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Holster features advice


Rusty Parker

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Rusty..

In yer last post you mentioned taking your holsters off between stages..

A lot of folks take their guns out only.. between stages and place them in their gun carts..

They usually leave their holsters on..

It lightens the load a lot when doing posse duty..

 

On my second set.. I did not want bullet loops around the back..

If they ain't filled with bullets they don't look quite right..

And.. If they are full of bullets they look good.. But Again.. Packing around a lot of extra weight ..

A couple of well placed cartridge loops for a fast reload (like replacing a jacked out rifle round) might be handy..

I reload jacked out rounds off my shotgun belt..

 

The suede on the inside keeps you guns where you want them..

They won't ride up or down with fast running movement

 

Rance;)

Thinkin that's about all else I can think of..

 

thanks Rance, I'm going to keep the bullet loops off the belt and have a couple of cartridge reload loops on the shotshell belt.

 

I talked with the holster maker this afternoon and I'm going to go with the more upright holsters but with a bit more tilt out away from the body--hopefully combining the best features of both. I had trouble reholstering the light tan ones with my weakside hand, the toe angle on those are 20 degrees he said. The darker ones are 12 degrees, which he says is a pretty common angle for holsters that he has built. That was much more comfortable for my offhand, and ultimately I couldn't tell much of a difference in the speed of drawing with my shooting hand. He recommended I watch some video of Oklahoma Dee on youtube . . . great shooter! but now I understand the crotch holster discussion better. :lol:

 

I can keep the holsters a bit longer and plan to shoot some with each set this weekend, I'm in his work queue now which is good, and can tweak things until he starts making them.

 

Rusty

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Hi they are only dudes with the equipments funished by the photograph, not actually used on the range. Do they know how to ride???

That's pretty funny right there...irony, I love it.

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Ripsaw speaks truly.

Bob Mernickle is top of the line and so is his work.

When last I spoke with him, he excused himself in a gentlemanly manner as he had to walk his little girl to the school bus.

Any man who cares enough to walk his little girl to the bus stop is the kind of father I respect and admire!

(This was some years ago when he made an absolutely fine gun rig for my beautiful bride!)

As far as recommending what to get ... you've already gotten more and better advice than I could offer ... all I can do is second the notion of Mernickle as the right choice of maker!

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The holster is a left-hand model with gun situated for right hand. Now there is yet another idea to ponder.

Assuming this is a wet plate, the image would be reversed, so the holster would actually be right hand.

 

Best regards,

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If it's not breaking a Wire rule about advertising, can you tell me who is the maker of these holsters? Is there a website with other examples of their work? Thanks.

 

Didn't mean to make a secret of it or anything, and hopefully not violating any rules re advertising (apologies if that's the case), but these are made by Dan Parmenter in Indiana, his web site has lots of photos: Murphy Custom Gunleather . Dan has been great on the phone and in emails back and forth, and I'm looking forward to shooting this season with his holsters.

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I recognized his work from your photos and he also sent me holsters to try. Sent him a knife and had a sheath made to match the rig. He is also a top SKB smith.

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Didn't mean to make a secret of it or anything, and hopefully not violating any rules re advertising (apologies if that's the case), but these are made by Dan Parmenter in Indiana, his web site has lots of photos: Murphy Custom Gunleather . Dan has been great on the phone and in emails back and forth, and I'm looking forward to shooting this season with his holsters.

 

Thought they looked familiar..

Dan made my second set..

He pays attention to what a shooter needs..

 

He had me try on a lot of different holsters..

He asked me a lot of questions and showed me the features of different models he makes..

He finally said here try these.. They were his own personal set..

I tried 'em.. Liked 'em.. Had him make a set like his for me..

 

Rance ;)

Thinkin he's hard to beat. :)

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  • 2 months later...

I am a relatively new shooter making due with available mismatched leather for now.  Before buying a final rig, I am a little confused on what is allowed.  I would shoot in basic cowboy class or 49er.  The only holster restriction that I see in the handbook is that a buscadero rig is not allowed in classic cowboy.  Would it be appropriate for me or do I need to go with the double straight or straight/cross combo?

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I've got a buscadero rig from Bulldog Jackson (Jackson's Western Store, Asheville, SC). I love it ...but the MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE?  Lipstick holster! Wish I had a picture to post!  :wub:

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Another thing to consider is the style of belt you want.  Some people like a belt with tapered ends, but as has been previously mentioned, tapered ends near the buckle limit how far forward you can move your holsters.  This can become a real issue if you decide you would ever like to ad a cross draw holster to your rig.

 

Another belt option is a "Ranger" style belt that is the same all the way around.  This style has billets sewn on to the main belt to hold a buckle and the second billet has the holes.  I would try on both styles of belt and see which on you prefer.

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I used to prefer the Kirtpatrick Long Hunter 09 holsters but got tired of relocating then last year I switched to mernickle gunfighters

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On 1/18/2017 at 11:01 AM, Chili Pepper Pete 11917 said:

Funny about the Picture Wyatt posted, The gun is in backwards, Strange!!!

