A General Question On Late 19th Century to Early 20th Century Flap Holsters

[Gosut]

Was looking into making a reproduction holster for an heirloom .32 S&W Short that dates from maybe 1917-1919. As far as I can tell, this was carried loose in a pocket and never had a holster. My guess is that a pocket holster would have been the most likely, but these seem to have been rubberized canvas, and there were flap holsters for the caliber.

What caught my attention is that even those made into the 20th Century used a stud fastener. Am guessing snaps hadn’t become popular on holsters yet. So, if I want to keep this halfway historically accurate, should I go with a stud?

Noter: this is just for keepsake value. Am planning on putting the date I make the holster on the back, along with my name, so that no descendant thinks it’s the original holster.

[fredk]

I would go for the stud closure. It seems to be more used, its quick and reliable 

[chuck123wapati]

 

They wore suit coats back then and just put them in their pockets loose.

Yes, you can buy the Sam brown buttons, studs. It would look sweet and be period-correct in a nice old-school shoulder holster, too. With leather straps, lol.

[Gosut]

On 7/11/2026 at 9:52 AM, chuck123wapati said:

 

They wore suit coats back then and just put them in their pockets loose.

Yes, you can buy the Sam brown buttons, studs. It would look sweet and be period-correct in a nice old-school shoulder holster, too. With leather straps, lol.

In his case, it could have been suit or work coat: Suit for church, weddings, funerals, and jury duty; work for everything else. Next to nothing said about it.  OTOH, if I went with a shoulder rig, would definitely go with leather for this one to keep it close to what was around then.