Finally finnished my Bandolier

[Holden A. Grudge]

Well I had this idea forever ago and just kind of tinkered around with it to see what I could come up with.  Here is the end result.  Let me know what you think.  I will test it for functionality soon.

[rebsr52339]

Ya all did a heck of a nice job Holden. My only suggestion is don't store the shells in the loops. They WILL strech them out. I also notice there are no "stops" for the shells to bottom out on. All in all super job.    When do I get it!!!     

[Cliff Fendley]

Looks great!

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[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Nicely done Holden A. Grudge , you really don't need a stop as rebsr52339 pointed out, as long as you are wearing the shotgun shells upside down, as pictured, if over time the loops start to get loose you can always take one end undone and pull the loops tight, or if you choose to wear the shells upright, you can put that stop strip that rebsr talked about, and also like he suggested, never store your shells in your bandoleer, I think you did a good job on this, and your meander stamp works well for your border, keep up the good work pard, we'll look forward to seeing your next project.


         tEN wOLVES 

[Cliff Fendley]

That is the nice thing about woven loops, you can tighten or replace them if they stretch as long as the belt isn't lined. Plus woven in this manner they seem to hold better than a sewn loop or a semi-woven loop so you can get by with them being looser. Also for the purposes of shooting the fully woven ones hold the cartridge farther out from the belt so they are easier to grab.

I prefer using them most of the time, even though the sewn loops were probably the most common in the real west the woven ones not only are easier to make they work better and are more durable for continued use of loading and unloading. In the real west where you seldom loaded and unloaded the belt and quick reloads probably weren't that commonly needed the sewn loops would hold the cartridge tighter to the belt so they wouldn't hang on stuff and get beaten up.

Holden, you done a great job on that border too.

[Hill Creek Mike]

Looks nice.  Great stamping.
I have only made one bandolier for a shooter. Looking at what other shooters used and what the customer wanted it had double loops front and back with the "stop strip" against the loop.  They wanted the top of the shell well over the edge of the belt part.

I built it, they took it and used it and brought it back saying it was not stiff enough.  It pulls up when you pull the shells out.
I reworked it, put in a stiffner and sent it back.  Works much better.
In the real world I would tie the bottom end down to my pistol belt.  In SASS you can't do that so you have to make it heavy enough to stay down on it's own.  Just my experiance.
By the way the "customer" was my brother Hockshaw Fred.  He is my "field man".

[Wolf Tracker]

Very nice. Nice stamping and I especially like the horse hair tassel to bring it together.

[Johnny McCrae]

Nice work Holden. Cliff & TW hit the nail on the head about using woven loops. The Horseshair Tassel is a neat touch. Look forward to seeing your future projects.

[Holden A. Grudge]

Thanks all.  This was a fun project and I initially thought of sewing the loops but then decided to weave them.  This whole project was kind of a make it up as I go type thing.  At first I thought I would do two rows of loops, one up and one down.  Then changed and made double loops on one side and single on the other.  Decided to stamp the border after looking at it and deciding it looked too plain.  So the loops were in before the stamping which made for a challenge.

I only put the shells in the loops for the picture as I wanted to show that the design was made to let the shells hang down on one side and up on the other.  

Stilly toying with the idea of putting a cartridge stop typer strip on one side.  

thank you all for the encouragement and advice.  

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That looks really good, HA. I like the border design on it. It balances out the wide expanse of plain leather. Good job, pard.

[bedbugbilly]

Holden - what a great looking bandolier!!  You really did a nice job on all of it - I love the border and the horsehair is a great touch!  You can really be proud of that!  Somehow, I picture that on a "Mexican Bandito" riding across the desert at a full trot with his sombraro hanging against his back from his chin strap.     Thanks for showing the differrent view of it - it's nice to see how you constructed it.  Enjloy!   

[amin ledbetter]

Very Nice Bandoleer. Great Job on it Holden! Which conchos did you use on the upper half? I can't tell what style they are in the pics.

[Holden A. Grudge]

I used some 1 inch (I think) silver flowered conchos.  Nothing too special.  I had them laying around and wanted to dress it up a little in the dead space.  The conchos don't actually match as one has a rope border and the other does not but they were just sitting there on the work bench and begging to be used. 

Thanks again for all the encouragement.  Can't wait to start on my next project.  My wife wants a nice leather cover for her e-reader and a friend wants a couple holsters plus I have two other pistols I want to make holsters for.  I also want to tackle a cartridge case when I can figure that out.

Sooooo many ideas and so little time.

[amin ledbetter]

Yup that's how it happened with me as well. I was hooked! You are too, you just don't know it yet!  Again, great job on bandoleer! Keep at it! It's one of the most fun things you can do legally!