Montie Montana

PM'd you on Lightning... sold to me.. :).

Equal to the cost of a pair of Ruger Vaqueros these days LOL. ~$2000. Not sure if the left Ruger is more valuable than the right one...but :). The good news is that the boots are custom made to my feet...haven't figure out how to make my right handed Ruger work in my left hand though :).

Ya...apparently today, the availability of the sharkskin is different. Also, they said that the quality they get isn't ideal. So we opted for the cowhide.

Some may have seen my article in the July 2024 edition of the Cowboy Chronicle on Montie Montana. Montie's costumes were very flamboyant and distinguished. One of his trademarks were his boots. At EOT in 2023, I made a trip down to Paul Bond boots, the original manufacturer of all of Montie's boots. I asked the folks to try to duplicate his original boot from 1948 that Paul Bond handcrafted himself for Montie. Well, my new boots arrived and are very close. Montie's original boot shown above are sharkskin and don't hold up for the long term so we chose a similar color, but more durable cowhide. The other colors are similar, but the hide colors were difficult to get a perfect match. The design is almost the same. The amazing news is that one of the very same artisans who made Montie's boots made these very same boots. Paul Bond did an amazing job! The stitching and attention to the detail is what Paul Bond is known for and was replicated in these boots.

I used to use the Walkers but got tired of the foam tips getting all grimey and not getting a real good seal. I invested in the Westone custom molded DefendEar® DigitalX (DEDX) electronic ear plugs. I contacted the Product Manager, Jeff Ipson (jeffi@westone.com), and got a significant discount off of the retail price. They are pricey, but man, do they work well. The mold looks like the firm silicone plugs we have all had made while at a match...but theirs are a little harder and have a hole set up to take the electronics. I got the model 3 that has the "game mode" allowing me to easily hear people talking but protect my ears when the guns go off. The volume control is very good and I have it set on the low end. If I want it quieter because I am in a building, I can just turn off the electronics and it does a great job of blocking out the noise. They are really comfortable and pretty much don't feel like anything is in my ear. What is really nice is the electronics is separate from the ear mold. Over time, if your ear changes size, you can just have a new mold made and don't have to bother with replacing the electronics. They use a standard hearing aid battery. They will ask you to visit an audiologist to get ear molds made and you send them to Westone...they make your molds from those sample molds. To learn more, go here: https://westone.com/defendear-digital-features. If you want to reach out to them, tell Jeff that Scott Sweet, fellow cowboy shooter sent you... he has no idea who Montie Montana is :)...maybe you can get a discount too.

Yes..I have one and love it. It works quite well on all the loads I have tried... .38, .45 LC and .45ACP. Sometimes you have to run it a couple of times to get the bullets to come out depending on how tight the crimp is. Be sure it is well mounted. Sure beats hammering away with hammer puller. I have no problem collecting the bad rounds until I have a bunch and then go to the puller and separate them. 2 complaints: 1. It is loud when it drops and for some, that can be annoying; 2. There is a small screw/nut that holds the knob in place when you put it into the press...it will work its way loose and you can lose the screw or nut because it is so small. Keep an eye on it as you use it to ensure it doesn't vanish...I replaced the nut from the factory with a lock nut and helped.