rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
A Brill for my SAA
- Thread starter Eddie Southgate
- Start date
You've got yourself an odd one. Congratulations, I think.
No kidding. Oh well it didn't cost me anything.
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
My thinkin' is that anyone who can honestly say they never overpaid for anything has regretted it.
I had that holster on my watch list. If I had a 5 1/2" single action, that ol' holster would probably be livin' here in Grinder's Switch right now.And I bet Eddie knows where Grinder's Switch is.
Mark
Mark ,
Holster arrived this morning . Still don't have a camera . It fits my 4 3/4 " Colt perfectly , there is not more than 1/2" of slack at the toe of this holster with my gun in it . As an added bonus a 5" N frame fits it just as well as the Colt so I guess I can use it with either one . Need to save some of that "dirty ol' paper" and have a proper matching belt made for it since there is little chance of finding an original even if I could afford it .
Eddie
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
The gun only seats into the holster as far as the arrow.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Savage ?????????
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
Mark ,
Holster arrived this morning . Still don't have a camera . It fits my 4 3/4 " Colt perfectly , there is not more than 1/2" of slack at the toe of this holster with my gun in it . As an added bonus a 5" N frame fits it just as well as the Colt so I guess I can use it with either one . Need to save some of that "dirty ol' paper" and have a proper matching belt made for it since there is little chance of finding an original even if I could afford it .
Eddie
No camera? Use the one in your bloody phone, mate!
I expect the belt will be difficult to locate. Hope you prove me completely wrong.
Heck, who knows at this point. I guess I could go to a gun show and try all the diminutive older semi autos.
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
Red ,
My cell phone is 4 years old and didn't take even good pictures when it was new . I still use a 35 mm and am not very skilled with it . I got to go to town today so I might look at one of these newfangled digital shirt pocket cameras .
Eddie
29aholic
Member
Maybe the auto one is for a Woodsman?
I'm thinking maybe Ruger's Mark I?
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
Got a chance to try a 5 1/2" Colt in my Brill and it was too long so it is for sure a 4 1/2 " holster . Gonna take a small belt too , tunnel looks like it was set to wear on a pants belt .
Eddie
Eddie
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
Yes, the Brill was created specifically to be worn on a trousers belt. So the Texas Rangers could conceal their pistols under an open coat without showing a gunbelt through the gap. Or carry ammo on one, apparently
.Going to give us more pics, from you camera and not the seller's?
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
Yes, the Brill was created specifically to be worn on a trousers belt. So the Texas Rangers could conceal their pistols under an open coat without showing a gunbelt through the gap. Or carry ammo on one, apparently
Going to give us more pics, from you camera and not the seller's?
Yes on the pictures ! Just as soon as I figure out how to use this fancy camera and get an adapter for the sd card . I bought it , brought it home and lost it in amongst all this junk I own . Believe it or not I just found it this morning under a backpack I haven't moved since deer season ended . I'll see if I can't get some on this weekend .
On carrying extra ammo on the belt : Don't you know them old Rangers never miss so have no immediate need of a reload !
Eddie
Thanos23RED
Member
Would you have any idea of when this holster was made and the gun that it was made for? I received it as a gift from my boss. It was given to him by his father in law when he was married and it had a 2.5" Iver Johnson Bicycle gun in it but it didn't cover the trigger guard at all.
Attachments
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
The trigger guard (Revolver ) is never covered on this style of holster . Only the front half of the frame and barrel are ever in the holster .
Eddie
Eddie
Thanos23RED
Member
Thank you very much Eddie...I should have looked at all the photos in the thread...
Last edited:
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
It is a second generation Brill, made after 1932 and before 1955. Production of first generatipn Brills began 1912 and until the second gen's maker took over.
Normally we would need a pic of the backside to be sure but all Brills have a tiny clue on the front.
Thanos23RED
Member
Thank you very much Red...
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
Stitching at the welt ? Not Reversed ?
As for what it would fit, my guess would be a K frame with a four inch (tapered) barrel. It was probably made before any K frames had the heavy profile barrels.
Mark
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
Very good. There are as many as a dozen differences between an early, and a late, Brill. In a pic, at the front there is only one guaranteed difference that can be spotted:
late -- the last stitches return as a sort of squared-off "J".
early -- the last stitches return only as a sort of squared-off "L".From the back the differences are far more obvious.
For a collector I suppose it only helps to know, for rough dating purposes. But if one ever wanted to USE a Brill, one would want the later ones, made for Brill by Rabensburg: the cuff is a structural part of the belt loop, and only he put great effort into how the cuff was sewn to the fender, for strength (early ones with failed stitching abound). He also used double and triple welts in his revolver versions, whereas early ones only had single welts on all autos and revolvers. The doubled welts were the essential part of what we now call a Threepersons design: they were used to jam the pistol into place (no maker has done so, though, since Bianchi in the early '60s, in a Threepersons holster).
