So... any of our members here have an interest in firearms?

I did a bit of searching online and I think missing it is probably for the best. The reason we support having firearm discussions is that there is a genuine art to gunsmithing that isn’t altogether different from watchmaking and the type of discourse we’re really aiming for is more Ian McCollom from Forgotten Weapons with a cool Walther or competition 1911 than people prepping for the apocalypse.

The direction for the thread should really be “Would gun Jesus think this is cool?” And if so post that 👍

We're dredging up a really old holster in the run-up for the weekend. This holster and revolver have been around here for a long time. Not since 1904 mind you, but probably since the late 1970s when the Fort Worth Gun Show was held in the Round Up Inn. The revolver is the fist Colt revolver I ever acquired and of course I had to hunt a U. S. military issue holster to go with it. Together they cost well under $100 at the time. Of course even "well under a hundred dollars" went a lot farther then.

I was initially disappointed with the holster for I was right handed and wanted it to wear "properly" on the "right" side. Only later did I learn how the holster was properly worn.








My example of this holster is pretty tender and wouldn't stand up to any amount of use at all, perhaps being good enough for a reenactment photo op showing Spanish American War era dress.

The revolver is a military contract variant of the Colt New Navy/New Army model (same gun with different model names), first introduced in 1889, beating out Smith & Wesson on the introduction of the side-swing cylinder by seven years. While the design outwardly appears fairly modern, the innards are primitive in the extreme and prone to get out of order. At least, nearly every one I've ever examined has slop, play in the cylinder, and timing issues. It takes two men and a boy to pull the trigger through its double-action cycle. Single-action sear is harsh. Colt later chambered specially prepared .38 Special chambered commercial variants of this design and gave the world the first target grade Officers' Model. The few of these I've seen were a bit tighter than the usual run of commercial or military contract models of the New Navy/New Army revolver.





This Model 1901 revolver is fairly tight (for what it is) and can be fired with reasonable success. It shoots pretty well with well-fitting bullets and gives low-end .38 Special performance with its 150 grain lead bullet. The revolver received a huge black eye during the Philippine Insurrection because its .38 Long Colt cartridge was woefully short in stopping power. This was not entirely unwarranted as the quoted ballistics were 770 fps yielding about 200 ft. lbs. of energy at the muzzle. To make matters worse, it appears that some contractors who provided ammunition fudged on their contracts and produced substandard ammunition. I have chronograph tested 110 plus year old Frankfort Arsenal military .38 ammunition and it yielded a paltry 650 fps or so.



I'd still rather have a properly loaded .38 Long Colt revolver in good order than a .380 ACP pistol but I'm weird that way. I like the heavier lead bullet.

Photos of cavalry troopers of the period and featuring the Colt .38 and its holster.

Any of y'all who have any vintage holsters feel free to share them here.

More vintage holster dredging today.

1944 Boyt M1916 Holster

Boyt began in 1901 as the Walter Boyt Saddlery Company, making saddles and harness for buggies. The company obtained large contracts to produce leather goods of all kinds for the U. S. Government during World War I. In 1925, the company changed its name to Boyt Harness Company and continued making saddles, harness, and bridles for the farmers and stockmen of America.

Upon the advent of World War II, Boyt again obtained large government contracts and produced leather goods and equipment in support of America's war effort. The mechanization of agriculture in post-war America caused Boyt to refocus on sporting goods, something it still does today.

shopboytharness.com/4588-2/

This Boyt produced M1916 holster dates to 1944.















The props in these photos all support the Boyt M1916 holster by also having been manufactured during 1944. The Springfield Armory-produced M1 shows a barrel date of 6-44. The Remington Rand M1911-A1 has a serial number indicating a very early 1944 production date, and the 38mm stainless steel Omega 30T1 watch's serial number indicates a 1944 production date.

G. K. Schoellkopf Company




The "Jumbo" Brand





Here's another really old holster company, much older than I realized until I researched it. Schoellkoph began making saddles and holsters in Dallas, Texas in 1869. They apparently had a good reputation for quality leather goods though their later products aren't now considered to be in the same category as Heiser, Eubanks, or Lawrence. They registered the "White Elephant" brand which was used until the early years of the 20th century then used the "Jumbo" brand markings for many years afterward. The last markings consisted of an oval with the model number in the center and bordered by the words "Buddy Schoellkopf Prod. Dallas Texas." Shoellkopf became the "Black Sheep" Brand sometime in the 1970s.









This Schoellkopf fell on hard times and this was after I acquired ownership of it, I'm sorry to say. I acquired the 1905 vintage 4 3/4-inch Colt Single Action Army .38-40 that still lives around here in 1982, the year our oldest son was born. Immediately casting about for a cheap holster in which to pack the Colt, I obtained this Schoellkoph from where I do not now recall. It was probably dredged out of some used holster bin in a gun shop or at a gun show and purchased for a very few bucks.





It's not a very good specimen because it was pretty heavily used before I got it and because I use it for totin' the Colt on hikes and hunts on our place. Besides which, I mutilated it. It came to me as a 7 1/2-inch holster and I used it that way with the shorter-barreled Colt Single Action for a while. Determining that the holster needed to be shortened in order to make it handier for my use, I simply took it to a Cleburne, Texas leather shop and had them wack off the excess leather. They fit a steel rivet to close the existing stitched seam.