 

That's the way Wyatt likes it:lol:

On 1/18/2017 at 7:13 AM, Wyatt said:

xt613.jpg

Wyatt!!:o  I thought you gave up them fancy cigars:wacko::ph34r:

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17 hours ago, Canebrake Jake said:

I am a relatively new shooter making due with available mismatched leather for now.  Before buying a final rig, I am a little confused on what is allowed.  I would shoot in basic cowboy class or 49er.  The only holster restriction that I see in the handbook is that a buscadero rig is not allowed in classic cowboy.  Would it be appropriate for me or do I need to go with the double straight or straight/cross combo?

 

In the aged based categories you can use any "legal" holsters. So yes you could use a buscadero rig if you wanted to. Classic Cowboy and B Western have specific requirements for their leather.

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I am sure that most who use the crotch rocket style do so for speed but there is another purpose.  For some of us with arthyrightous  the angle and position of crotch rockets are actually a more comfortable position for the wrist.  I keep any belt tensions (tensioners) loose so that I can easily position the holsters for any task at hand.  I also like to use the cart holsters between shooting, much better when posse work is being performed.  

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Trailrider, the double buckle belt shows up once in a while in the old movies.

 

 

RS1.jpg

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Aside from any "crotch shots", intentional or not...get a real gun  belt! You really cannot tell anything with a regular pants belt. 1800s gun leather is a lot wider and will hold the holsters completely differently. So much so that the feel will also be a heckuva lot different!I chose to go with a Ranger style belt...no loops and left side cross draw. Yes I have to do the dance, but for me it works out with right side straight and under my hand, while left crossdraw is almost a crotch gun. I can fit two fists against my gut between guns...

Poet Jones crossdraw.jpg

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The holster thing reminds me of the original black powder hoorah. There are some who do not believe cowboys should use a cut down, radical cant (legal), speed rig. Then there are those who are looking for the ergonomics of a rig to fit their need for speed.

My heroes are Steve McQueen, James Drury, Peter Brown, Clint Eastwood and even Russell Crowe. The only one in the whole movie who wore a holster that one could actually get a fast draw. Sharon Stone would have hurt herself if she did "hit it hard".

That first shot of the match or the first shot of every stage is an attention getter. I firmly believe that if one has to require his body to "strain" ( as in not ergonomic) in order to draw and get off that shot fast, he is wasting some time. Hunch your shoulder up, break the wrist to the back to get a grip. Bad leather. My favorite is watching cowboys draw with their weak hand and do the transfer for the shooting grip.

 

Edited by Red Cent
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On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 11:10 AM, Rusty Parker said:

Relatively new shooter (one season), I'm getting ready to order some real holsters. One of the well-known holster makers generously sent me a couple of sets to try out, I'm afraid I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to know exactly what I'm looking for, how they should feel, etc. These vary in drop and toe angle and feel like they should ride differently on the hip (I took some photos and can include them if it would help). I could really use some advice thinking through what I need to know about holster design features before I talk with him on the phone again.

 

Thanks in advance!

Rusty

Rusty so glad you started this topic! I am new as in watched one match in the morning a couple months ago. I plan to get a cross draw to add to my holster and belt I inherited from Dad, a basic modern sheriff basket weave, to start and learn what I like. The advice and opinions here are awesome! Thanks all. I'm afraid to comment on the crotch comments.... way too many easy puns there, but appreciate the "crotch shot" photos! :rolleyes:

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:rolleyes: Please delete... WEIRD LAG Sorry!

Edited by Raincrow
Fumble fingered lag and edit
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Please delete... WEIRD LAG Sorry!

Edited by Raincrow
Fumble fingered lag and edit
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8STkJGkl.jpg

 

 

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21 hours ago, Raincrow said:

Rusty so glad you started this topic! I am new as in watched one match in the morning a couple months ago. I plan to get a cross draw to add to my holster and belt I inherited from Dad, a basic modern sheriff basket weave, to start and learn what I like. The advice and opinions here are awesome! Thanks all. I'm afraid to comment on the crotch comments.... way too many easy puns there, but appreciate the "crotch shot" photos! :rolleyes:

 

Didn't realize folks had been posting in this thread again until I got a message about Raincrow's post, sorry about that. I got my holster rig from Dan Parmenter a couple of weeks ago, I'm very pleased with how it all turned out. I haven't shot competitively with it yet, first shoot is this weekend. I'll let folks know how it goes. Here's some pics, probably the last time they'll look this clean.

 

33168908483_65154589f0_z.jpg

 

33168909433_2c5f7b11ca_z.jpg

 

33852070001_44f0fbcc49_z.jpg

 

My thanks again to everyone who helped me think through what I needed in a rig.

 

Rusty

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Just wanted to say that I shot at the first shoot of the season today, and all went well with the new rig. Really glad I got the cartridge loading pouch for the belt, eliminating carrying loading blocks to and from the loading bench. The angles of the holsters seem just about right, I wasn't sure that I was going to see the revolver into the left side well enough when reholstering, but that didn't seem to be a problem today. Managed to shoot my first-ever clean stages, so that's a plus. Very happy with the rig so far.

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