chiefjason

Got an order for 3 holsters from a guy with a special request. 2 standard one, the third was an OWB small of back, high ride, palm out. Yeah. We went back and forth on details. I'm confident he has good reasons and he explained some of them. It will be a BUG while he is working. I usually try and talk folks out of SOB, but I took this one on. He's also part owner in a gun board I frequent, so there is that too. The more standard ones. Matching set for an M&P and Shield. With the Shield. Now for the SOB. Also added adjustable retention for this one. First time I've tried this. Shot of the back. I chose to add a full length reinforcement to the back to help stabilize it. Widened the belt tunnel too. Wore it around the house a bit. Overall, I'm pleased with it. Waiting for him to get some time wearing it for the final verdict. It wore better than I expected. Although you have to put the belt on the pants before putting the pants on that's for sure. And it wears better center to left of center, 6-7:00. Lets the grip ride in the small of the back and not hang out away from the curve of the back if it's at 5:00. I've already started another one like it, but that one will be left hand cross draw worn about 1:00. If the design rings some bells, Dwight's pocket holsters gave me the idea for the trigger guard side. I've used that on a couple other holsters, including and IWB single clip. Building them "backwards" has some advantages in clearing the grip.

This^^^^^ Stop the idea that a holster can be built to not wear a finish dead in it's tracks. I do this by letting my customers know that my Sig P238 shows most of it's finish wear on the right side safety, Right rear of slide, right edge of beavertail, and right side of hammer.......from my shirts. If he does not want holster wear my suggestion is he buy a gun rug and keep it in the safe. And yes, I've told folks that too. If he does not understand that, send him on his way. That's not a headache I would want to deal with. Also suggest that a soft material in the holster will likely trap dirt and debris and may INCREASE finish wear if used regularly.

As long as the toe is open on the holster, and all of mine are, I just bone in the end of the shorter barrel and use the longer one for the mold. The only one I've ever had to cut one was the X frame. The 6.5" has a partial underlug, while the 8.5" Duncan's mold has a full underlug. I borrowed a buddies gun and cut the underlug to match but left the barrel intact. Having the mold cut down would be nice, I just don't want to buy multiple molds. I'm a cheap skate. lol Good looking holster too.

Personally, I uncover the mag release. The holster material is the most likely thing to activate the mag release. Cutting it away actually offers some protections in that the mag release likely does not extend past the material anyway. If your holster design bumps the mag release that is the holster makers fault. One of the only successful lawsuits against a maker I am aware of was because his holster, built to the department's exact specs BTW, activated a release and dumped the mag on the draw. Officer then got shot. Just some food for thought.

If you want easier you do not want pull the dot. They only open one way and can be kind of tough to open. If you want easy you want a line 24 snap. If you can check his holster, the pull the dot snaps have a ring inside the female end and they have a flat lip in there too. Line 24 is just round. Figure out what he has first, then proceed. FWIW, I don't use line 24's on holsters (unless for thumb break) because I don't want easy to open. Line 24's on IWB straps drove me nuts opening up all the time and pushed me to DOT snaps. Any snap that bears weight on my holsters gets a DOT snap.

I'm not sure the post end will work with leather used in a holster. Those are for fabric. The spikes on the male post have to go through your leather AND have enough material to fold through the washer to hold it in place. If you are using 7, 8, 9 oz leather I'm not seeing those working well. This is what most of us use. http://springfieldleather.com/Snap-Pull-the-Dot-4pc-Set

The male part of a pull the dot snap is taller than a line 24, so the flat post does not work on it. I use a 6/32 T nut and 6/32 machine screw of appropriate length. A line 24 cap will work just fine for the female part, and that is what I use. If you order the 4 piece set I would assume the flat post would be taller to work with the PTD snap. DOT sells several lengths of posts, but you have to order larger quantities from them.

Looks good. Nice job.

FYI, going rate has gone up a bit. At one point $2-250. I got a good deal, 2 mags, 2 sets of grips, already cerakoted for $300. $3-350 seems to be the going rate for all but the roughest ones now. Also, the CZ 82 and 83 are the same gun on the outside. And it really is a great shooting gun. Very accurate and light recoil. It's a niche gun but not a lot of guys making holsters for them either. And be ready to answer questions about international shipping. I've sent several to eastern Europe.

Nada, I had to buy one. Great gun though, and it's paid for itself.

