I had to re-do my holster slightly to hide the new sight setup I'm using.
I took the opportunity to re-engineer it some. It's still a "universal tilt" design, allowing near-unlimited alteration of the ride height and "tilt angle" - but the overall build is now a lot simpler.
Instead of using kydex strips underneath a leather "skirt" as adjustment points, I now anchor the belt tie-downs on each side right to a thick, tough leather plate. The result is more flexible, hugs closer to the body and is easier to build.
The holes up and down each side of the thick leather "skirt plate" allow the belt connection tie-downs on each side to be placed at whatever height you want at each side. Shown here is the proper settings for a high-ride (VERY high ride) crossdraw setup in front of the left kidney.
The "skirt plate" is sewn at the bottom (line of stitches under the yin-yang decoration) and is anchored on top to a thinner layer of leather via the two conchos. That thinner layer then folds down the inside of the holster's core where it forms a sort of "half liner" behind the stitches that hold the yin-yang on there.
Here's the reverse side:
Because the "core holster" is a very flexible piece of leather, a stiffening wrap around the edges under the triggerguard is used to help solidify that area against the belt tie-down forces.
In these pics the buckled tie-downs are strapped very loosely against the undyed "belt stand-in" shown. In use that buckle is strapped down hard, sucking the rig in close to the body in a typical "pancake holster" fashion - except tighter. That also allows the fairly extreme high-ride crossdraw that is my normal favorite carry location.
One more alternate view:
Re-stringing this setup to alternate mount points is dead simple. The older setup with kydex mount holes sandwitched in leather was a major pain in the butt in comparison:
To give an idea as to the flexibility of the concept, here's the way I normally wear this setup:
...and here's that same holster set up as a lower ride, FBI forward tilt strongside:
The newer setup with the "holes in skirt" concept overall looks better, I think.
The gun is a Ruger New Vaquero in 357Mag with an unconventional sight deliberately hidden from view by this holster. I don't own the copyright to that prototype design.
This holster design is copyrighted by me under a Creative Commons "non-commercial attribution" license. In short, this means you can make your own for free; if you publish pics of what you've done refer back to my work as an inspiration and if you want to make them commercially, hit me up for modest licensing fees. 1.jim.march@gmail.com
I took the opportunity to re-engineer it some. It's still a "universal tilt" design, allowing near-unlimited alteration of the ride height and "tilt angle" - but the overall build is now a lot simpler.
Instead of using kydex strips underneath a leather "skirt" as adjustment points, I now anchor the belt tie-downs on each side right to a thick, tough leather plate. The result is more flexible, hugs closer to the body and is easier to build.
The holes up and down each side of the thick leather "skirt plate" allow the belt connection tie-downs on each side to be placed at whatever height you want at each side. Shown here is the proper settings for a high-ride (VERY high ride) crossdraw setup in front of the left kidney.
The "skirt plate" is sewn at the bottom (line of stitches under the yin-yang decoration) and is anchored on top to a thinner layer of leather via the two conchos. That thinner layer then folds down the inside of the holster's core where it forms a sort of "half liner" behind the stitches that hold the yin-yang on there.
Here's the reverse side:
Because the "core holster" is a very flexible piece of leather, a stiffening wrap around the edges under the triggerguard is used to help solidify that area against the belt tie-down forces.
In these pics the buckled tie-downs are strapped very loosely against the undyed "belt stand-in" shown. In use that buckle is strapped down hard, sucking the rig in close to the body in a typical "pancake holster" fashion - except tighter. That also allows the fairly extreme high-ride crossdraw that is my normal favorite carry location.
One more alternate view:
Re-stringing this setup to alternate mount points is dead simple. The older setup with kydex mount holes sandwitched in leather was a major pain in the butt in comparison:
To give an idea as to the flexibility of the concept, here's the way I normally wear this setup:
...and here's that same holster set up as a lower ride, FBI forward tilt strongside:
The newer setup with the "holes in skirt" concept overall looks better, I think.
The gun is a Ruger New Vaquero in 357Mag with an unconventional sight deliberately hidden from view by this holster. I don't own the copyright to that prototype design.
This holster design is copyrighted by me under a Creative Commons "non-commercial attribution" license. In short, this means you can make your own for free; if you publish pics of what you've done refer back to my work as an inspiration and if you want to make them commercially, hit me up for modest licensing fees. 1.jim.march@gmail.com
