When you carry an iron sighted handgun. How do you carry for hunting or woods bumin? I experimented a lot & just can't be w/out leather. I ended up w/an El Paso Saddlery 2 1/2" Money belt w/cross draw Austin holster for a Bisley, & strong side Austin (basket weave) for my 357. The nylon is ok for the scoped FA mod 83 chest holster but I've a fondness for a good gunbelt. Now I need to qualify this a bit. More response than I thaught. What about if/when you carry 2? One scoped one not.

I carry anything under 6" in a crossdraw and longer in a strongside. When I have my 6" 475 scoped I carry it in a leather strongside. My leather all came from Reeder and I was told it was made by the same outfit that is or was making holsters for FA and my iron sighted strong side holsters are uncle mikes. I do also have a couple of cowboy rigs I use one for my Vaquero and once in a while I carry my short 475 in the other.

I make my own leather holsters. All of them can be worn either strong side or cross-draw. I usually carry my big bore/big game gun strong side with my Single-Six cross-draw.

Uncle Mikes suprises me Rod. You strike me as a traditionalist. LOL

I carry mine cross draw,going to a stand,in a nylon holster with felt interior.I cut the rear sight section of the holster out for quieter with draw.If I am strolling or "still hunting" I carry it strong side.

Pistol Packaging. I have tried many strong side and crossdraw holsters and this is the one I like the most.

I have to agree with mellonhead, a Pistol Packaging Bandito with leather holster.

yeah but they are made in Oregon so it aint so bad

Strong side - same place I wore 'em everyday during my LE career.
I wear my contender/encores in a bandoleer style.

Well I can't argue w/Oregon. I had a Bandito for a season & it just didn't work for me. Kept snagging the front sight during draw. I also had the chest holster sold by FA. The issue was I did a lot of crawling to get w/in range & it was right there on my chest picking up dirt/snow etc. So I went back to a nylon one that tucks further under my arm. Anybody figure a better way to wear a pack w/one on?

I use a uncle mikes. It works good but the thing I don't like about it if you are sittin the snap on the gun side keeps comming undone. I have a 44 mag rh with iron sights.

For a belt carry I do have an Uncle Mikes on a Wilderness Belt, which can allow for strong side carry or cross draw. I'm having a new holster made by Quite Hyde Holsters for hunting though, as the weight of the 629 does get to the low back at the end of the day of walking.

I took several ideas from different holsters I have seen, and came up with my own. I made this one for my NMSBH .44 w/ 4 5/8 bbl. It is VERY stable due to the wide spacing of the belt loops, even on horse/4-wheeler etc. It rides close and snug to the body, and rides high enough that a denim jacket covers it if I'm stopping off at a store to get a cup of coffee on the way to the field. It has to be the most comfortable rig for a heavy revolver I've ever worn.





Sorry about the size of the pictures. Not sure how to make them smaller.

I didn't have a pistol of my own capable of shooting a deer yet. Just a contender frame. My dad let me use his S&W to hunt. He didn't have a holster for it and I didn't have a holster that fit so I used a chunk of nylon rope tied around the grip. I carried it over my shoulder and figured no one would see me using it so why not. The scary thing is I liked it and I thought it worked great. Does that make me sick and wrong?

Nope. That makes you resourceful and determined and even a bit historical. Men have been carrying pistols at the end of lanyards for about as long as there have been pistols.

briarhopper like that! for hunting i use an old u.s.army l.b.e. with unclemikes and a drop pouch for ammo. i still hunt mostly so have the gun in my hand most of the time anyway

Briarhopper, that's a very nice rig you have...KRal

Briarhopper, I like that holster!

Thats nice work Briarhopper!

Briar...that is VERY nice. I'm going on Monday to gather some holster making materials and your model is very close to what I had planned on making.

Thanks, guys. I've made several holsters in the past, but I had never tried one like this, and had never tried bullet loops. I don't have a machine, so it was a LOT of hand stitching :). But I was pretty pleased with how it turned out in spite of all of my experimenting.