1st holster completed! S&W 629 Pancake

[gavingear]

Hello all- you may have seen a recent post I made about a design I came up with for my 1st holster project:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5655

This holster is for my new S&W 629 44 magnum that I'm going to use for shooting at the range, and hiking with in bear/cougar country.

Well, after a bunch of reading (mostly this forum) and sewing up some scraps, I embarked on my 1st gun holster project. I took the IWB design from the post above, and modified it for OWB as a pancake design. Got all of my leatherworking supplies, and went to work. The results are not perfect, but I'm really happy with how this turned out for 1. my own design, and 2. My 1st holster project (making it)

Some photos:

Top, and some of my reloads:

The new 629:

The backside:

Stitching, etc:

Another top view:

So here's what I would change:

1. Not cover up the rear sight (less draw friction)

2. Make the gun opening a bit wider (did not seat a far down into holster as I had planned)

It seem to work great, so I guess I can go hiking in bear country now...

[DCKNIVES]

For your first, I would say that is exceptional. I would agree with the changes you said but overall that is very well done.Dave

[Jordan]

Really quite good for your first one, now all you need to do is deal with the addiction of making more. Just a personal preference but I would not sew the muzzle area closed. Too much junk ends up in the holster especially in the great outdoors. A teardrop shaped plug with a drain hole would work, helps hold the shape and reduce wear on the barrel somewhat.

[$$hobby]

i like it. once you get to wear/try and use it, you will see why holsters are made a certain way and maybe add more changes to the next. also, a holster is sort of personal in the fit/function.

you maybe able to do some tweaking on the rear sight channel on this one so you will have a better idea on what to do on the next one.

also, you may want to think about keeping youre rear sight covered/protected. If youre going to wear it under a jacket/coat/ect, it will keep the rear sight from snagging your clothes.

[abn]

once you get to wear/try and use it, you will see why holsters are made a certain way and maybe add more changes to the next.

This is an excellent piece of advice. Whether you're making holsters or wallets or any other functional item, always carry and use what you make, and it won't be long before you're improving your design.

Excellent job on your first holster. I'd say you have outstanding attention to detail and quite a bit of talent in leatherwork. Keep up the good work!

Best, -Alex

Edited November 3, 2008 by abn

[Hidemechanic]

I agree with the others, however if I may suggest, on your detail work(molding) that you use something rounder and smoother so as to not leave lines in the middle of your work. Sometimes I use the wood handles of a tool like an edger or I have a wood handled tack hammer that the end is shaped for detailed creasing or molding. Helps make things look nice and smoothe all around.Great job. GH

[Lobo]

Looks great! For a first project I would say this is an exceptional result.