Colt.45 Brown Leather Holster

hangs from the belt not on the belt

It should be a tight fit... try dampening the leather and pushing the pistol in... leave it to dry and it will take the shape of the pistol.

Use the clips at the top of the holster to hang the holster off the belt... so it looks like this:

ahh yes i see

cheers...

what is the Leathery Rope for ? like a laynard or just for show ?

Sorry

Its for tying it to your leg to stop it flopping about... I think... I'm also new to US kit.

I don't really like it so I've coiled mine up as in this photo (3rd from the left):

Ahh iv eventually done it

cheers Yith i ow you one mate

The brown leather is to strap it to your leg and stop it flopping around when running, jumping and jumping through the air whilst firing your pistol...never used mine because it doesn't flop around that much!

if you wet your holster, be prepared for it to take an age to dry, might be better to warm it using a hair dryer.

I couldn't get my 1911 into the holster either - I dropped it in the bath tub wile I was having a bath to give the holster a thorough warm soaking (filled the water with red dye but meh).
Shoved the gun into the holster and did it up then left it on a pile of newspaper for a week. Result was a perfectly moulded holster. A good buffing up with black and clear polish (to age it a bit) and got rid of the leg tie.
BTW, I wouldn't accelerate the leather drying - just let it take it's time. It will need time to dry inside once the gun is removed of course, so let the air in!

It probably won't... but if you're concerned put it in shrink wrap first or something similar.

The slits in the back of the holster actually enable you to put it on the trouser belt, rather than the rigger belt (the trouser belt being much thinner)

The chord can either be used as a leg restraint as mentioned (however you're not supposed to wear the belt as far down as that) the .45 should sit on your hip, not on your thigh. If it is on your hip it wont flap about when you're running. It can also be used as a lanyard.

are the repro holsters any good???

Yeah, mine came from SOF & is great, I abraided it with 600 grade abrasive paper, stained it with indian rosewood wood stain then after letting it dry for a day or 2 put brown boot polish on it, it looks very good,

Steve.D

i got mine from a guy in the us off ebay, its a repro, but the proper colour, proper rivets, everything.and it was 6 quid cheaper than SOF.

should change your name to Froogle Nige hehe

Compared to my original WW1,WW2 and Nam era holsters my biggest gripes of the repros are the colour(easily sorted with some Colron wood dye) and the thickness of the leather which was WAY too thick compared to my originals-or so i thought up to now

Yes,all the repros ive owned in the past have been way thicker than the 3 originals mentioned above but have just bought a hardly used 1963 dated holster made by Bucheimer and its EXACTLY the same thickness as the repros so did they vary from maker to maker or during WW2 there were shortages so would the leather have been thinner or did the repro makers copy one from say a similar one to my 1963 one i wonder??

sorry to resurrect an old thread, but does anyone know where I could get an original (without spending a fortune on e-bay)

thanks,
joss

Try the many militaria fairs that are around, and check out the link to retailers on this very forum: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=229

I just thought I'd mention that on my trip to SoF a couple of weeks ago I bought one of SoF's new .45 holsters. They're not orange any more but are the proper raw leather as they should be.

Thats good to know, i got my nice dark brown cross-draw from Platoon