Double cartridge belts?

[Jake C]

Howdy all,

Got a quick question. I'm adding a .45-70 Trapdoor rifle to my small gun collection. My question is, is there any basis for wearing two cartridge belts, one with pistol caliber ammunition, another with rifle ammo? I know there were belts that had two sets of loops, like what Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens is wearing in that one picture of him, but did some folks wear two belts?

The reason why I ask is that I can swear I had seen a picture of this setup somewhere, but I can't think of where for the life of me.

Thanks!

[Will Ketchum]

"Packing Iron" has pictures of people wearing two belts.  One of those is Texas John Slaughter wearing pistol & shot shell belts. On the facing page is Teddy Roosevelt with a pistol belt and Mills rifle belt.  There are several pictures of rifle belts and it is safe to assume that others wore pistol & rifle belts since they were available.  It is more likely that this was done more commonly then the wearing of a brace of cartridge pistols.

Will Ketchum

[Trailrider]

Form follows function. But certainly there were folks who wore two belts, one for pistol and one for rifle cartridges. OTOH, it depends on the cartridges. A belt with loops that take .45-70 will also hold .45LC rounds, although they would be a bit loose. Alternatively, you could have some rifle loops and some pistol loops. The number of each, would of course depened on how many you figure you need, as wll as your belt size and the number of holsters that would take up space on the belt.

[Jake C]

Thanks for the replies folks! Much appreciated. I need to get 'Packing Iron.'

On a side note, found the picture I was thinking of.

http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/chacula4.html

[Cliff Fendley]

and the number of holsters that would take up space on the belt.

A Mexican Loop holster would probably slide over the cartridges. Most all original rigs I own or have seen have the loops all the way around and the holster is over top of them.