Lined or Unlined?

[Bad Hand Dan]

Howdy Pards,

So I'm curious... I shoot a steel lined rig, but I also have 1800s rig which are unlined. I'm not confident in my ability to shoot with the unlined rigs. I just like the holster being open for business when I wanna slap a pistol into it.

Seems like y'all would have an opinion. So shoot! Thanks to you!

[Slowhand Bob]

Each style has its ups and downs.  You can now find more gun leather??? made from nylon or kydex than from leather, who knows whats next.  I never tried my hand at steel lined, just prejudiced I suppose.  I do think steel lining causes the leather to wear prematurely at the throat.  This is not based on any controlled study but just a lifetime of paying attention to old leather in gunstores and pawn shops.  At least one of our big name holster makers is using kydex sandwiched between leather for some of his western holsters.

I have a couple of hand made kydex holsters for my semi-autos and they are excellent, for what they are, BUT just not my cup of tea for cowboy.  Just my personal opinion, mind you, but I think that metal and plastic are crutches used by some to acheive what the master leather crafter can acheive through proper designs with real leather.  These materials do have their place but I just do not think it is as western holster liners.

[Bad Hand Dan]

Yep Bob, you are correct about wear. It makes sense as a steel lip against even the toughest leather will wear it. I just started with a super heavy lined rig and I've watched pards who are way better than me have trouble re-holstering. I just bang the gun into the holster as hard as I want.

Helps when you are a fumbler. I've not encountered other types of lining than steel for cowboy. I'm sure it is out there. I just have a lot of 1800s stuff and I prefer my linned rig.

Thanks for your input!

Bad Han Dan the Indestructible Cowboy

[will ghormley]

I've never owned a holster lined with anything other than leather, so I can't address steel lined, or any other type of lining, intelligently.  Some might argue I can't address anything intelligently, but that's another topic.  When I was designing the holsters for Russell Crowe to use in the re-make of "3:10 to Yuma", Thell Reed addressed the problem of re-holstering.  He wanted to know if I could line the holsters with something so they wouldn't collaps and make it more difficult to re-holster the weapon.  In the 33+ years I've been drawing and re-holstering wheel guns, (and the first gun I bought was a new Colt '73 with a 4 3/4" barrel, and if I remember right, I payed about ninty-five bucks for it), I've never had a problem with holsters closing up on me.  My solution for Thell was to make the holster our of heavy saddle skirting leather and shape the lip just a little so the wheel doesn't get hung up on the lip of the holster.  Thell was happy with the results, and it worked well for Crowe in the film.  Would it stand up to several hours a day worth of practice?  Naw, I don't think so, but I don't think anything else would.

Will

[Slowhand Bob]

Bad Hand Dan, we have a few guys here who have forgotten more about leather than I will ever know but I will make a few comments and perhaps some pards wil dive in and help us out.  I think the earliest examples of that full metal skeleton, sandwiched between layers of leather, was for the early fast draw competetors.  It was to keep the holster open in an oversized bucket configuration to allow cylinder rotation to start within the holster.  At any rate this is a good sounding story, so I'll keep using it!

As to the guys who are having problems with reholstering, the solution is fairly easy but best done during construction.  Simply mold the mouth of the holster with a slight outward roll at the top opening, like a simple funnel.  Most good quality leather I see being used in cowboy shooting now has this, specially in their competition type holsters.  The old orriginal styles can have this done to them but, just my opinion, it makes them look less awthentical.  For many there are atractions other than the competition part of cowboy shooting.

You can also give the all leather holster a great deal of body just by altering the weight of the leather, the construction methods and the end finish techniques.  Lots of modern all leather holsters feel almost like a wood or hard plastic product when being handled; hard, stiff and very slick.  UHHH, I want go there, stay focused Slowhand!  Heavy leather, full grain liner, good glue in between and even a warm water molding before adding a good finish will stiffen and harden it every time.  Well there are exceptions but they usually come from using the wrong leathers or cuts.  There are lots of ways to make the holster faster but I jist aint figured how to make me fast.  Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Will, a couple or so months back I got some new OLD WEST COLLECTION patterns from Tandy called THE BLACK CANYON RIG.  As luck would have it I started three sets of these over the past week, just prior to your coming aboard, and am just tickled with them.  They are truely great patterns and are very easily adaptable to other styles.  The belt, with its offside recurve, can be altered just a bit here and there to morph from a full blown 'silver screen cowboy' into an excellent 'walk and draw' model.  A few simple changes makes the holster pattern just as versatile.  It can chamillian into an excellent copy of the 'spaghetti western' style or the popular 'long drop' style that is named after one of the previous SASS champions.  Truely another great pattern set.        

[will ghormley]

Thanks Slowhand.  I'm glad you "get" the whole deal with the patterns:  take them as a starting point and put your own spin on 'em.  That is very gratifying!  It was the Black Canyon Rig that put my hands over the edge and sent me into a two+ year vacation.  It was the first thing I finished-up after I was able to start using my hands again.  I've got bits and pieces of proto-types hanging on my walls and cluttering-up boxes.  It took a couple of false starts to get a pattern that was going to be usable.  I was afraid following the directions on measuring and constructing the belt was goin' to be too hard to follow, but it sounds like you've got a good handle on it.  Knowing folks enjoy the patterns makes it all worth while.

Thanks for letting me know,
Will

[Slowhand Bob]

No, actually the measuring and fitting technique is quite easy to grasp and follow.  They can be used by pards doing their own belts from scratch or those who wish a sure fire method of adopting other available patterns for buscadero belts.  I actually pulled the plainer billet patterns from your earlier belt pattern pack to go on the 'walk and draw' belt that evolved from your new pattern. 

I started having trouble with my hands a few years back and bought two different sewing machines in hopes of finding a solution.  Well my daddy was right when he said the most complicated machine for me would always be a shovel, after four years I still aint got them to working profishently.  I did lay off the leather fer a couple of years and am now able to hand sew again, in small spurts.  I do wish you good luck and God speed in all your endeavors.