Finding Model Guns

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

It was National Law Enforcement Training Center. I did some looking and it is now "Lindell Aluminum Training Guns". Their phone numbers is (816) 531-5750.

[BigRiverLeather]

Thanks! I left a message with them, no content on their website. Google gave me this though -

From this thread

http://pistolsmith.com/holsters-belts/21076-another-aluminum-dummy-gun-manufacturer.html

[particle]

Interesting - in that Pistolsmith thread, the OP said "I have spoken to them about casting new guns and they seemed interested. They were unaware that holster makers used these for there business until recently, but now that they know it it might be a good reason to expand." Why are they forming the rib on top of the slide, if not for holster sight channels? What else would they be for? My Duncan 5" 1911 didn't have the sight channel rib on top, but I sure wish it did!

[particle]

Along the line of the Duncan and Rings dummy guns - for those of you that are concerned about exact tolerances between one manufacturer's 1911 and another, how do you handle the variations between a dummy gun and a real gun? My 5" 1911 from Duncan looks a stick of butter that's been left out in the sun too long. But, people use Duncan's aluminum dummy guns all the time to form holsters. What do you pro's that are concerned about using the "exact" gun for the given size holster use for your molding? Because I know you're not using Duncan's dummies. Rings doesn't carry everything. Are you having your own polymer dummies molded from customer's actual guns?

[Denster]

As an addendum to Particles's previous post. This question is for K-Man and Boomstick. Roughly how many guns, blue or otherwise, do you feel it is necesary to have to accomodate the various barrel lengths 3" to 5" of 1911's from just the major players like Kimber, Colt, Sig, S&W, Para, RI, Taurus, Springfiled and Charles Daly given the differences you've mentioned. Skip the custom makers and railed frames. That's a whole other can of worms. Serious question guys.

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

As an addendum to Particles's previous post. This question is for K-Man and Boomstick. Roughly how many guns, blue or otherwise, do you feel it is necesary to have to accomodate the various barrel lengths 3" to 5" of 1911's from just the major players like Kimber, Colt, Sig, S&W, Para, RI, Taurus, Springfiled and Charles Daly given the differences you've mentioned. Skip the custom makers and railed frames. That's a whole other can of worms. Serious question guys.

It's not so much how many guns you need to have, but whether you have the right ones to do the job you need to do. You can pretty much get away with using a Springfield Loaded 5" to build a Kimber Custom 5" holster, but you can't make a SW1911 holster with it. It takes a lot of trial and error and a great amount of time and expense to figure out which ones work with what. There are so many 1911 manufacturers that it would be extremely cost prohibitive (and in many cases unnecessary) to acquire a dummy gun for each one, but in some cases you can't cut corners. I have actually cut back and sold several dummy guns, so I don't have as many 1911 models as I did. Even so, off the top of my head I can count around a dozen separate models that I have in my dummy gun inventory.

If you were trying to cover the basics without worrying about the railed models or the oddball stuff, I would get these models with ambidextrous safeties, extended if possible:

Colt Govt. 5"

Colt Commander 4.25"

Colt Officer 3.5"

Colt Defender 3"

Springfield Loaded 5" or Kimber Custom II

Springfield Champion 4" or Kimber Pro Carry II

Springfield Micro 3" or Kimber Ultra Carry II

Those should allow you to do the majority of holsters out there. The real task is obtaining them.

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

Along the line of the Duncan and Rings dummy guns - for those of you that are concerned about exact tolerances between one manufacturer's 1911 and another, how do you handle the variations between a dummy gun and a real gun? My 5" 1911 from Duncan looks a stick of butter that's been left out in the sun too long. But, people use Duncan's aluminum dummy guns all the time to form holsters. What do you pro's that are concerned about using the "exact" gun for the given size holster use for your molding? Because I know you're not using Duncan's dummies. Rings doesn't carry everything. Are you having your own polymer dummies molded from customer's actual guns?

Tolerance differences are OK as long as they aren't too far off and the dummy gun is on the negative side (which is usually the case, since casts are often around 2% smaller than the master copy).

As far as Duncan's is concerned, if the dummy gun looks like a stick of melted butter I call Luke or Jessica and send it back. Once I have a good cast, I take it to a local machine shop and finish/clean up the work. This usually includes truing up the trigger guard and the dust cover, opening up the ejection port, removing "wrapper veins" from the frame, and cutting a channel for a front sight rail and welding it in place. Sometimes that takes up a couple hours of shop time, but it is what I choose to do to meet my minimum standards.

For about a $250 investment, you can actually make your own mold and cast the dummies how you want (for you own use, not to sell). My goal is to do this with all the pistols that I will continue to support, but that won't happen for a while.

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

Interesting - in that Pistolsmith thread, the OP said "I have spoken to them about casting new guns and they seemed interested. They were unaware that holster makers used these for there business until recently, but now that they know it it might be a good reason to expand." Why are they forming the rib on top of the slide, if not for holster sight channels? What else would they be for? My Duncan 5" 1911 didn't have the sight channel rib on top, but I sure wish it did!

I took that picture and made that post. I hoped they would pursue the holster makers' market, but it never went anywhere. The "ribs" on the top of the slides are definitely for molding sight channels; I know because I put them there! For what it's worth, you can pay extra to have Duncans add a sight rail if you send the pistol in to have it cast.

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

Thanks! I left a message with them, no content on their website. Google gave me this though -

From this thread

http://pistolsmith.c...nufacturer.html

Heh heh heh...

The sad thing is that was my post. I totally forgot that they changed their name when they broke off from NLETC and Odin Press. It was no wonder that I couldn't find their contact info anymore. It sucks to get older.....

[Denster]

It's not so much how many guns you need to have, but whether you have the right ones to do the job you need to do. You can pretty much get away with using a Springfield Loaded 5" to build a Kimber Custom 5" holster, but you can't make a SW1911 holster with it. It takes a lot of trial and error and a great amount of time and expense to figure out which ones work with what. There are so many 1911 manufacturers that it would be extremely cost prohibitive (and in many cases unnecessary) to acquire a dummy gun for each one, but in some cases you can't cut corners. I have actually cut back and sold several dummy guns, so I don't have as many 1911 models as I did. Even so, off the top of my head I can count around a dozen separate models that I have in my dummy gun inventory.

If you were trying to cover the basics without worrying about the railed models or the oddball stuff, I would get these models with ambidextrous safeties, extended if possible:

Colt Govt. 5"

Colt Commander 4.25"

Colt Officer 3.5"

Colt Defender 3"

Springfield Loaded 5" or Kimber Custom II

Springfield Champion 4" or Kimber Pro Carry II

Springfield Micro 3" or Kimber Ultra Carry II

Those should allow you to do the majority of holsters out there. The real task is obtaining them.

Thanks for the info Jeff.