Jim March
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 7, 1998
- Messages
- 3,021
I'm going to discuss this further over the next few days. Meanwhile there's a couple of pics online that'll start the ball rolling.
Here's a Mad Dog slip sheath for my WSP1, which is an ATAK with an unusual serration pattern hence sheathing issues are identical. It's been drilled for laceholes, wrapped in glove leather and a silver accent added for that "cool art" effect that gets a sheeple's attention before "WEAPON", with any luck.
Next is a gun holster I did just for Knifignugen's Arizona open-carry rules...it holds a J-Frame sized .38 snubby (Charter Arms Undercover, late '70s vintage, damn fine gun) and a Freedom Arms minirevolver in .22Magnum set up for off-hand crossdraw. It's basically two sheats of leather folded over, the J-Frame sits in the inner two and the mini sits between the outer and the three inner; lacing holds two edges (lower and rear) and there's lacing run through the top and one under ahead of "baby's" trigger, and similar laces run through the top three in front of the snub's trigger guard. The two silver conchos are offset so they cover the lacepoints within their diameter, hiding them and decorating the rig at the same time.
The innermost layer has the belt-slot cut into it.
On each hammer, a leather tab with a hole secures the piece into the holster in classic "old west" fashion. What's *not* authentic is that the tabs are sewn to bungie cords hidden between the layers; you can do the "old west draw" where the hammer-tab leather bits are pulled off in prep for a fight, or you can grab the grip and stretch the bungie until the muzzle clears, twist to allow the hammer to clear, and come up. It's unconventional but it's secure and would puzzle an attempted grabber long enough to maybe take counter-measures. The bungie runs down past the top-strap of each gun and anchors to the lacing at the bottom edge.
It worked very well. It's a "civilian only" proposition as it doesn't allow one-handed secure re-holstering but draw is fast if weird and the rig would fit well in a shoulder holster mode in a CCW state.
In any case...homebrew leatherwork (and I'll play with Kydex REAL soon now) should be an essential skill for any serious freak. You'll soon abandon them horrid clips, and if you get a weird blade sans sheath or want to customize carry to your own taste with absolute precision, you're not reliant on others.
Last thing: your draws and weapons handling will happen better with sheaths and holsters you designed and/or built and/or customized yourself. The process of building them and thinking about them helps your "muscle memory" and is worth the equivelent of a decent amount of practice, although that's part of it too!
Jim March
[This message has been edited by Jim March (edited 10-20-98).]
Here's a Mad Dog slip sheath for my WSP1, which is an ATAK with an unusual serration pattern hence sheathing issues are identical. It's been drilled for laceholes, wrapped in glove leather and a silver accent added for that "cool art" effect that gets a sheeple's attention before "WEAPON", with any luck.
Next is a gun holster I did just for Knifignugen's Arizona open-carry rules...it holds a J-Frame sized .38 snubby (Charter Arms Undercover, late '70s vintage, damn fine gun) and a Freedom Arms minirevolver in .22Magnum set up for off-hand crossdraw. It's basically two sheats of leather folded over, the J-Frame sits in the inner two and the mini sits between the outer and the three inner; lacing holds two edges (lower and rear) and there's lacing run through the top and one under ahead of "baby's" trigger, and similar laces run through the top three in front of the snub's trigger guard. The two silver conchos are offset so they cover the lacepoints within their diameter, hiding them and decorating the rig at the same time.
The innermost layer has the belt-slot cut into it.
On each hammer, a leather tab with a hole secures the piece into the holster in classic "old west" fashion. What's *not* authentic is that the tabs are sewn to bungie cords hidden between the layers; you can do the "old west draw" where the hammer-tab leather bits are pulled off in prep for a fight, or you can grab the grip and stretch the bungie until the muzzle clears, twist to allow the hammer to clear, and come up. It's unconventional but it's secure and would puzzle an attempted grabber long enough to maybe take counter-measures. The bungie runs down past the top-strap of each gun and anchors to the lacing at the bottom edge.
It worked very well. It's a "civilian only" proposition as it doesn't allow one-handed secure re-holstering but draw is fast if weird and the rig would fit well in a shoulder holster mode in a CCW state.
In any case...homebrew leatherwork (and I'll play with Kydex REAL soon now) should be an essential skill for any serious freak. You'll soon abandon them horrid clips, and if you get a weird blade sans sheath or want to customize carry to your own taste with absolute precision, you're not reliant on others.
Last thing: your draws and weapons handling will happen better with sheaths and holsters you designed and/or built and/or customized yourself. The process of building them and thinking about them helps your "muscle memory" and is worth the equivelent of a decent amount of practice, although that's part of it too!
Jim March
[This message has been edited by Jim March (edited 10-20-98).]