Anyone here have a firm understanding og Bucheimer holsters?

Ideally, I'd like to find a similar model for my my Model 38 and Colt Detective Special. Of course I'd need two different holsters. However, I've narrowed the playingfield of potential brands to a handful, including Brauer Bros. and Bucheimer. Unfortunately, theyall have a very similar design, and while my gut says it's a Bucheimer, I have yet to find any remotely similar-looking models in brown, which would accent thepistol better than the more common black. At present, there are two pieces of informationI am lacking: the model name and the corresponding product code for a left-handed, 2-inch D-frame (whicha former manager at Bucheimer told me is enough tousher a migraine).Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Samcolt45

samcolt45
Hope this will help. I think I got this off the forum here at some point. As to finding one- check ebay for a good used one to fit whatever you want.

Bucheimer holster chart.jpg

It appears to be one of the spring type crossdraw holsters that were made by Bucheimer, Clark and/or Bucheimer/Clark.



An odd position he's carrying that there.

If you wouldn't mind a black one, robbt has one listed here, a lefty Clark, for 2" snubs (about halfway down the page): Original Grips & Holsters, Frequent Daily Additions,come and visit, buy me a beer

No offense intended here. While it may look "cool" and "nostalgic" that type of holster is not very safe anymore. They leave the trigger and hammer exposed and have the opened side. There are way better designs today! If you want it for the cool & nostalgia I understand, but better to get a more modern rig for serious carry IMHO.

Chief38

Chief I think the OP is trying to complement the look of the Fitz job on the revolver. Which in and of itself isn't the safest way to carry, right?

It's interesting how the mindset has changed from "clear leather and spit lead as quickly as possible" to "safety first" over the past hundred years. Better? Worse? I can't say.

But it is one sexy rig.

I have a copy of "No second place winner" and I too have wondered about the change in mindset from speed to security.

I suppose they both have their pros and cons. There are fewer officers killed with their own guns nowadays, but on the downside, how many officers with high security holsters would have survived their gunfight had they been able to engage that fraction of a second sooner? Those stats aren't able to be calculated.

Similar holsters were being sold in the NY/NJ area in the '70s and "80s , made by JayPee

Yep. That looks like the Bucheimer "semi-shoulder" holsters. Note...the ones I have seen only work with a 1 inch belt!!

Works great for use while driving......

Those with nostaglia for old style holsters should have to wear one for a month or so. I'm old enough to have seen the introduction of the revolutionary thumb break safety strap. Glory Halleluja!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About retention holsters, there was the Speed Safety (clamshell-seen on Adam 12) that depended on a spring loaded hinge to open the holster. [Some folks had great fun sneaking up on users and hitting the release button and running.] There was also a holster made for NJ that had a spring steel tab inside the trigger guard that had to depressed and held down to draw the piece.

I could go on, but many of the old holsters belong in museums or as sterling examples of how far we've come in improving things.

I've been carrying daily, in and out of uniform, since 1968. I've been making holsters since 1972, and have seen quite a few innovations and changes. For what it may be worth, here are my observations.

We very seldom saw holsters with covered trigger guards until about the mid-1980's. This change appears to have been related to introduction of striker-fired semi-autos (particularly the Glock) without external manual safeties, and quite a few accidental and unintentional discharges.

The holsters commonly used for double action revolvers almost all featured completely exposed trigger guards (Threepersons' style, which started the ball rolling in about 1920, followed by others offered by just about every holster maker in the country). The clamshell style holsters, such as used by LAPD and California Highway Patrol back in the 1960's and 1970's, not only had exposed trigger guards, drawing the weapon required putting the trigger finger through the trigger guard to hit the release button.

No one thought anything about it. Modern DA revolvers (S&W, Colt, Ruger, Dan Wesson, and others) typically require around 15 to 20 pounds of pressure on the trigger to cycle the action and fire the weapon, and trigger pressure must be constant throughout the hammer fall otherwise the internal safety block will prevent the hammer from discharging the weapon. You can load a S&W double action revolver, cock the hammer, and strike the trigger with an object sharply, and the hammer will fall on the internal safety without the firing pin reaching the primer at all. When carried normally (not cocked for SA use) in a holster with exposed trigger guard it would be incredibly unlikely for the trigger to be contacted by anything in such a way that discharging the weapon could result, and I have never heard of such an incident happening.

Now, with today's crop of "wonder nines" having striker firing mechanisms and no external mechanical safeties, anything contacting the trigger mechanism and applying about 5 to 6 pounds of pressure is likely to discharge the weapon.

In my opinion, modern (post WW2) double action American made revolvers are relatively safe in just about any holster, whereas holster design is a major consideration with many of today's semi-auto pistols. The move toward requiring covered trigger guards (by law enforcement agencies, public ranges, private ranges, and instructors) has been a matter of applying a single standard to all handguns and holsters, and likely driven by insurance underwriting requirements as well.

