Modeling guns

[shoe]

Howdy all, I am selling more holsters than I have pistols. Mostly art stuff. 

Is there a one that will cover 1911, glock 19/21, Walter ppq etc. 

Thank you

[Mablung]

Beautiful work. But I don't think I understand your question. Are you asking if there's one "universal" design that will fit all the major models? The answer is "not really," excluding a design close to some Safariland duty holsters that are more or less rectangular Kydex buckets with retention bail hoods. 

Conceivably you could design something that came close so long as it wasn't boned very closely and relied on a retention strap for retention instead of frame/slide friction retention. The holsters you showed in your original post appear to be long revolver holsters.  The basic shape and characteristics of revolvers are essentially the same, with some differences in dimensions.  I guess that can be said of semiauto pistols as well to an extent, but the retention of a revolver in a Western holster relies more on friction on the cylinder, length of the barrel keeping it in place, and a retention strap.  The same is not true of retaining autoloading pistols.

Another important consideration here is the use you have in mind for your holsters.  That can change design pretty significantly.

Edited January 10, 2024 by Mablung

[chiefjason]

Is there one mold?  No.

Can you make a pattern that might accommodate several pistols?  Maybe.  

What you are doing is not the same as what some of us are doing.  I mold my holsters to a specific model.  I don't do close enough.  

But a lot of the artsy stuff seems to be more close enough.  So you have that going for you.  So look for pistols that have similar frames, trigger guards, and widths.  But you will still need to have multiple molds to make even that work.  

[HandyDave]

The work you posted looks really nice. And on alot of the "cowboy" style gear you don't have a tight form fit like more modern gear. But you mentioned a 1911 and glock 19 something like these pistols are way different and my opinion you could never get a very good holster that would fit 2 guns that are that different. You don't necessarily have to buy a new prop pistol for every holster though. Like with 1911 style pistols you could probably get by with just having a full size prop and could allways make the holster shorter for commander or officer size pistols and mold it with the barrel stuck out from the full size prop. And that's because the main workings of that style pistol are all the same size generally speaking. Same with glock alot of them will snap into the same holsters because the main areas are similar. If your wanting to get into custom holster work you will eventually have to just buy more and more prop pistols. 

[shoe]

On 1/9/2024 at 9:50 PM, Mablung said:

Beautiful work. But I don't think I understand your question. Are you asking if there's one "universal" design that will fit all the major models? The answer is "not really," excluding a design close to some Safariland duty holsters that are more or less rectangular Kydex buckets with retention bail hoods. 

Conceivably you could design something that came close so long as it wasn't boned very closely and relied on a retention strap for retention instead of frame/slide friction retention. The holsters you showed in your original post appear to be long revolver holsters.  The basic shape and characteristics of revolvers are essentially the same, with some differences in dimensions.  I guess that can be said of semiauto pistols as well to an extent, but the retention of a revolver in a Western holster relies more on friction on the cylinder, length of the barrel keeping it in place, and a retention strap.  The same is not true of retaining autoloading pistols.

Another important consideration here is the use you have in mind for your holsters.  That can change design pretty significantly.

Great advice. I've had 81 5 star reviews at etsy. I use a tandy pattern pack for holsters with no gun, 203 so far. Was hoping to get a generic but I understand molding is specific.

[Mablung]

33 minutes ago, shoe said:

Great advice. I've had 81 5 star reviews at etsy. I use a tandy pattern pack for holsters with no gun, 203 so far. Was hoping to get a generic but I understand molding is specific.

Sounds like you're delivering what some market wants. If that floats your boat, there you go.

What you could do is make a wood mold that falls within certain ranges of dimensions and mold it very gently so that it isn't boned closely to any one profile. That will only get you so far (1911 profiles are distinctly different from Glock profiles, and even more different from Walther PPQs, by way of example). Most people looking for holsters for the firearms you mentioned probably aren't going to want a holster that loosely fitted, though, so you'll have to think about whether it's worth offering. There might be a niche market, but I'd wager most will want something a bit different. You never know, though; might be worth trying. 

[shoe]

1 hour ago, Mablung said:

Sounds like you're delivering what some market wants. If that floats your boat, there you go.

What you could do is make a wood mold that falls within certain ranges of dimensions and mold it very gently so that it isn't boned closely to any one profile. That will only get you so far (1911 profiles are distinctly different from Glock profiles, and even more different from Walther PPQs, by way of example). Most people looking for holsters for the firearms you mentioned probably aren't going to want a holster that loosely fitted, though, so you'll have to think about whether it's worth offering. There might be a niche market, but I'd wager most will want something a bit different. You never know, though; might be worth trying. 

That's true. Most folks that don't order from me for technical gear. I'm an artist, I lean into my strong points. I don't have enough room on a  fitted holster fit someone's dog. 

I am a niche market, giggle all you want. 

[Mablung]

2 hours ago, shoe said:

That's true. Most folks that don't order from me for technical gear. I'm an artist, I lean into my strong points. I don't have enough room on a  fitted holster fit someone's dog. 

I am a niche market, giggle all you want. 

Yep, niche market, lol. Stick with what you know and are good at, then. Boning holsters is a different skillset (one I'm not good at yet).

[gregintenn]

You are probably looking for what is called “blue guns”. You’ll likely need several.

For me, I use holster making as an excuse, and income source, but buying more real guns that I also happen to use as molds.

 

I don’t see anybody giggling. Looks like you have some real talent there.

Edited February 3, 2024 by gregintenn

[JLSleather]

these folk may  have what you want

https://bunkhousetools.com/product-category/holster-molds/

 

[shoe]

On 2/4/2024 at 11:29 AM, JLSleather said:

these folk may  have what you want

https://bunkhousetools.com/product-category/holster-molds/

 

Great source, thank you

[chuck123wapati]

On 1/11/2024 at 4:04 PM, shoe said:

Great advice. I've had 81 5 star reviews at etsy. I use a tandy pattern pack for holsters with no gun, 203 so far. Was hoping to get a generic but I understand molding is specific.

Go on  any site that sells holsters from a  company like Hunters, click on a holster and you will see that they have several guns that fit the same holster, go from there. A 1911 pattern will fit some large frame autos, like a p92,  to a point some looser some, tighter. Same with the smaller autos shown in the picture like Gc3 or a Glock 43 the fit difference in pattern of these two is about 1/4" inch so they could use the same pattern. Retainage for these types of holsters is a strap.