If you do the reinforcement either make it short of touching the ejection port or cover it completely. If it ends up in the middle be very careful not to let it mold into the port. It causes issues on the draw. Not that I would have experience in that.

Want to save a little time and frustration? Edge and burnish that top edge on the front piece before you mold it. It works for me because all my edges are black. So I edge and burnish the entire top edge of the front leather piece. Mold, glue, trim. Any edging that gets trimmed off is usually to the trigger guard side and the pocket and front edge are still burnished and looking good. I always hated having to burnish that edge after I molded them.

I've got some of these. Shipping would be a touch more than the actual cost of one clip, FYI. http://www.bluegunstore.com/MetalHolsterClip-CLIP5-273.aspx

At least 6 time a year I'm asked about a gun I can't get a mold for. Heck, I have a guy driving an hour to my house to get a second holster for an odd ball revolver. He mentioned it on a gun board I'm on and another guy is having me make him one too. Can't make one for a Charter Arms 9mm revolver without the actual gun. I can't tell you how many holsters I've made for the Taurus PT111 G2 BEFORE a mold was out. I borrowed one multiple times and ended up just buying the gun. I make several holsters for guns most folks don't offer, but I had to buy the guns to do it. I find it kind of funny to see the guys that basically have the enter rings list as available. Those guys are doing what you are talking about I bet. Waiting until they have an order to get the mold. My guess is it's an easy way to answer questions without taking the time to communicate with someone. If they don't see their gun they can be on their way.

Sorry, been a busy few days. Size is 9" x 13". Two punched holes in the top for binding in store. Colors are listed as Loden and Jade. They also have a sticker attached on the flesh side.

Where are you, how big per piece, and how many? Do you mind green? I have a bunch of swatches from furniture stores. Well, probably from the manufacturer to send to the stores since they are all the same color green.

As to line 24 snaps, IMO spend the money and get pull the dot's. Unless you like the potential for snaps coming loose. I was never satisfied with line 24's when I needed something to stay snapped. FWIW, pay attention to the post size on the Dot cap. Dot snaps are usually used with fabric in military applications. So they have several sizes of posts for the cap. If you already have line 24 snaps you can sub the cap from there and it will work with the dot female snap. Dot caps are pricey, I usually buy 24's and just use the cap so I don't have to guess as to post size. It's about the same price and I have 24's if I need them.

More specifically 6-32 x 1/4" brad hole T nut and #6 x 3/8" flat head phillips machine screw. The machine screw has a tapered top to fit the snap better. Home depot will only have the silver ones. If you want black check here. You can get everything here but you will have to buy 100 at a time. IIRC springfield leather and tandy sell the snaps individually. https://www.ifithermoplastics.com/category/fasteners

Beeswax should help. I apply it near the end to fill in any small holes left from burnishing and even things out. Grab a scrap piece and give it a go.

I can see that on light brown. Mine is dark enough that any bleed through gets either mixed in with the brown or covered over. And I don't do a solid brown either, more mottled so that helps too. I tried brown edges and they always seemed to lighten up, so I went with black. But each style is going to have things to watch out for.

All of mine get black edges. Specifically pro oil black because it burnishes well. Get really wild and edge it black where the hippo is and brown on the rest.

Try getting the edges damp then edging with a sharp edger. It will partially burnish the edge as it cuts and may get you what you want.

One of the few areas where I'll say I don't bother. With the belt running in and out, it's going to burnish itself or get roughed up. One of the other in quick order. I've never had a comment about it either. If I wanted to I have a burnisher in my drill press with a point that will get in there and burnish it. I just don't see the point.

I dye first. Then stitch. After stitching I oil/wax then finish. The only time I stitch first is with dark stitching when I have a reinforcement piece or something to stitch before forming the holster. If you plan ahead you can still dye that piece then stitch with light stitches but you have to be more careful. It also depends on if I'm dyeing the inside of the holster I'm working on or not. If I'm not dyeing it, it's one less step. If I'm dyeing the inside I have to remember to pre dye the piece AND the inside of the piece where the stitches are going before I stitch.

I put some denatured alcohol on a rag, turn the burnisher on, then run it through the burnisher. Seems to work fine when I need to burnish a natural edge. And that is pretty rare so it gets a lot of use with dye ahead of the cleaning. Basically, about the only edging I do is with black dye so I don't bother cleaning it unless I have too. And I usually check it by burnishing a scrap piece first.