I got this holster that I have been using for a revolver but I got to wondering what it really was for.

It seems to be designed for a purpose as it has a lot of drop from the belt loop to the holster and has the heavy duty brass swivel.
The second puzzler , it seems to have a pouch between the holster and the hanger .If you study the picture of the rear stitching you can see where it is.

No makers mark or military mark of any kind.
Just wondering if this rings a bell with any one.
Thanks for looking.

It looks somewhat like a Victory Revolver Holster
but I'm not sure.

With that swivel, could it be a calvary holster?

Here is a sample photo.
U.S. WWII Victory Holster: U.S.M.C.

586L-Frame

Except for the pouch thingy, its the same holster I was issued 45 years ago. I hated them, had a swivel break, they would slap or pat you when you walked. I used to think our chief thought more of the gun than he did us. Probley protected the gun, but it sure wasnt made to draw in a hurry. I might still have one in the garage I think.

Some cops liked them, as they swivelled to let them sit more comfortably in the car.

Without the flap, the USAF issued many of them for the M-15 .38's.

T-Star

Well, it resembles holsters made by several makers over as many decades. Jay Pee, Greenblatt, Bucheimer, Service MFG. and many others. This style in particular was used in the NYCPD "elite units" like Emergency Service, Marine Units (Harbor) and Mounted Troop back when service revolvers were the order of the day. Yours appears to be for a 4 inch medium frame revolver, Colt or a S&W in all probability. The "pouch" is just coincidental with the design construction, not intentional. Many cops would stick an extra pen or throwaway pocket knife in there and only God knows what else. LOL! Bucheimer's contract Victory holsters were unmarked, natural russet or brown finish, used a brass stud to close the flap and had the wire hanger for attachment to the web belt. Also had a small wire staple at each end of the mainseam, unlike the reproduction USMC Victory shown above by another poster. Here's a photo of an authentic WWII era Victory Revolver Holster.

Yours looks like one of Jay Pee's civilian police designs. It may be very old, my guess is anywhere from 1940's to 1960. Coincidentally, there are many retired NYPD officers in Arizona and the Southwest in general. Which may account for the true origin of your holster. There's probably more retired NYPD personnel spread out over the South and Western US then most folks could ever even imagine.

Edited to add;

I strongly doubt it is a military issue holster. Certainly not a Victory or a cavalry holster, they used Sam Browne brass studs for closure or later the "snap it studs", your type of snap fastener was more often used by civilian police holster makers, not military contractors until probably after or late during the Korean war. After that, some military police holsters were made with snap fastened flaps, but all had the wire hanger for attachment to either the web belt or the shoulder hanger as used by the Army MP's. In the case of the US Cavalry, they too (Model 1912) had the wire hangers for attachment to a swivel type belt hanger and were made for the Colt 1911 .45 ACP service automatic pistol.

Lefty
BELL CHARTER OAK CUSTOM HOLSTERS (607) 783-2483

That seems to nail it and "feels right" for the holster. Thanks flatfoot for the history and design thoughts and feralmerrils comment on slapping is on the head.
That brings me to round two of the question.
I like the holster, but the hanger sucks. Would I be damageing anybodys idea of a collectable to modify this for higher carry?
I hate changing anything old but somettimes parts is parts.
What do you think collectiable /value ? or parts puppy/make it better .

I have or think I have one like you discribe, where it dont hang down, but rides high. I must have filiched it at work many years ago. Now I am almost curious enough to tear the garage apart!

Barney has been looking for his holster.

Feralmerril is leaveing the building!

You don't make any mention of how big it is. I saw one like it years ago that was fitted for a gentleman's pipe. It had a separate case on the outside for picks and such. Possible?

Nope its fullsized. It has held a 4 1/2" official police and a 4 inch K frame.

When I went on the PD in 1973, a lot of the senior guys had similar holsters to that one.

Mostly they were guys who had at some point been in M&M (motorcycle & mounted). I think they were made by Jay Pee.

The guys who were precinct cops had non swivel open top "security" holsters, with the spring action push button through the trigger guard.

We had to use a swivel holster that covered the trigger guard completely, with a plain snap hammer strap.

You could have any .38 special you wanted, as long as it was Colt or S&W, Blued steel, 4" w/ fixed sights.

Well, from a purely sentimental perspective, I would not modify it in any way. It's not particularly valuable but these old time police wheelgun rigs are getting somewhat scarcer at shows and elsewhere, as time goes on. I would speculate that they will appreciate in value in the future but probably not all that much for many years to come. I make this NYPD style rig, a knock off of the original Audley, without the trigger spring device. I crafted so many of these over the years.....well, I made quite a few.


Anyway, you can see that all of these similar styles made by Audley have the drop shank type belt tunnel like yours.


If you like, I'll swap you a new flap holster like this one that rides higher.


4 inch K frame S&W's or Colt OP 4 inch. Let me know.

Cheers!
Lefty
BELL CHARTER OAK CUSTOM HOLSTERS (607) 783-2483

Definitly an old police type holster, the swivel made it more comfortable when sitting in a patrol car as you could swivel it horizontal and as already mentioned here motorycle officers used them too. I have one very much like yours and it holds a k-frame nicely. I have attached a few pics.

Attached Images

	old holster-1.jpg (134.3 KB, 47 views)
	old holster-2.jpg (132.0 KB, 36 views)
	old holster-3.jpg (113.1 KB, 43 views)

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