I’ve been watching a lot of Western movies lately to energize my Cowboy Vibe for diving back into writing “Silvershot”. For giggles I watched Last Man Standing, with Bruce Willis. This is a movie I’ve only watched once or twice before, a long time ago. After careful consideration, I have to say that it’s one of my favorite Westerns.
I’m not sure what shoulder rig Bruce Willis used, but it looked great. I’m kinda strange that way… checking out the holsters and other gear in the movie instead of just the cool guns and hot chicks. This movie though, it’s hard to look past the stars of the show – Bruce’s twin Government Models. It makes me want to acquire a second Springfield GI and a shoulder rig.
Well, maybe not. But I am going to be ordering a custom shoulder rig from Adams Holsters. I really love his leatherwork and his shoulder rig design looks like it just might give Galco’s Miami Classic a good run for it’s money. I’ve been well pleased with my holsters from Adams Holsters. Lucas Adams does fantastic work Now, his lead times on his stuff is a little long… Understand though that he makes everything by himself, one at a time, by hand. You can’t get that.
I was recently sent another holster from another small leather operation run by a friend of mine. He made me a simple rig for my ATI Commander. I’ve be reviewing it later, but in case he’s reading – I am enjoying the holster. Thank you.
With such talented people around the country, making holsters by hand often for the price of a big name company’s production holsters… Why would you buy something Mass Market? You could have something unique and wonderful. Nice guns need nice leather, simple as that. And while we might not be able to afford all the nice custom guns we want… we can certainly afford some custom leather.
Last Man Standing was pretty good. It is actually a remake of the Japanese movie Yojimbo. Yojimbo was also the model for the classic Clint Eastwood movie A Fistful of Dollars. If you ever get a chance to catch it, it is worth the trouble. It was made by Akira Kurosawa, who also did The Seven Samurai, which was the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven.
Great Movie Seven Samurai. Still haven’t seen Yojimbo. Will have to watch soon.
Watching Yojimbo right now… streaming it from Netflix through the Wii, wirelessly to my plasma TV.
The Seven Samurai was a better film in my opinion.
I’m glad to see you’re working on Silvershot again. I like the story so far; that and Rob, which was fun as well.
I would suggest you consider the Bianchi line of vertical shoulder holsters. I have one of his original X-15 models for my 6″ M-27 and it has done the job quite nicely for the past 30 years or so – to the point of having to replace the elastic strap once, heh, heh.
Open Range is a favorite of mine. The director got a little carried away with people getting blown backwards when they are shot, but the underlying story is good and the gun work is not too far off the mark. Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven is also quite good.
Also check out Appaloosa. It’s excellent.
Agreed. Appaloosa is, IMO, one of the best Westerns of all time. And it sports one heck of a cast too: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, and Renée Zellweger all on screen together. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Yeah, I like last man standing also. Love the twin GI 45s. I have to agree though that the first thing I think of is how unrealistic that first guy getting shot is. I still remember that mythbusters episode where they totally busted this one. They shot at the suspended pig with everything include a shotgun and it barely moved…
Yeah, but it’s COOL. Action movies have to be COOL.
A lot of folks will drop a grand on a new pistol without batting an eye, and then grumble at spending $50 on a holster.
…..and then there are those who’ll buy a $1000 pistol and a $80 holster, and put them on a $10 K-Mart belt…..
I have long talks with people who are “gun shopping”.
Its amazing how many people do not take ammo, holster, belt, and magazine costs into consideration.
Guy I know bought a DW Razorback 10mm.
After the purchase, had a fit over ammo and magazine costs.
Never got around to getting a good holster for it, because it cost too much to shoot.
Many people buy a .45 and dont practice with it like they need to because of the ammo costs.
the general population doesnt realize that the cost of ammo you put thru your firearm should far exceed the purchase price on it.
Long ago I realized that the lead flinger was the cheap part of the equation.
Jim
“With such talented people around the country, making holsters by hand often for the price of a big name company’s production holsters… Why would you buy something Mass Market? You could have something unique and wonderful. Nice guns need nice leather, simple as that. And while we might not be able to afford all the nice custom guns we want… we can certainly afford some custom leather.”
I often buy a “mass market” holster because I need a holster in a few days or now, not three or four months down the line.
If demand for quality small shop holsters is high enough to cause a 3-4 month backlog, the price should go up. Say you have a holster that is listed for $70 base with a 12 week backlog. I won’t buy it, I’m not waiting that long. Price that holster at $125 (or $150) with great reviews and drop the wait time to 2-3 weeks and I’ll think nothing of paying the price.
See, I’m not just going to hang out with my new shooter for a few months and be unable to carry it. That $125 holster with the 2-3 week wait would be an equal or better deal than the $70 holster with a 3 month wait from a purely financial standpoint, because while I’m waiting three fricking months I guarantee I would have bought a mass market holster for $50-60 so I could actually train with and carry my gun in the meantime. Net cost, $120-130 for holsters, and having two isn’t an advantage because I can only use them one at a time. I’ll wait a couple weeks on a holster because I want to do load development and reliability testing anyway before I start carrying something new, but much beyond 3 weeks is a major no go. A gun without a holster is worthless to me.
Maybe most people don’t think that way, I don’t know, but that’s why I don’t buy from small shops with long waits.
Well I don’t disagree with where your coming from there dstocum but I do think it’s a little too simple of way to look at holster pricing. The only reason I say that is that I don’t want to exclude guys who really can’t throw down bigger dollars on a holster. Often I’ve found that time is money, and the same relationship sometimes holds true for waiting. For instance if you want a good deal on a truck/car you have to wait till one comes around. While holsters aren’t the same kind of thing, sometimes the holster maker doesn’t want to raise their pricing and exclude guys who are struggling and can’t afford it. I’ve been in that position myself allot of times and maybe that’s why I haven’t raised my pricing, I’m going to have to eventually to account for the price increase in materials. Either way just wanted to make the note that myself as a holster maker would love to have a couple week lead time and be selling at $125 but I’m not sure all my customers would agree with the pricing and I really do value their business and friendship, and in the end I want to try and do what I think is best for them.
Just my 2 cents.
Take care!
Luke
dstocum, there are also fairly new holstermakers around, who don’t charge an arm and a leg, and who don’t yet have such a following that they can’t keep up with demand.
You can get a good, basic, handmade holster – no tooling – for somewhere in the vicinity of $50, and you can have it within a week or two.
…..and the best part is that you can have it custom-made, to fit YOU, not just your gun. But that requires some communication.
The trade-off is that it won’t be quite as “polished”. Because those makers will be cutting, grooving, stitching, and burnishing their holsters with hand tools for the most part.
While it’s still mainly a hobby, some of them will be more than happy to let a few customers keep them in leather, dye, and thread. LoL
And Yojimbo was based on the American novel, Red Harvest.
And yeah, 7 Samurai is better, but it is one of the best movies ever made, so that’s not really fair. 🙂
I enjoyed Last Man Standing. Bruce Willis plus 1911’s. What’s not to love?
And those hi-cap .45’s were awesome! 😉