That line is a quote from humorist Mark Twain, made during a time when such rumors were circulating about him. Over the last few years I have been receiving claims of the unlikely death of John Bianchi, most recently from my friend Gene DeSantis. Even the folks in the press and the industry whom I know to have a special relationship with my former boss, JB, could neither confirm nor deny. Not even the staffer at the current iteration of the Bianchi Leather company could or

(This post will come down upon publication of Holstory the Third Edition this Xmas 2025, because all the info and the images, too, are in its Epilogue). In 2018 it tickled me to register the Berns-Martin trademark with a view of interesting the 21st century makers of the Bond films in issuing a genuine Berns-Martin shoulder holster to Bond. Youngies won't know that although Bond was equipped with one in the book Dr. No of 1958 the character did not wear a Berns-Martin should

Above, the 1976 article by Larson about the holsters of the old West contains a distinction between what the author has called a Kansas loop, a Denver loop, and a Mexican loop. And I'll comment that 50 years later, in the early 21st century, writers no longer make any distinction at all and call them all "Mexican Loop". I'll also point out that only Heiser in its earliest gunleather catalogues called the style Mexican loop and they quickly abandoned the title anyway. "Mexi

It's a line from a Jim Carrey film, in which the slightly psycho gridiron placekicker insists the laces of the ball must face outwards for a field goal kick. Here, we note that in frontier holsters like the Olive, the trigger guard is meant to protrude outside the holster. Many have survived with the leather worn in just that way but pics with guns in them that way are rare because they have been posed by a 21st century collector. That's not absolute gospel; I have no period