AMT Automag II & Holster, Can Anyone ID Maker ?

[Walter Rego]

This holster is marked on the back Jerry Berman & Sons Sporting Goods San Bernardino, Calif in an oval and K 22 below it. I know that Jerry Berman & Sons were jobbers in the SouCal Inland Empire region as early as the 1950's. I also know that the K 22 marking is an error as there is no way that a Smith & Wesson K22 fits. You can see from the shape of the throat that it was made for an automatic pistol and not shaped for a revolver's trigger guard. Plus, I have tried a K-22 in it. It does however fit my AMT Automag II perfectly and would probably fit a 6.5" Colt Match Target Woodsman or something similar that did not have thumbrest stocks. There are no other markings on the holster anywhere, including under the belt loop.

Does anyone have any ideas who the actual maker was that stamped them for Berman ? I often see retailer marked holsters on ebay so it must have been fairly common for large dealers or resellers to make a deal with one of the holster makers for private label markings.

Edit: See additional pics on Post # 4

 

[Kansasgunner]

Tooling reminds me of George Lawrence.

 

[crazyphil]

Do you have a shot of the back?

 

[Walter Rego]

Here are photos of the rear of the holster

 

[rednichols]

Everything about its construction screams Heiser-Keyston's Sportsman line, for a 22 auto. The Sportsman line was the company's last hurrah before it closed down circa 1960. Obviously then, it predated Harry Sanford and his Automag series of pistols. There were many makers of 22 autos on that era and they had similar profiles, so we holster makers usually had a generic size for all of them.

 

[errolhill]

I believe its a heiser tooled holster