Rawhide Walt Ostin
Eddie Janis of Peacemaker Specialists introduced me to “Rawhide” Walt Ostin of Custom Gun Leather. Ostin is a sixgunner from Canada who specializes in turning out top-quality leather. Ostin’s Western leather is of three types: Old West, B-Western or TV Cowboy, any of which is fine for most cowboy shooting matches. Most shooters, Ostin said, prefer the authenticity of the Old West style.
Variations of the Mexican Loop-style holster include the Cheyenne, Russell, Montanan, Kansas, Utah, Colorado and Texas. Each area had its custom leather workers who made slight changes in the original design by using one or two loops, wide or slim loops and leaving more or less trigger guard exposed.
I recently traded into an SAA .44 Special that was really special. The finish is nickel with a blued cylinder and barrel, 5 1⁄2″ in length; the grips are heart-stoppin’ gorgeous, made of milky, one-piece ivory. The barrel is inscribed “Colt Frontier Six-Shooter (Bisley Model).”
However, I knew from the serial number that this is a Second Generation SAA manufactured in 1960, while the barrel is a .44-40 from a Colt Bisley Model that has not been made since 1912. Somewhere along the line, this old Colt was probably fitted with a .44 Special cylinder and the Bisley .44-40 barrel. It works fine, because .44-40 barrels from Colt have always been cut the same as their .44 Special barrels. The final result is a great-shootin’, great-lookin’ sixgun.
Such a sixgun needed a great scabbard and belt. A look through Rawhide Walt’s catalog revealed a most attractive Cheyenne loop holster that he calls the Colorado. This single-weight holster and belt are finished with a stamping design that Walt came up with that resembles basketweave. The pattern looks more like connected oval spots.
The belt and holster have both been stamped with this unique design and then accented with border stampings. The holster is finished off with two small conchos at the back edge of the holster loops. It’s attractive and practical leather for cowboy shooting, woods bumming, hunting or whatever.
When I examined the Ostin rig, it brought forth emotions from my childhood, when I watched The Lone Ranger on TV. Clayton Moore used several similar, but slightly different, rigs in his role as the Lone Ranger. (Moore, by the way, was a pretty accomplished sixgun handler.)
The first rig was used by radio Ranger Brace Beemer in his public appearances and then by Moore in the late 1940s; the second carried Moore’s matched .45s from 1950 to 1956; and the final rig was used from 1956 on. All three rigs look identical until examined closely.
Ostin has replicated the third rig, complete with floral carving, black finish and all the silver adornments. The beautiful silver on this rig was custom crafted by Conrad Anderson. These rigs were all fashioned long before the advent of the modern fast-draw sport-rig with its metal lining.
The holsters themselves are of the Mexican Loop style, but the part of the holster designed to house the bottom of the trigger guard has been sewn to the holster itself, so the complete trigger guard rides outside the holster for a faster draw.
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