Rifle case

[AndrewWR]

Just finished this project: An English bridle hide case for my air rifle (Don't smirk, Americans. It's all that's legal here in Britain).

The construction is 3-3.5mm thick bridle hide lined with shearling lamb skins (it took two) and edged with 1.5mm bridle hide.

The handles are 2.5mm bridle hide with an 8mm leather cord core and the hardware is a 150CM heavy duty YKK zipper and 4 links of 1000KG rated marine stainless chain.

 

[chuck123wapati]

beautiful case and a fine rifle also. I'm not smirking i have three air rifles and one air pistol. None as nice as yours however.

[TomE]

That's a beautiful case with sharp looking handles.  Well done.  Is that Sedgwick bridle leather?  Totally agree with Chuck that air rifles rock, and yours is way better than mine.  Nonetheless, they are my weapons of choice for hunting pigeons around the horse barns.

[Doc Reaper]

You Brits can make your own rifles, but build it on the “catch me screw me plan”! Some air rifles are pretty powerful 

[AndrewWR]

33 minutes ago, TomE said:

Is that Sedgwick bridle leather?

Not Sedgwick. Metropolitan Leather supplied the bridle hide and J. Wood supplied the two shearling fleeces to line it. 

 

[AndrewWR]

1 minute ago, Doc Reaper said:

You Brits can make your own rifles, but build it on the “catch me screw me plan”! Some air rifles are pretty powerful 

Doc, some air rifles made in Britain are pretty powerful but anything over 12 ftlbs  (6 ftlbs for air pistols)  is considered a firearm here and subject to our draconian licensing laws. 

[Scoutmom103]

Beautiful case.  

[TedNoiz]

Nothing in the world wrong with air power.  I've got two air rifles, a shotgun and several pistols in need of holsters and cases.  I gotta get busy!

Nice looking work you have there!

[Bert03241]

Very nice case I also have a air pistol.

[Dwight]

5 hours ago, AndrewWR said:

Just finished this project: An English bridle hide case for my air rifle (Don't smirk, Americans. It's all that's legal here in Britain).

The construction is 3-3.5mm thick bridle hide lined with shearling lamb skins (it took two) and edged with 1.5mm bridle hide.

The handles are 2.5mm bridle hide with an 8mm leather cord core and the hardware is a 150CM heavy duty YKK zipper and 4 links of 1000KG rated marine stainless chain.

 

 

Not quite sure I would spend that much time on a gun case . . . but by golly . . . it is a beautiful case you made.

I'd also like to see some targets that thing shoots . . . and the ranges you shoot at.  It looks awesome.

May God bless,

Dwight

[PastorBob]

A beautiful piece of workmanship for a beautiful rifle.  Well done.  Did you sew by hand or machine?

[Tequila]

@AndrewWR beautiful looking case, I like the handle detail.  Got a question how did you get the edge to lay flat on the curves, when I try to do it the edge material puckers.  

[AndrewWR]

2 hours ago, PastorBob said:

A beautiful piece of workmanship for a beautiful rifle.  Well done.  Did you sew by hand or machine?

All Hand sewn, @PastorBob. I don't have sewing machine can't justify the cost or space as a hobbyist. If I was running a business, it'd be different but I think I still prefer the netness and quality of hand sewn leather.

Which brings me to  @Tequila 's question:

1 hour ago, Tequila said:

@AndrewWR beautiful looking case, I like the handle detail.  Got a question how did you get the edge to lay flat on the curves, when I try to do it the edge material puckers.  

Tequila, I don't think what I did here can be done with a machine (But I'm willing to be corrected on that). Because it's hand sewn, I punch all the holes first and each stitch pulls them into alignment close to the inner radius. I wet the middle of the edging strip with a cotton bud so the leather is more inclined to stretch around the outer radius. This stretch is only a fraction of a millimeter at a time, since the stitches are 4mm spacing. As I understand it, machine sewing doesn't allow this progressive tension so the outer radius is unstretched and the inner radius puckers under compression. 

This is time consuming work but I happen to think it's worth it.

[Tequila]

25 minutes ago, AndrewWR said:

All Hand sewn, @PastorBob. I don't have sewing machine can't justify the cost or space as a hobbyist. If I was running a business, it'd be different but I think I still prefer the netness and quality of hand sewn leather.

Which brings me to  @Tequila 's question:

Tequila, I don't think what I did here can be done with a machine (But I'm willing to be corrected on that). Because it's hand sewn, I punch all the holes first and each stitch pulls them into alignment close to the inner radius. I wet the middle of the edging strip with a cotton bud so the leather is more inclined to stretch around the outer radius. This stretch is only a fraction of a millimeter at a time, since the stitches are 4mm spacing. As I understand it, machine sewing doesn't allow this progressive tension so the outer radius is unstretched and the inner radius puckers under compression. 

This is time consuming work but I happen to think it's worth it.

I don’t have as much patience as you, so a tip of the hat to you for that long tedious work, and your right the outcome was worth the effort.  Thanks for sharing your knowledge and technique with everyone.