More CAS questions... now leather

The Baron

The Baron

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OK. Shotgun.. check. Rifle... check. Pair of pistols... check (2 Pietta 1873'2 en route from Marstar).

Now I need advice on leather. It looks like I'll need a cartridge belt, shotgun shell holders and a couple holsters. After extensive searching, I'm now overwhelmed by the supplier options and hesitant to order anything without some more edgemacation. After reviewing the SASS rulebook, I'm thinking I'll either shoot simply by age category or possible Duelist. I think I want my holsters setup as one strong side and the other weak side angled/cross draw. But I want the flexibility to add a standard holster on my weak side if I decide I'd rather shoot Double Duelist or Gunfighter.

I'd like to keep my whole belt/holster kit under $400-ish if I can, but I know good gear isn't cheap and am willing to pay more for proven quality. I just don't want to buy "wrong" and spend the money twice! I'm open to all advise, comments and tips. But most of all I'll take any info pointing me toward a maker or seller that has been good for you. A Canadian source would be great, if they're out there. And if you make or sell appropriate holsters/belts etc. please do not hesitate to PM me.

Thanks!
 
You ever consider making it yourself? Tandy's Leather will have everything you need including patterns.
You'll need a way of carrying ammo for both long guns too. Pouches or belts.
 
Under 400-ish and good quality might be attainable with a plain russet outfit with no tooling or extras added. The most important tip I can think of for leather outfits is " lined & stitched" belt & holster. Any unlined holster will "pancake" in a very short timeframe. A pancaked holster will result in slowed up holstering and a very distinct possibility of a "dropped gun" DQ sometime in your future. A well made lined holster will hold its shape/original opening after years of use.

Regardless of the form, weather you go with a buscadero or high hip model belt you should be able to have a third style holster built to match at a latter time by most any leather worker if you decide the cross draw isn't your cup of tea. The angle of a cross draw must be monitored closely, if you have much more than minimal angle to the muzzle even a slight bend at the waist will point the muzzle back at anybody behind you. I purposely had my cross draw built with a O angle, it hangs straight down, same as the strong side one. Years ago when I started in the sport cross draw angles weren't paid that much attention ( I've seen some that angled so much that, with the shooter standing straight upright with loaded guns at the firing line, the bore of the gun pointed straight at the belly button of a possy member standing behind), but a more safety conscious attitude (and rightly so) has evolved into a very conscious awareness.

Regarding a shell belt the most common is the traditional belt with pistol/rifle shells in the holster belt and shotshells in a separate belly belt. Recently a lot of new outfits have been showing up with no loops on the pistol belt and both pistol & shotgun loops in a belly belt, 6 shotshells flanked on both sides by 4 pistol rounds. The same effect can be attained on the holster belt as well by placing the buckle at the back and placing the same 4-6-4 loops at the front, between the holsters.
Another twist that I did with my own outfit was to have half the pistol loops fit a .38 round, the other half for .45 as I have a complete set of each and switch back and forth (or mix & match) regularly, without needing two belts.

Again I will stress, above all else...lined & stitched...anything less is a waste of money.
 
Google Laroche Leather. Joe is a good guy to deal with and will make it custom to what you want and under $400. He is in Gatineau and his turn around time is great. I had him make up a rig for me and I think it was 10 days from the time I ordered till it was at my door.
 
What tbooker said, if you want something fairly close and Canadian.
The other option is to Google Cowboy Action Holsters etc. and select something from their offerings, bearing in mind Laroche or any other competent leather worker can copy what they see. ( You may find someone making CAS stuff closer to you. Ask around)
I bought my stuff years ago from Black Hills Leather, out of El Paso, Texas, back when there was not much choice up here and later added a matching knife sheath made by Laroche. You can't tell it's from another maker.
Hope to see you at the matches next season and keep your eyes open on the Grenville Fish and Game club and the Ottawa Valley Marauders websites for the match schedules for next year.
 
Personally I won't touch a cross draw. During many matches you are sometime required to do some action related to the theme of the match ie; bend down stoke the fire, take a box off the wagon, climb off the wagon, etc. That leaves an increased possibility of the firearm coming out of the holster accidentally. This can earn you a match DQ. If you have driven anywhere from 7-27 hours to attend a match, it can be a very expensive lesson. Strong side holsters do minimize that possibility.
 
