Dwight

I never worried about the blue gun (or green gun or red gun) popping . . . I was just afraid some day I'd get a Glock or other plastic fantastic wonder . . . and the "pop" would not be a friendly sound. I know the odds of it happening are really infinitesimally small . . . but I'm the guy who collects those small odds. Bought the Vac pump at Harbor freight . . . made the bags myself . . . sold off the rubber and dismantled the press. Haven't been sorry for a second. May God bless, Dwight

Hmm . . . I do it a lot on different things I make . . . never had a problem at all. May God bless, Dwight

Stunning would be the word I would use . . . great job Bruce . . . gives the rest of us a higher level to shoot for. May God bless, Dwight

I don't know if it will work as I have no *.pdf sketches to check with . . . but Microsoft Publisher usually prints very close to the rulers on the top and bottom . . . and by grabbing the object and pulling it or compressing it on the page . . . I would think it would work for you. May God bless, Dwight

As time goes on . . . you will learn to love it more . . . take my word for it. I used to use a press . . . got scared with all the plastic guns . . . vacuum system can't hurt one I don't believe. May God bless, Dwight

Just a little kibbitsing here . . . if your father is a veteran . . . and if he carried a 1911 as a sidearm . . . might want to take a look at some of the "US" replica rigs that are sold on Ebay, Pinterest, and a place called Sarco. Most of them are fairly true to form . . . and he may enjoy one of those. Just hobknobbing . . . May God bless, Dwight

1. Cut a piece of leather for the front . . . that you have laid over the revolver . . . you know for sure it will be big enough that you can trim it down to fit. 2. Get it wet . . . not dripping . . . but good and wet. 3. Put it in a vacuum bag . . . and vacuum form it to the revolver 4. GENTLY hang that leather in a 135 to 140 degree hot box until it dries Now all you gotta do is make the back . . . trim the front . . . and sew that dude. Pancakes are a piece of cake . . . and this one will turn out being 80 % flat backed if you sew it right. May God bless, Dwight

Here's a second vote for the kydex . . . easy to work with . . . not that expensive . . . if necessary it can be heat formed if you need a bend, wrinkle, or whatever. Didn't like the stuff when I first started messing with it . . . am quickly warming up to its many uses. and if there are seams where the tanks meet . . . take you time with a tough sewing machine . . . sew right thru the kydex as well. May God bless, Dwight

Yep . . . bottom . . . sorry about the confusion. May God bless, Dwight

Many cops from decades back carried ammo in a belt carrier for their revolvers . . . very similar to the Ebay picture here. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wild-Alligator-leather-Cartridge-Ammo-case-Belt-Carrier-Gator-30-cal-357-FB7/202642612871?hash=item2f2e70e287:g:c5MAAOSwH2RcUMdr If you want to make one of these . . . take a suggestion . . . make the carrier portion out of 7 oz vegetable tanned leather . . . make the loops out of 4 oz vegetable tanned leather. Cut the slots for the loops 1/16 of an inch shorter than the width of the loop material . . . get the loop material very wet (not dripping . . . just wet) . . . and form them around the actual type of ammo the person will be carrying. Don't use snap caps . . . unless you plan on hammering the ends of the cartridges while forming them. Snap caps many times are not the size of real ammo . . . Don't worry about the leather "stretching" . . . if you form it right . . . that belt carrier will be serviceable for 20 years providing it is not seriously abused. Closing up the bottom under the cartridge makes you have to drag it out of the holder by it's rim . . . a precarious thing to have to try to do if you seriously need to reload that two shooter. Leaving the bottom so you can lift the bullet up by the index finger . . . is much quicker and easier. If you make it quick and easy with the bottom covered . . . the bullets will probably fall out given the chance. And yes . . . I have made a bunch of cartridge belts. Use the pictures below to show you how to lace the loops. Put a stitch or rivet at each end of the loops. As you can see . . . the loop goes into and out of the same hole as it makes the loop. May God bless, Dwight

Beautiful May God bless, Dwight

I'll bring the customer in if I can . . . take some scrap leather . . . make a "belt" that is 4 inches larger than the most used hole in his standard belt . . . stick a buckle on the thing and have him put it on . . . below his regular belt. Line up that hole with the snap on the front of his jeans. Place marks on the left and right side of the person . . . on this "belt" where the seams of his jeans are. That mark will be placed at the back side of the barrel of the weapon in the holster. Make the holsters first then do the outline of the belt . . . place the weapon in the holster . . . bring it around on the outline of the belt (this is done on a series of manila folders taped together) . . . and mark the backside of the barrel . . . that is the center of the holster placement. At least that is how I would do it. But I do my best to not do buscadero belts . . . single holsters like Clint Eastwood wore usually are fairly easy to do as they can be shifted as needed . . . better yet is the rig that John Wayne favored . . . they are even easier to make. Buscadero's were truly never a part of the "real" old west . . . it was a Gene Autry / Lone Ranger / Roy Rogers invention to give it some pizazz on the big screen. Even Marshall Dillon's rig . . . or the Have Gun will Travel . . . they were only sound stage stuff . . . not real. May God bless, Dwight

