repairs?

[Tubac]

Hi fella's,

I have an old and beat up holster that goes with an old and beat up Ist gen. Colt.
It has a split/tear at the top. Any sugestions for repair? Muslin and contact cement?
Thanks,
Tubac

[St. George]

Try 'Barge Cement' and follow the instructions I just posted to the Lone Gunman's query on dents.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have an 1896 vintage Colt.  This gives me ideas about re-creating, and "antiqueing" a similar holster.  One that I can imagine actually did make it through the Klondike goldrush.

[Tubac]

Sir Charles,
The Colt left the factory March of 1882. I know nothing about the holster except it's hand made and seems to be pretty old.
Tubac

[Cooleemee Edd]

I'd be more likely to "retire" this old holster carefully and reproduce it as closely as possible. It looks to be a tad short. If you like it sticking out a little (I'm sure lots of holster/pistol combinations were and still are like that), you could make it the same length. For me, I'd make it a bit longer.

What a nice old Colt!!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Tubac;  I second that.  Old leather is old leather.  Make a new holster to carry the old hawgleg  in.  Isn't there a thread here about "antiqueing" leather?

Is that an odd barrel length?

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Make a new holster to carry the old hawgleg  in.

I agree with this, too. I like old leather, but it deserves to be kept as a collectible item. You can save it as a companion piece to the pistol and not have it fall apart from use. Just make one identical to it or have one of the historically-oriented makers on this forum put one together for you. Some can even make one that looks as old as you want.

[Tubac]

Thanks for all the replies. The holster is retired. It sits in a drawer most of the time. It just looks neat with the Colt.
Edd, the gun does not seem too long, see photo.
Sir Charles, the pistol left Colt with a 7.5" barrel. Somewhere along the line it was cut to 5" and a sight dovetailed in.
Marshall Will, what do you use to preserve old leather? Arizona is pretty dry. I glued a thin piece of leather behind the split
to keep it fro getting larger.
Thanks again.
Tubac

[Marshal Will Wingam]

There's a good thread on caring for leather: http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,10067.0.html It should help you with what to put on it.

[Tubac]

Thank you marshal will.
Tubac