I, and those in my posse, The Ottawa Valley Marauders, who use cross-draw holsters, have not experienced that problem.
My holsters are deep enough and sized to the model of the revolver they are retaining, even without the hammer strap in place.
The only revolver I ever saw bounce out of a holster happened when a new shooter, was running with an improperly sized holster and I've been shooting CAS since 2002.
 
For a good budget option I can tell you that the $150 double rig sold by Leather Town USA is well worth the money. Four of us have used these rigs for the past 5 years and they are still in fine shape. The holsters are fully lined/double layered as is the belt. So they aren't the cheap single layer rigs that go all floppy after a few months.

You have the option of the snazzy fully tooled rig or a plain rig. These being the double strong sided drop style.

ht tp://leathertownusa.com/gun-holsters-belts/CS-04-Tooled-Leather-Double-Holster

Or you can shop through their single drop side and add a cross draw holster.

If you order from them just list your waist size. I originally ordered larger as they suggested in their measuring instructions only to find that the rigs were already built oversize. I never had to send the oversize rigs back as they sold to others in the group quickly enough. And those folks are still using and enjoying their rigs. So I guess that brings the total of happy users for these rigs up to a half dozen.

Being mass produced they won't have the panache of a custom rig. But at literally 1/4 the cost one can buy a double strong side AND a single strong side with cross draw add on and try out various options and still be ahead of the game.
 
I agree with Cold Lake. A poor fitting/pancaked outfit will be more of a problem weather cross or strong side. If the cross is more of a drop probability then I would suggest the angle is way more pronounced than it should be to prevent backwards fanning of the posse'. Of all the T.O. I've done, every DQ (4 times) I've ever had to hand down was for a dropped "empty" gun with the shooter stabbing the barrel around trying to find the entrance of a collapsed/pancaked strong side holster. I have seen one DQ for dropped loaded gun but never had to call one myself, again from a strong side holster while as Garand says, the shooter was running down the stairs from an elevated gallows prop. I do know a former World Champion that did travel 1500 miles to a championship event that had the misfortune to drop a gun on the first scenario of the match and, there being an exception to every rule I guarantee that his guns fit his holsters and also, if I remember right he used both "strong side pails" at the time.
 
BCRider said:
For a good budget option I can tell you that the $150 double rig sold by Leather Town USA is well worth the money. Four of us have used these rigs for the past 5 years and they are still in fine shape. The holsters are fully lined/double layered as is the belt. So they aren't the cheap single layer rigs that go all floppy after a few months.

You have the option of the snazzy fully tooled rig or a plain rig. These being the double strong sided drop style.

ht tp://leathertownusa.com/gun-holsters-belts/CS-04-Tooled-Leather-Double-Holster

Or you can shop through their single drop side and add a cross draw holster.

If you order from them just list your waist size. I originally ordered larger as they suggested in their measuring instructions only to find that the rigs were already built oversize. I never had to send the oversize rigs back as they sold to others in the group quickly enough. And those folks are still using and enjoying their rigs. So I guess that brings the total of happy users for these rigs up to a half dozen.

Being mass produced they won't have the panache of a custom rig. But at literally 1/4 the cost one can buy a double strong side AND a single strong side with cross draw add on and try out various options and still be ahead of the game.[/QUOTE]

The wife & I very much like our custom rigs, a lot can be said about the custom fit/quality of them over "store bought". However I do keep a couple of the Mexican built outfits around the house for new shooters to borrow just to try the different style options out there.

They would be a very useable option for the budget minded as BC states. The quality is very "safe for use" and will have some value for resale if you want to eventually go "custom". I still have the first holster I bought, a Mexican offering, back in 1973 and it still holds it's shape as when it was new (doesn't fit nearly as well tho).
Click to expand...
 
After tons of research, I ordered a rig from Kirkpatrick Leather in TX. Went with their Long Hunter LH-09 rig, right hand B-Western with a cross-draw. They estimated 4-6 weeks shipping so hopefully I'll have a great Christmas present for myself!
 
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