Shotgun Belt

[Tequila]

 

I’m going to try to make a 10ga shotgun belt, the one pictured above (and only picture that I could get to load because of file size limits) is for a 12 ga shot shell.  The main belt is 3 ¼ inches, the part that holds the shells is made from 1 inch 4-5 oz leather.  As you can see the holder is wet formed to hold 2 shells with a gap between them that is pushed down between the shells.  Then the holder is stitched down and the next loop is formed.

I’m not sure about the order I should use.  My first thought was to take the 1 inch holder by boiling it in water then wet molding around the shells but leaving it loose enough that I could use a nail (or maybe a wooded dowel) placed over the leather and between the shells to make the indent.  If I did that then I’d have to clamp the holder down between the loops to leave room for stitching.  

Another thing that I recently read was not to burnish the edges before molding because it keeps the water from entering the edges of the leather.

Am I doing things in the right order?  Is there a better way that I haven’t thought about?  Belts like this are pretty common in Cowboy Action Shooting so I thought someone might have made one or two.

 

 

 

[Bert03241]

Never put veg tan in boiling water, warm water at best. theres several threads on here for making bullet loops. you don't need to wet mold them. Just search here for a thread and follow it. If you make the loop the correct size the shotgun shell will slide down into it and the rim of the shell will keep it from falling thru.

resize your pictures. free program called fotosizer, download it easy to use  its free addition and you'll beable to upload all your pic's

[Tequila]

@Bert03241  thanks

[Frodo]

cool project

 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Frodo

[Tequila]

I figured out how to get the pictures in a size that I can post so here are a couple of more. 

The little diamonds on the loops are stamped.  So would the order be stamp, then burnish, then wet mold, then stitch?

 

 

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, Tequila said:

I figured out how to get the pictures in a size that I can post so here are a couple of more. 

The little diamonds on the loops are stamped.  So would the order be stamp, then burnish, then wet mold, then stitch?

 

 

you shouldn't need to wet mold them. Stamp burnish then sew it on. 10 gauge, you may need suspenders too lol.

[Tequila]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

you shouldn't need to wet mold them. Stamp burnish then sew it on. 10 gauge, you may need suspenders too lol.

I’m not sure it shows up very well in the pictures, between where the shells sit in the loop there is an indentation.  Maybe I should do a trial run without the indentation. 

[Frodo]

word of advice,  position the strap so the lip on the rim of the shell does not ''bow'' the strap causing it to stretch the leather

loop length for a 12 gauge strap is 2 1/2'''   I imagine a10 gauge would fit that same loop???????

If looping, use a 1''' oblong punch at 1'' center to center on spacing, sew loop to belt in that center

 

the drawing, i found that out the hard way

 

[chuck123wapati]

44 minutes ago, Tequila said:

I’m not sure it shows up very well in the pictures, between where the shells sit in the loop there is an indentation.  Maybe I should do a trial run without the indentation. 

it shows up a bit on a couple. Take two shells lay them on a table take your strap and tightly push it down both sides till it touches the table. mark where it touches move the shells lay it flat and measure it that is how much leather you need for each loop you can then stamp in the right places. you can wet form that indentation if you want it in after its sewn on just wet it and run a burnisher up and down  the shells i would be careful though you could stretch the leather and make the loops to loose. Very cool old belt! also if you make it exactly the same stitch around those corners up to the main belt farther so the liner doesn't curl up on the ends but dont stitch all the way

 

44 minutes ago, Frodo said:

word of advice,  position the strap so the lip on the rim of the shell does not ''bow'' the strap causing it to stretch the leather

loop length for a 12 gauge strap is 2 1/2'''   I imagine a10 gauge would fit that same loop???????

If looping, use a 1''' oblong punch at 1'' center to center on spacing, sew loop to belt in that center

 

the drawing, i found that out the hard way

 

lol. Man shoots a biiiiiig gun!

[Frodo]

36 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

it shows up a bit on a couple. Take two shells lay them on a table take your strap and tightly push it down both sides till it touches the table. mark where it touches move the shells lay it flat and measure it that is how much leather you need for each loop you can then stamp in the right places. you can wet form that indentation if you want it in after its sewn on just wet it and run a burnisher up and down  the shells i would be careful though you could stretch the leather and make the loops to loose. Very cool old belt! also if you make it exactly the same stitch around those corners up to the main belt farther so the liner doesn't curl up on the ends but dont stitch all the way

 

lol. Man shoots a biiiiiig gun!

DAMN IT MAN.   I have never shot  a 10 gauge

Man measurement was way off but it will give him a starting point to get to the right number

 

[chuck123wapati]

58 minutes ago, Frodo said:

DAMN IT MAN.   I have never shot  a 10 gauge

Man measurement was way off but it will give him a starting point to get to the right number

 

I did once! lol

[Tequila]

@Frodo @chuck123wapati  the gun is a Winchester model 1906 lever action from 1908.  It’s been modified for competition, the barrel was shortened and I can drop 2 shells in at a time.  It’s fun to set off car alarms with my Black Powder loads. 

[Tequila]

2 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

it shows up a bit on a couple. Take two shells lay them on a table take your strap and tightly push it down both sides till it touches the table. mark where it touches move the shells lay it flat and measure it that is how much leather you need for each loop you can then stamp in the right places. you can wet form that indentation if you want it in after its sewn on just wet it and run a burnisher up and down  the shells i would be careful though you could stretch the leather and make the loops to loose. Very cool old belt! also if you make it exactly the same stitch around those corners up to the main belt farther so the liner doesn't curl up on the ends but dont stitch all the way

That belt is only 3 years old.  I use it often so it looks well worn.  The gentleman that built it for me passed away last year but he did excellent work.  In the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) he went by the name Stockyard Johnny Red, he lived up in Ohio. 

[chuck123wapati]

10 minutes ago, Tequila said:

@Frodo @chuck123wapati  the gun is a Winchester model 1906 lever action from 1908.  It’s been modified for competition, the barrel was shortened and I can drop 2 shells in at a time.  It’s fun to set off car alarms with my Black Powder loads. 

does sound fun with BP loads at least you can load them down a bit i have that one shell in my collection, its a flat slug, I'll bet it would rock your world in a shortened barrel lol must weigh an ounce and a half at least.

[Samalan]

no wet mold do your layout lines on the leather then stamp cut holes edge do whatever you want nothing is going to change don't wet mold or you will have a real mess that's just MHO.

[Tequila]

1 hour ago, Samalan said:

no wet mold do your layout lines on the leather then stamp cut holes edge do whatever you want nothing is going to change don't wet mold or you will have a real mess that's just MHO.

I can see that if I were going to have each shell in an individual loop, but for the sake of speed loading there has to be 2 shell in each loop.  The wet molding was just to get the indentation in the leather between the shells in the same loop.  I’m probably going to test it without the indent, if it works well that’ll be one less thing to do. 

Thanks for the advice!

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Tequila said:

I can see that if I were going to have each shell in an individual loop, but for the sake of speed loading there has to be 2 shell in each loop.  The wet molding was just to get the indentation in the leather between the shells in the same loop.  I’m probably going to test it without the indent, if it works well that’ll be one less thing to do. 

Thanks for the advice!

you can moisten the loops only with a paint brush dont wet from the whole belt.