I went up North yesterday to escape the world for a while, do my mountain man thing, and chill. Did some exploring and pre-season scouting. Tried to get into some unknown territory, to me, but failed. Blocked by brush that could not be defeated without an axe and machete, boggy marsh, deep stream channels...I failed! But I gave it a good try, got wet, busted brush, how long can that kind of fun last? !!!
Anyhow, I took my Rossi .357 92SR, (I have removed the totally useless saddle ring) loaded with 200 grain hard cast bullets over lots of WW296 for bear, (and had a bear encounter, 20 yards, man that rifle came up all by it's self, nice handling rifle...yeah...it's a Winchester...kind of) and my S&W "Airlite" .22 long rifle for small game should I wind up having an unexpected stay in the wilderness.
So....I've always been very disappointed with open top holsters. For that kind of brush busting/trekking/woods bumming, the pistol just gets so dusty and dirty, leaves, pine and fir needles and twigs all find their way into and on the pistol. Accordingly, I always use flap holsters. But, I can't find the flap holster that goes to my Airlite for some reason, so I put it in a Uncle Mike's I had laying around. I can find old holsters laying around, but not one I use.
Get back late at night, put the guns on the kitchen table. Next morning go to clean the guns, and there is the biggest GLOB of fir pitch and needle right on, over, and around the hammer of the Airlite. Dang. I had the pistol on my left, canteen on my right, and as it rides pretty high on the belt, and being under my left arm, I thought it would be pretty protected. Not.
So, open top holsters...they suck. Flap holsters...yeah, they rule.
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