Best regards.

Excellent post!

I bought a Dick Special in the mid 60's while still in the military. Retired in 70, and used the Bucheimer Semi Shoulder for carry for many year. The neat thing about it was the ability to unsnap and remove the holster from the carry position, and what was left on the belt was not recognizable as anything to do with the holster.

I gave the gun to youngest son, but the holster got away from me somehow.

I have carried lots of revolvers, and a few 1911's in exposed
trigger guard holsters, and never thought about it. Still have some and use them. Lobo's point is well made, but neither he or I are spring chickens either.

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I watch Dragnet re-runs and see those holsters all the time, and then I think of Robbt's adds. I bought similar ones from him and I think they are neat holsters.

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Stan

I have a Speed Safety holster for my Smith & Wesson Model 37 like that in black except mine has a snap-off safety strap to augment the tension screw. (I don't use the safety strap.) It works on either side since it rides almost vertically. The Bucheimer semi-shoulder holsters could be used with or without the extension piece that raised them up. I keep looking for one for my Model 10-5 but just can't find one I want for the right price.

My duty holster is a thumb-break, and I have an old Bucheimer "Concealer" for my 3 inch Model 13. Otherwise, I'm strictly an "open top" holster guy. I've never had any retention problems, even when rolling in the median after a cager ran me into the curb. (No matter what kind of holster you wear, crashing a motorcycle while carrying will leave bruises, big nasty bruises!)

ECS

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Luke 22:36

Ok, I'm three years or so late to the party. How about this one?

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Not sure what kind of holster would be considered "old style", but maybe a Threepersons would be? I don't have to carry, but 90% of the time I do (especially in winter time), I'm carrying in a Threepersons holster. Nostalgia doesn't even figure into it. It's always seemed very practical to me to have the trigger/trigger guard on revolvers exposed.

For me, some things just don't ever go out of style, period.

I don't see anything all that great about thumb break holsters. I do have one, but have never used it. I reckon it's a case of "to each his own".

For what it's worth: In the real word, bad guys don't die or "fall out" in "a fraction of a second". If you're counting on not being shot because you fired a fraction of a second before the bad guy.........Don't.

Looks to me like there's a leather "thong" on your hammer. I can draw and fire from my thumb break holster in a half second AFTER the buzzer on the timer. Can you do it faster?

Yes. (Kydex).

Insurance, range owners, not to mention competition sanctioning organizations. Most of us old revolver shooters know the old holsters are safe for revolvers, and are most worried about guys showing up with a plastic fantastic in a holster that exposes the trigger, is not formed to the gun (nylon sock) and has the retention strap cut off (for a super fast draw?).
Had to start a new guy with gun in hand at the last IDPA match.
He questioned why I did not have to have a retention strap on my fitted retention Safariland revolver holster (that covered the trigger.)

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Science plus Art

Yessir, that's what it is alright.

That's great! Bet that's somethin' to see for sure.

Nope, I surely can't. One of my many failings, I reckon.

Well, since you dug it up, I'll update: My duty holster is now a Safariland 6280 SLS that is as fast as anything I've used with my S&W 686 before.

Still don't have a problem with old-style holsters. Your rig is sweet!

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Here's one that I picked up from a fellow member some time back. Quite a rig, indeed. Pictured here with my old M&P.

Attached Images

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Oh yeah,

I've worn this 1930's style for several decades...........




Ya can't tell it, but it's a thumb break....
So sumtimes, when old meets new, there's really nothing new under the sun after all.


.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Maybe it's an old Hunter? It has the same squared off bottom.

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I apologize, I mistakenly thought you were the "fraction of a second" poster when it was actually someone else.

Wow! You must be one of those "Top Shot" guys/gals! I never heard a "buzzer" at a gunfight.

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Me neither......jest my heart beatin and the ringin' in my ears


.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Thanks Les.B for "digging" this one up and for the great photo! (That goes for all the other's that posted as well.)

Now I got to go get one of those for my 64 snub and J frames....

I have to confess, when I ran across this thread the other day, and saw "Selleck's holster from Blue Bloods", I had never watched the show. I don't watch much TV, but in addition to satellite TV, I have Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming TV. Well, just tonight I found "Blue Bloods" on Netflix, and watched episode one, season one. It looks like it will be a pretty good series. I like watching shows on this venue, because I can pause, replay, etc.

I will be watching for Selleck's holster and sidearm, since that's what started the thread in the first place.

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Never been in a "gun fight" on the job. My only shooting involved me shooting the bad guy. Although he had a gun, he wasn't able to get any rounds off before I shot him. Another time, bad guy shot at me, from quite a distance, at night, and I didn't get him, although I chased him west between the houses to try.