Neither . . . measure the "most used hole" in the belt the person wears today . . . Add 4 inches . . . that is the measurement from the outside of the buckle on the buscadero belt to the center of 7 holes on the tongue of the buscadero belt. Doing it that way . . . it has never failed me. But . . . yes . . . you do do the measuring the bottom way. May God bless, Dwight

Why do I get the feeling some of y'all watched the movie Tombstone?? Doc Holliday is alive and well . . . at least in spirit . . . May God bless, Dwight

Here is an example of the weaving . . . Very little bulk . . . and even when the leather of the belt stretches (as all leather does over time) . . . the loops don't have anything to pull them wider as is possible with the sewn on loops. Plus . . . I only have a Tippmann Boss sewing machine . . . I can weave one of these belts in about half the time it takes to sew it . . . May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . james . . . first off . . . don't do what you are talking about. THE way to do cartridge belts is to weave them . . . not sew or stitch them. Others on here will disagree . . . but a sewn loop will one day become a loop that the bullet either falls thru completely . . . or falls out of while you are walking down the road . . . in my opinion. The pictures tell the way to do these . . . basically you punch a hole in the belt . . . weave the leather loop thru the hole . . . then back thru that same hole . . .leaving a loop of leather on the outside to hold the cartridge. All you do is rivet both ends . . . no sewing at all. May God bless, Dwight

My email is good . . . check the PM up above . . . May God bless, Dwight

That would be quicker and easier . . . Measure his belt . . . from the outside of the edge of the buckle . . . to the hole he uses most . . . and get his jean's size. Lemme know. Also need to know what gun he plans to use. AND . . . is he left handed or right handed?? May God bless, Dwight

Good morning James3 . . . yes, I guess you could talk me into making another one. But you are back a ways in the line of "stuff" I'm doing. Among a pile of "other stuff" . . . Got a Fury holster to do (from Brad Pitt . . . tank commander in the movie "Fury") . . . which is a kind of a complicated piece of work. As well . . . a full size 45ACP in a shoulder holster . . . with 2 mag ammo carrier under the other arm . . . all incorporated into a pair of leather suspenders . . . for a fellow who steps down the road at about 6'3" and 300+ lbs. While having to put up with more snow this winter than in the last 3 or so . . . But we'll get to you . . . but gotta find the patterns first . . . somewhere in my menagerie of a leather shop. I'll need your height / weight / right or left hand / gun you plan to use / color you prefer etc . . . May God bless, Dwight

I use waxed 346 nylon . . . hand stitching . . . Tippmann Boss . . . or any other leather sewing. I seldom . . . emphasize seldom . . . use anything else. May God bless, Dwight

Your holster reminds me of one I did a number of years ago. Long barreled .22 . . . think it was a Browning . . . had a scope on top of it . . . should have gotten a picture of it . . . but forgot to. Yours looks really good . . . May God bless, Dwight

In order for something like that to work and work right . . . you need to make a form similar to that part of your leg . . . pad it so that it correctly mimics it . . . put on an old boot that simulates what you have . . . then put the base piece of leather around it . . . make a form fitted outside holster piece . . . out of wetted and dried veggie tan . . . (drying it in a 140 deg oven will make it more sturdy . . . THEN . . . using your "leg model" put the little hand cannon in the outside piece . . . lay it up against your model . . . mark where the edges should be . . . glue it and sew it there. That's how you make those things . . . not meaning to pick on your effort . . . but you used sloppy floppy leather . . . and did not allow for it to be pulled up tight when it is put on. That application needs a form fitted holster outside part at least. I would have made two . . . one for the pattern . . . and the second one the whole thing would have been wetted . . . put on the form . . . and tossed into my hot box to dry and seal the form of it. May God bless, Dwight

What you need to do is get the back wet . . . not enough to come up and mess with the tooling . . . but wet none the less. Then take it in your hands and re-form it the other way . . . so when you lay it down so the tooling is up . . . then the belly or center will look bowed up. It will take a bit of time to do this being careful not to mess up the tooling . . . but if you keep bending with your fingers . . . holding down the sides . . . pushing up in the middle . . . you'll get it. Then if you have a hot box . . . put it in there to dry . . . if not, an oven at 140 deg F or less . . . lay it down in there . . .tooling side down . . . let it dry. You can then put it on the wall . . . the screw will pull it flat . . . but only pull it tight enough to put the dimmer handles back on. A couple coats of Resolene on the front and the back will help it maintain that new shape. May God bless, Dwight

Very nice.......... May God bless, Dwight

On the middle picture . . . if you take a needle and some black carpet thread . . . go up about 10 brass pieces . . . sew it together there . . . you shouldn't have any trouble. The middle piece on the zipper puller will catch on the threads and stop. At least that is the way I've done it in the past and it worked like a champ. May God bless, Dwight