HOW MANY BULLET LOOPS

[craftsman]

I'm new to the forum.
I'm making my FIRST weatern gun rig.
I have a question.
IS THERE A STANDARD NUMBER OF BULLET LOOPS ON A GUN BELT RIG
The rig I'm making is all hand tooled.
I don't want to cover too much of the carving.
I was only going to put between 12 & 18 loops.
Would that be OK, since there is so much tooling & carving covering the belt

[Irish Dave]

I'd say the answer is "no."

I've made belts with 6 loops and belts with 36. And I've seen originals with all kinds of different numbers of loops.
I'd opine that the period rigs more commonly had more loops than less (unless they had none at all) but I don't think one could say there's a "standard" by any means.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Howdy Craftsman

          There is no rule on this , put what ever you want, back in the day they would usually try to put as many bullets as possible on their belts that they could, this way they were always prepared, especially if you were a cowboy, but with the cap & ball revolvers they just had a straight belt with no bullet loops, 18 /20 is fine, some will just put 6 loops in the front of the belt, some would carry a whole box of 50 and some will use a bullet slide,the nice thing about a slide is you can wear it or not, which you might want to do if you want to show off your carving. Hope this helped.

                                                  tEN wOLVES 

[craftsman]

THANKS PARDNERS ! ! !
Your answers helped alot.
I'll post some photos of the rig when it's finished.
   Thanks Again,,,

[knucklehead]

the only rule i can think of when doing bullet loops is will the belt hold all of them.
i made a belt for someone that wanted 50 loops.
only problem was the guys waist size would not hold 50 loops.
i could on get 35 loops on the belt comfortably.
so as i explained it to him. he agreed to only have 35 loops.

usualy i will only do 15-25 loops. i keep the loops numbers to match using 5 rounds in the revolvers.
but remember this the loops are mainly for show when doing cowboy shootin.
most people load their firearms from a loading strip not their belts.

[Dalton Masterson]

I agree with Knucklehead. I also try to do loops in a number that matches my gun. I only load 5 in my guns, and have 2 of them, so with 20 loops, I have 2 reloads for both guns. I think my main belt has 25 on it tho, so its not an ultra set rule. 25 just happens to be half a box of ammo.
The slide idea is a good one too, if you dont want loops in the middle of your carving.

DM

[Skeeter Lewis]

Way back, when there wasn't a gun store down the road, you needed all the ammunition you could get on the belt. The holster went over the loops. Have a look at a fabulous book, 'Packing Iron' by Richard Rattenbury.

Good luck with your project.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I've made belts with as few as 6 loops, as many as 30 and others in-between. It depends on what the use is and what will be needed. For CAS, a few extra rounds in the event of needing a reload. Other purposes, more is in order. It really gets down to what you need and how much sewing you want to do.

I agree with Skeeter that the full belt with the holster over the loops is a good look. My dad had his Colt in a machine stamped Mexican Loop holster on a full cartridge belt. It was a very cool rig.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

I've made belts with as few as 6 loops, as many as 30 and others in-between. It depends on what the use is and what will be needed. For CAS, a few extra rounds in the event of needing a reload. Other purposes, more is in order. It really gets down to what you need and how much sewing you want to do.

I agree with Skeeter that the full belt with the holster over the loops is a good look. My dad had his Colt in a machine stamped Mexican Loop holster on a full cartridge belt. It was a very cool rig.

     Howdy All

      Like Will is saying, and what I said earlier, it's up to you, My Granddad had a working Ranch, and he wore a pebble grained
money gun belt with a Mexican double loop holster, for his 5 1/2" colt 45, the money belt had full cartridges all around, and the holster road over the bullet loops, like Will said it just looks cool, and at the same time it pushes the but of the gun outward, and makes grabbing it a lot easier. IMHO 


                                          tEN wOLVES 

[Russ McCrae]

I always wondered about this, I figured most would just stick a box in a saddlebag so they wouldn't be exposed to the elements and a plain belt was cheaper since it's plain leather and less sewing

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

I always wondered about this, I figured most would just stick a box in a saddlebag so they wouldn't be exposed to the elements and a plain belt was cheaper since it's plain leather and less sewing

