I have a nice older shoulder holster by Galco. The snaps on the belt tie down and the holster strap it's self have gotten so loose, the will separate if the wind blows against them.

Anyone got an idea how to tighten them or where to get them replaced?

Might try a shoe cobbler. May be listed under shoe repair. There is still one in my town.

rags

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RIP Shipmate

I think I will try that. Good idea. They work with leather, nit sure about snaps.

I would really like to get the holster strap fixed so it takes two snaps to close it. I never need to be Quick Draw McGraw (for the benfit of those to young to know, he was a cowboy horse.)

Pretty much any leather shop can take care of it with minimum fuss. For that matter, you can do it yourself if you want to. Get a small kit of extra snaps (male/female, and the backing and post work for both). Tandy's would have them, plus a small snap setting tool. That and a hammer and you're in business.

Ahhh but El KABONG.. that is a horse of a different color
and his ever fathful side kick.. BABA LOOEY

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

Are those cartoons still being shown?

I like this suggestion. You'll then have the kit if you ever need to replace another snap sometime. You can drill out the old snaps.

I "tightened" up a snap on a gun belt (a pretty large snap) by putting the round end of a ball peen hammer against the (male) side of the snap and gently tapping with another hammer. This enlarged the part so it fit snugly into the other half. It held for a long time, I out grew the belt before it loosened up again.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I hate to admit this, but I have used lineman pliers to close the snap portion somewhat and that has worked for quite a while. Not pretty if you apply too much pressure and bend it into an oval.

But then I work on electrical outlets with the power on too! Two sets of insulated pliers and I stay out of water.

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NRA Benefactor Member

I've used H Richard's way a few times but instead of tapping the inverted ball peen hammer against the snap with another,,I put the the works in a bench vise (smooth jaws!) and gently squeeze the hammer into the snap with the vise action.

Just a different way of doing it,,but the results are the same and I've gotten excellent results tightening them up this way.
Just don't over do it,,check the fit after just a very small adjustment.

Any Marine outfitter will have spare snaps and snap setting tools for salee. One plus is that generally Marine snaps use stainless steel, so they won't corrode as easily as plated snaps. The only downside is the snap setting pliers sold to the public don't come close to the quality of a professional snap setting plier. However they will work for occasional use, they just won't last nearly as long or be as easy to use.

A few years ago I bought a nice Lawrence holster on fleabay at a very reasonable price because it had a bad snap on the retaining strap. I ordered a kit from Tandy Leather that included male and female fasteners and a little anvil device to flare the stud. I had to drill out the riveted centers of the factory snaps but that only took a few seconds, and it was a snap (no pun intended) to install the replacement.

Upholstery shops or awning shops are another source of snaps. Back in the day when Jeep soft tops were held on with snaps, the snaps could be had at every Jeep repair shop.

If you want to squeeze something without crushing or deforming it, use Vise-Grips instead of lineman's pliers. Turn the adustment screw a little and squeeze--it will stop right where you set the screw.

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Fuego

If all the good advice doesn't do the trick, Id be willing to bet
that Galco would fix you up, too. Nowhere as satisfying as doing it yourself though.
TACC1

Galco will take care of the problem for $160.00 plus shipping. They are quite willing to sell me a new rig.

Actually it would be little less. All I need is a new holster and the tiedowns for both sides. When I say "need" the tiedowns, it really should be "hold ups" since I use them to keep my pants from sagging.

The snap on the holster that hooks to the tiedown is one that is loose. Another on the part of the tie down that snaps to adjustment strap is loose.

The right side tiedowns has a couple snaps that will not stay snapped. I guess the pants is quite a load.

If I did not need the tiedowns, I could use the rig without a problem.