Archive for the ‘Holsters’ Category

YouTube videos you might enjoy.

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2023

I have several favorite bookstores.

One of those is Chartwell Booksellers in New York, which I have never visited but have done business with by mail. Chartwell is a bookshop specializing in Winston Churchill books and related items.

They turned 40 on April 11th of this year, and have been celebrating by doing a series of readings. The first one was John Lithgow reading from William Manchester’s The Last Lion.

I thought some folks might get a kick out of the most recent reading: Bryan Cranston reads from Churchill: A Biography by Roy Jenkins.

They are less than halfway through the series (the Cranston video is #19 out of a planned 40), so it might be worth subscribing to their YouTube channel so you can see what comes next.

Here’s something else I thought was interesting. I was tipped off to it by the second edition of Holstory, R.E.D. Nichols and John Witty’s book about the history of holsters in the 20th Century. I’ve written about that book previously (in both editions) so I won’t repeat myself here.

This is legendary holster designer Chic Gaylord’s appearance on “What’s My Line?” on May 1, 1960.

I’ve set the video to start with Mr. Gaylord’s appearance, but it won’t hurt you to watch the whole thing. The guest before him was Gloria Bale, a very cute trapeze artist. (If she was 17 at the time, she’d be 80 today, so there’s a chance she’s still alive. Miss Bale, if you’re out there somewhere, I hope you had a wonderful life.) And the mystery guest is Laurence Harvey.

This is a nice flashback to a time when guns were less demonized then they are today (well, NYC possibly excepted). I really like Dorothy Kilgallen’s “Ooooo, I’d like one of those.” My only complaint is that they don’t show Mr. Gaylord with any of his products, but I’m sure there were practical and legal reasons why they couldn’t do that.

Posted in Books, Guns, History, Holsters | 6 Comments »

Day of the .45, part 2. (Random gun crankery)

Saturday, July 22nd, 2023

Finally. The position of the sun, the condition of the back porch, and all the other things going on in my life lined up, and I can bring you the senses shattering part two of “Day of the .45”.

The same day I picked up my CMP 1911, I also took a second gun off layaway. It was also chambered in .45 ACP, and also has a military background. It had been sitting in layaway purgatory for a few months, and I didn’t take out before then because holidays.

But once the holidays passed, I was free to buy things, and had the last tranche of funds available to take it home. After the jump, more history. And some pictures…

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Posted in 1911, Guns, Holsters, Smith and Wesson | 1 Comment »

Random gun crankery, some filler.

Saturday, April 22nd, 2023

I thought I’d throw up a post real quick, since I’ve been in Waco at the TGCA show the past few days and radio silent.

I thought this was rather neat, and it gave me a chance to tweak the Saturday Movie Group. If you can’t read the tag, this is an original Winchester Model of 1873 “One of One Thousand”. Like you might have seen in “Winchester ’73”. You don’t see many of these in the wild, for a good reason: Winchester didn’t make a whole bunch of them.

(This is a really neat book on the subject. I was lucky to get my copy before prices went out of control, and I absolutely would not recommend paying that price.)

Mauser Model of 1918 Tankgewehr anti-tank single shot rifle chambered in 13X92SR. The photos are with the bolt in and out.

Ammo pouch that comes with the gun, along with about 22 rounds of ammo.

This is what one of the rounds looks like. I should have included something for scale, but I didn’t have anything handy and didn’t want to impose on the seller.

If you’re interested, this is going to be in an upcoming Poulin Auction: the pre-sale estimate is $12,000 to $18,000.

And it is classified by BATFE as a “curio and relic”, so it is exempt from registration (and the tax stamp) as a “destructive device”.

I’ve been holding off on book posting until I get other stuff done, but I did want to post this for two reasons:

Vintage catalog from holster maker S.D. Myres Saddle Company, Inc. Judging by the postmark and price list inside, I believe this dates from around 1966.

