Hoffman swivel belt loop

[Boothill Bob]

Howdy pards.
Does anyone of you know were I can get the brass for a Hoffman swivel belt loop?

[Trailrider]

Howdy pards.
Does anyone of you know were I can get the brass for a Hoffman swivel belt loop?

Are you planning to make one yourself? If so, you could probably find the brass at a large local hardware store or at a hobby shop specializing in model railroad materials. I've never measured the thickness of the brass plate visible in your photo, but I would guess it would be at least .062 (1/16") thick.  Plate 7, of Ordnance Memoranda No. 18, shows the Hoffman swivel, but no dimensions are given for the brass parts. You could probably scale them off the drawings of the Pattern 1874 holster, although they are pretty small. I'd enlarge the drawing on a copy machine before attempting to scale the swivel, however.

There is a caveat I should mention about the Hoffman swivel:  The design of the swivel is very weak! The swivel and the holster are held to the belt loop by three tabs that stick through the sewn-on piece that holds the swivel to the holster body. There were numerous cases reported where the weight of the holster and gun caused the tabs to straighten out, causing the holster to detach from the belt loop, which the trooper didn't notice until it was too late to locate the gun. This caused a painful condition to the company commander's wallet, as he was responsible for the loss.  As a result, many CO's had their saddler sergeants rivet or stitch or both the holster to the belt loop, either with the Hoffman swivel still on the holster body, or removing it and fabricating a new belt loop altogether.  I used to offer the Pattern of 1875, which was very similar to the 1874, except for the body being a bit more amorphous in shape, but with the belt loop fixed and without the Hoffman attachment.  I had so little call for that model, that I dropped it from the catalog, but can still make them.  This has the half-flap with the finial hole in the flap, but for the Colt's SAA only, rather than the wider flap with the two holes in the 1881 Pattern for both the Schofield and the Colt's. (There was also a Pattern of 1879, which had a more rounded thre-quarter flap and a separate closure strap which could handle both guns. The 1879 was basically new manufacture of the modified 1863 full-flap holsters, where the flap was narrowed to 3/4 and rounded off, with the stitched/reiveted closure strap from the 1863 holsters.

Hoep this is of some help.

[Boothill Bob]

Thanx for the info Trailrider. can I buy the Hoffman attachment, that would be even better..I´ve made a 1881 holster and I like that model. But I have to redraw the pouch, its not the right shape..

[Trailrider]

Very nice '81 holster.  The body does look a bit closely contoured, but not enough to make any difference unless you have trouble holstering a Schofield.  (The modern repros...S&W 2000 and the Uberti Schofields are a tad larger than the originals, so a holster that takes a Colt's SAA may not quite handle the modern Schofields.)

Unfortunately, I've never located a source for the Hoffman swivels. For a one-off, I could probably make one that would look like it from the back of the holster, but it would take a bunch of work.  There is no way I could charge a customer enough to pay for the labor. And with the deficiencies in the original design, it wouldn't pay me to offer them as a commercial item.

[JD Alan]

I ended up buying an old holster in the "Used Bin" at a local gun shop for 10 bucks just to get the swivel, because I couldn't find any either! I haven't used it yet, but I hope to one of these days

JD

[Boothill Bob]

You are a Lucky man preatcher. It may get lost and fly over the Big lake heading east