By Jim Dickson | Contributing Writer
The military style full flap holster is truly a woodsman’s friend for, like the soldier on the battlefield, his pistol needs protection from the elements and from mud and dirt when he takes a fall and from twigs, leaves, etc. when moving through thick brush..
This is where the full flap holster excels. It keeps the pistol well protected so that it is in good order when it is needed. Make no mistake about it. You can find plenty of sudden needs for a pistol in the backcountry. Whether it is game you want for dinner or defense against man or beast, the pistol is often your lifeline.
Some folks labor under the false belief that the flap holster is somehow slower to use than a civilian holster with a narrow safety snap. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is easy to fumble and miss a civilian narrow safety snap in an emergency but your thumb can’t miss the wide flap. A simple flip of the thumb and the flap is undone and the gun is ready to draw.
If you want to talk about fast draw holsters, no holster is faster than the M1916 holster issued with the M1911 pistol ever since WWI. It even has a spacer in it to push the gun out away from your body for easy grasping. With the tie down thongs engaged it can’t ride up during the draw. Just flip the flap open with your thumb and starting with the little finger begin wrapping your fingers around the grip as you draw the gun out of the holster.
While it can be carried cocked without the safety on depending solely on the grip safety, most people carry it cocked and locked, in which case you wipe the safety off when the gun is halfway between the holster and the target.
This holster was designed with all the lessons learned by the gunfighters of the Old West, which most assuredly was still alive in many places. Heck, the Apache hold outs were still raiding in the 1930’s. For open carry you just can’t beat this rig. It is currently being made to Mil-Specs by El Paso Saddlery.
There’s A Need
The need for a flap holster is not just in inclement weather where freezing rain and snow may freeze up the gun as they turn to ice. There are also falls in mud and dirt that are unavoidable at times. You don’t want to land on an exposed pistol and force sand, mud, and dirt into every crack and crevice of it because a cut away holster left the gun exposed. Just forcing your way through thick brush and tall grass can force a variety of twigs, leaves, seeds, grass, and sticks into an open holster onto your pistol. That is certainly not a desirable outcome.
You will find that a narrow leather strap and snap is a whole lot more likely to come undone and let the gun spill out than the stud going through a hole in the flap of a military holster.
I began making custom knives in my blacksmith shop many years ago and I have put on countless retaining straps with snaps making scabbards for my knives. I am perhaps more aware than most how easily some of these snaps can unsnap when hit wrong.
There is good reason why the military stuck with the older and much more expensive method of closure. Losing your gun can be just as fatal deep in the wilderness as it can on the battlefield. You can tumble down a bank into water or just fall in. A man or a bear can surprise you and knock you down. Your life may well depend on the pistol being still in its holster where you can draw and fire it quick. Statistics show that pistols are more effective than rifles or shotguns in surprise bear attacks because the bear often knocks long guns aside before the man can react. People who carry just a bolt action rifle with the chamber empty “For safety” can generally be found to end up as bear goodies in these situations.
Many civilian holsters have the holster cut away exposing the trigger guard in the mistaken belief that this facilitates a fast draw. This exposes the gun to more water and dirt while holding the gun less securely making the retaining strap more necessary. Well, John Wesley Hardin, the deadliest gunfighter in the old West, had his holsters made with the trigger guard covered by the holster. Wyatt Earp met him in their later years and said that no one could be faster with a gun than Wes.
I live deep in the woods of the North Georgia mountains and I have to be able to draw my .45 in an instant to shoot a coyote that bolts at my approach. We have a lot of bears which I have not had to shoot so far but every day I have to walk through a stand of white pines that Momma Bear uses for her new cub’s nursery each year on my way to my mailbox as I live so far back in the woods that the mailman won’t come this far and the Post Office will only deliver mail to me if my mailbox is a half mile from my property. I have been within 10 feet of her and her cub, and having a pistol that I can draw and fire accurately in a small fraction of a second gets to be real important at these ranges. None of the holsters that I use has the holster cut away for the trigger guard.
A look at some of the flap holsters currently available also shows the history of these designs.
First up is the U.S. Cavalry M1880 holster for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This is currently made by El Paso Saddlery in El Paso Texas. Originally made for carry with the butt forward on the right hand side for a cross draw with the left hand as the right hand was supposed to be holding a saber, I had mine made for right side carry with the butt to the rear and use this holster during the rainy season here in the Appalachian Rain Forest. This design harkens back to the old bucket holsters that almost completely swallowed up the gun leaving very little of the handle sticking out.
A fast draw begins with flipping the flap open with the thumb but you have to be careful to align the fingers as you start wrapping them around the pistol’s grip as you draw the gun as the holster is partially blocking your access. It can be done fast though and the holster does provide good protection to the pistol.
Now we turn to the Luger hardshell holster, the ultimate in protection. This holster completely encases the gun and this protection was vital in the muddy trenches of WWI. Fast draw? Not intended for that. It is even secured with a buckle for utmost security. The Germans would take it out of this holster and place the pistol in a shirt pocket if action seemed close. Their attitude was that the pistol should be in the hand at the start of hostilities and not in its holster necessitating a fast draw. The holster was to carry and protect the gun at all costs. Fast draw was not part of the design. Modern made replicas are available from By The Sword Inc. and one of theirs is shown in the photo.
In WWII the P38 holster allowed for a faster draw at the expense of some protection. After WWII East Germany made some of these holsters for Luger pistols and these can readily be identified by the compartment inside the flap for the Luger loading tool.
My favorite Luger holster is the M1900 U.S. Test holster for the Luger pistol currently made by El Paso Saddlery. This one offers the best possible combination of protection and speed of draw.
The Luger has proved the most accurate military pistol ever made. My Luger has never failed me no matter what. While I don’t fancy the 9MM Luger cartridge for bear I do know of at least two cases where grizzly bears were killed with Luger pistols.
During WWI, the Americans made a flap holster for the M1917 Colt and S&W revolvers that everyone seemed perfectly satisfied with. These holsters are still made by El Paso Saddlery.
The Colt M1903 .32 ACP is a pocket pistol that found favor as a pistol for issue to generals and also to OSS personnel in WWII. The military full flap holster can be easily concealed under a coat as befitting a pocket pistol. Again El Paso Saddlery still makes this and they will stamp whatever service branch insignia that is desired on it.
Some of these holsters can also be made to fit other guns by special order.
Regardless who the manufacturer is, and that includes U.S. WWII army issue holsters in the original wrap, a new holster may sometimes be stiff and difficult to force the pistol into. A simple solution is to lubricate the outside of the gun with Ballistol oil and spray the inside of the holster liberally with Ballistol and also spray the outside. The gun will now go in easily and wearing it for a few days will loosen it up without the need for wet molding the leather to the pistol. Ballistol oil will also make the holster more resistant to water and help prevent cracking and rotting with age.
If the post is too tight going into the hole in the flap to tie the flap down it will usually loosen up fairly quick in use but in extreme cases you can enlarge it very slightly with a leather hole punch tool working from the inside of the flap but first try using the same size hole punched from the inside of the flap as leather punches leave a tapered hole. You can also use a metal drill bit in an electric drill for this.
The military flap holster offers unmatched protection usually without sacrificing speed of draw. It retains the gun more securely than conventional commercial holsters and it makes the best choice for a holster to carry a woodsman’s pistol in.
