Cowboy Cowhide

American Handgunner, Annual, 2000 by John Taffin

YOU JUST DON'T CARRY YOUR SIXSHOOTER IN ANY OLD LEATHER RIG. IT'S GOT TO BE PERFECT!

It's possible to tell a lot about a cowboy by the sixgun he chooses. Yet, as important as that is, more personal, and telling, is what's strapped around his waist to carry that personalized sixgun.

Leather relates more about a person than the sixgun it carries. Did a lot of thought go into the rig or was it the first thing grabbed off the shelf at the local gun store? Most shooters that are locked into the 19th century through participation in cowboy action shooting, or those whose mindset simply keeps them in the past, are usually very careful about the leather they choose.

When I first started shooting there wasn't much of a problem in choosing sixgun leather. One could have pretty much anything desired as long as it came from Lawrence, Heiser or S.D. Myers. These old-line companies, however, were soon challenged as new leather pioneers like Arvo Ojala, Andy Anderson and John Bianchi started providing quality leather gear in the 1950s. Today, there are numerous high-quality leather makers, from one-man operations to high-tech factories turning out thousands of rigs each year.

But we're going to only look at one type of leather: Western. These are rigs that carry the single action, peacemaker, hog leg, thumb buster, smokepole-- whatever you choose to call them. These are the wonderful sixguns that came out in the second half of the 19th century and still are deemed the best by a lot of dedicated pistoleros.

Who are the top rig makers for sixguns? These are makers who receive an A for design, workmanship and materials. For further investigation of truly Western leather, I would recommend Packing Iron by Richard Rattenbury for both a history of leather and great photos of truly authentic, original period leather. You may also consider my own book, Action Shooting Cowboy Style, in which I cover more than 40 of the top leather makers.

Bianchi's Gun Leather

John Bianchi was building holsters one at a time about the same time I was getting seriously interested in sixguns. His hobby business soon became big business and Bianchi International has manufactured thousands upon thousands of holsters over the ensuing decades. John sold the business a number of years ago but couldn't stay away from making leather rigs. He's back doing it the same way he started in the 1950s, building custom-leather rigs one at a time.

In the early days, John mainly stitched carry leather for his fellow peace officers. Today, it's Western leather for shootists, history buffs and cowboy shooters. All of John's Western leather features one or two holsters and a belt equipped with a gunfighter buckle patterned after a style used over 100 years ago. John's rigs are semi-authentic with a Hollywood flair. Outfits such as the #103 Buscadero, offered with either one or two holsters, are fully hand tooled with three grades of silver coverage. They look much like rigs worn by our favorite "B" Western movie heroes of the 1940s. John presented one of these outfits to Roy Rogers who said it was the finest rig of its kind and had it placed in the Roy Rogers Museum.

Standard offerings from Bianchi's Frontier Gunleather include John Wayne's favorite rig that's been seen in many Western movies. The #100 Duke's Special comes in several versions: one with a roughout cartridge belt; or a fully lined Mexican Loop holster with cut-away trigger guard area, matched with fully lined cartridge belt known as the #101 Half Breed. The same rig is available with a loop affixed to the back flap rather than the cut in the back flap as on the Mexican style. The latter is offered with or without a full backflap and either in a straight draw or crossdraw slant.

Recently, Bianchi has added more authentically styled rigs to his catalog, including the Model 1881 Gunfighter's Special with one or two Mexican double-loop holsters fully lined, as is all of Bianchi's leather, and mated with a 3" fully lined cartridge belt. The rig looks exactly like one that would have been seen in 1881, the model number. Holsters may be straight drop or crossdraw, plain or border stamped.

Bianchi has also added a Slick Jim that is one of the slickest holsters made. Designed for a cap-and-ball or cartridge-firing single-action sixgun, the Slick Jim is border stamped and made straight draw or crossdraw. Bianchi can also supply levergun scabbards, saddlebags (great for carrying ammunition) and shotgun shell holders.

Black Hills Leather

Black Hills Leather offers Rudy Lozano's complete line of Western rigs. They can be had in authentic frontier style or in more modern movie and TV-styles.

Rudy's rigs are carefully handcrafted with lined holsters and belts made from top-grain vegetable-tanned saddle leather. They have suede or smooth-leather lining. All cartridge belts are 2 1/2" wide. Authentic rigs of the Mexican or Cheyenne-loop style have one or two loops cut from the back flap of the holster or separate pieces wrapped around the holster and secured to the back flap.