Modern 1911 holster

[Slowhand Bob]

This is a pattern I used to make a holster for the 1911 to be used in competition.  It is little more than a copy of others designs and the tensioning device is/was quite common.  I gave it to my son several years back and he claims it makes an excellent carry/concealment holster.  I couldnt find the original pattern so we get to experiment together.  This is the complete pattern and will consist of three pieces of leather that should go together pretty easily. Open it with one of the good art programs and it should print out on one standard sheet of paper to full scale.  The dash line represents the belt loop while the dotted line is an option that I actually like better though the angle of cant is somewhat less.

[Slowhand Bob]

The three pieces of leather that needs to be cut plus the hardware bag with the tensioner parts.  Besides the holster body there is a liner and a belt loop.  The end nippers and that small piece of leather tied to the plastic bag will be described later. This should be as close to a beginners holster project as I know of, with sewing skills being the main requirement.

[Slowhand Bob]

Sorry about the photo, it was jet black from the camera so I am surprised I even saved it.  The first step with our cut pieces is to get these four holes punched and not that the ones in the liner are larger than those in the holster.  Punch the two smaller holes, a #4 punch, in the main holster where indicated.  Getting an accurate transfer of these holes to the liner is important for a good end result so get it right.  Lay the holster precisely within those traced lines on the liner and then trace through those two punched holes onto the liner.  You will punch 3/8"*** holes into the liner and to be correct the holsters holes should be perfectly centered within the larger liner holes.  This will be it for tonight and if you would like to wait until I finish before starting, well it would let me make the mistakes for you to correct.

***My tubing was 3/8" od and this hole needs to match 'YOUR' tubes od, 7/16" would be even slightly better. 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Oh boy, we get to follow another one through to the finish. This will be a good thread. Thanks, Bob.

[JD Alan]

Well Bob, I really  appreciate you doing these. I made a holster from your last 1911 project, and I'm still working on the shotgun belt, which I'm finding rather challenging to get right. I'm trying all the various pouch methods to find the one that works best for me.

I also made a pair of holsters from the SAA pattern you posted a while back that turned out real well.

I tell people I made the holsters but my friend Slowhand Bob designs them. I will definitely give this one a try!

Keep'm coming, JD

[Slowhand Bob]

JD, my friend, I received a call from our pard Ten Wolves the other night and we chawed some of this stuff over for a spell, while watching the same old Ward Bond western on tv.  One of the things that came out was the fact that this old fellow aint ever had an original design or idea in his life, but I did watch others a lot and if you will keep my secret, I collected every secret I could from them.  On this one, you can see its roots in a lot of designs that were popular in the eighties and it actually looks a lot like the cut off model on the Kytac site I posted and the tensioner is very similar.  Well I think I will slip out to the shop and see if its dry enough for glueing the liner in.
   

[JD Alan]

I do understand that one Bob. Every week when I study for my Sunday message I think about the fact that thousands of others over hundreds of years have read these same passages and spoken about them. Just about the time you think you've come up with something fresh and original, you end up reading the same thing that someone else wrote two or three hundred years ago.

The only saving grace I have is that most people don't read all the writings from those guys. Now, if I use a direct line from someone, I always give them credit!

Even with my limited experience I find myself modifying the patterns I've received; some just little bit, some a little bit more. I really appreciate all the guys who've sent me patterns, believe me! 

 

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

 Howdy Slowhand Bob

     It was good talking to you yesterday, that was a good western movie, thank God for the western channel, LOL, I just copied your design/pattern, and enlarged it to 146% in order to fill the page, I don't have a 1911 yet, but I do have a BBgun that's the same Milspec, I'm looking forward to making one of your holsters, I/we appreciate you taking the time to do this, and to post the pattern, and as for coping other folks patterns goes, I think the designers would be proud to know we are using their designs, what would we do without them, yea we'd get by, but a good idea will always stand out, Bob you're one of those pards that is just good at putting things together and that's that.

                           Now I'll see what I can do with this, I hope I don't mess it up

                                          tEN wOLVES  

[Slowhand Bob]

This should give a better view of whats going on than the earlier photo.  In the larger picture the lamination to the liner has been made and the other picture shows the details of the hole overlays from, the liner side, with a small piece of scrap tubing inserted. The tube is just to illustrate why I like to do the hole with a recess, it locks one end of the tube in place while some of the tee nut shanks protrusion captures the other end of the tube.  Note the larger through holes on the right side (back) of the holster, these will have the tee nuts ibserted later.  I am leaving the finish off for now so the work will show up better.

[Kid Terico]

SH Bob that going to turn into a very nice piece. KT

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Good pictures SB, I had to copy the first pattern and enlarge it to 146% to get it to fill the length of my copy paper, but it doesn't fill the width, could you give us some measurements at the highest points width and length, this last picture with the carved horse fills the paper, but seems like it might be a little large, measurements would really help to at least know if We/I have sized the pattern right.

                                   That horse is Awesome, and so is the scallops around it, WELL DONE Pard 


                                                                     tEN wOLVES 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Bob, thanks for the pics. It makes it easier to understand what you're doing. That will really look good when you're finished. I agree with TW about the horse. Looking forward to the finished piece.

[Slowhand Bob]

TWF, that center (fold) line on the main pattern measures exactly 4 11/16 inches.  These can actually be copied directly from the post and print out to size on my computer using either Paintshop Pro or Adobe Photo Elements.  Its funny but the little program furnished by Microsoft doesnt work, go figure???  Actually kinda another quicky Marshall and my work has really gotten to where its showing a lack of time taken to do things right.  If you look closely at the machine stitching below you will see what happens when one tries to go fast when he is not going very often!

