gun papa
11-01-2013, 03:00 AM
I notice, while there are holsters available for the little P380, there are few that I like, and even less that meet the needs of my Wife who will be carrying this little gun.
My Wife doesn't always wear a belt and wanted an IWB rig with a metal spring clip. While I am not a big fan of clip holsters, I want to satisfy the needs of my Wife.
A few days ago I embarked on making my Wife a leather holster. I studied images of leather clip holsters for the P380, and I picked apart the things I did not like, and I wanted to incorporate things that I think were essential to the design.
1. Of the leather clip holsters I have seen online, all of them have a neutral cant. The lack of cant looked like the gun would be difficult to get a hold of quickly. The gun would need a forward cant.
2. Leather thickness. The leather holsters I have seen seem to have thin leather. This can be problematic and sometimes dangerous if the leather flexes near the trigger. Even though a small gun, the holster must use thicker leather.
3. The gun must be quickly accessible. The gun must be easy to draw.
4. The gun must be held tightly in the holster, but be drawn without pulling the holster off of the waistline. A smooth "snap in" fit is a must.
5. Because the gun is so small, the holster must cover and hold as much of the gun as possible, while still being accessible.
I make all of my holsters by hand 100%. I designed this holster to have a decent amount of surface area to hold the holster in place. The rough side of the leather faces outward to add to the effect of the surface area, and so the smooth side of the leather faces inward.
Before the stiffening layer of leather was sewn on, (the layer which holds the spring clip in place), the leather was wet and the leather was tooled to fit the contours of the pistol to give the egg crate effect. This will give the gun the , "snap in" affect.
At this point I am nearly finished. I have a bit more sewing to the stiffner layer, and to the left of the trigger guard as I am not sure where I want to trim this area just yet.
After that, finish trimming, contouring, smoothing, and dying black.
I really do not want to post a picture of the holster in its present condition, but I feel it is my duty to show it, as I am blathering on, and it would not be fair to write this much and not deliver with a photo.
So, Understand the holster IS NOT DONE. It is wet form drying overnight. Needs trimming, sewing and finishing.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gunpapa/d36e18b1-91d1-4c55-ae15-d29e295e0c53_zps64957e0d.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/gunpapa/media/d36e18b1-91d1-4c55-ae15-d29e295e0c53_zps64957e0d.jpg.html)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gunpapa/photobucket-2455-1383292396130_zps1778664c.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/gunpapa/media/photobucket-2455-1383292396130_zps1778664c.jpg.html)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gunpapa/c7232acd-7fd3-404b-af3a-47978392a245_zps7be6d9a6.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/gunpapa/media/c7232acd-7fd3-404b-af3a-47978392a245_zps7be6d9a6.jpg.html)
I will post an update when finished. papa
My Wife doesn't always wear a belt and wanted an IWB rig with a metal spring clip. While I am not a big fan of clip holsters, I want to satisfy the needs of my Wife.
A few days ago I embarked on making my Wife a leather holster. I studied images of leather clip holsters for the P380, and I picked apart the things I did not like, and I wanted to incorporate things that I think were essential to the design.
1. Of the leather clip holsters I have seen online, all of them have a neutral cant. The lack of cant looked like the gun would be difficult to get a hold of quickly. The gun would need a forward cant.
2. Leather thickness. The leather holsters I have seen seem to have thin leather. This can be problematic and sometimes dangerous if the leather flexes near the trigger. Even though a small gun, the holster must use thicker leather.
3. The gun must be quickly accessible. The gun must be easy to draw.
4. The gun must be held tightly in the holster, but be drawn without pulling the holster off of the waistline. A smooth "snap in" fit is a must.
5. Because the gun is so small, the holster must cover and hold as much of the gun as possible, while still being accessible.
I make all of my holsters by hand 100%. I designed this holster to have a decent amount of surface area to hold the holster in place. The rough side of the leather faces outward to add to the effect of the surface area, and so the smooth side of the leather faces inward.
Before the stiffening layer of leather was sewn on, (the layer which holds the spring clip in place), the leather was wet and the leather was tooled to fit the contours of the pistol to give the egg crate effect. This will give the gun the , "snap in" affect.
At this point I am nearly finished. I have a bit more sewing to the stiffner layer, and to the left of the trigger guard as I am not sure where I want to trim this area just yet.
After that, finish trimming, contouring, smoothing, and dying black.
I really do not want to post a picture of the holster in its present condition, but I feel it is my duty to show it, as I am blathering on, and it would not be fair to write this much and not deliver with a photo.
So, Understand the holster IS NOT DONE. It is wet form drying overnight. Needs trimming, sewing and finishing.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gunpapa/d36e18b1-91d1-4c55-ae15-d29e295e0c53_zps64957e0d.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/gunpapa/media/d36e18b1-91d1-4c55-ae15-d29e295e0c53_zps64957e0d.jpg.html)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gunpapa/photobucket-2455-1383292396130_zps1778664c.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/gunpapa/media/photobucket-2455-1383292396130_zps1778664c.jpg.html)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gunpapa/c7232acd-7fd3-404b-af3a-47978392a245_zps7be6d9a6.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/gunpapa/media/c7232acd-7fd3-404b-af3a-47978392a245_zps7be6d9a6.jpg.html)
I will post an update when finished. papa