Don't you practice to draw from a holster and accurately fire for speed or do you rely on clairvoyance or spider sense? Over the years I've found that developing the muscle memory to draw and fire, quickly, EVERY time from the holster is important and personally have found that training with a timer helps, especially after seeing many experienced shooters getting hung up on the draw and doing the same myself at the range. Same goes for reloading from empty to first shot with the timer, and I've been doing that since I carried a 25-5.

Good friend of mine another precinct over walked in on a holdup, while in uniform, at a McDonalds and the bad guy got the drop on him and put a gun to his head, telling him: "Don't pull your sh**". Cop drew and fired a 6" .357, while the bad guy had a gun to his head, and dropped the guy with one shot. That's why I practiced to be as fast as I could from the holster. Not to be on some lame TV show. Try that with a cowboy action rig with a leather thong on the hammer.

In addition, I always qualified like I figured I'd need to fight, with speed being as integral as accuracy, even out to the 15 yard line. If the course of fire called for drawing from the holster, I drew as fast as I could and got the first shot off as fast as I could, from a thumb-break holster, on target. I didn't shoot for "perfect score accuracy" unless there was money on it or was shooting in a competition where numbers counted. So I wouldn't be at the top of the list for score when qualifying, but at each stage of the course, I would typically fire the stage in half the time of the next quickest shooter. And I qualified. Every time. To me, qualifying was training. Not a bullseye course of fire. And that was true whether I was firing pistols or the 870 or M-4.

What little I know
A Brauer Brothers for a J frame



A Brauer Brothers 3" K frame



A Safety Speed for a 4" N frame


The strap detaches. Safety with it on, speed with it off.


A Brauer Brothers for a 5" N frame



A Safety Speed for the 5" N frame


They are obviously made in brown leather, but, they are harder to latch onto. I havethis Clark for an Officer's Model 1911



The old man taught me to shoot with a model 37 Airweight J frame. He had a Brauer Brothers holster just like the one above. They make excellent leather goods.

The black flat sap above is Brauer Brothers. It is tough, quality made, & hurts like hell. I took it away from the guy that hit me with it. When I was done, he was wishin' it was made outta' chocolate.

Ned

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Great looking little holster. It and the gun make a great looking (and probably very functional) combination.

Thanks, Watchdog, That outfit came out of Southern California and supposedly belonged to an investigator in the Los Angeles area. It is a professionally converted Colt Official Police which has had the barrel cut back to 2", and recessed crowned. Action is the smoothest of my Colt revolvers, and it is quite accurate for a snub. Shoots really well. Don't really carry it much, I have lighter and newer guns that I usually carry, but it is still a shooter, and I like it a lot!

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I have this oft posted "LA Lewis Police Spl." holster I bought because I saw an episode of Dragnet & had an M&P that I thought would go good with it.





Kinda' like the OP, I saw a holster on TV and it stuck in my mind.

You fellas have posted up some fine old holsters that are as good as any made today.

GF

I have a feeling that the "Threepersons" holster was designed before the popularity of adjustable sights on revolvers. The rear sight rips the hell out of your jacket when using one of these.

Holsterd have come a long way since...

Or, people have erroneously determined that "adjustable" is always necessary.

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Luke 22:36

The spring style holster worn by Mr. Selleck on Blue Bloods was commonly available from many manufacturers in the past. The only company I know that still makes them is Boston Leather. Theirs is in black, and has a removable safety strap.

The spring style of holster had at least three attachment methods to secure it to the belt. The first is the stitched belt loop. The second is the paddle, which resembled the bottom of a shoe, in the sense that the paddle was a reinforced piece of leather with a leather "heel" at the bottom which "hooked" to the underside of the belt so that the holster did not ride up or come off the belt when the weapon was drawn. The third type is the elevated paddle, also commonly called the "semi-shoulder holster." The third type had a paddle (also called a "hip plate") which went behind the belt and was secured to the belt on each end by leather "keepers" which folded over the top of the belt and snapped at the bottom of the "paddle." The paddle in this third type had a piece of flat steel that protruded a couple of inches out of the top of the paddle, and was backed by a similarly shaped leather tab with, if I recall, the female end of a snap. The back of the holster had a leather receptacle into which the flat steel piece from the belt-mounted paddle was inserted, and this receptacle had the male end of the snap, which engaged the leather tab that backed the steel piece from the belt-mounted paddle. In this manner the holster was at once able to ride very high, which caused the nickname "semi-shoulder holster," and could be easily removed from the belt, leaving the belt paddle with the flat steel piece on the belt while the holster and revolver could be safely stored without having to "administratively handle" the revolver.

It should be noted that almost every maker that made the spring type holster also made the semi-shoulder holster attachment version. Also, it is not widely known that Bucheimer had two versions of the semi-shoulder holster. The first used a spring holster, while the second used a more traditional pouch holster with thumb break safety strap.