Howdy Ol Russ


           You know I'm sure they did keep an extra box of ammo in there saddle bags, even if they carried a full gun belt, my Grandad did just out of habit, he said he always had a box of 30/30 Winchester and a box of 45 long Colt, he being in the Calvary,and a rancher always went out armed, although he told me when he would take the wagon to town for supplies he would offend just take his rifle with him.
          I think there were probably as many ways to carry ammo back then as they could think of, but I think when the cartridge guns came into being, the most common way was a full gun belt, you can look at Packing Iron and get a good idea of that, and then again if you were towns folk, you might have just carried your gun on a plain belt , but most likely they carried concealed if they lived in town.
         The whole idea was to never be far from your ammo, and the cartridge belt provided this. AGAIN ( IMHO )


                                        tEN wOLVES 

                                   

[Hank Rugerman]

I guess to reiterate a few comments here..there just isn't any set reason for the amount of loops, or other design features.
(excepting good quality materials)

like Marshall and others have said, it all depends your intent and what makes the most sense.

There is a book that I have studied intently...
It's called "Guns of the Old West"
If you can get your hands on one, check it out....
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Old-West-Illustrated-History/dp/1592286380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239633802&sr=1-1

What amazes me (a bit) is quality when it comes to the leather work.
We strive (some do) to be authentically correct and build equipment and holsters like the old timers.

Funny thing is, most of what I see these days...right here on this forum, is as good, and in most cases, a dang sight better, than
anything you will see in a museum, that was actually used.

The real artistry in this field to me is, the "Vision." What do you see in your minds eye, that says...yep that's just about perfect,
and If I was riding the range, building fences, hunting, providing law enforcement, or cowpoking today, that's exactly what I would carry, or use.

A real good place to see "differences" is the Texas Rangers Museum...you can tell real quick, that every one of those Rangers had a real good view as to what a working piece was all about.

Don't get me wrong, ornate and beautifully crafted pieces are an extreme pleasure to look at, but reality and usage goes a long way.

good luck...

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks for the link, Hank. I've been thinking about getting that book so I ordered a copy.

[Skeeter Lewis]

Thanks, Hank. I've just ordered a copy too.

Did you go along to the Texas Rangers Museum? I can't find any holsters online there.

[River City John]

You know, you could trump all, and satisfy your reluctance to cover that carving by just putting ONE loop on the belt.

It would be the stuff of legends spoken in hushed tones around the campfire.

[Hank Rugerman]

Skeeter,

We live just a couple of hours from the Texas Museum.

We've made a few day trips on the scoots throughout the years..

What you will see there, is gatherings of indiviudals that either rode the range or provided modern day enforcements.

The boots, holsters, saddles, hats and knives of the range riders and individual trappings they gathered are amazing to see.
Ever see a Colt wit the front half of the trigger guard cut off..you will there...(easy to grab and shoot)

[Skeeter Lewis]

RCJ - I like it. 

Hank - thanks. Unlikely I can get down there. It would be great if they'd put more online.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

       River City John, THAT'S A GOOD ONE Pard, LOL, and your right it would be a conversation piece for sure.

       Hank that is good information Pard, I think I need this book too, all the times we traveled through Texas we never did take a look at the Ranger Museum, some day I would like to do that. there is a lot to see in Texas.
       The old leather and the new does have a lot of differences, not only in the way the leather was tanned, but also in the quality of the makers too, and all the different styles, Like I've said many times before, I don't believe they put very much in the way of decorations on the majority of the leather that was used, it was mostly plain jane stuff, but there were those makers and customers that wanted and demanded better quality in there rigs, with the carving and silver concho's and this is where we see a lot of that type is in print, the rigs that were saved over time, just like we would save a magnificent firearm of that period, which they did.
      Back to the bullet loops, I think it was just as it is today, some carried a lot of bullets and some didn't, and even if some had a gun belt with full bullet loops, some would only carry a few bullets, maybe they couldn't afford more, or maybe they just wanted to lighten there load a little, a full gun belt isn't the lightest thing to be carrying around, and if they were in town they probably didn't think they had the need to have a lot of ammo on there person, not like they would on the trail. IMHO
       Good thoughts by all, I guess that's why I enjoy coming to the forum first thing in the morning, with my coffee in hand.


                                           tEN wOLVES 

[Hank Rugerman]

TW..if you come through Texas...it would be my treat to take you to the Texas Ranger Museum....

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

      Thanks Hank, someday I hope to be able to take you up on that Pard, that would be great for sure.


   

                                                      tEN wOLVES