Holster Leg ties

[Rube Burrows]

I tried a search and found nothing so sorry if this has been talked about.

When did leg ties become popular on holsters.....or did they at all during the old west days?

I looked through my book "Age Of The Gunfighter" and of all the holsters pictured there is only one Holster that has a leg tie on it and it is noted that the holster may not be original to the belt.


Any ideas?

[Cliff Fendley]

Hollywood invention. They generally wore them high enough in the old west you wouldn't have been able to tie it to your leg nor was there any reason too. Not to say there wasn't a person out there that did it but you don't see it on the old holsters or in pictures of people wearing them.

Same way with the extra loop on the billeted gun belts that captures the main body of the belt that tucks in behind. I've not seen them on anything prior to in the 1910's or 20's. I believe them and leg ties were added as they started letting the belts hang loose.

Originally most billeted belts in that configuration were money belts and were worn high on the waist.

Hammer ties are another thing that were added after the guns were being hung up out of the holsters for fast draw. They didn't make them that way in the old west. I never put on hammer ties, leg ties, or the extra keeper on the belts on period correct rigs unless the customer asks, they aren't correct.

[Drayton Calhoun]

Leg ties and very low slung holsters...imagine to try riding a horse for hours at a time with that set up. Uncomfortable and dangerous in regards to losing one's revolver because of the angle the holster rides at when mounted.

[Jake MacReedy]

Gentlemen, I beg to disagree, but  leg tie-downs weren't all a Hollywood invention.  I used to think so, until I read Volume 2 of Worman's and Garavaglia's Firearms of the American West.  In there, in the revolver section, there is an account of a traveler in Colorado, in, if I remember correctly, either 1867 or 1869 in Colorado.  He reports seeing a plainsman wearing a Colt revolver in a holster he has tied down to his leg.  I doubt seriously if said plainsman wore it that way while riding his horse, but he did have it that way at least part of the time!

Regards,
Jake

[Trailrider]

The great Western artist Charles M. Russell drew a sketch of a scout (IIRC...can't find the right book right now) showing a tied-down gun on the subject.  But I doubt the leg tie was common back then.

[Cliff Fendley]

Holsters fashioned in the style and worn like they were in the 19th century there is no need for a leg tie or a hammer tie down. They just arent needed. Not to say there wasn't the odd guy out there but what purpose would it serve? I've never found the need and have worn them all day out working and not found the need for either.

Now you take the Hollywood style Buscadaro low slung rig and try to do a days farming with it and you'll feel like your wearing a ball and chain.

[Jake MacReedy]

Cliff, I agree that you're right...all I'm doing was relaying what an eyewitness wrote back in the 1860's.  At least one guy was noted as having his holster hanging down low and with it tied down to his leg.  Don't know...maybe it helped him with dragging that long hogleg out of it's slim jim holster! Ha!

Regards,
Jake

[Shotgun Franklin]

The question might be; was the account written in the 1860s or 40 years later? There are very many accounts written well after the event that confuse guns and equipment used.

[Jake MacReedy]

Shotgun, if memory serves me, this was a first-person account written at the time, not a story told later.  It was an at-the-time memoir of this guy's travels in the West.  Will check when I get home from Iraq next month and put the quote here for everyone to see.

Regards,
Jake

Here's a link to the book of which I speak:
http://www.upcolorado.com/book/Firearms_of_the_American_West_Vol._2_1866_1894_Cloth

[w.b. masterson]

As far as Russell prints go,  Charles Russell painted like he wanted them, not as they were.  Example: in the portrait of Will Rogers, Russell orignially painted the wrong style of saddle.  Rogers took him to task for it and Russell changed it.  Russell also had Rogers wearing a handgun.  For those who don't know, Rogers was an original anti-handgunner from way back.  Russell wouldn't change that part of the portrait.  Got that story from an old Oklahoma hombre years ago when I wore a handgun to a western party.