This is not a random observation; a thorough study of hundreds of pics shows that there are only two sets of 'markers'; that is, a Brill (or one that looks like a Brill but has no maker's mark) with one or the other difference in the hand sewing of that end of the welt, will always have all the other unique indicators to match. No exceptions have ever been sighted, right down to the backside sewing always being 5 inline stitches on the left (of a rh holster) and 7 or 8 (never 6 or 9) inline stitches on the right (ditto) on a late-by-Rabensburg Brill.
P.S. Rabensburg also made these holsters without the Brill marking, and with the owner's initials stamped instead, on the cuff. It is from a pair of known Rabensburg's (made for their owner personally by him in the 1950s) that we know which is which -- and contemporaneous news stories tell us 'when'.
Last edited:
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
It is so similar to this one of FBI agent Campbell that I'd agree it's for a DA revolver. Revolver trigger guards are not covered on long-barrelled DAs; but are on short barrelled DAs (so yours was not intended by its maker to suit your I.J. with such a short barrel).
Campbell's late Brill.
a late Brill for a short-barrelled DA revolver is constructed very much like the auto version; and always has a safety strap. Another maker who followed this safety logic was Ohlemeyer, best known for making Patton's sets whilst at Myres.All pics belong to others (I don't own the holsters or the images).
Some Brill History besides great rigs...
Many may know. Those that don't your clue.
11-22-63
Some Texas history..
Many may know. Those that don't your clue.
11-22-63
Some Texas history..
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
We do, actually. Nellie Brill Connally was in the car with JFK, Jackie, and the Governor. She was also the last surviving member of the four.
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
Red..... I Aint No Picture Taker but here they are !
Best I can do till I figure this camera out . Ignore the time stamps on the pictures , I bought the camera used and it had dead batteries in it . I forgot to reset the date info before I shot the pictures . Gotta figure out how to do that .
Eddie
Best I can do till I figure this camera out .
Ignore the time stamps on the pictures , I bought the camera used and it had dead batteries in it . I forgot to reset the date info before I shot the pictures . Gotta figure out how to do that .Eddie
Attachments
Last edited:
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
A Few More. The stagged 32-1 is my daily companion and was in my hip pocket begging to get in on the fun . The Colt .45 4 3/4" now lives in the Brill . The 5 1/2" .44 Special Flattop is on my hip keeping the little .38 company . The LARGER SA is unfinished and was being built by my pap in the 60's before he was blinded in an explosion involving a cannon . It will be a 6 shot 45-70 if I can ever get it finished . It lacks a hand , rear sight , and loading gate. He had made the loading gate but it was lost at some point after the accident . He made and sold at least one more of these . He was B W Southgate of Nasville Tennessee . If anyone knows where the other one is I sure would like some pictures and measurements of the hand and loading gate .
Eddie
Eddie
Attachments
Last edited:
rednichols
Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,745
- Reaction score
- 8,505
Best I can do till I figure this camera out .
Eddie
Tex Shoemaker was wont (it's a real word) to say, "Yessir!". So I'll say, "Yessir, those pics indeed are mighty humble"
. They tell the tale though: every one of the markers of an early Brill 1910-ish to 1930-ish. The backside, for example, shows the use of a machine to sew the right side (on a rh holster) attachment of the cuff, hand sewn for the left side.
OP
Eddie Southgate
Member
Red ,
Been known to use that word exactly the same way . May be a Southern thing , ya' reckon ?
Eddie
Been known to use that word exactly the same way .
May be a Southern thing , ya' reckon ?Eddie
Thanos23RED
Member
Red,
My boss asked me today if I found out anything on this forum about the holster he gave me . I actually told him what you said about the holster a few weeks ago but I guess he forgot. I also mentioned the maker made holsters for the Texas Rangers...Without even looking up while he was typing on his computer he told me that makes sense because his former father in law was a Texas Ranger. The two photos show the Iver Johnson in and out of the holster. I thought it was a 2.5" but it turns out it's a 3.25". Funny that his father in law gave him such a nice holster with such a mediocre gun but maybe it was his dad's gun.
My boss asked me today if I found out anything on this forum about the holster he gave me . I actually told him what you said about the holster a few weeks ago but I guess he forgot. I also mentioned the maker made holsters for the Texas Rangers...Without even looking up while he was typing on his computer he told me that makes sense because his former father in law was a Texas Ranger. The two photos show the Iver Johnson in and out of the holster. I thought it was a 2.5" but it turns out it's a 3.25". Funny that his father in law gave him such a nice holster with such a mediocre gun but maybe it was his dad's gun.
Attachments
Similar threads
