1851 Sheriff Model Holster

[gunter]

A friend of mine wants a holster that was used during the late 1800's in the Santa Fe area. He has got an 1851 sheriff type revolver wherefor he wants this holster.

Since I don't have this type of weapon, neither his revolver, my question is.....here it comes..... How do I start? I did some research and found out usualy is a double loop mexican style holster.

I can use one of my revolvers 5 1/2 inch barrel and shorten it by 1 inch or 1/2 inch, that's no problem. But the thing I want to know is, where do I place the double loops, since this is a small holster, isn't it? He wants this to be a crossdraw holster, but this shouldn't be a problem.

Is there anyone out here that can help me on to starterspoint? Or is my idea the way of towards a good start already?

Normaly when I make a holster or anything else, I usualy have a standard pattern or the object itself near me, where I make the pattern of.

cheers,

Gunter

[Warpe]

"how to make holsters" by Al Stohlman has the patterns for making the loop holsters. It also has a lot of good information for general leatherworking.

[Treed]

A friend of mine wants a holster that was used during the late 1800's in the Santa Fe area. He has got an 1851 sheriff type revolver wherefor he wants this holster.

Since I don't have this type of weapon, neither his revolver, my question is.....here it comes..... How do I start? I did some research and found out usualy is a double loop mexican style holster.

I can use one of my revolvers 5 1/2 inch barrel and shorten it by 1 inch or 1/2 inch, that's no problem. But the thing I want to know is, where do I place the double loops, since this is a small holster, isn't it? He wants this to be a crossdraw holster, but this shouldn't be a problem.

Is there anyone out here that can help me on to starterspoint? Or is my idea the way of towards a good start already?

Normaly when I make a holster or anything else, I usualy have a standard pattern or the object itself near me, where I make the pattern of.

cheers,

Gunter

The first thing is to determine if the gun is a black powder sheriff or has it been converted to the metallic cartridges. The true 1851 was used in Slim Jim holsters with small belt loops as they slid over standard belts in the 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 belts with no loops. Ammo (paper cartridges) were held in pouches on the belt. With the coming of the metallic cartridges and bullet loops on the belts the slim jim holsters would not slide over them. This is when the Mexican loop holster came into being. The larger belt area allowed for the holster to be mounted and moved over the bullet loops.

The slots for the Mexican loop are made usually at a point under the curvature of the trigger as the outer edge of the holster flows to the barrel. The reason for the slots if to hold the holster in tight. The biggest reason for the slots is to keep the holster from moving and rising as the gun is being drawn. There were many styles of sots, single, double, jock strap etc. Check out rocknrhoslters.com on the western page and you will see the different types and copy of the slim jim.