Tuesday, April 30, 2013

New Leather Gear- El Paso Saddlery Crossdraw and Cartridge Slide

While strolling through the Fun Show  I was surprised to see one of my favorite holster companies, El Paso Saddlery, had a booth.  I stopped just to tell the guy there that I was a customer and I love their leatherwork.

Turns out that the guy at the booth was Robert Taylor, Director of Sales for El Paso Saddlery.  I struck up a nice conversation with him, and mentioned that I had been carrying in one of their rigs for years.

You can tell the age of the photo from the vintage cell phone
I also have a nice crossdraw rig for an S&W 686 with the cartridge belt...  I don't have a good pic of that whole rig, but here is a crop without all the identifying stuff
I use that rig when woods bumming out on the lease.  Carrying that with a full load of cartridges in the loops and the Marlin .357, I'll good for anything.   Why cross draw?  Because I usually have a rifle slung on the other side, and this keeps the wheelgun from banging into the long gun.

I mentioned to Robert that I just bought an SAA clone, and would love to get a holster for that.  Well, we talked for a bit, and he made me a great deal for the holster and a 12 round cartridge slide.

I walked out with a beautiful #44 Outfit crossdraw holster and slide that I was totally not planning on buying.  I am so happy with this purchase.  I had to do a picture for this post, but I was running out of light.  So this is adjusted a bit.


Damn straight.
The craftsmanship of this, and all of my EP Saddlery holsters, is just... perfect.  Beautiful leather, perfect stitching, and that leather SMELL.  If you need a holster, these guys should be on your list.  They have been making holsters since 1889, and they have it down pat.  For concealed carry, the Street Combat holster I have pictured above allows me to carry a freaking N-Frame Smith and Wesson under an untucked polo shirt.  It is a well thought out and useful bit of gear.  They cost money, but they are worth it.

 Oh, and over the weekend, I started the antiquing process on the Pietta SAA clone.  Spent about half an hour with a scotchbrite pad.  Here is the 'before' pic:

Dark, matte black.  Cheap, but not... nice
...and the 'in process' pic

Getting better!
I'll do a couple more treatments like that, and make it look old.

This pic just looked good, had to include it.

7 comments:

  1. How do you like the air lite .45 ACP revolver? I have a serious yen for a moon clip wheel gun, and I've been eyeing one of those for a while.

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    1. Love it! Light and easy to carry, hits hard, and had lightning fast reloads due to the moonclips.

      The 325 was nearly perfect as they shipped it. A,, I had to do was replace the adjustable rear sight with the Cylinder and Slide fixed unit, and it was there.

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    2. Well, poop. You just officially mashed my envy, jealously and covetousness buttons with a sledge hammer. Do you know how hard it is to find a 325pd for anything approaching even an unreasonable price? I've been looking for over a year, and I never seem to find one on sale until after it's sold. Timing is everything.

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    3. You're not going to believe this. Just did a search again on a whim and found a 4" model 325pd listed for sale 12 hours ago. Already sent an email to the guy.

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