I was under the impression that there were two types of Raider holsters made. When I was much younger, a family friend was in the employ of a US Govt agency involved in SE Asia. He carried both a S&W Model 39 and Ruger blackhawk 357 in both Vietnam and Laos. He carried the Ruger in a open top Berns Martin belt holster with standard rawhide loop to secure the hammer during stressfull activity, but he used the S&W M39 in a Berns Martin Raider holster. I do not remember the Raider as having the same mount as pictured. I distinctly remember it having a belt loop like on the Jordan holster. From looking at the picture and having met Mrs Van Orden just before she closed up the Evaluator's shop.....I am pretty sure that holster may have been done up during the period of time that Evaluator's was doing a lot of work trying to get the Model 39 and 44 adopted by the US back in the 1950's. Designing the holster for us on a GI belt would have been something they would have done to further that goal - thus she would have "designed it". Evaluators also designed sveral other custom holsters made by Berns Martin for military applications, such as pilot shoulder holsters and survival kits for the new Jet age pilots, et al.
I distinctly remember reading a fairly long post on another board related to the S&W model 39's that Evaluator's had received a few of the prototype X serial number Pre39 models for Government testing and they also had several of the steel frame and alloy frame preproduction pistols as late as the 1980's, when the business was closed up before Mrs Van Orden's death. There was a gentleman who was fairly close to Mrs Van Orden, who lived in the N Virginia area, who helped her dispose of some of her excess items and records, since her son was still in the military, and on the west coast at the time.......He has since passed, sadly.
I can check further. The Evaluator's Gunshop and its history is a fairly interesting one, and does rate a book, but most of the records, related pictures and figures are gone to the wind now.
Also, I have some serial numbers of S&W M39's attributed to Evaluators, so if you can PM me the number on the piece pictured, I can let you know if that is one that was sold back in the 1980's that will letter to Evaluators.