The first reason for posting this is for great and good FotB (and El Paso native) RoadRich. Apple Maps seems to show 5018 Alameda as being a Family Dollar store, but I can’t tell what (if anything) is at 5030 Alameda. One of these days, I’d like to go back to El Paso and spend a few days there…

The second reason for posting this is: this was actually a kind and generous gift from my good friend David Carroll, purveyor of fine firearms to a grateful nation. If you are so inclined, why not wander over to his website, or check out his auctions on GunBroker?

Posted in Endorsements, Guns, Holsters | 4 Comments »

Preview of coming attractions. (Random gun crankery.)

Sunday, January 8th, 2023

Saturday did turn out to be The Day of the .45. Didn’t plan it that way, it just worked out.

Posts on both guns to come as soon as the cedar stops trying to kill me and I can get some better photos. But that’s 100+ years of history right there.

What was it some jerk said a while back?

Posted in 1911, Guns, History, Holsters, Smith and Wesson | 3 Comments »

Hoplobibliophilia 18, Cowboys 13.

Wednesday, September 28th, 2022

Continuing my attempt to clean out the backlog…

I don’t think I buy a lot of new expensive gun books. I haven’t bought any of Ian’s, for example: while I am sort of interested in bullpups, French military rifles, and guns of the Chinese warlords, I look at Ian’s prices and say, “I’m not that interested.”

Paying $100+ for a book still gives me the leaping fantods. It has to be something I’m really interested in: either for collector value (like the Samworths) or on a topic I’m interested in (the history of sniping, for example).

So these two represent a departure from my norm. He says that while he considers paying $300 for another book. But in the meantime…

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Posted in Books, Guns, Holsters, Hoplobibilophilia | 2 Comments »

The struggle continues.

Saturday, September 10th, 2022

For those of you who are people of the gun, and especially those interested in holsters:

My fellow book collecting friend in the Association just tipped me off to the fact that there’s a second edition of Holstory. I wrote about the fist edition here: according to the website, the second edition adds three new chapters.

I really enjoyed the first edition (which I read cover to cover as soon as I could after that post), and have no qualms about recommending that you order the second edition if you didn’t order the first. I’ve already ordered my personal copy. (And no, I do not get any kickbacks or free books from the authors: I just happen to think this is a swell book.)

Posted in Books, Endorsements, Guns, Holsters, Hoplobibilophilia | Comments Closed

Noteworthy.

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022

I don’t listen to any gun related podcasts on a regular basis these days for reasons. However, I do go out of my way to listen to individual episodes of podcasts if someone brings them to my attention and if I think they’re worthwhile.

In this case, Mike the Musicologist brought to my attention the latest episode of the Texas State Rifle Association’s “2A Ricochet” podcast. This episode features FotB and official trainer to WCD, Karl Rehn.

You can go here for the podcast, or search for it in your favorite podcast client. Or you can watch it on YouTube. Or you can watch it here:

This is about 55 minutes long, and is part one of two. I have listened to all of it, and think it is worth your time if you carry.

Posted in Guns, Holsters | Comments Closed

Bagatelle (#38 (?) in a series).

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021

Flashback:

So I was at my local gun shop over the weekend…and they actually had a C96 in the display case for sale. I kid you not: it was the first one I’ve ever seen in the wild.

It even came with the “holster”. Really. That’s what they said. They were very careful about not calling it a “shoulder stock”. It was a “holster”. (They were also very clear that: once you got it home, what you did with the “holster” was your own damn business.)

The previous owner had even thrown in a box of ammo and some empty brass. The whole kit looked to be in pretty good shape (though I believe the clerk said the hammer had been replaced with a later period hammer, so it wasn’t quite all matching).

They were (are?) asking a mere $1,800 for it. Which is more than I’m willing to shell out right now. But if a Broomhandle Mauser is your cup of tea for a carry gun, feel free to drop me a line privately and I’ll hook you up with the shop.

