Huckleberry Rig pattern

[Dorado]

I'm trying to find a pattern for a Huckleberry rig. What I'm talking about is the shoulder holster that Val Kilmer wore in Tombstone. The one in question is,

I'm no good at making patterns. I've tried several times but I just can't seem to get one that'll work. On top of that I don't know how to measure for the shoulder straps.

What I'm wanting to make is a shoulder holster similar to the Huckleberry rig, that'll fit a Colt SAA with a 4 3/4" barrel. I'd also like to add a holster for a Bond Derringer on the right strap at the belt line.

This will be for CAS. I have a double strong side rig, and a cross draw rig with a strong side holster as well. I'd like to try this. I think it's similar to the WWII shoulder holster for 1911 but I'm not sure. I have one, I could probably use it as a pattern for the shoulder rig and modify a slim jim holster to make the actual holster but I'm not sure if that'll work.

What do y'all think?

[CaptQuirk]

I don't remember the specifics from the movie, but judging from the picture, it seems to be little more than a narrow one piece gun belt with suspenders. The right side strap looks like it might have a skeleton strap holding the secondary pistol ( A cut down revolver, I think. It doesn't look like a derringer). The bottom half of the left side, is reminiscent of the Al Stohlman Shoulder harness in his book How To Make Holsters.  If you have more pictures, it seems easy enough to reproduce.

[TexasJack]

A good source would be to ask Will Ghormley, who is a member on here.  I don't know if he did the Doc Holiday rigs, but he did some of the others, including Johnny Ringo's (which he described in detail on this forum).

Here is someone selling a rig based on the movie rig.  You might be better able to see the design in the picture than from the movie still.  http://www.westernleatherholster.com/western-movie-holsters/

 

[Dorado]

Well, what I was wondering is. To me the holster itself looks similar to the California Slim Jim holster pattern found at the top of this forum, just modified with an outcropping to attach the shoulder harness in three places. At the top, front and back. Could I simply modify that pattern to add the straps?

Texas Jack, I think this is the holster you were thinking of. Like I said the holsters themselves look like Slim Jims. It shouldn't be that difficult to modify the pattern to accept shoulder straps.

Is there anything I'm missing in my thought process? Or at least something I should know before I start?

[JLSleather]

The thing to remember about making holster patterns... as long as it isn't loaded, there's no real harm done, ever.  Worst case, it isn't quite what you were looking for, and you ended up trading less than $20 of material for lessons you can buy or beat. In fact, these days you'll get a LINE of folks lined up to sell you something that also isn't what you need for more than that

Jim's tutorial (you already mentioned) has some good stuff in there, well worth reading a second time if you haven't already.  Armed with that, some good leather, and a bit of desire, you'll likely be fine.

[Dorado]

I get lots of people trying to sell me stuff I don't want or need for much more than I'm willing to pay. I've read Jim's tutorial several times. I've also made a set of those holsters and have used them successfully in several SASS matches. I really like how mine came out. But now that I know I can make something that's good and works well, I find myself wanting to try more and different things.

I've been playing with my WWII 1911 shoulder holster and I think I can copy that and add a Slim Jim holster to it in a more vertical position then add a small tab with a D-ring on it to attach a waist belt on back and have a small buckle on the front for adjustment, or even just attach it to the left side of my gun belt and save me the trouble of making a waist belt.