Iwb Cross-Draw - Too Many "firsts"!

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I did a couple mock ups along the way of various pieces, including the holster that I built first out of cow hide to test the pattern - though I didn't make the snap straps in the mock up phase or I'd probably cought the problem with mounting them too high.. Fortunately I'd built a pancake for this revolver so I had a good starting point for the pattern, but it definitely took more time than it was really worth considering I have no interest in making another like this. But, it was still a good learning experience.

[Ran]

Eric...where do you get that little metal reinforcement piece for the thumb break? I've seen them made of dense plastic too, but I like the steel better.

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I ordered them from www.bluegunstore.com. He sells them in varying quantities. From the menu on the left, click "Maker Supplies". They're listed towards the bottom of the first results page.

[Josh Ashman]

It sure looks good to me Eric, nice job!

Best regards,

Josh

[dfwde]

You make some of the best looking holsters.

[Ran]

I ordered them from www.bluegunstore.com. He sells them in varying quantities. From the menu on the left, click "Maker Supplies". They're listed towards the bottom of the first results page.

Thanks Eric. Duh...I've ordered from them on numerous occasions and never noticed the other items for sale...sheesh!

[renegadelizard]

I love your tooling Eric...youve got that nailed bro...

Here's a holster I just shipped out this morning to a customer. I almost turned down the order, but eventually caved and took on the build after endless emails and begging... It's not perfect, but I think it's pretty close to what the customer was after. Feedback is definitely appreciated!

What do I mean by "too many firsts"? It was my first time to make a cross-draw holster (negative 25 degree cant at the request of the customer), first time using horse hide, and consequently my first time tooling horse hide,, first retention strap, first time doing this belt snap strap method, first time using rivets and a reinforcement piece and while not my first, I almost never make holsters for revolvers.... This particular holster is for a S&W revolver - the customer sent me dimensions and asked me to leave 1/2" of my Ruger's barrel exposed.

If I had it to do over again, the only thing I'd change is to mount the snap straps about 1/4" lower so there is more room under the grip. I was trying to get the revolver as low as possible for stability-sake, but didn't account for the thickness of the snap strap folds and simply placed them too high. In reality, the straps probably should be replaced with Kydex for a thinner profile. I'll leave that up to the customer to decide. Oh yeah, I also should have brought the tooling down a bit on the back so it didn't collide with the reinforcement piece of steel. It's hard to get much depth to the tooling in horse hide.