I recently got this holster. It appears to be a very high quality and wet molded holster for a 6 inch S&W N Frame. The holster is made by Shado and is marked "Shado made in South Africa" and then "6 inch N frame". There is no mention of this holster in any current catalog. I did a little research and I think it's from the late 1970's, early 1980's and made from cape buffalo hide. It looks like it's made for a full lug gun.

My question is that it has a sliding adjustable groove on rear made for a female snap to adjust for holster hammer tension. The female snap is missing. I emailed the current Shado holster company, but no answer yet.

What would be a cost effective way to fix this holster? It is one of the most quality N frame holsters I have seen, so I'd like to have it fixed if possible.

I have $35 in it as it sits.

Interesting, I've never seen one where the snap slides.
Do you know any leatherworkers in your area? Any Tandy leather stores? Maybe even a shoe repair place?
Looks like you just need the female half of the snap replaced.
I wonder if it was made that way so it could be used with different guns. The snap would have to be some what loose to slide and that don't seem like a good idea to me but what do I know.
Find someone to replace the snap or cut the holster so it no longer has the snap. Dye the edges where you cut the leather and use it without the snap. With that much barrel and the cylinder in the holster it's not going anywhere.

When did full-lug N-frames get popular enough to warrant a holster maker to start production? I think it was later than the years you are thinking. I don't recall them from that era. But I could definitely be wrong.

I've never seen a holster like that. Cool.

Second that idea to find a local shoe/leather repair guy.

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I have a few South African made holsters, and they are well made. I’d simply go to a shoe/leather repair shop. I do it all the time for gun leather I find in bargain bin.

I think the full lug 29's came out in the 80's...This holster may have been a short request run from that time? I don't know.

I can't find another like it, so there's really no guide to tell me when it was made other than what Shado tells me...So far they haven't answered.

The slide snap was around in the 70’s
to accommodate different hammer types


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