So ... recommendations -- Slim Jim or Cattleman?

[RollingThunder]

I'm kinda bouncing back and forth between a Slim Jim and a Cattleman for this pistol. 1851 Colt Navy, .44 cal, 7.5" barrel. Not really worried about period-correct ...

Thoughts?

I got done shooting tonight, so I obviously had to clean the weapon, and then I thought, well, it's clean, so why not take some pics?

Enjoy!


Some close ups of the cylinder, where you'll see the Navy's unique naval-battle etching.

[Gun Butcher]

  RT, even though I use to play the buckskinnig game I never went to crazy with the period correct thing ,but, that 1851 just seems to be beggin for a really nice, classy Slim Jim

[Ace Lungger]

RT,
I got to agree with GB on that, those 51's look so good in a Slim Jim!
That just my 2 cents, and I am sure you will hear more thoughts on it!
Later ACE

[Dr. Bob]

I'm number 3 for the "Slim Jim"!!

[RollingThunder]

Well, I got patterns for everything BUT a Slim Jim. LOL. Guess I gotta go see if I can find one of them over at Tandy ... or over at Will's website.

Now ... any of you guys who shoot blackpowder put a filler in after your powder?

[Angel_Eyes]

Personally I would go for the Slim Jim style, but why use someone else's pattern?
What's wrong with starting from scratch and design and build your own?
That way it's all your own work, unless you are that busy and you have time constraints!

Go on!! Imagine you have just bought your first pistol, it's taken all your savings from your $30 and found, and you have found a piece of cowhide that just might make a holster. 

AE

[Slowhand Bob]

Any time I am offered a chance to vote on the Slim Jim, against anything, well thats just my favorite flavor.  As to the pattern, well almost any pattern that has main seam lines that you consider pleasing will do for a Slim Jim, pretty easy like.  Its no longer a secret that many of my favorite Slim Jim patterns actually come from Will Ghormleys Cheyenne pattern pack, I really love the lines he created with his Cheyenne main seam roll.  Simply fold his pattern on the main seam line and trace the front throat lines onto the back, on top of what was previously the skirt part of the pattern.  It will only take a slight bit of work on the throat recurves to get them book matched and pleasing to the eye.  I hate toe plugs, even sewn closed toes for that matter, so I just put a slight curve at the toe and leave it open.  The marriage of a long slender Slim Jim to the long graceful lines of the '51 Navy just somehow bring to mind the long slender legs of a beautiful young woman, dang I must be getting old.  I will try to post a picture of a Ghormley Half Breed  here soon. 

[Johnny McCrae]

I vote for the Slim Jim. IMHO I think the lines and shape of a Slim Jim compliment the elegant look of an 1851. Attached is a picture of my 1851 in a Slim Jim.

[santee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, a Sim Jim. Like Johnny posted, but throw some bloodstains on it and rough it up with wrinkles and stuff.
Man, I gotta stop going to Chuck's website.

[Ace Lungger]

Howdy RT,  
Do you have Al Stholmans How to make Holsters Book? Tandy has them, and there are lots of patterns in there, plus he shows you how to make your own holster pattern. I have allways made my own patterns! Slim Jims are far the easiest to make, and like the guys a head of me said, make your own! All you nees is a file folder, open it up, place your pistol with the hammer right in the middle of the fold, then the front sight in the middle of the fold, roll it over to your left, making sure to not turn it! Once you have laid it on it's side, take a pencil, hold the pistol in place and draw around it, making a curve where the square part of the ram rod is. Once you have done that, make you another outline 1/4 -1/2" outside your first tracing, I like doing the 1/2", then you can mod it lines to look more flowing if you want except the trigger gaurd area! I forgot to tell you to stop about 1/2 way around your trigger graud as it goes back to the frame. Then move your gun, after you have made your out side line, cut it out, then fold it over and trace the other side, and cut it out! Then Place your pistol in the pattern you have cut out, and design your bucket, you can make it as high on the gun as you want or down 1/4 of the way on your cylinder or how ever you want it! As i am doing my bucket then you design how low you want to do the front side of the trigger gaurd and your sweep up! After I have done that, I will cut the front side out, then i fold it back and trace the back side, you may want your holster cut like the front, but I like a closed back on my slim jims so I trace my bucket and then slope it to meet my front side, In the trigger gard area of the holster I allways leave a little extra pattern, so when I put my pistol in, I then fold it with the pistol in it and see how it fits, to see if it holds good around the trigger gaurd making your back curve how ever you want! At this point you can see if you have made it to big, buy closing it up around your gun, remember that you have to be thinking that you have a paper type pattern and that the holster is made of leather, so if you like your fit, it should be a little loose. Then you design your belt strap, and decide how you want your cant! After you have cut you leather, put you gun back in, to see how it fits talking in mind you have to sew it, if it is way to big, you can recut your leather to fit tighter! I would buy Al's book, he explains it a lot better than me!
It is a lot easier that how I wrote it!
I will see if I have a pic to post of one of my slim jims. The 2 that I am going to post, are a plugged toed slim jim, and were made last year and the front and back of the patterns are open back, so I cut the front and the back the same! There are tons of pards on here that have made 100's of slim jims, and all of them are better than me, and i hope they jump in and help you!
I hope this helps, but it is very easy!!
ACE
P.S. As I was writing, Johnny posted his slim jim and it is AWESOME, but this gives you idea's of the differnt Slim jims, his has a closed back and a square bucket! So you can design to fit your syle!

