The Fontiersman's Mexican Loop Holster
From the mid-1870's to today, this gunleather form is still the classic Western holster.
Categories: Collecting the West , Photo Gallery
By: Phil Spangenberger 08/01/2008
The style readily lent itself to the newer “buscadero” gunbelts, in which the holster hung from a slot in the cartridge belt, rather than worn slipped over it. After all, where would this celluloid gunslinger pack his six-shooter, if not in his garishly carved and studded buscadero rig?
Although some loop holsters were produced for modern automatic pistols—especially the time-honored Model 1911 semi-auto Government Model and its variations—the western revolver is most associated with this gunleather form. From its early years of packing iron on the frontier through the action-packed Western films of Hollywood to the gun ranges of today’s cowboy action shooters and living history re-enactor, the Mexican Loop holster says “cowboy” in any language. Whether sporting a simple border-tooled design or gussied up beyond the 19th-century frontiersman’s wildest imagination, the Mexican Loop holster remains the classic Western holster.
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