Jelly Bryce's rig

[rednichols]

resurrected thread

Anything to do with the history of the modern holster interests me; so when this thread was resurrected I looked for more and found this:

The Jerry Campbell collection

The forum link inside that post, can't be accessed by a mere forum member like myself; moderators, is this still a working link with pics, etc.? I'd certainly like to have a look-see . . ..

 

[turnerriver]

Red, go to handejector's profile, find the albums, click on more albums and on page 3 you'll find an album on Jerry Campbell's guns. The link you found is no longer active.
Regards,
turnerriver

 

[keith44spl]

I found another picture from my lost Photobucket account that addresses the holster and how efficient they were. It carried firmly, safely and yet allowed a fast draw. Delf Bryce was a big proponent of holsters that didn't use thongs or straps. These holsters were worn by an FBI agent for 20 years of service.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That style of holster still works as well today,
I also find it secure and quick. I'd imagine Bryce would have approved.

My personal rig and pre-war S&W revolver (an RM converted to .44 Special.)

.

 

[rednichols]

Red, go to handejector's profile, find the albums, click on more albums and on page 3 you'll find an album on Jerry Campbell's guns. The link you found is no longer active.
Regards,
turnerriver

Thanks! I'd have never found it buried in there The pic of Agent Campbell is well-circulated on the web, and seeing the Myres holster from it in this album is rewarding. My Myers catalogues indicates that model - 614 - was introduced by 1938, and we know that Heiser's version was first catalogued that same date; and turnerriver has JEH's letter/p.o. authorising their purchase dated 1935.

 

[vigil617]

It is very difficult to write a book on Delf Bryce. His family and the community (Mt. View) he was raised in and sent his family back to for protection after a close call is very tight lipped to strangers normally and when it come to Delf they take extra precautions. No bibliographer is going to find out much from anyone about him.

The books I've read were rather hard on those that didn't cooperate with the writer and writer didn't take time or make much effort to understand the problems of a federal agent hunted by the enemies he had made and spent his life dealing with the worst society had to offer or what he thought he had to do to protect his family from them.

Nor did the writer look at the what that did to his family and their ambition to live up to his image and not being able to do it as they lacked his background and experience he had growing up in vastly different times.

GC

gcouger, you might be interested in the most recent book based on Delf Bryce's life, which is the first of a trilogy by Bryce expert and former LEO Mike Conti of the Massachusetts State Police.

The series is a novel, but is based on incidents from Bryce's life and Conti's familiarity with issues faced by LEOs who have used their weapons while apprehending criminals. The first book is "Jelly Bryce -- The Legend Begins," and is about Bryce's youth, entry into law enforcement (where he shot and killed an outlaw on his first day on the job), and career in the Oklahoma City Police Department prior to being recruited to the FBI.

Here's a link to a thread about the book from a few months ago in which Mike discussed some of his reasoning behind writing the book as a novel based on historical fact. http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/390433-new-jelly-bryce-book.html

I've corresponded with Mike, and learned that the second installment of the trilogy is complete and being edited, so I hope we'll see it in a few weeks or months from now. He will be continuing to peel away the layers of Mr. Bryce, just as someone who was getting to know him personally would have, and I'm told that this installment will examine more closely the personality and motivations of Mr. Bryce, compared to the picture of him from the first installment, which left Bryce something of a mystery.

By the way, Mike Conti is also a Forum member here.

Sorry for any thread drift, OP; Bryce's gun, gear, and tactics are discussed in his biographies and in Mike's book.

 

[handejector]

Anything to do with the history of the modern holster interests me; so when this thread was resurrected I looked for more and found this:

The Jerry Campbell collection

The forum link inside that post, can't be accessed by a mere forum member like myself; moderators, is this still a working link with pics, etc.? I'd certainly like to have a look-see . . ..

The link you speak of was to an ad that I ran in the Vendor's Forum on this board. Since the ad had run in the Vendor Forum, discussion posts were allowed in the thread.

Once the collection had been sold, I moved the ad to storage. It does have a lot of good data in it, so I dug it up, "sanitized" the ad aspects, and moved it to here-

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...220958-fbi-gun-collection-jerry-campbell.html

Enjoy it!

 

[Bill Bates]

Lee, thanks for posting the link. That Orville Kuhl engraved .357 Magnum sure is one pretty revolver.

 

[rednichols]

The link you speak of was to an ad that I ran in the Vendor's Forum on this board. Since the ad had run in the Vendor Forum, discussion posts were allowed in the thread.

Once the collection had been sold, I moved the ad to storage. It does have a lot of good data in it, so I dug it up, "sanitized" the ad aspects, and moved it to here-

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...220958-fbi-gun-collection-jerry-campbell.html

Enjoy it!

Thanks for that, Lee, I've posted some info on your re-vitalised thread. On a related matter, the thread and the Myers catalogues reminds that, though popular lore has dictated what we think a Threepersons holster is, in reality it's unsettled.

The Campbell holster would generally be considered a Threepersons, being a spare scabbard riding high on the belt with a grip-forward carry and with the front of the trigger guard resting on a welted seam. Myers not only knew Threepersons, and made his holsters -- but the Myers holsters that Sam called Threepersons didn't always fit this notion.

From Myers' 1931 catalogue, the pic at at bottom right is a spare scabbard but the trigger guard hoop is covered:



And later in that catalogue (I understand Sam's first holster catalogue) Myer's shoulder holster is also a Threepersons and doesn't begin to fit the concept:



A holster actually belonging to Tom would seem to fit the description but has a straight drop. The trademark belt loop on the back (not shown here) is typical of a Myers:



And Cambell's holster appears by Myers' 1938 catalogue, which is contemporary to the appearance of Heiser's 457 holster that same year:



Not only did Myers, Heiser, and Crump produce this, but I've only just learned that Colorado Saddlery did, too. Not too surprising given that the latter company was formed by four former Heiser employees, one of whom was Al Kippen. Al went on to have patents of his own while working for Bucheimer, then Smith & Wesson which became Gould & Goodrich.

 

[gcouger]

It is entirely possibly possible Delf Bryce made his own holster. His dad was one of the best leather workers I ever knew. The skills to make a holster were common on the farm when Delf grew up there was still harness and tack to repair.

 

[Jim Kuykendall]

Many of the agents of that era wore holsters made at the Pen in MCAlester, OK. My picture of one inverted carrying a RM is one such item. Inmates were schooled in leather working.

 

[mbok]

Most interesting to find a Bryce thread on here. I was a police reporter in OKC throughout the 1970s and knew an older detective sergeant who had joined the department about 1950 and who had a lot or Bryce stories and legends. I'm also friends to this day with Ron Owens who wrote the book ok Bryce. If I recall Clarence Hurt was another OCPD officer Hoover recruited to the FBI to bring some firepower to the bureau.

 

[slikrickabn]

OK guys, what book or books would you recommend on the life and times of Jelly Bryce? I want to learn more!

slik

 

[les.b]

Well.....since you ask.... (Even though this is a sorta "zombie thread")... I personally recommend our own Mike Conti's trilogy, and the above listed Ron Owens' biography of Delf "Jelly" Bryce.

Mike is a member here, and there are links to his publishing house, called, I think SaberPress? Where you can buy the books, or they are all available on Amazon...just search under his and Ron Owens names, and you should be able to find them without any trouble.

Best Regards, Les

 

[Tadeus67]

Delf A. 'Jelly' Bryce was possibly the fastest gunfighter ever