together with quality material. Good luck with your saddle, Josh

McCalls are very well thought of in the circles I run in. All of the ones I have personally seen were solidly built out of good material. Timberline tree's is an offshoot or sister company and I like their trees as well. I'm not familiar with John the Saddle Man, so I can't say on his stuff. Good luck, Josh

Thanks Camano!

I've wanted to give this a try for a while but never managed to find the time until now. This is the 1911 holster and shoulder harness from the Al Stohlman holster book. I modified the holster slightly to cover the trigger and I made the harness several inches bigger and flared the top of the shoulder strap about an inch or so instead of having it be the same width as shown in the book. 10 oz HO on the holster with 2 coats of NF oil and a light wipe of Fiebings Hi-Lighter. The top piece of the harness is some scrap chap leather in the 4-5oz range, bottom piece is 8 oz HO and the 1/2 strap is also 8 oz HO. Thanks for looking, Josh

Good luck in your future endeavors Jeff!

Thanks Colt & Jack, I appreciate the kind words! All the best, Josh

Nice work Chief! There certainly are plenty of different views on how useful or practical these are and I agree with most of what has been said, namely 1) it's a custom order so the guy ought to be able to get what he wants. At least to some degree. And, 2) for concealed carry or speedy reloads these have several issues that make them impractical at best. For shooting at a range or on the back 40 this might be a handy holster, or maybe not. It was just an order that I filled and I thought I'd share some pictures. As for practical and useful, this is either on par or better than other recent orders which include a western rig for a SW500, a western rig for a little Ruger SR22, a boot holster for an LCP and a chest holster for a TC Contender. People want what they want, as long as it's not dangerous and I can figure out how to build it I'll usually take an order if they're OK to pay the price. Thanks for looking and thanks for the feedback! All the best Josh

Thanks Camano! I completely agree that these are too bulky for concealed carry. They also have issues with the mag being handy for a speedy reload. I can't see me using one too much myself, maybe to transport a pistol to and from, more than actually strapping it on. All the best, Josh

I get orders for these from time to time and they really aren't my favorite thing to build but I do think they're kinda cool after they're done, while building they are a dumb idea ! All previous ones have been for single stack magazines, some 1911's, Ruger MK II's and a Walther P22. The BHP was pain to get to fit and I don't think I'd take another order for a double stack. HO 8 oz and Fiebings black pro oil dye finished with M&G mixed 50/50. Thanks for looking, Josh

I'm not sure I followed much of the previous conversation but for whatever it's worth my experience is that belts cut along the back are less likely to stretch. Same goes for stirrup leathers, reins and any other kind of strap. The higher on the back the better the leather. On heavy single layer belts I personally keep the buckle ends towards the butt since the leather there is tough but also generally a little thinner than the neck end. Doubled belts get put neck end to butt end. You can cut belts or any other strap diagonal or side to side if you like but they will have more stretch. The other down side, in my opinion, is that you are more likely to get the buckle or tongue end far enough into the belly to make it weaker. Just my 2 cents. Josh

What Dwight said, except I put more neatsfoot oil on a belt. If it's a light color then I'll just put more oil on the back side to keep it and the holster looking the same.