mosldent

The first pictures I posted on this thread are of a holster I built for myself. I just finished a similar holster with a few improvements for my wife's gun. Some of the changes I made are: 1- A wider gap between the pistol handle and top of the holster. 2- A longer piece of leather on the tab where the rear clip hooks on to the holster...this made a big difference on the depth the shirt can be tucked. 3- Made the tabs where the clips attach a little less wide to decrease the overall width of the holster. The first picture has the two holsters side by side, the most recently finished one is on the right. I am having one minor problem with these holsters and would like everyone's advice. When re-holstering the gun, the front side of the cylinder hangs up on the upper outer lip of the molded portion of the holster (the reinforced part). I initially molded this so that it didn't catch. Is there a way to get around this? Any advice would be appreciated.

Tbird, Since I built a flat backed holster, I only molded the front piece. I used 8 oz veg tanned leather. The leather itself must have been real high quality, because it molded very well. I basically ran it under hot water until it was soaked, let it dry until it became cool to the touch, then began to mold. I stuck the pistol on a towel on a counter and put the leather over the top of it. I used several different things to mold...the rounded end of a ratchet, screwdriver, etc. I just started with the higher parts such as the grooves in the cylinder, the space between the cylinder and barrel, and the grooves in the barrel. After they were good and molded, I moved down to the other parts such as the trigger guard and the outline of the pistol. I let it dry on the counter overnight with the pistol still in the molded piece with two heavy weights on the leather where the clips attach to keep them from curling upward. Then I sewed the two pieces of leather, slightly wet down the molded piece and did some more finishing molding with the pistol in the holster. I let it dry again with the pistol in the holster. Nothing fancy I guess, but I did get the leather from a custom leather worker here in town and I really think the quality of the leather had a lot to do with how well it molded.

Did you attach the J hooks with chicago screws? Actually I was initially going to use chicago screws until I came across another thread posted a while back: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2443 I did exactly as boomstick said to do in his post, except I used a 1/8 in thick nylon washer instead of a rubber washer. I couldn't find any rubber washers at the local hardware store thick enough to do the job. I also just used the flat backed t-nut since I didn't want the pronged version to rub against my stitching. With the combination of the lock washer and the nylon washer between the j-hook and leather it leaves the perfect amount of space to tuck a shirt.

How did you sew the cartridge loops so they fit the bullets just right? I'm going to try a holster with cartridge loops but I'm not sure how to go about making it so the bullets will fit without the loops being too big or too small. It looks nice, I really like it.

Hi everyone. I've posted some pictures below of my first holster. It is made for a ruger sp101 w/ 3 1/16 in. barrel. It is a flat backed IWB holster made specifically for the summertime so I can carry concealed with a tucked in shirt. Please share your advice with me. I welcome any and all critique and criticism as I will be making another holster just like this one for my wife starting here in a couple of days. She has the same gun, only with the 2 1/4 in. barrel. I'd like to incorporate any changes mentioned by you'all in her holster to make it the best possible. The only real complaint I have so far is that I didn't think about the J-hook attachment being more toward the bottom of the hoslter to facilitate better tucking of the shirt. In the next one I build, I'll change the pattern so that I can attach the J-hook to the holster with one of the bottom holes. A special thanks to boomstick for advice on how to attach the j-hook. It really made a BIG difference in how well it tucks. As you can see in the picture, there is only one j-hook showing while wearing the holster. The hidden one fits right under my belt buckle. I've always liked carrying in this particular position and this hoslter is no different. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance.

Boom stick, I'm a little confused about the use of a t-nut to attach these j-hooks. I looked at a few of your IWB holsters on your website (which look awesome)...it looks like you place the T-nut between the two pieces of leather so it only engages the outer piece of leather in order to hide it as well as keep it from rubbing on the wearer's skin. How can you get this to work with just one piece of leather and the J-hook? It seems like the smallest t-nuts I can find are all too long to accomodate just one piece of leather and a j-hook. Also, do you use the toothed t-nut that pokes into the leather or just a generic flat t-nut? Thanks.