TEX SHOEMAKER & SONS, INC. LEATHER = EXCELLENCE BEYOND DESCRIPTION!

But I'll try to describe the excellent customer service and holster that I recently bought from Tex.

You see, I got this gun a few weeks ago, the 4 barreled .357 Magnum C.O.P., standing for Compact Off-Duty Police, which hasn't been made since the mid-1990's and was not probably a big seller back then. I wrote about THE COP here a few days ago, and the picture at the top of that post is from an Auction Arms sale that ended many years ago but the picture is still out there. It was the second picture of a holster I had seen that was actually made for the COP, and by zooming in on the photo I could see it was made by Tex Shoemaker and Sons, Inc., leather gurus.

One of my duty rigs as a police officer that I wore on extra jobs had a Tex Shoemaker holster for my Python. Thirty years later, it's still around, and it gets pressed into service as a field holster on cooler fall and winter and spring days when wearing a Sam Browne rig isn't too hot in my part of Texas.

So the COP is hard to fit. No one, and I mean no one that extensive google searching can find makes a holster for this gun.

Except for Tex.

So after I saw the pic of the holster I went to the TEX website and ultimately bought this holster for the COP. 

But El Fisho, you say, how could you buy a holster for a long discontinued and always obscure gun and have that holster already, because you just got the gun and custom leather holster work often takes 6-8 weeks or more?

That's easy, my friends. Tex is a quality outfit. I sent a customer service inquiry on a Monday night using their website form, and the next day a nice lady named Jolie and I exchanged a series of emails.

I fully expected Tex, after the entire Tex office finished laughing and rolling on the floor at the thought that some Texan would dare to think that maybe, 15 or so years after an obscure gun was last made, that they might still be able to make a holster for that gun, to tell me that nope, they couldn't help me out.

But much to my surprise, Jolie said that they still had the dummy gun and so they could not only make a holster like the one pictured, they could make any holster new or old style from their catalog for this gun.

So I went here and found that I thought this thumbreak pancake belt slide holster  might hold a heavy gun like the COP better than a regular revolver belt holster. 

So Jolie informs me of this and tells me to simply add my comments and special requests (belt loop size, covered trigger, right or left hand and the finish) to the order form and tell them the gun (which by now probably everyone knew that a dusty dummy gun was coming out of storage) and that if they had a problem they'd let me know.

So on a Tuesday, I ordered it. Jolie and I didn't discuss how long it would take. I was willing to wait until Christmas or longer just because I had found someone to make me a holster, and for a reasonable non-custom price.

So I was astonished when just 3 days later on Friday I got an automated email that my holster had shipped out. Three days. Unbelieveable to me, someone who has bought several custom holsters from various makers over the last 30 years. The fastest I've ever had delivery before was probably a month, with the average being about 8 weeks for a custom holster.

So on the following Tuesday at noon, just seven short days after ordering, my new holster is at my door. And just check out the heavy duty TRIPLE STITCHING on each of the belt loops. This is a feature I've never seen (only double stitching) but it really firms up this area of the holster and makes it ride firm at each end of the holster. EXCELLENCE!

So thanks to Tex, to Jolie and the craftsmen/women who made my excellent holster and processed and shipped it and handled any other aspect of this flawless service and excellent holster.

You'll receive first rate customer service at Tex Shoemaker when you order your holster or other goods, and you're buying American and keeping an American institution like Tex going. They've been serving mostly police and firearms enthusiasts for many years now, making quality products for fair prices.

This holster from Tex, who are actually located in California, is as finely crafted as any I've owned at many, many times the price for those other holsters. It's a perfect fit for my pistol, and the quality of the leather is impressive and it was cheap in price. Of course, the ultimate test after fit and finish and so on is how does that leather smell, and it smells wonderful. It's a lightweight yet heavy duty holster that firmly holds the heavy COP and distributes the weight of the COP over it's area. It was a good choice by me.

I'll be buying a more traditional old style  H Revolver Duty Style Holster from Tex in the very near future, which is like the one pictured on my previous post about the COP linked above and much smaller than the "new" style shown at the Tex website now,  and will be asking Tex to make it crossdraw.

The COP is destined to be my four shot snake gun when out fishing, and I've already put a universal fit nylon holster on my 2" cordura?/nylon? "fishing belt". The holster (for a Colt Officers ACP and other guns, no less)  holds the COP very securely, but very deeply. Holding the gun deep in this cheap nylon holster for fishing is fine, and keeps the gun secure near the water. But loaded with snakeshot, it's a four shot snake killa. But I'd rather have a nice leather crossdraw holster for this gun when fishing, and I think the Tex old style H revolver holster would work well for this.

I'll also be buying a 12 Inside the Waistband  IWB holster from Tex for this gun.

So thanks again to Jolie and all the other great folks at Tex! You Rock!