Edited to add 6/24: Fun fact, which I just had the chance to research today. While a pistol with a shoulder stock is technically considered a short barrelled rifle (SBR) and falls under the National Firearms Act of 1934 regulations, there are certain specific items – “such as original semiautomatic Mauser “Broomhandles” and Lugers” – that are considered “collectors’ items” and are not subject to the NFA.

You can find the complete lists here, if you are that curious.

Posted in Bagatelle, Guns, Holsters | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 421

Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

The penultimate entry seems like a good time for some randomness.

Let’s start with a final entry from the AT&T Archives: “Telezonia”.

It’s also plainly one of the most psychedelic in the AT&T catalog. How to grab kid’s attentions in the middle of the 1970s? If you thought you could learn about dialing and using the phone book from talking foam letters, numbers, and a guy in a skirt, you came to the right place. It starts off like a typical short film cautionary tale, but once they take a trip inside the telephone, things go terribly weird. This film is a cult classic.

Lawrence, this is for you:

Robert Towers, who plays the halfway-creepy guide “Telly”, has had an illustrious — if bizarre — career, including being inside the Snorky costume on the Banana Splits, as one of the Benjamin Buttons in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and the singing voice of Snoopy in the TV version of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Though for much of his career he did voices for animation, in the 2000s, he has done more acting in television comedies.

The weird starts about two minutes in.

Bonus #1: As long as we’re talking about “psychedelic”: “Narcotics: Pit of Despair”.

This 1967 color film dramatizes the dangers of casual drug use by telling the story of a young student who tries marijuana at a party and later becomes addicted to heroin.

Bonus #2: Couldn’t get away without one more bit of random gun crankery. This is part of an episode of “Wild West Tech” (an old History Channel show) talking about holsters.

Posted in Guns, History, Holsters | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 112

Monday, July 20th, 2020

I’ve written previously about my interest in holsters and gunleather.

From time to time, more so recently, I find myself thinking about trying to make some of my own holsters. I did some leatherwork in school “shop” classes (for values of “leatherwork” that include “putting together a purchased kit from Tandy”). And you can still get several books on making holsters through Amazon.

Part of it is the appeal of carrying and using something that you made yourself, that’s customized to your needs and wants. I wouldn’t plan on going into competition with anyone: I’d be doing these as projects for myself. I figure it’d take me five to ten years (depending on how many holsters I made) to get to the point where I’d be happy with someone else using something I made, and probably another five to ten years after that before I became comfortable asking for money.

And it doesn’t seem like leatherwork takes a lot of space. Except maybe when you start purchasing machinery for stitching.

All I need to do is find the time. As the late John D. MacDonald once said, “A man will think a lot of stupid things when he can’t sleep at night.”

From Adams Leatherworks (a good Texas company), making a pancake holster with thumb break for a Commander sized 1911. Interestingly, they also sell patterns. I love the origin story on their “about” page: these sound like interesting people who maybe deserve some of my money the next time I want a custom holster.

Bonus video #1: “Making a Leather Cowboy Action Fast Draw Holster and Belt”. This guy actually sort of vaguely reminds me of one of my cow-orkers. (Not because he makes holsters: the two just bear a general resemblance.)

Bonus video #2: from Agar France, making a 1880’s Mexican Loop holster.

Posted in 1911, Guns, Holsters | Comments Closed

Bibilohoplophilia.

Sunday, March 17th, 2019

Or is it hoplobibilophilia? What do you call it when you have a fondness for gun books?

Whatever it is, I have the fever. And the only cure is…more cowbell, er, buying more books. Now it’s your turn to suffer for my -phila.

Seriously, I’ve picked up a couple of books lately that I want to endorse and document Lawrence style. (Please do not confuse “Lawrence style” with “Gangnam style“.) Half-Price Books has been having another coupon sale, but the first two books here I actually ordered new from the publishers.

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Posted in Books, Endorsements, Guns, Holsters, Hoplobibilophilia | Comments Closed