Buscadera Rigs - When?

[Warthog Zeke]

Did these rigs ever exist in the field, in real life?  They sure show up a lot in film, even on the History channel.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

i've seen some writings about them appearing around turn of the 20th century to the teens. There's an earlier picture of Commodore Perry Evans with what appears to be an early one or at least something similar.........Buck

[Warthog Zeke]

Yessir, but I'm fairly sure that Perry's holster was a drop loop, not a slot and tab like the "classic" buscadera.

[St. George]

The History Channel does do some good stuff - but that being said - they rely on reenactors/actors for a lot of the things that they portray and not everything is period-correct or even accurate.

Don't use it as a 'primary source' - but for enjoyment and a bit of 'enlightenment' and you'll do just fine...

As to the Buscadero Rig - they're a product of the Twentieth Century - built mainly for the movies of the late '40's and on.

Ed Bohlin and Andy Andersen along with Arvo Ojala were a few of the prime builders of these rigs.

They gained enormous popularity during the heyday of the movie and TV Westerns - worn by pretty much all of the 'heroes' and a few of the 'bad guys' - and they allowed for a fairly quick draw.

Original leather and holster styles weren't built for Hollywood speed, you see - and the Buscadero was - plus - it was 'showy' - and audiences liked that.

Back then - 'Walk and Draw' and 'Fast Draw' were features that drew a lot of attention and since the high point of many oaters was the mystique of the 'Fastest Gun' - competition was pretty serious.
Many of the popular TV stars competed - and there are photos of the various actors
from 'Lawman', 'Rawhide', 'Maverick' and other shows waiting to compete at someplace in Las Vegas.

As an interesting aside - Sammy Davis Jr., and Jerry Lewis were amongst the fastest.

Scouts Out!

[oregontrailcrossing]

I recently acquired two Bohlin pieces: one is a complete rig, the other is a left-hand fast draw holster. It was the single holster that really piqued my interest as it's marked "Pat Pend". I did some research on it and found out the patent for the holster (it has a built-in bulge to keep the handle of a revolver tilted out just so) was taken out in 1959 and granted in 1961. I found this thru a patent search online, and downloaded the drawings and comments so I could sell it with the holster.  If you check here http://oregontrailcrossing.com/Cowboy_Gear_Brown_Bohlin.html you'll see some of the patent documents.
This was one of the most interesting holsters I have ever seen simply because of the documentation behind it.

[jake1964]

The Texas Ranger museum has gun and belt belonging to Captain John Hughes.

He was a Ranger from 1887 to 1915.

Rig looks like a predecessor to the buscadero rig to me.

http://www.curtrich.com/gs.hughes.jpg

[St. George]

Probably because Captain John R. Hughes and 'Tio Sam' Myers developed the style in the 1920's, and Ed Bohlin brought it to an art form a bit later on...

The Old West had run it's course by that time.

Read Rattenbury's 'Packing Iron' - you'll see this referenced on page 194.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Fox Creek Kid]

St, George, I had always read that Sammy was fast too, but what really amazed me was when I stumbled across the fact that out of all the Hollywood actors that practiced "fast draw", which we know is purely a "Hollyweird" invention, the famous character actor John Doucette was considered the fastest with a sixgun. You won't probably know his name but you will his face & voice as he was in a ton of Westerns.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0234732/

[St. George]

Oddly enough, I did know who he was.

After reviewing his credits - he was in about every third oater filmed, and was believable in all of them.

The odd thing was that Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr. were guys you'd've never thought about in the context of 'Fast Draw'.

Sammy was one of the early collectors of Hollywood stars' guns, since a number of them owned their own revolvers and used them in their films - and both Mel Torme' and Buddy Hackett were avid Colt collectors - with impressive collections.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!