I've gone to an all San Pedro Saddlery rig. This setup was designed after much conferring with "Big Ed" Douglas at San Pedro. The holsters are from the "Territorial Leather" Collection, and ordinarily would be "Budget" holsters, but these are lined with slunk. They're straight drop, about the only thing that works for me with the big, honking Ruger Old Army. The holster lip is rolled so I can reholster on the fly without looking. It's the standard belt (taken up 4 inches at no charge).

Above that is a shotgun belt. It holds 8 rounds in pairs but separated about the right distance for a double. It also holds 12 rounds of .45 Colt. At the loading table I load the rifle with up to 10. That leaves 2 for the occasional load on the clock situation (with one for droppage.) The belt is cut on a reverse bend to help the shot shells angle outward. Yes, the shotgun belt is technically a little high. It should be below your navel. I must have just pulled it up.

The SASS Life Member's badge is on a San Pedro Saddlery badge holster sized to fit my previous (wider) belt.

Here's a closeup of the holster. Practical, realistic, and well-made. Behind it is a custom made double loop scabbard for my Randall Sportsman Bowie. Randall knives and I go way back, so I had one made for CAS. There's a scabbard a lot like this at the Texas Ranger Museum and Hall of Fame.

"Big Ed" at San Pedro is like Dillon Precision. The guarantee is no BS. If you're not happy, he'll make it happy, with a smile, no matter what it takes. There are a lot of good leather shops in CAS. I buy from Big Ed because of his attitude as well as his products. Both are top notch.

You'll need a gunbelt and two pistol holsters and an ammunition carrier for 8 or more shotshells.

The choice in leather gear is overwhelming. There's no way a beginner can make a good choice without help. On the other hand, a bad choice will still hold your pistols and look western. It might not be as fast as someone else's rig, but that won't matter for some time unless you're an IPSC master class shooter just come from IPSC and planning on being World Champion within 2 years.

Real old west characters didn't use TV buscadero rigs with their guns halfway to their knees and their holsters tied down. They used higher riding rigs which would work on horseback and would protect the weapon and keep it from falling out. With the technology of the day that meant holsters which would be unbelievably slow in a modern fast draw contest. Fortunately in the old west they didn't have fast draw contests. Only once did 2 men meet on the street at high noon and the winner, Bill Hickok, spotted the other guy 2 shots before he took careful aim and killed him. The other guy had started shooting at 75 yards. Rumor is Hickok used two hands.

Among the choices to make are whether you want a strong side holster and a cross draw holster or a left and a right. If you use the cross draw you'll have to use (and exaggerate at some places) the little two-step dance they'll teach you at your first match so you don't break the 170° lines when drawing AND REHOLSTERING. If you opt for a left and a right you'll have to switch to your strong hand when you draw. Reholstering, with your weak hand, is easy and quick. You can holster one pistol as you draw the other. You can do this with the crossdraw if you shoot the crossdraw pistol first and shift the fired pistol to your weak hand and holster it while drawing the other pistol.

It's when you reholster that you'll find out if you bought a good set of holsters or not. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO REHOLSTER WITH ONE HAND. If you have to use your other hand to "open up" a collapsed holster, it's a bad thing. It might be a perfectly historically accurate holster, but it's slowing you down in a speed event. More importantly, it's also not good because you have to sweep your weak hand with the muzzle, violating the rule, "Never let the muzzle cover anything you're not willing to destroy." (Jeff Cooper).

Thus we have a quiet movement, unnoted by the gun writers, of a few "gamy" holsters, holsters designed to be quick and still be legal and look right.

The prototype of gamy holsters is the "Idaho John" rig from Kirkpatrick Leather:

This was designed to be within SASS rules but offer both quick drawing and quick reholstering (illustrated at left. John is drawing his strong side pistol with his right hand while reholstering his cross draw pistol with his left hand). Both holsters have a muzzle forward cant to them, even the strong side, meaning the strong side holster could be used as a cross draw. The lip of the holster is stiff and molded rolled outward to facilitate reholstering with one hand. The molded rolled outer lip is hard to find. Most holsters are too soft and don't have it.

Slight rearward and outward angle of the holsters allows for a full grip on the revolver when drawing.

Idaho John used it to win Winter Ranger '99, but he also used pistol sights which turned out to be illegal and weren't caught. At the 2001 Winter Range I saw a lot of copies of that rig and a lot of people checking contestants' sights and a warning at the shooters meeting about them.

I don't recommend starting out with a $500 rig when there are $200 rigs out there. For one thing, the reholstering problem might not ever pop up for you. On the other hand, there are several good holster makers willing to make fancy carved, silver trimmed rigs for a lot more money if you have it to burn.

You're not required to use a historically correct outfit. If you're playing a movie or TV cowboy, you can use a buscadero rig. (For that matter, you can if you're not. Nobody cares.)

Note from the Editor:

CLICK HERE FOR CAS CITY'S OWN QUICK GUIDE TO GUN LEATHER

If you want to make your own leather or want to discuss this topic, visit our Leather Shop Board:

Next: Gun Carts