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	Bucheimer Semi Shoulder holster with spring holster.jpg (152.5 KB, 77 views)
	Semi Shoulder Holster Hip Plate.jpg (103.8 KB, 65 views)

Don't forget with revolvers...... the cylinder has to revolve......

You don't just pull the trigger on the round under the hammer........so in addition to the weight of the trigger pull you have the holster's drag on the cylinder to overcome......the spring loaded holster put even more tension on the cylinder.

IMHO there are no real safety issues with a holster like the Bianchi 5BH... thumbsnap and exposed trigger...

I want this holster for my 642

Tom Threepersons came up with his holster design around 1920. Revolvers with adjustable sights had been on the scene for years.

Excellent discussion. Lobo - great stuff!

100 years ago and more I'm guessing a lot of holsters had a hammer thong or strap and it was a useful concept. Those kept guns in place whilst riding horses, in buggies, or early autos. Among the earliest "Western" rigs were "Slim Jims" - they originated in the blackpowder era and lasted a long time. Revolvers are totally enclosed and sit deep inside. Some of the rigs back in the day were far from "fast" but let's remember that speed duels in the Old West were exceedingly uncommon. They look great on TV and in the movies, though.

The Tom Threepersons design did allow for a faster draw - that's why I used such holsters for cowboy action shooting. I was never actually fast compared to most folks but I think my draw was fairly close to most shooters. But that's a whole nuthuh smoke - point being that when walking around I routinely used the hammer thong on my holsters.

Over the years there have been a lot of clever designs for carrying handguns, particularly concealed guns. I have an old holster similar to Tom Selleck's - I don't like it. Remember, the prop department and writers and producers are looking for an effect when they put guns on actors playing a particular role- "Commissioner Reagan" is Old School - therefore, so is his holster.

Love this style holster. Wish someone would bring it back.

Tom Selleck is quite knowledgeable about guns and gear. He also demands accuracy in the depiction of guns and gear used by his character. I'm not going to argue the "Old School" portrayal of "Commissioner Reagan;" I am going to say that "the prop department and writers and producers" aren't going to equip Tom Selleck with anything that wouldn't be correct in the hands of his character.

Just sayin'.

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

With DA revolvers, I'm not worried about exposed triggers or hammers with a holster. With my S&W 9 Compact, the trigger is coverered, as well as the safety, as it has a tendency to slip off if not.

Tom Threepersons' original holster was made about 1920 by S.D. Myres Saddlery, well before adjustable sights were frequently seen on revolvers. Threepersons carried a Colt Single Action Army revolver in .45 caliber with 5-1/2" barrel, very few of which were fitted with adjustable sights during that period (although there were a few specially equipped as target revolvers with drift-adjustable rear sights and interchangeable front sight blades). Prior to about the 1960's revolvers with adjustable sights were primarily used for target shooting, and seldom seen in cops' holsters.

One of the many variations on the Threepersons design was the Hank Sloan style holster featuring an extended leather panel forming a shield over the hammer spur and rear sight blade, specifically designed to protect jacket linings from tearing and abrasion. Attached photos show a couple of this style I have made for my personal use, one carved example for the 6" Model 19 and another plain version for the 3" K-frames.

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	old school cool 003.JPG (59.4 KB, 66 views)
	Russet Hank Sloan SWK-3.jpg (60.1 KB, 72 views)

You mean like this?...
I carry the exposed trigger guard with no worries.

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I have a Bucheimer that looks like that (fits my 60) it has the name MARSHAL on it. I got it in a trade back about 1975!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Ok, now you guys have my interest up! I tracked down the photo of Commissioner Reagan, and on the same site where that photo came from, it says that he (played by Tom Selleck) is carrying a "Fitzed" Colt Official Police, that was given to him by his father, who got it from his father, who was also a policeman. Whew. Supposedly in Season one, episode four. Which I haven't watched yet, but if I have enough energy I may give it a shot. Nice thing about Netflix is that you can pick the time and place to watch. I'll report back when we get to the bottom of this mystery. Must be my detective instincts kicking in. If this is an official police, then my outfit above (post #15) May be pretty close. I don't think I could tolerate both an open trigger Gaurd holster and a Fitzed revolver, though, that would really be pushing the envelope!

This is supposedly the Colt carried by Commissioner Regan:

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Update... Just finished watching the episode that the OP seems to have been referring to, season one, episode four "Officer Down". Commissioner Reagan's father comes into the Commissioner's office, and says "Hey, you're carrying my old Fitz Special..." And they confirm that it was originally his grandfathers. I paused the high def picture, and here is a little clearer shot of the holster, including a better view of the triggergaurd, which is clearly cut back. Frankly, As I said earlier, I don't think that that is a particularly wise combination of open triggergaurd and exposed trigger.



I am starting to think I have too much time on my hands....

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