The "Other Lawman's" great holster design - The Six Gunner

The most famous holster in history dates back to 1920, the #600 Plainclothes series developed by S.D. Myers. The rig came with a number of different finishes; #614 was fully floral carved, for example.

The same design was also made by the George Lawrence Co. as the #120 Keith for single-action sixguns, and the #34 for double-action revolvers. Bianchi has made well over 1 million of them as the slightly modified #1 Lawman. El Paso Saddlery still offers the original design as the #1920 Tom Threepersons.

Tom Threepersons was a Cherokee born in Oklahoma in 1889. Ten years later the family moved to Canada where Tom would eventually become a Royal Canadian Mountie and rodeo rider. When Pancho Villa invaded New Mexico in 1916, Threepersons joined the U.S. Army, and then the El Paso Police Department. El Paso also happened to be the headquarters of S.D. Myers Saddlery.

To the southwest, Lee Trimble was born six years later than Threepersons in Arizona. He would migrate to Texas and wind up as a Texas Ranger in 1918, stationed in the Big Bend District. During the first quarter of the 20th century the border area along Arizona, New Mexico and Texas was not yet quite civilized and gun fights often occurred between lawmen and border smugglers. In 1920 the paths of these two tough border lawmen crossed.

Up to this point, both men carried their Colts in a typical Mexican loop-style holster on a wide, often 4" or more, cartridge belt. This was an extremely practical design when traveling by horseback. However, by 1920 horsepower was gradually replacing horseback. The belt and holster that was comfortable in the saddle was not necessarily so when seated in the front of a Model T. With the coming of the modern era, brush clothes would often be exchanged for a dress suit and lawmen needed a more compact arrangement to carry their sixguns.

Both men, perhaps sitting around a campfire, put their heads and experiences together to come up with what they thought would be a near-perfect holster. Prior to this time, holsters took up a lot of leather with large backflaps and wide straps across the body of the holster. The belt loop was wide enough to accommodate belts carrying rifle cartridges.

For both lawmen less was more, and they both also agreed that the holster should slant muzzle-to-the-rear for speed from leather as well as being able to sit in the front seat of an automobile without the muzzle digging into the seat. Somewhere along the line this came to be known as the FBI slant.

Unlike the Mexican loop-style holster, which covered part of the trigger guard and also often extended in the front area to cover much of the hammer, both men agreed on a design that exposed the entire trigger guard and all the hammer. When a man reached for his sixgun, his hand would go naturally to the grip with the thumb on the hammer and the trigger finger along the trigger guard. Fast, efficient and practical.

Threepersons' design featured no excess leather whatsoever. The backflap of the Mexican loop-style holster is gone and replaced by a piece of trim leather that is folded over and sewn to the back of the holster to provide the actual belt loop. The front of the trigger guard rides on a heavy leather welt sewn along the back.

Although later modifications would offer safety straps or safety thongs, the Threepersons' design called for heavy saddle skirting that was perfectly wet-formed to the outline of the exact sixgun it was to carry.

Trimble deviated only slightly from his friend's idea of a perfect holster. Perhaps he was a little more traditionally minded than Threepersons as he kept a trim version of the backflap that followed the outline of the holster itself, and he also used a modified loop around the holster positioned for a tight fit on whatever width belt was chosen.

Threepersons took his holster idea to the El Paso shop of Tio Sam Myres where it was produced from 1920 until the shop closed its doors, sometime in the late 1970s. Trimble went to the shop of A.W. Brill in Austin, Texas to have his holster design brought to life. If he had also gone to the larger shop of S.D. Myers, his holster might have become as famous as the Threepersons.

Today both designs are offered by El Paso Saddlery, the only such company to my knowledge that offers both. They currently offer Threepersons' original design as the #1920 Threepersons, fully lined, in plain, border stamped, basket stamped, fishscale or floral carving. Modifications available from the original design include safety strap or safety thong, a straight slant or neutral cant and even a crossdraw version.

Trimble's idea lives on in the #1930 Austin and has been very popular with Southwestern lawmen, especially with Texas Rangers. A look at many photographs of Rangers from the middle of the last century reveals how much they liked the Trimble holster. El Paso Saddlery offers the #1930 in the same finishes as the #1920 and with the same options.

Currently, the base price for a plain, fully lined #1920 is $58, while the #1930, which contains more leather and requires more work, is $95. In either case, stamping will add $20 and floral carving will add $60 to the base price.