Product Deliveries...
Delivery time: I am not quoting delivery times at this point since I have just opened the books for the first time since October of 2015. PLEASE be patient, it all depends on the amount of new orders I receive and your position in line when you submitted the order. Quality over quantity is my first priority. I work very hard to make each piece of gear the very best I know how. This can only be done by time consuming hand work. I build orders in the order they are received so that no one has to wait while someone gets special treatment. |
Catalog
I currently do not have a printed catalog. I am working on a downloadable catalog in PDF format for you to print.
Custom Work
I am not doing any custom work. I am a one man shop and have a large backload of orders for my productions products. I apologize for not being able to help you with your needs.
Payment Information
You do not have to pre-pay me for your gear at the time you get on the orders list. I don't think it's right to take your money then make you wait months for your gear. Once I am about ready to start crafting your gear, I will email you an invoice for payment. |
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Preferred Payment Options
Personal checks are accepted however I will hold your order before shipping to ensure that funds have cleared in my account. This only applies if I don’t know you or if you are a new customer. Sorry about this policy but these are the times we live in. |
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I do not accept direct credit card payment!
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Shipping
All orders are shipped US Postal Service Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. |
Holster Materials & Maintenance
I only use hand selected, premium grade, full-grain, US grown, vegetable-tanned steer hides, which come from Thoroughbred Leather in Louisville, Kentucky and Wickett & Craig in Curwensville, Pennsylvania. Vegetable tanning involves only non-hazardous organic materials, unlike other methods that use heavy metals. Thoroughbred Leather and Wickett & Craig tan the finest quality leather I have found here in the United States for making gun gear.
For holsters, mag pouches, and other items that require hand bone forming, I use the shoulder area of the hide. The shoulder leather is more pliable and accepts forming much better than the other parts of the hide. For belts, I use the back and butt area of the hide. This area is the strongest part of the hide and is more resistant to stretch than the shoulder.
I only use #346 polyester bonded thread in all my products. Polyester thread does not stretch like nylon. I use bonded polyester because of its strength and resistance to UV light, sweat, chemicals, and rot. Before the final finish is applied, it’s rubbed with a light coat of oil. All of my products are finished with a water based satin acrylic compound to completely seal the leather.
Maintenance
- Do Not submerge or saturate your leather gear in water or any other liquid.
- Do Not dry your leather product with heat from a hair dryer, oven, radiator, direct sunlight, etc. if for some reason you are on an armed swimming operation.
- Do Not use oils such as Neat’s-foot, Mink oil, or any other oil as they will saturate and soften the leather too much. I have oiled and sealed the leather prior to the final finish.
- Do Not leave your leather gear on the dashboard of your car in summer, or leave it otherwise exposed to the elements.
A tight new holster is much preferred over a loose one. If your draw is stiff at first, I recommend you work with it to see if it doesn't loosen up with a bit of use. Anywhere from 30 to 50 presentations will tell you whether the holster will break in on its own or if may need a little assistance. There are many reasons why a holster would be excessively tight, variances in manufacturer’s tolerances, the pistol’s finish, humidity, etc. Not to worry, you can easily remedy an excessively tight holster. Get the 4-mil Zip-lock bag I send the holster in, insert the unloaded gun in the bag, carefully insert the bagged gun all the way into the holster, and allow it to sit overnight. All this is doing is stretching the leather a very slight amount.
Holster Fit
Holster Fit and Weapon Retention
A good holster should retain the pistol during reasonable physical activity. Of course, if a holster would retain the pistol during any activity, it would also prevent drawing. If draw speed were not an important component of the pistol/holster system, the solution would be relatively simple—multiple positive closure devices. When the “utilization at upper performance levels” comes into play, functional clarity and design precision are critical. Experience in practical shooting has shown that absent some special purpose, the unfastening of a retaining device is best avoided. As well as being generally time consuming, retaining straps in many cases interfere with proper firing grip to some degree even when well designed. The fit of the holster therefore is important. In all cases holsters should be precisely fitted to the pistol they are intended to carry and should be used for only that pistol, or a pistol with identical dimensions. The practice of selling holsters marked “Medium Auto” or “Large Revolver” is common but unacceptable if serious use of the holster is intended. A holster which fits many pistols is not likely to fit yours very well. In fact, a new holster should fit like a new pair of shoes. When broken in, it should then be just right. Heavily oiled holsters should also be avoided since the good fit they initially may have will last only a short time, after which they will become soft and pliable. Other traditional retention devices such as thump-snap straps and adjustable tension devices are called for or even required under certain conditions and will be more fully discussed in the model description section.
Holster Balance/Pistol Weight Distribution
Often when a holster style or design is created, the manufacturer proceeds to create conceptually identical patterns for all pistols for which it is made. This practice, while useful for marketing or production simplicity, does not account for important differences in pistols. The exact wearing relationship between pistol, holster, and person is influenced, sometimes significantly, by pistol weight distribution. Consider the simple case of the comparison between semi-auto pistols and revolvers. While a revolver centers its weight in the cylinder area and sometimes forward depending on barrel weight, a semi-auto’s center of balance is often in the grip area with very little weight forward. The effect of this can be seen, for instance, in the notion of making a so-called “high-ride” holster. Particularly in the case of the semi-auto pistol placing the trigger guard any higher than belt level places up to 80% of the weight of the pistol from one to three inches above the belt. The only way to conceal a top heavy holstered pistol of this type is to uncomfortably tighten the belt and even this may not work. In general each design must be made with the individual pistol, not the style or visual look of the holster, as the central factor.
Holster Belt Fit
Consistent presentation of the pistol from the holster demands that holster and belt fit snugly to avoid any wobble or shifting of holster location. It is probably best to purchase both holster and belt from the same maker and to specify belt loop size to match your belt, since there are variations from one maker to the next. The same principle, of course, applies to magazine pouches.
Durability
When you buy good leather gear, you want and expect it to last. How long it will serve you depends on several factors, namely, the quality of design, the work and materials used, the frequency and conditions under which it is used, and the type and degree of care you give it. The truth about leather gear, any leather gear, is that it is not going to last a lifetime, unless it is not used or used very little. It is made of natural materials, not stainless steel. However, it can last many years if it is well made and receives care and maintenance.
I could fill a book attempting to describe all of the design and material choices which must be made. It should suffice to say that factory produced holsters must and do make compromises in their designs. Even if the designer of the mass produced holster has any firearms background, he is usually required to design for one factor that has nothing to do with what the holster’s function—this factor is ease of production. A holster factory is made up primarily of people who have no interest in shooting. They usually are trained on the job with no previous background in leather work. The holster then can be no better than the least skilled people who build it. This is a prime restriction on the functional sophistication of most holsters produced in a factory environment.
The second restriction on quality is that the very best materials are expensive and in some cases hard to obtain in quantity. When a mass produced holster is discounted up to 50% for the dealer, costs have to be cut somewhere to make a profit. The same goes for finishes, hardware, etc.
Belt Size
There are several ways I determine the appropriate belt size to order. Belts CANNOT be exchanged should you get the measurement wrong! Please provide me with your pant waist size or you may measure a belt that fits well: Measure from the hole the belt is usually worn in to the point at which the tongue strikes the buckle – this measurement is the belt size you should order and is the most accurate, but I will also need your pant size.
It is a rule of thumb that your gun belt is 3” larger than your pant size to accommodate the holster and magazine pouch.