Gun leather and duds...

[Old Dude]

Sooooo, I'll pick up my SA revolver (Colt or Remington clone) on Friday.

Now, where to NCOWS folks get holsters and belts? I have seen several sites, but I don't know which is preferred by folks here.

And where to people get their duds? I have my eye on a rather stylish derby and some other clothing--but would like to know where the good places are.

Thank you all in advance.

[Wymore Wrangler]

Lots of us buy our clothes from The Fort Western Outtfitters, they don't have a fully operational website yet, but they can get you most anything you need by Wahs, Frontier Classics, etc. for the BEST prices in the country.  Terry Lane and Delmonico here on CAS City run the Old West Department for the Fort, phone number 1-800-327-5567 ext 199.  As far as leather goes, I personally use San Pedro Saddlery, Big Ed is a pard, you can find him here also.  I haven't personally used either of these folks but have seen their work, Old West Reproductions or Wolfs Ear.  Both make good quality reproductions from authentic patterns.  I'm at work right now, but if you want their websites, PM me and I'll get them to you later....

[Kayleen]

You can find some great buys at River Junction Trade company out of McGregor Iowa. Jim Boeke and his wife offer a nice variety of clothing. Red River Junction owned and operated by Len Abels and his wife out of Earlam, Iowa, Karen Nott out of Iowa Falls, Iowa makes some good looking duds and you won't be dressed like fifteen others. Not to mention there will be a couple of other clothing vendors at convention. One will be selling some clothing that  is gently used. You know the owners have either expanded or receded. Get my drift? DP Birch and Co. offer some great jewelry and accessories. If you have a seamstress around and want to saave some money, there are some really good patterns by Simplicity, Butterrick, McCalls, Truly Victorian and Buckroo Bobbins to pick from. A great fabric store is located in Louisville Kentucky, Baer Fabric on Market Street. You can find just about anything you want.
Good luck.

[Wymore Wrangler]

Old Dude, here's some links....

Leather

      http://sanpedrosaddlery.com/

      http://oldwestreproductions.com/Splash.asp

      http://www.wolfearsequipment.com/

Clothes

      http://fortfrontier.com/

      http://www.wwmerc.com/cgi-bin/Category.cgi?category=home&type=store

      http://riverjunction.com/

[Will Ketchum]

Old Dude, are you from Minnesota? 

Like Wymore and others have said if you can get to the convention it would be your best bet.  There you will be able to see all types of leather.  You will avoid some expensive mistakes by seeing what others use and what is available.

I spent way too much money on inappropriate leather  before I found out what is correct.  You also have to decide how authentic you want to be.  For instance there weren't holsters made for cross draw.  People just took a normal strong side holster and wore them as cross draws.  Holsters covered most of the pistol and the trigger guard didn't stick out like most Hollywood holsters.  A good book to acquire is "Packing Iron" You can find it at Amazon or there will probably be copies for sale at the convention..

Take your time and get it right the first time.  It will be a lot cheaper that way.

Will Ketchum

[Old Dude]

Thanks for the replies and the information. Truly appreciate it.

No danger of me going Hollywood with a holster. Don't really have the money or the inclination to look like I stepped out of a 1950s TV Western. I've even looked at the cavalry style plain black holster with a flap.

As for duds, I just want to dress as my "persona" would--and anybody who knows me in my "real" life knows that I am scarcely a fashion plate.

Again, thanks to one and all for the information. I am getting a good education here.

[O.T. Buchannan]

Hey Kayleen, when I lived in Louisville, I went to that store all the time!!!!  Old Dude, the best advice I can give you is to save your money, and go to the Convention.  Several of the vendors mentioned here will actually be there, as well as a bunch more, and you can SEE first hand what is what.

Something that you can do NOW is research the Persona more, and try to determine just what your character would have used.  I have a bunch of research sources, and I will see what I can look up, and then I will PM you with some of the information, and/or I can tell you where to go to check it out for yourself.  If you have all of this stuff written down, and know what you need to fulfill the Persona, then it will make it easier when you go to check out the various offerings from the vendors, and believe me, they WILL in fact mostly likely have what you need. 

Remember, researching is free, and so is putting together a Persona.  The thing is, if you do all of that stuff FIRST, then when you spend your money, there is less of a chance that you will regret the expense later.

[James Hunt]

Welcome to the fun. Just to reinforce what OT has said, get a good idea what your persona would have worn, in the time and environment he would have found himself in. You must know the period of time that this fella would have existed in so start by trying to look at some old photo's that are dated if possible, refererence them so that you know what your source material is rather than simply remembering that you saw a photo of who you are dressing as. You would be surprised as to how many photo's you can bring up by just playing around with google - many you can simply copy to a pictures file.

As mentioned above, holsters differed throughout the period we represent, but most you see are plain, almost all if not all except military were straight hang even if worn in a butt forward position. You will find that leather can be expensive but if you know what you want and it's nomenclature you can have great success google'in it also. Remember to reference your leather source. Suggest you look at www.oldwestreproductions.com for ideas. He is a great artisan but $$$$$. All of the stuff he does is in his own collection, much of which is in Packing Iron. Good Luck.

[O.T. Buchannan]

Old West Reproductions is a bit more expensive, but WORTH it.  However, there are other good vendors as well.  Before you make your leather purchase, if you run the vendor info by us, we can probably give you a little info on it.  I made my own holsters, because I was looking for something very specific to a specific time period.  In your case, if you are talking about 1885, then a Mexican Loop holster was a commonly available holster by then, and if you are coming from the East, and you are a failed politician, then I am expecting that you are reasonably well educated and come from a good background.  However, back East, you probably didn't carry a large revolver around on your person (that would of course depend on the local political climate...), so consider that coming West, you purchased the newest and most common items.....

A Colt SAA (or 1875 Remington) would be good (with Ivory grips), along with a Mexican Loop holster.  Needless to say, there are other revolver options, but those were the two you mentioned, so you are sounding as if you are right on track.