malabar

I think it's mostly about the overall design. My straps are replaceable: They thread through the body of the holster and then go behind and over the top of the belt. This method allows me to make the straps replaceable AND to have more "meat" on the sides of the holster, to help hold it rigidly. tk

The photos below show my version of the classic Milt Sparks side-strap design. If you do some hunting around on this site, you'll find that there's a tutorial on how to do it.....

I make a lot of paddle holsters, but only for smaller guns. They're the ultimate in convenience, but they don't hold as tightly to your body as other types of holsters. My best selling holster is a strap-on model I call "The Shield" -- we make versions in cross-draw and strong side, for revolvers and autos. It pops on and off the belt almost instantly and hugs your body as tightly as any OWB holster. People love 'em.

Actually, in those days, there was a gun known as the THE S&W .357 Magnum -- it was an N-Frame gun, today known as the model 27 or 627. It's bigger than the L-frame guns, so they should slide in nicely. tk

No. But you can from weaver. tk

I also dry my holsters in a convection oven. I've made wooden racks our of boards and dowel, and put the holsters on the racks. My procedures is REAL similar to lobo's, but I don't put them in a hotbox after the oven. Maybe I should. tk

Jayson, Unfortunately, it is not the same as either a non-railed 229 or a 228. Ran into this issue and ended up making a second holster for the customer, using his gun as the mode. The frame on the military version is slightly wider. Of course, it depends on how tightly you mold your holster to the pistol. tk

I keep a roll of kipskin on hand. When someone wants a holster lined with "something soft," I dig it out, let them feel it, and they're usually sold. tk

Dwight, Red Cent, Josh, thanks for the insight. makes more sense now. i'll have to get started on this soon. tk

just bought about 2K from weaver. They had everything in stock. tk

We have a couple of guys who want to start a fast-draw competition at our club, and they asked me if I could make holsters for them. They said that the holsters had a thin steel core that could deflect the light-charged bullets that are commonly used for fast draw. So I'm just repeating the info I was given. thanks for the clarification. tk

Have any of y'all ever made a fast-draw holster? These typically have a steel liner in the holster to guard against a bullet in the leg. Was wondering what kind of steel you use and how you go about molding it? tk

Dwight, could you post us a picture of the holster? many thanks tk

Nice work! IS that horsehide? Who do you get it from and how is it finished? tk

I put a steel band in the throat of many of our holster models. I use steel strapping, and have been using strapping salvaged from pallets at home-improvement stores. It can be ordered from U-line.

Dang, guy. VERY nice. tk

One question: Why not cover the entire grip area? tk

Just some thoughts to ponder. You have a lot of latitude with the shape of the holster when making a pancake, so think about why your holster is the shape that it is. Consider both ergonomics and what's pleasing to the eye. Is the holster designed for a modern vertical presentation or more of an FBI canted presentation? Do you have adequate clearance under the trigger to ensure a proper grip from the start? Are the slots positioned parallel to each other and does the design provide for a good location for the slots? What purpose does the full-length reinforcing piece on top serve? That makes it hard to mold the holster well. Once you have a design that you're satisfied with, apply the same design to the magazine pouch, so that you have a common motif for all of your products. Don't mean to sound overly critical; this is all about refinement. You seem to have the basics down well. tk

You done good. I'd be very proud of that. A couple of minor areas to look at. I'd consider reinforcing the stitching around the belt slot on the back. That gets a lot of stress and and an extra line of stitching helps ensure long life. You also might make a small. arc-shaped cut in the leather for stress relief, at the point where the top leading edge of the belt slot is stitched. I'd try to get more coverage of the trigger guard area. Make the reinforcing strap at the top of the holster a little longer so that it wraps another half-inch around the pistol. Push the pistol a little deeper into the holster, and change the profile of the holster from the edge of the reinforcing strap to the top of the belt slot and you've got it. Take look at the angles in the attached photos. You still get a proper grip, but the trigger guard is completely covered -- and this is with an even smaller pistol.

Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering if it might be something like that. I understand your reasoning. The CCW belts we make are very heavy duty and we use fixed keepers, and it can be a challenge to thread the belt through the keeper until it gets broken in -- and it takes a while to get it broken in. Floating keepers seem like a smart solution for certain rigs. tk

Red, just curious: I noticed the keeper is not secured by the tongue. Is is secured some other way, or does it float?

Michael, I also use roon for my black belts, although we put a coat of Angelus on top of it when we're done. The roon makes the leather tougher and more water resistant, and penetrates deeper than any dye. We've made dozens of heavy-duty, three layer belts this way. I make sure that we put a heavy coat of oil on the leather immediately after it dries. I've seen the leather degrade after dipping, but the heavy coat of oil seems to have fixed that. Been wearing one for about 18 months and it's holding up like iron. I'd be real interested in knowing what you find out about this. tk

You can also do it like this.... http://www.malabargunleather.com/holsters/shield-crossdraw tk

I had a couple come in yesterday and request exactly the same thing. After some discussions and demonstrations about why palm-in draw is safer than palm-out, they agreed. It's not precisely a pattern, but this thread contains some photos that show how I do a stitched-in sight channel on one of my IWB designs. You can certainly get the information needed to build the holster from the photos. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=51682&st=0 tk

There's another really good reason to never use sharp angles in a holster -- comfort. Pointy things and skin don't mix well. There's a reason that all commercially produced holsters have gently flowing lines (other than esthetics) -- they're more comfortable to wear.