Originally Posted by woodentrout

Thought I'd weigh in from a relative "newbie" standpoint. I've been making holsters for sale now for a less than a decade, but I only make them from actual guns I have in my shop, not blue guns or aluminum guns. I agree with rednichols comments here. The one time I made a holster from a blue gun, the fit did not compare to my other holsters, and I eventually used the blue "training gun" only for that purpose, in classes I taught.
Talking to people about using only "real guns" can be tricky in its own right. I had a lady become increasingly agitated and very offended because she thought I was telling her that her gun of choice wasn't worth calling a "real gun," and she told me of f in no uncertain terms.
And yes, it's expensive to buy guns that you don't personally like, or want to shoot. And I have five Glocks sitting in my gun safe, along with a couple of Rugers that I wouldn't choose to carry. But it means I can make a better holster.
Years ago my wife started checking on who was buying my holsters, what they did for a living. The preponderance of them were LEOs. It was a wake up call for me. When you stop to think your holster may become a factor in a life or death situation, suddenly shelling out the dollars for the real thing to design, build and test the holster on doesn't seem like such a big deal. I've chosen to limit the models I can make holsters for, rather than risk causing damage and injury.
We keeps a list of the guns we tell people we can't build as a target for the next gun to buy.
I can't make a holster for every gun that is made, but have made the choice that the holsters I do make, will work for my customers.
This might not work for everyone, but I sleep pretty good at night.