The replacement holster and Pietta 1860 conversion

[CraigC]

Not too often I make one for myself. I posted about the one I made for myself a while back and then foolishly sold. It was one of the first that I aged and it turned out real nice, so I listed it on Etsy and it went to a new home. Here's the replacement with the Pietta 1860 that I also aged, now fitted with a Kirst .45Colt gated conversion cylinder and ejector. I still have some work to do to blend the aged gun with the aged conversion parts, so I'll save that for later.

Originally showed it in-progress with the factory aged Uberti 1860 Richards-Mason .44Colt.


Here's the finished holster with the Pietta. This is the color I market as chestnut but heavily aged and antiqued to darken around the edges. No cracks but lots of wrinkles and surface wear.








For this one I decided to do a copper #14 rivet on the belt loop attachment.

 

[StrawHat]

Nice work Craig. Always a pleasure to see your posts.

Kevin

 

[1KPerDay]

Gorgeous. That's gotta be my favorite color overall. It looks like a maple in the fall, transitioning from greenish to yellows, through oranges and reds to browns. Love it.

 

[BobWright]

Craig,
Your holster is first rate and meets your wants. But I sort of cringe when I hear/read of someone aging a gun. I just don't understand why anyone would want to take a brand-spankin' new revolver and remove the fine blue finish. Beyond me.

When new, I want my stuff to LOOK NEW.

Bob Wright

 

[doubleh]

Again, excellent work and a question. I have never paid much attention to the slim jim type of holster until you started posting pictures of your work. I have since looked at quiet a few examples on the internet and found it was quite common for many of them to have a bulge between the frame and end of the holster below the barrel and were listed as copies of early holsters. Have you are any other fans of early holsters found a reason for this bulge. Does it have some use or is it just for style? To my practical eye it just seems a waste of leather.

 

[1KPerDay]

Again, excellent work and a question. I have never paid much attention to the slim jim type of holster until you started posting pictures of your work. I have since looked at quiet a few examples on the internet and found it was quite common for many of them to have a bulge between the frame and end of the holster below the barrel and were listed as copies of early holsters. Have you are any other fans of early holsters found a reason for this bulge. Does it have some use or is it just for style? To my practical eye it just seems a waste of leather.

I imagine it's to allow for the loading lever hinge on the 1851, and on later or conversion holsters it gives the leather around the ejector housing somewhere to go.

 

[CraigC]

Craig,
Your holster is first rate and meets your wants. But I sort of cringe when I hear/read of someone aging a gun. I just don't understand why anyone would want to take a brand-spankin' new revolver and remove the fine blue finish. Beyond me.

When new, I want my stuff to LOOK NEW.

Bob Wright

That's real easy. It's basically the same reasons we shoot replicas to begin with. Here's an original Colt that's on Gunbroker. It's $4600. It's in really good shape but not only is it a pain in the rear end to shoot these things with heeled bullets and blackpowder but you also risk a 150yr old historic relic with 150yr old metallurgy and $4600 in doing so.




Similar to the Pietta in the holster, here's a $600 factory aged Uberti. Not only is it a modern gun, made of modern steels, proofed with modern smokeless cartridges and featuring an easy to feed modernized version of the .44Colt, it's a fraction of the cost of the above Colt. I can shoot it with impunity and enjoy 99% of the appeal of the old Colt, without the exorbitant cost, stresses, or hassle associated with the real thing. The rampant pony has its appeal but to me, it ain't worth $4000. I'll save the money for seven or eight more guns.

Some folks will say, use it and carry it until it looks like this. I've been carrying sixguns for 36yrs and it ain't happened yet. Not sure I have that kind of time. Not when there's over 80 guns competing for my attention.

Again, excellent work and a question. I have never paid much attention to the slim jim type of holster until you started posting pictures of your work. I have since looked at quiet a few examples on the internet and found it was quite common for many of them to have a bulge between the frame and end of the holster below the barrel and were listed as copies of early holsters. Have you are any other fans of early holsters found a reason for this bulge. Does it have some use or is it just for style? To my practical eye it just seems a waste of leather.

You talking about this bulge or something else?