[RollingThunder]

Howdy everybody! Wow! What wonderful advice. That's exactly what I love about this forum! So if I design my own Slim Jim, do I just leave the back flap longer and bend it over to form the belt-loop? Does anyone have a picture of how they've done that? I prefer NOT to end up doing it wrong. LOL. Trial and error is fine, but I prefer not to keep going through leather to try to fix a screw-up.

As luck would have it, I do have a good friend in Michigan who is sending me about 80 square feet of chap leather. It's not entirely out of generosity ... I'm making a set of teal-green working chinks for a mutual friend of ours, but he's also sending a beautiful chocolate brown antiqued hide as well. Seems it was just taking up space. LOL.

The OTHER thing he's sending is Dusty Johnson's video on Holsters and Knife Sheaths.

So ... I'm off to do some research on Slim Jims and see if I can't get me some fancy ideeee-ers.

Which is a nifty way of saying biting off more than my leatherworking skills can chew. LOL.

[Gun Butcher]

  Rollin' , to me the belt loop can be done either way . It can be folded over or sewn on. That seems to be a matter of which style you would prefer. IMHO, You might get a different opinion from some of the other guys.  Most of the ones shown in Packin' Iron seem to be a sewn on loop but, if you wanted it to hang lower you might need a flap cut to the right length. I tend to cut a pattern out of a file folder (like Ace said) and then I can see how the finished holster will look and adjust the height of the drop, or the overall look of the rig.

[Johnny McCrae]

Howdy RT,

Gun Butcher's comments hit the nail on the head.

I like a large belt loop. See the attached pictures for what I do for a belt loop on a Slim Jim. You will need to sew the belt loop to the back of the pouch before sewing the pouch together.

In his video "Frontier holsters" Chuck Burrows does a magnificent job of showing how to make a Slim Jim Holster from start to finish. He goes into great detail including the belt loop.

[Ace Lungger]

 Howdy Pards,
Like GB said it is a personal preference on the belt loop! Johnny Holster is AWESOME! And that is how he designed it!
I am like GB, I like the sewn on belt loop, you have a better control of your cant, than the other way! BUT That is just me! You need to make it like you want!Sewing on a belt loop is nothing, make it as wide as you want, and as deep to fit your belt witdh, wider at the top than the bottom, lets say, 3" down then that it to the top of the bell and then rolled over and down 3 1/2" and then stitch it where your belt woll slode threw, i like mine tight! You can then the back where it makes the bend back or I mold most of mine, wet it, bend your fold clamp  it toghter untill it dries!
Hope this helps
ACE

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Well, RT. You sure got some good advice here. I agree that the slimjim is what will show off that pistol best. I make all my own patterns, usually based on a pattern I already have. Here's a pic of how I've done the belt loop if you want a sewn on one. I also like to remove the recurve on the back side if it's a holster I'm going to use a lot.

[Johnny McCrae]

Howdy Marshall,

That is a great example of a sewn on loop. Beautiful stamping and excellent workmanship! Thank you for sharing your work with us.

[RollingThunder]

That's an awesome bunch of view, and ideas there. I appreciate everyone's input a ton. I was sketching a bit, and I think I have an idea that will work. Now to mock it up and see if it will fit.

Thanks everyone for the back views and the recommendations on hanging it. I just want to make sure it sits in the holster securely, I'm not really concerned with a quick-draw rig or anything. Heck, if I was, I don't know that I'd go for a 7.5" barrel.

Could end up giving those quick-draw fellas a case of barrel-envy though.

[River City John]

That's an awesome bunch of view, and ideas there. I appreciate everyone's input a ton. I was sketching a bit, and I think I have an idea that will work. Now to mock it up and see if it will fit.

Thanks everyone for the back views and the recommendations on hanging it. I just want to make sure it sits in the holster securely, I'm not really concerned with a quick-draw rig or anything. Heck, if I was, I don't know that I'd go for a 7.5" barrel.

Could end up giving those quick-draw fellas a case of barrel-envy though.

Will Ghormley has a great one for Slim Jims, called "Forty-Niner Holster", that fits the bill, including options for straight and crossdraw, plus 2 different Old West tooling patterns.

RCJ

[Dalton Masterson]

The 49er pack is a good pattern, but I much prefer the Jesse James pattern pack, with its high throat, and deep recurve for the trigger. I also like Wills example of leaving the throat high on the back, but dont do it very often. Makes a nice different look.
Heres an example of it. Its got Remingtons in it, but 51s look just as good.

DM

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Here's one of mine I built about three years ago. This is a Antebellum period half flap based on a Slim Jim holster, and is lined with pig skin sitting on a set of Apache saddle bags that I built.

It houses one of two Colt second generation Cavalry commemoratives cased sets that I own, both guns have the same serial numbers. I just cleaned this one after shooting it in our match yesterday.

I agree with Angel Eyes....make your own pattern...easy to do, and no need to spend a lot of money.

Bill