The stitching was left open where the top of the belt loop will overlay, though I did do about two stitches worth of encroachment on each side.  The belt loop can now be matched closely to the top lines and glued along that top edge to hold things for stitching there first.  If you look close I think you can tell where I rolled that upper area where the belt will pass through after completion, this was to allow for a slight amount of wet fitting the belt later.  Note that the wear angle will follow the top line of the holster and the double stitch should add strength to the top edge.

[Slowhand Bob]

Before going any further it is time to add the two tee nuts under the belt loop.  Before we do this it is probably best to shorten the barbs on the tee nuts.  I use a pair of end nippers for this and like to take them down about half way (whatever prevents excessive protrusion on the bottom side).  I hope you can see the difference between the altered and unaltered versions in the picture.

Now you want to lift the belt loop from the bottom and place a tee nut in each of the two holes.  Using a piece of heavy scrap leather under the holster lightly tap the tee nuts down until the botton of their tubes pretty much stop the show against the scrap leather.  Now if you punch a hole in the scrap thats large enough for the tee nuts tube to enter, you can drive them down fairly close to flat.  

The bottom tee will be captured by the belt loop but the top one will not but there are a couple of options for it.  On the orriginal that my son has I glued the arrangement down good top to bottom and glued on a 2/3oz round plug.  It has held well for many years.  Another option would be to leave the prongs uncut and stake them over from the inside after being driven through.  Lastly there is another type tee that does not have barbs but rather just has small holes in its ring for specialty attachments, just right for sewing.  Just to see what will happen, I am going to leave it as driven based on the idea that the screw should be tight enough to hold it in place.    

With the tee nuts in place  I laid a 1 1/2" strap (my belt width choice) under the loop and with a bit of effort I indexed things tight enough to establish my belts bottom stitch line placement.  Notice that I laid my stitch line out to avoid the bottom tee nut.  After sewing the bottom of the belt loop down, you can see that I then trimmed the excess holster liner off.      

[Slowhand Bob]

Looks like a dreary rainy day in old Charleston this morning, sure has been a nastier than normal winter so far.  Even the little dogs do not seem to enjoy going out any longer than is required to take care of business!  Guess I will put my old rain coat on and slosh out to the shop to finish with this holster.  

Before full wet bending I am going to put a friends initials at the bottom and since I placed the horse design low, things will be a bit cramped.  Something we need to achieve with this, and it can be done without metal, is to have a stiff finished holster with some spring to its horseshoe type fold over.  We do not desire that it wrap the gun like our regular construction would do.  My thought is to wet the leather with warmer than normal water for making the bend AND a bend is all the shaping there is to this holster.  Before starting the wetting I also want to have something available to size the belt loop to my 1 1/2" while it dries.  

Thoughts on the belt fit and angle might help some here.  I like my carry/competition holsters to be snug on a 1 1/2" belt as that is what I wear with jeans 90% of the time and I actually do like a tight fit to belt.  Another advantage to the extra tight fit is that on those occasions that I am forced (kickin an screamin) to wear dress-ups with the narrow 1 1/4" belt loops, well the tighter ones are now not quite as sloppy.  One can control the angle of carry by adjusting the top pattern line and/or stitching line, to some degree on this.  Though this projec is pretty much there by now, I'll still post a picture when it is wet, folded and has the molding parts inserted.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

 
  Thanks for doing this for all of us Bob, I'm coping all this to make a folder for my shop, so that it will be handy, you do a nice job of explaining this.

        tEN wOLVES 

[Slowhand Bob]

NOTE: A NEWLY CORRECTED PATTERN HAS REPLACED THE ORIGINAL.  Disreguard further comments and photos below regarding poor fit.


Not to sure about my redneck splaining but the holster, when done right is a neat little behind the hip carry model.  But alas, after wetting and folding I find that in the transferring from an assembled model to a paper pattern, it seems to have grown in width by about 3/4" to 1".  Though it actually looks ok, the extra wiggle room does require that you cut the tubing slightly shorter to get more tension.  When I clean up the original pattern, and add notes, I will do a width compression while keeping the height the same, an easy PSP fix.  I will then replace the orriginal pattern on here and make another holster doing something else a little different also.  The aluminum flat you see under it is for shaping the belt loop and it should give you an idea of the amount of rear muzzle cant.  

In photo 2 you can see the excess width, easily enough that I could have actually sewn that edge together!. In this view the top is down but starting from the projects top surface you have the screw passing through the finsh washer then the face of the leather, through the vinyl spacer and screwing into the tee nut thats embedded in the back surface of the holster.  From here any finish work will be up to you and I think some of these lines, especially the belt loop, could be made more attractive.  I will try to clean this up a bit over the next few days and if there are any questions or suggestions feel free to jump in.

 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Bob, that's a good looking design. Simple and effective. I like it. Thanks for the finished pics.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Nice job Bob, it came together real well, so you say the leather spread that much, I've had that happen too, so you're going to tighten up the pattern a bit? the initials look good and is a nice touch, I'm going to look forward to doing one of these, the pattern is very straight forward. I just wish I could get this confuser to copy things in the right scale, it sure would make things easier.

    We'll keep our eyes open for your alterations  and changes, it really looks great, Thanks for doing this.

                   tEN wOLVES

[LoneRider]

How's this one?
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd133/LoneRiderLeather/VanceMontanaWBRig.jpg