LEATHER MILITARY SURPLUS HOLSTER FOR 1911 1911A1 .45

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THE PISTOL SHOWN IN THE HOLSTER IN THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH IS NOT INCLUDED -- ONLY THE HOLSTER IS BEING AUCTIONED ! This is not a cheap Chinese reproduction of a military surplus holster for a .45 caliber, model 1911 or 1911A1 pistol. The holster being auctioned is genuine military surplus purchased from the U. S. Government . While I cannot guarantee the age of this holster, all of the holsters in this batch have had dates on the packaging from 9/83 through 12/95, which is when the Beretta M9 was being adopted , making it logical that this might be part of the last large order for government model 1911A1 holsters. All of these holsters also came in a plastic bag, bearing a label with the date of manufacture (which is how I knew the above range of dates). Several in this last shipment are in bags, but without a label and this is one of those. I cannot tell you the actual date for this holster but it is from that shipment and is identical to the others that do have dates. I CAN tell you that it is from 15 to 27 years old and that the description below is accurate. Check my feedback. To reinforce my point about these possibly being the last available, I finally got another shipment of 30 holsters a few months ago but only half of them were new. The remainder are all "well used"! Other than this last shipment, I have not been able to find any more of these original government surplus holsters. I hope that I am wrong but these may really be the last batch of brand new government surplus (not reproduction) holsters , so don't miss out . If you have a model 1911 or 1911A1 pistol and need a matching military holster, there is no need to look further. Holsters identical to this one have been used for this pistol since before World War II, through Korea and Vietnam. Even though the military "officially" switched from the Colt 1911A1 in 1990, there are still U.S. military units using the 1911A1 pistol and the holster was still in the inventory of our military until recently. Even the units that still use .45s (mostly special ops units) are switching to Cordura and other modern materials for their holsters. This holster is made of black leather, with the letters "US" embossed on the flap inside of an embossed oval (Photo 1). The flap is fastened using a brass nubbin (Photos 3 & 4), just as it has been for more than 60 years. There is also a shoelace type tie-down strap attached to the grommet at the bottom of the holster (Photos 1 & 6). The holster may be worn on a standard belt using the 2" belt slots on the back (Photo 2), or attached to a military utility belt using the metal fasteners designed for that purpose -- also unchanged in more than 60 years. The holster was made by Cathey Enterprises (Photo 2), under contract from the U. S. Government. This holster is BRAND NEW and, because it is new, the leather is stiff and, at first, the fit will be tight. You can ease that by wrapping your pistol in wax paper and inserting it in the holster several times or by putting the pistol into a plastic bag (or two of them) and putting it in the holster and leaving it overnight. The holster will stretch just enough to fit the pistol without becoming loose. Your holster will become soft and supple and last for many years with the application of a good saddle soap or leather conditioner. Or, you can condition it the way it was done for decades by rubbing in a light machine oil such as 3-In-One. I used 3-In-One as a kid on my baseball gloves and still use it on holsters. Check my feedback and ! Thanks for looking and good luck bidding! read more

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