 

[doubleh]

No, an additional curve. It swoops out and around in a curve and back in to the end of the holster. It contains nothing but air. It gives the holster a double curve on the bottom. The first like yours which is necessary and then another. Probably just considered more stylish in those days of mostly plain and simple products.

 

[CraigC]

Like this:



Or is it like the bulge between the loops on a Cheyenne pattern?



S&W's have a little different shape than Colt's.

 

[doubleh]

More like the Cheyenne which I can understand. The ones I was looking at just seemed to be wasted leather and a little more work for no reason. I never gave much attention to slim jims until you started posting your work. I am going to be forced to make one just to see how it turns out.

 

[CraigC]

More like the Cheyenne which I can understand. The ones I was looking at just seemed to be wasted leather and a little more work for no reason. I never gave much attention to slim jims until you started posting your work. I am going to be forced to make one just to see how it turns out.

Might've been someone who just didn't really understand the concept behind the Slim Jim pattern. It's really intended to be a very minimalist, form fitting design that follows the shape of the sixgun contained therein. I know in the holster groups on Facebook I've seen some "creative" (read: weird) iterations.

 

[ECVMatt]

Your work is just beautiful Craig!

 

[Seedy Character]

You are a true craftsman.

 

[doubleh]

Might've been someone who just didn't really understand the concept behind the Slim Jim pattern. It's really intended to be a very minimalist, form fitting design that follows the shape of the sixgun contained therein. I know in the holster groups on Facebook I've seen some "creative" (read: weird) iterations.

Thank for the reply and minimalist is what I though they were supposed to be. Not being a facebooker I had no idea there were such groups on there. My wife is though and I may get her to find some of those groups just to see what people have come up with. I am on a leatherworking forum and have seen some strange things made but holsters seem to be pretty normal in all styles.

 

[CraigC]

Thank for the reply and minimalist is what I though they were supposed to be. Not being a facebooker I had no idea there were such groups on there. My wife is though and I may get her to find some of those groups just to see what people have come up with. I am on a leatherworking forum and have seen some strange things made but holsters seem to be pretty normal in all styles.

Oh yes, there's every kind of group you can imagine. Some good discussion, some not so much. In the realm of leatherworking, there seem to be a lot of self taught folks operating without the benefit of a more formal education in traditional Sixgunnery and the associated gunleather, if you get my drift. There's also a lot of Glockophiles that think everything should have a covered trigger and a retention strap. We help the ones that let us.

There are also some real artists who've done some of the best work I've ever seen.

 

[CraigC]

Your work is just beautiful Craig!

You are a true craftsman.

Thanks gents!

 

[bannockburn]

CraigC

Another beauty!

Every time I see one of your latest holster creations, I truly believe you could catch lightning in a bottle if you wanted to!

 

[gobsauce]

There's also a lot of Glockophiles that think everything should have a covered trigger and a retention strap. We help the ones that let us.

I once made a holster for a Glockphile friend of mine... Solid chunk of Herman Oak, wanted no tooling or anything, gave it a nice medium brown coat.. only for him to spray paint a camo pattern on it. I'll never forget that.

 

[Johnm1]

Wow - major cerebra flatulence. I searched up this thread to get Cragg C's handle correct and posted what was intended to be in another thread! Being I already 'Called' @CraigC by name, I'll leave it as is and post the reply in the correct thread!

Duhh....

Hmmm....... What holster? Can't find much on the internet for custom holsters and nothing for something this old. As a pocket pistol, maybe it just needs a sheath of some sort instead of a belt holster. @ craigc any suggestions?

I need to figure a way to remove the one grip that was attached with epoxy. Once these grips are off and another suitable replacement is in place, I'd have no qualms about carrying it in 'special circumstances'.

 

[Rodfac]

Outstanding work, Craig...your stamp/carving work boggles my mind...few realize the difficulty in keeping all that work symmetrical...Best regards, Rod

 

[CraigC]

Outstanding work, Craig...your stamp/carving work boggles my mind...few realize the difficulty in keeping all that work symmetrical...Best regards, Rod

Thank you! What many may not realize is that except for the straights at the fold, all the linework is done freehand.