The California Holster

We've talked about the California holster (or, the Slim Jim if you prefer.)  This holster is designed for the 7.5" Colt Clone, or the Ruger of the same length.  This is a long gun holster, and the CFDA has specs for the holster, which we talked about here.

In this post, I showed some pictures of a California pattern holster made by my friend over at Crease N Corral.

While here at Texas State/Southern Territorials, I was able to take some pictures of a couple of nice holsters.  The first one is worn by a gal who shoots the long gun very competently.  She was gracious enough to let me take a picture of her holster.  I haven't reduced the size of these pictures, so my son should be able to enlarge them as big as our equipment will allow.  Click on it for a larger image.

The second series is a gentleman's holster, worn by a gentleman who decided today to shoot his long gun.  He was also very gracious (as every member of the CFDA is).  I asked about the lack of a tie-down and he told me that a tie-down on a long gun holster is all wrong.  You want the holster to rotate on the draw, otherwise the muzzle of the gun will catch the lip of the holster, causing the shooter to lose control of the gun.  

Edit to Add:  I learned later that this particular shooter is a Regulator named Wild Shot, out of the state of Idaho.  Regulators do lots of things for the organization, taking a lot of the administration load for the organization.  They act as organizers, experts, and arbitrators.  They can give classes, interpret rules, and certify certain aspects of training.  The Regulators do just as their name implies, they regulate the sport.  Thanks for your help, Wild Shot!!

He told me that this particular holster was used to make the CFDA design specs for a California holster.  Neither a toe plug nor a bullet deflector is mandatory; they are both optional.

The Shootist Category that they're shooting today is interesting.  It's not a separate match, you simply sign up and shoot the long gun during the main match.  The computer knows that you're a shootist and assigns values based on your fastest time and your accuracy and gives those competitors a ranking after the match is over.

On a personal note, I did better today than I've ever done at a major competition.  I was alive after the fifth round, but got killed during the sixth round by a Junior shooter who normally shoots in the 4s and 5s.  He's a great kid, of the Big Thicket Bushwackers from Silsbee, TX.  I've known him for a year or so, and goes by the alias Willie Hit It.  He'll be fifteen years old soon, and is already a seasoned competitor.  When we stepped up to the line, he shook my hand.

"Major D", Williie said, "How are you today?"

"I'm okay, son.  You shoot your game, and I'll shoot mine." I replied.  I did not have a good feeling about this match.  Willie is fast, and accurate.  

We got the set command, and I drew and fired.  My light blinked and I knew that Willie had missed.  I had him 1-0.

The second shot, I missed, and his light flashed.  We were tied up, 1-1.

The third shot, My light went out, but his was blinking.  We were now 1-2.  Willie had outdrawn me.  We had both hit the target, but he had hit his some three-tenths faster than I had. 

The third SET came, and we waited for the light.  I drew, fired, and noticed that my light wasn't flashing.  He had done it again, but this time, about four-teths of a second faster than me.

We both had three good hits (out of four shots) on the target, but Willie had beat me, fair and square.  He simply out-ran the old man. He shook my hand, like a gentleman and thanked me for the challenge.

In truth, there is no way I challenged this kid.  He was being nice to an old man, which I appreciate.

But, I made it to the sixth round of the Southern Territorials, which is better than I've ever done in a major sanctioned match.  Tomorrow is another day, and we've got bracket matches tomorrow.