I didn't know any better. It was just a convenient used holster of a style I preferred to the low-slung "western" styled rigs that most want for carrying the Single Action Army. As "collectors' items," I'd take a proper frontier era holster for the Colt or even a vintage western belt and holster rig, but really this one gives perfect satisfaction the way it positions the revolver on the belt. When wearing the Colt and holster on our place, the retention strap keeps the Colt from falling out during forcing one's way through heavy brush, traversing rocky hillsides, paddling a canoe in the lake, or climbing into tree stands to hunt deer and the Colt has been along through all of that. Though it may "fruit up" or downright horrify stuffy Colt collectors, the now 116 year-old Single Action Army goes afield yet. I'm more careful with it these days than I was years ago when the revolver was "only" in its late 70s, but it still gets the occasional airing when it "needs" it.




This holster bears no maker's marks on the back but only the snaps to identify it as a Schoellkopf product. There is no way to know now if it once had a maker's mark on the back. Only a model number (?) is seen on the back and this photo is provided in case someone could make use of the number.




I haven't been able to determine the age of this holster. There are one or two other Schoellkopf holsters here, both having the "Buddy Schoellkopf" marking. The old-time holster makers each provided their own uniquely fancy decorated snaps in the early decades of the 20th century, the practice seemingly fading by World War II. I suspect this one is pre-war. Like the Heisers, it was made of quality leather, thick and well-tanned. It's still supple (well, as supple as thick leather can be) and perfectly serviceable. The retention strap has the beginning of a crack beside its snap like so many worn holsters' retention straps do yet it is still very solid with no indication that it is weakening further.





This holster is my favorite among several on hand for carrying the Colt Single Action Army. I like the design. I like the height of the revolver on the belt when using this holster. I like the retention strap. It may not look "Old West" but this is of no concern to me. This old Schoellkopf holster will continue its grubby existence, housing an equally grubby old Colt when both are called on for use in the field.

Very VERY nice! I hope you don't mind I shared a few of your shots withy brothers who are also enthused by such artifacts. That holster is beautiful, but I think the actual arms take the cake for me.

Share away. I stuck 'em up here and anyone can see 'em.

Noelekal, I've got to agree with you about holsters. While a lot of the quick draw and western rigs might look cool on a movie screen they tend to not be very practical. I always prefer to use a holster with some kind of retention strap. I open carry much more often when I'm hiking and that strap just adds a nice level of confidence that my gun isn't going to snap a branch or something and come out.

You go kingsrider! American liberty as enshrined in our Constitution is a wonderful thing. May America determine to hold on to liberty.

I kept the same physician for many years, from the day he delivered me to his retirement at 71 years of age. Once when I was in for an appointment I asked him about gunshot wounds and their emergency treatment. After some discussion he made the comment: "Do you know what the most common gunshot wounds I've treated in my career are? Wounds to the right leg or foot. That fast draw craze that was so popular in the late 1950s and 1960s resulted in a number of self inflicted wounds and as most are right handed it was the right leg and foot that sustained the most of the injuries."

I was fairly young. Never really aspired to become a fast draw expert anyway, but that stuck with me. Wouldn't have been sensible for me as I was a double-action revolver aficionado and snatching at a loaded double-action revolver in a holster could be fraught with peril if great care wasn't taken (Bill Jordan aside). Smooth and deliberate is appropriate. Besides which, even though I got my first double-action revolver at 18, a Smith & Wesson Model 10 Heavy Barrel .38 Special, I felt pretty much like a nitwit standing in the bedroom attempting fast draw with an empty revolver and I quickly got over making the effort. One also must consider that it's those "empty guns" that are the most dangerous.

I'm all about legal personal defense and totin' a concealed side arm when appropriate. With all the neato handguns on hand here, some more modern, some more powerful, some with higher ammunition capacity I'm still primarily using that same ol' six-shot Model 10 .38. After 45 years of familiarity I can "hurry things up" readily enough with it if I test myself at the pistol range. It's the one handgun that I can shoot with greatest accuracy at practical handgun distances with the best change of putting bullets on target deliberate or speedily, near or far (quite far actually - we shoot handguns out to 200 yards just for fun on our old home place). I'm not much like this current generation who is mostly concerned with self defense, or else affects to military guns and gear, pretending to be some sort of operator. I'm into firearms and shooting sports primarily as a hobby. Personal defense is a nice side benefit.

Good point...I guess I've gotten rid of all my air guns by now. Probably should pick one up. Much fun for the dollar. Thanks for reminding us!

I'm so pitiful I didn't explore air rifles beyond the childhood Benjamin Model 347 which has soldiered faithfully on since I got it for my birthday in 1968 with only a single tune up sometime in the early 1980s. It long since quit fitting my 6' 3" frame, but I persisted in shooting it until just a couple months ago when I picked up a .177 RWS Diana 350 Magnum like Wryfox's. I finally tired of taking the time to pump the Benjamin its required 12 pumps for maximum performance when I needed it for an "emergency." Emergency meaning the squirrels are at the fruit trees again. We're nursing a crop this season and I'm ready, or will be when I tweak the scope some more.

I find the 350 Magnum to be whisper quiet when compared with the discharge of the ancient Benjamin which sounds like the results of dropping a grand piano out of a second floor window.